TIMELINE

Ayreon first grabbed my attention with the album of the year 'The Human Equation', featuring many vocal talents to make up one awesome concept album. I saw this box on a shelf and was enticed to buy it in order to find out what else the band were capable of. Of course I was not disappointed. Each of the Ayreon albums are given a fair treatment here with selections included from each on this compilation. The music is incredible on every track. Some more memorable than others but the overall production is fantastic. Admittedly it is better to get the concept albums in their entirety to enjoy the full value of the concepts that Ayreon creates, but this compilation is still an excellent place to start to dip into the Ayreon universe. There are tracks from 'Into the Electric Castle' that I love here and the first 3 albums are featured appropriately. The selections from 'Universal Migrator' are well chosen especially the Neal Morse track and Bruce Dickenson track. Many tracks from 'Human Equation' are included and the more recent '01011001'. Having purchased both those albums I can vouch that the best tracks are featured on 'Timeline'. There are no new tracks apart from edited versions so if you have all of Ayreon's CDs it is unlikely that you would benefit from this.

Having said that however, the booklet is beautiful and includes incredible art work and the full lyrics and who sings what. The real treasure though is the bonus DVD which features some of the bonus stuff from the special edition releases of the Ayreon catalogue and a few rare surprises. There are live clips and some promos and some very high quality versions of older tracks using digital technology. The clips are well balanced and nice to watch and overall this DVD captures the essence of all that makes Ayreon great.

In conclusion the box set is a very well produced addition to Planet Ayreon and the journey thus far. Admittedly there are some tracks that are sorely missing but most of the great tracks feature here. Get this if you are new to the band or only want to get hold of the most well known Ayreon tracks. It deserves 4 stars easily as it is full of wonderful music from this earth shattering band. I can't rate it 5 because the concepts that make Ayreon so compelling are confusing when only hearing snippets, however it is as goods a compilation as you will find on the band.

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