Justin Hayward - Forever Autumn from the War of the Worlds album
He will be forever associated with this unique and iconic track
The Iconic album sleeve artwork for the War of the Worlds 33rpm Vinyl record
Music often generates memories - in 1979 I was at school and one of very few guitarists in the school, a boy called Clint came to our school for a term and was full of a record called War of the Worlds, which he bought to an after school club and played a few tracks.
It wasn't long after this now greatly revered record had been released, and I picked up on some guitar work on the record that appealed to my ears. Coincidentally, a rerelease of the late 1960's Moody Blues hit 'Nights in white satin' was back in the charts.
It clicked that Justin Hayward the singer on Forever Autumn which I think I caught on Top of the Pops was also the singer on 'Nights'. I had just before that got my hands on the sheet music to 'Nights' and learned the song. At the time I lived about 5 miles away from Horsell Common where war of the worlds had ben set, H G Wells had lived nearby in the town of Woking in the late Victorian era when he wrote the book.
The orchestral sound on the war of the worlds album was a mix of acoustic instruments, electronic effects, voices and early synths.
Jeff Lynne's ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) was doing a similar style of music to that on the war of the worlds album with the same sort of musical mix. I am still a fan of ELO and this album too.
The Moody Blues were an early adopter if not innovator of the 'concept album' - their late 60's 'Days of future past' album era produced 'Nights' along with 'Tuesday afternoon' - what would become known as the classic Moody Blues style, they did not really adhere to any formulaic position or direction - they just did their own style free of management interference.
Their use of the Mellotron in the mid 60s Moody Blues music by Mike Pinder - an early adopter of this almost proto synth transformed their musical course and gave 'Nights' that great sound as it expanded the sonic possibilities of the song.
The Mellotron was a keyboard sound effects style instrument and it was used by the Beatles to great effect, Rick Wakeman used one on his recordings on David Bowie's Starman era work. Mike Pinder dispensed with the majority of the installed sounds on the Mellotron and used the available bank space to duplicate the strings type sounds, thus creating more of an orchestral sound.
The Moody Blues also had the advantage that Decca, their label, had top quality recording studios and they were given free reign to just record their music.
Moving on to war of the worlds, Justin Hayward was the ideal choice for the song Forever Autumn. The song features Chris Spedding on lead guitar (who had gone for the vacancy in the Moody Blues that Justin got) and also Dave Freeman an early innovator of synths and one who was important in the use of developing human voicing synth sounds.
The us of Richard Burton's narration on the war of the worlds album was a masterstroke, I listened to some out takes of the narration recording and Richard is the consummate professional, retaking a passage of script with different emphasis on certain parts without any behind the mic drama. His delivery suits the pathos of the story, with decades of theatre performances, he gave the part a weary and atmospheric cadence in parts, it was superb work.
With war of the worlds revived as a stage show in London's West End, Justin Hayward came to the production and with the use of Richard Burton in CGI form, a new audience came to see and hear this great concept anew.
Gary Barlow, born in 1971 did record a version of Forever Autumn, this brought the song to a new audience - just like any great work, artists can bring their own unique talents to the song - think of any number of songs in the past all covered variously by artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and many more from that time.
The Moody Blues continued to write and record after war of the worlds and perhaps it brought the group back to the spotlight commercially. Songs like 'The Voice' and 'I know you're out there somewhere' from the 80's only served to show the great talent on offer.
45 years or so later, I am still enjoying playing that music too. I started songwriting back in 1983 after leaving school and starting a band with some school friends who I had played with in the school years in other outfits.
I ignored the advice on my first day of secondary school 'forget about being a pop star or a footballer.' Why should I listen to someone who can only teach? By 3 years later, I was not allowed to do music as a subject and lost most of my interest in school, just going along to get the certificate and get out at the first opportunity.I am still playing all this time later by the way and really enjoying it at a level I would not have thought possible.
When I saw the video recently for 'I know you're out there somewhere' it was immediately relevant to me and my past life, it really struck a chord for want of a better phrase. Back in the 1980's the A&R men used to go to certain pubs that hosted live music, the place you learned your craft in, now it is mostly stage school alumni who go straight into an industry where it is all provided and they just sing. There is no connection to a band, no having worked at the craft with a unit, its all very sad I think.
Happy days. Forever Autumn, Justin and the Moody Blues still sound great although some have now passed on.
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