Actual Fantasy
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| Actual Fantasy | |||||
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| Studio album by Ayreon | |||||
| Released | 1996 | ||||
| Recorded | ? | ||||
| Genre | Progressive metal | ||||
| Length | 65:44 | ||||
| Label | Transmission InsideOut Music |
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| Producer | Arjen Lucassen | ||||
| Ayreon chronology | |||||
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Actual Fantasy is an Ayreon album released in 1996. It's a collection of short stories in music form, and the only Ayreon album not to have a single concept running throughout, and features vocalists Okkie Huysdens, Edward Reekers and Robert Soeterboek
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Actual Fantasy" – 1:33
- "Abbey Of Synn" – 9:34
- "The Stranger From Within" – 7:40
- "Computer Eyes" – 7:27
- "Beyond The Last Horizon" – 7:35
- "Farside Of The World" – 6:20
- "Back On Planet Earth" – 7:04
- "Forevermore" – 7:16
- "The Dawn Of Man (1998 Reissue only)" – 7:32
- "The Stranger From Within (single version) (1998 Reissue only)" – 3:38
[edit] Plots
[edit] "Actual Fantasy"
Actual Fantasy is the intro song to the CD. The music is a classical orchestra, and expresses a fairy-tale-like setting.
[edit] "Abbey of Synn"
Based on the movie Name of the Rose from 1986 with Sean Connery, which is based on the novel by Umberto Eco. The original spelling for the word 'sin' was 'synn', and it also refers to the important use of the synthesizer on the CD. The song tells the story of a monastery where laughter is strictly forbidden. One by one the monks die mysteriously, each having a blackened tongue and finger. It turns out that they found a book of comedy by Aristotle, but the pages are poisoned: if you lick your finger to turn a page it will kill you. In the end, the ones searching for the answers corner the seer, who originally gave the book to the monks. The seer burns the abbey to the ground, destroying the book and killing the seer.
[edit] "The Stranger from Within"
In this story that Arjen wrote himself, doctors are trying to find a way to help a girl who is in a coma. In this state she begins to fantasize about some stranger. He could be dangerous, or harmless, or just a magician. The stranger tells her that she can cure herself using her own imagination, and then he allows the doctors to "shoot" him as he takes the disease with him. The girl wakes up and the stranger from within has become part of her.
[edit] "Computer Eyes"
This song is a story Arjen wrote himself. It is about someone who has been playing a computer game for days. At a certain time he isn't able to tell anymore whether he's playing a game or has become part of it. He doesn't feel any emotions and has become like a hologram unable to find a way out. This song is certainly not an attack on computers, for this album could never have been made without computers. It can be considered as an "attack" to the massive and excessive use of computer, "attack" that is also included on two more Ayreon's songs: "Computer Game (Reign Over)" from The Final Experiment and "Web of Lies" from 01011001.
[edit] "Beyond the Last Horizon"
This is story Arjen came up with during the last few days of his father's life. The story is set in the Middle Ages during the days of the crusades. One of the crusaders is ambushed and killed. After that it's a familiar story: he sees a light and he rides towards it on a road that disappears on the horizon. Beyond it is the "last horizon": death. In most stories it says there is a beautiful light or heaven. But where he is, there is darkness. There is nothing beyond the last horizon; he will disappear.
[edit] "Farside of the World"
Based on The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, an obscure New Zealand film. In the story, a medieval village is under attack by the plague. A young boy has a vision, and the villagers must travel through the center of the Earth, guided by a knight, and raise a cross upon a silver tower. As they travel through the Earth, both the boy and the knight realize that in order to get through, the knight has to sacrifice his life.
[edit] "Back on Planet Earth"
In this story, written by Arjen himself, a boy lives in a space station. Humans have lost the ability to feel but he overhears the older people telling stories about the days when they lived on Earth (From The Final Experiment, The Dream Sequencer, and Flight of the Migrator). On his computer the boy finds images of the most beautiful things, such as flowers and mountains, but he also finds out that Earth was destroyed by wars and environmental disasters and people eventually had to live in space in order to survive. The boy realizes that after seeing people with emotions, and their laughter, he would rather have died on Earth, than be in the cold space station.
[edit] "Forevermore"
Based on the 1984 film adaption of German author Michael Ende's fantasy novel The Neverending Story, by Wolfgang Petersen. A boy steals a book from a store. The boy arrives too late for class, sneaks into the attic and crawls under a blanket to read the book. The fictitious world of 'Fantasia' is falling apart; it's being eaten by the Nothing. Symbolizing the fact that nobody's fantasizing anymore. The hero in the story has to cure the empress from her disease, and save 'Fantasia'. He does so by giving the Empress a name.
[edit] "Dawn of Man"
This is a very experimental song with vocoder and scratches on it. The story is ased loosely on the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010, but with Arjen's own fantasy and interpretation incorporated. The listener should do the same; the lyrics cannot be explained one way. Just use your imagination!
[edit] Actual Fantasy: Revisited
After Star One and Day Eleven: Love were remixed, Arjen wanted to mix an entire album in 5.1. The first opportunity was when InsideOut began planning a re-release of the Ayreon albums. He figured that mixing the least selling and overlooked second Ayreon album would be a good way to get it some attention.
Since the original Actual Fantasy was first recorded with a computerized set of drums, rather than real drums, Arjen wanted to know what Actual Fantasy might have sounded like if the songs had been mixed with a real drummer and a set of drums. When Arjen started working with Ed Warby on Star One and Ayreon, the idea started growing. But it was still a daunting task to re-record elements that were lost, plus the time, effort, and money included in making a new mix.
When Actual Fantasy first released in 1996, the sound was recorded with electronic instruments to match the style of the album. But with its re-release, he decided to try and consider the idea. After talking it over with Warby, Arjen knew that he had to take the time, effort, and money to release Actual Fantasy: Revisited with a real drummer. In fact, Warby said, after hearing Actual Fantasy (Before he'd even met Arjen), he told people that he should have drummed it instead of the computer.
[edit] Personnel
- Okkie Huysdens - vocals
- Edward Reekers - vocals
- Robert Soeterboek (Cotton Soeterboek Band) - vocals
- Cleem Determeijer - synth solos
- Rene Merkelbach - hammond, synth
- Arjen Anthony Lucassen - all other instruments
- Floortje Schilt - violin
[edit] Actual Fantasy: Revisited
[edit] External links
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