May 9: Jeff Wayne's 'War of the Worlds'

The 80s saw some interesting releases which bridged rock and classical music to an extent.

One rock-classical crossover album was 'Variations' by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I loved this album at the time and played it a lot. There was a disco element to some of it, but also a lot of musicians who played other styles of music including rock and blues

Julian Lloyd Webber – cello
Gary Moore – Gibson Les Paul, Rickenbacker electric 12 string & Fender Stratocaster electric guitars, Guild acoustic guitar
Rod Argent – grand piano, synthesizers (Minimoog, Roland RS-202, Yamaha CS-80)
Don Airey – grand piano, synthesizers (ARP Odyssey, Minimoog, Solina String Ensemble), Fender Rhodes electric piano
Barbara Thompson – flute, alto flute, alto and tenor saxophone
John Mole – Fender Precision Bass, Hayman fretless bass guitar
Jon Hiseman – Arbiter Auto-Tune drums, Paiste cymbals and gongs, percussion

It also featured Phil Collins. Seek it out on Spotify.

Another crossover between rock and orchestral music came out in 1978. This is still going strong almost 50 years on.

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

The album was a huge success, and later spawned a long running stage show. I had the double album with gatefold sleeve and booklet.

It does have some wonderful moments.

Forever Autumn has a wonderful feel to it, along with Thunderchild.

I went to see a live performance of the album at the O2 - it was in 2014 and billed as 'the final Arena tour'.

Here's an image of mine from when I saw the show, with some well known musicians.

They were accompanied by the Ulla Strings, conducted by Jeff himself - he has now stepped back from conducting duties.

Image: Alan Parkinson

All together now.... ulla!!

And here's an extract from Variations...

Feb 15: N is for Nick Cave

An alphabet of bands and artists as a series for February. These were selected by the Spotify algorithm.

Not surprising that this came up via the Spotify algorithm as I'd been listening to a lot of his music before and since seeing the Wild God tour at the O2 arena. The album is now out on CD and in other formats.

Image: Nick Cave at the O2 - Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license

His concerts are real experiences, like a church service. He prowls and draws in the audience with his lyrics, which often feature dark themes.

The musicians he accompanies himself with are also excellent. We saw a band which included Jonny Greenwood - the bassist from Radiohead - who sold out the O2 in November last year with hefty ticket prices as a result - and also some other top musicians.

He has usually collaborated with the musician Warren Ellis, who is Australian like him, and has composed a whole range of soundtracks, including a film about Jesse James. Warren Ellis' stage persona is wonderful.

My son also had the chance to meet him and say hello when he was down at the London Film Festival, as he had been involved in a film about Marianne Faithful. My son was coincidentally wearing his Nick Cave tour t-shirt from the O2 arena show. On the way there, we had also seen Mark Kermode on the tube, and as my son is a massive student of film, he had the chance to say hello to him too - more 2nd hand encounters of the first kind.

There are a few stand out tracks that I particularly like.

The encore at his recent UK concerts was a solo song at the piano: "Into my Arms".

A virtual exhibition has also opened up.

Selected discography - produced by AI 

Any Nick Cave related stories welcome.... and what comes up in your 'N'?