In hindsight, it seems almost incredible: 27 years ago, a young musician named Jeff Wayne (who at the time primarily wrote music for commercials) fell in love with H.G. Wells" much-loved book The War of the Worlds, and decided to make a musical version of it. Star Wars had just put people"s minds into outer space, musical theatre was hugely successful, and long, anthemic orchestral prog-rock was all the rage. Wayne was inspired by all these elements and decided to gather together his peers and make a musical-mixed-with-spoken-word album, with the script taken directly from the famous book. This was by no means a soundtrack to a movie; in fact, all of the visuals were to come straight from the listener"s minds (hard to imagine in today"s video-oriented world.) The two-LP set featured Sir Richard Burton as frontman, along with some of the leaders of the progressive rock world who joined in on the fun. Moody Blues" Justin Hayward, "Rock On" vocalist David Essex and Thin Lizzy lead Philip Lynott each did more than sing on the record, they took a part in the musical play, performing key roles alongside the aforementioned dramatist Burton. Amazingly, the eccentric project was a massive success, selling over 13 million copies and staying on the U.K. charts for over 260 weeks straight. DJs and bands--including the Orbital and Todd Terry--still use WOTW samples to inspire their own works. Unquestionably, the genesis of electronica can (in part) be mapped back to the War of the Worlds" use of sound experimentation and synthesized grooves. While for many, the War of the Worlds remastered double CD and 48 page booklet set will provide enough prog rock fun, true aficionados will be filled with intergalactic glee when they see how many goodies accompany the collector"s edition--a whopping seven CDs that start with the two remastered discs, then disc 3, which contains the best club/DJ remixes sampled from the original recording (including N-Trance"s club-y version of the hit "Forever Autumn" and a take on "Brave New World" from famed house producer/DJ Todd Terry. Discs 4 through 6 deserve awards for unprecedented attention to fandom: three full CDs of outtakes, ranging from the original 1975 radio commercial, to acoustic demos of songs, to an additional 37 minutes of previously unheard Richard Burton narrative. Many of the best add-ons, however, exist on disc 7, a 92-minute DVD documentary featuring "The Making of" as well as a full album deconstruction, narrated by Jeff Wayne himself. The whole shebang is packaged in a hardcover 76-page book which features a written history, HG Wells" bio, and a plethora of full-color artwork. --Denise Sheppard