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What Are You Listening To Now? 5.0

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Blind_Justice said:
The Gentle Storm - The Diary (both versions)

So, Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon fame and Anneke van Giersbergen, once the voice of The Gathering, did a full album together. The trick here is that you get each song twice, once as a folk-rocky, acoustic version and a hard rocking version. I'm not so sure the whole ordeal was worth it though.

The Good:
The lyrical concept about a seafaring man and his wife in the 17th century is well-written and a beautiful tragedy, wonderfully conveyed by Anneke's vocal lines. The sound of both versions is warm and room-spanning, with some decent kick in the fiercer passages. Speaking of which, the "Storm" versions of the songs have some fantastic guitar and drum work, plus earworm melodies.

The not-quite-so-good bits.
I had hoped for some bigger differences between the "gentle" and "storm" versions of each song. You don't need to be a studio magician to realize that the vocal tracks had been done once and the arrangements were the only things altered. Don't get me wrong, it's not like the latest Nightwish record, which had an "orchestral version" packed in (which were the normal songs sans guitars and drums). All songs get an acoustic reworking, which even sounds fantastic in places, but no amount of Jethro Tull fanservice can hide the fact that there's no change in tempo or structure between each version of a song. Some of the acoustic versions also clearly feel like the weaker of the two on offer, with "Shores of India" the most obvious. So instead of being an integral part of the project, the acoustic half feels more like a bonus than anything else.
And one last thing - Arjen has a distinct "signature", both in terms of songwriting and production. It is very obvious on this album, with whole passages of the "Storm" half evoking strong flashbacks to his own back catalog, to the point where my lady love and I were throwing album titles back and forth. Here's hoping he found some more inspiration for his next upcoming Ayreon album.

The Verdict: Intriguing, but hardly essential. The "Storm" half is clearly the superior record, but it may sound a bit stale to Lucassen completionists. Anneke's voice has only gotten better with age though and is a high point.
Click to expand...

Great review of Gentle Storm - I had very high hopes for it and while a bit disappointed for the exact reasons you list I do enjoy the Storm side quite a bit mostly for Anneke's vocals.

Live at Sea

Spock's Beard
 
Snow

Spock's Beard

IMHO this is one of the finest Prog works of all time. Massively underappreciated beyond SB fans.
 
Finishing up Snow - man, it's a long album - but so worth it.

Finished writing one chapter and started another, so I'm happy.

Goodnight all. Have a great week!

Peace, love and happiness for you and all you encounter.
 
Higher by Creed. Omg this song makes me emotional because it was my Senior Song from High school.
 
Still on a huge Lucassen binge

Star One - Live on Earth

Fantastic live recording, great chemistry between all band members and a killer sound mix.
 
Argentine Tango's sung by Rosanna Falasca. I was pulling up old photos of Bangkok which led me to Buenos Aires (my parents took me around a lot...) and somewhere I have an old CD I bought in Buenos Aires of Rosanna Falasca's songs so I've been tracking some of them down on youtube and listening to them again while I drink Saturday morning coffee and have an early breakfast....

Rosanna Falasca - Tendrás Un Altar

Rosanna Falasca - Caminito (and this reminds me so much of sitting in that street in La Boca, drinking coffee early in the morning - early for Buenos Aires anyhow - and watching an Argentine couple dancing a tango in the street

Rosanna Falasca - Volver (and all these street scenes of Buenos Aires, OMG, I walked all around there and it's such a beautiful city... and I loved the Tango shows there. And all the beautiful older buildings.)

Rosanna Falasca - Madreselva

Rosanna Falasca - El Último Café

Rosanna Falasca - Los pájaros perdidos

Rosanna Falasca - Soledad
 
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After going through the Ayreon back catalogue, I pulled a couple CD's at random off the shelf.

Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

Fantastic album, especially like Wilson's vocals when he seems to channel an understated Peter Gabriel. Very dark and too depressing for such a nice day though.

Powerwolf - Bible Of The Beast

A German metal outfit, think parts Alice Coopet, parts werewolf fanboys with a very tongue-in-cheek sense of humor regarding the church. The exact opposite to Porcupine Tree, very upbeat, almost too much so.

Judas Priest - Painkiller

One of the definitive metal albums. Not a single weak song. They never could get even close to this level. A good one to end the day on.
 
The Fringe

Fringe

Randy McStine, Jonas Reingold and Nick D'Virgilio making great music.
 
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