''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus'' is a 1992

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

produced and composed by Jeff Wayne with Lyrics by Gary Osborne, telling the story of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

gladiator A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...

. It starred

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins ha ...

Catherine Zeta-Jones Catherine Zeta-Jones (; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Recognised for her versatility, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed Comm ...

(in her first recording role),

Fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of ''isicathamiya'' and ''mbube (genre), mbube''. They became known internationally after singing with American Paul Simon on his 1986 album ''Grace ...

, and Scots singer Alan King as Spartacus. It was also the first Jeff Wayne release that is not related to his musical version of ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

''. Based on a story outline by Jeff Wayne, the script was written by writer Brian Sibley and playwright John Spurling with Sibley responsible for the script of 'Animal & Man', 'The Eagle & the Hawk' and 'The Appian Way' and Spurling largely responsible for the script of 'The Parting of the Ways' and 'The Last Battle'. Also starring in the album is Chris Thompson and Jo Partridge, who appeared in ''

''. Originally, Thompson had a singing role, but his song was dropped from the final version of the album. It is rumoured that Thompson possesses the only copy of his song. The lead vocals representing Spartacus himself were performed by Scottish vocalist, Alan King of Walk On Fire fame. The artists for the album were Gino D'Achille, Christos Achilleos and Andrew Wheatcroft, with art directed by Richard Evans.

Track listing

Disc 1: "Animal & Man" # Destiny - Jeff Wayne/ Gary Osborne # Animal & Man (Part 1) - Jeff Wayne # Animal & Man (Part 2) - Jeff Wayne # For All Time - Jeff Wayne/James Cassidy # Whispers - Jeff Wayne/ Gary Osborne # The

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

& The

Hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

- Jeff Wayne/ Gary Osborne Disc 2: "The Parting Of The Ways" # Going Home - Jeff Wayne/ Gary Osborne # The Parting Of The Ways - Jeff Wayne/ Gary Osborne # We Carry On - Jeff Wayne/ Gary Osborne # Trust Me - Jeff Wayne/ Gary Osborne # Two Souls With A Single Dream - Jeff Wayne/ Gary Osborne # The Last Battle / The

& The

- Jeff Wayne/ Gary Osborne # The Appian Way - Jeff Wayne # Epilogue (Part 1) - Jeff Wayne # Epilogue (Part 2) - Jeff Wayne ''Total Running Time:'' Approx 111 Minutes

Cast

- Marcus Crassus *

- Palene *Alan King -

* Derek William Dick (Fish) - Crixus *

- Spartacus' Army * Chris Thompson -

Oenomaus In Greek mythology, King Oenomaus (also Oenamaus; , ''Oinómaos'') of Pisa (Greece), Pisa, was the father of Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus), Hippodamia and the son of Ares. His name ''Oinomaos'' denotes a wine man. Family Oenomaeus' mother ...

* Jimmy Helms - Isauricus the Sicilian Pirate *Bill Fredericks - Lead Vocals (Going Home) * Lorna Bannon and Carol Kenyan - Slave Girls

Charts

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of Spartacus 1990s concept albums 1992 albums

Columbia Records albums Depictions of Spartacus in music Cultural depictions of Spartacus Cultural depictions of Marcus Licinius Crassus