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Topic ClosedEpic songs: two Dreams sorrounding one Reality?

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O666 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 15 2010 at 06:12
Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

Originally posted by O666 O666 wrote:

Mike Oldfield released "Amarok" longer than 20 min.
 
Yep ... and one of my favorites ... you know what is sad? Mike has stated that he fooled around the whole time just to finish off that record contract ... and I happen to think it is one of his best pieces ... of all of them! But I think that he is now stuck on his "star" thing and his best days of creativity are totally gone. What I heard recently done with the orchestra is not that good and sad. You would think that it would have new things, instead it was just old themes ... that's not very original Mike!
 
Can I say that Amorok, doesn't count, now? Embarrassed
I agree with you (like everytime!). I know about mike's contract and his troubles. Amarok (or Amorok) is his best work(IMO) and I die for hidden "morse code" in this album. I 'm sure you know about that. And I agree with you again! It not necessary to count this one. I have most of MO's albums. You right. Amorok is different.
I am very happy for your reply and appreciate. Thanks.
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 15 2010 at 23:48
I think the subject is not so philosophical. The "musical resource" of making a song and then a "Reprise" was already common. In some cases such as Sargent Peppers the band thought it nice to open with the "1st" song and close with the Reprise (ok, we still have A day in the life but the Reprise feels nearly as a closing).
 
Prog bands started to employ also the resource of defining tracks as splitted into Parts or Movements. It was only a matter of time that someone would combine both ideas and open an album with a certain theme and close it with other Movement(s) of it. I guess it felt kind of cool, even if sometimes the 2 parts have not much to do with each other musically.
 
Another example is the excellent debut album of the spanish band Iceberg, "Tutankhamon", which starts with the instrumental "Tebas" and closes with "Tebas Reprise" (in this case they are really slightly different versions of the same musical theme).
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Nathaniel607 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 22 2010 at 14:48
Dream Theater stated they did it because they didn't want an epic closer like Octavarium again. That's all there is to it.
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sealchan View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2010 at 16:53
Alan Parsons has used the open-close theme method many times on his albums.  Of course, these are more framing themes with a full song at the front and a shorter reprise at the end rather than an epic divided but I think he has practiced this form enough to show some skill with it.
 
From a literary stand-point, is there an album with lyrics that achieves what sohraab is pointing at?  That the first song sets up a theme, the album develops a series of examples or events and then the album concludes with the same theme and perhaps an ironic twist or a deeper sense of meaning?
 
Sohraab I think that what you are getting at maps nicely to the basic myth form of the Heroes' Journey as described by Joseph Campbell.  It is a basic archetypal form that underlies art that describes the mystery of life and the unknown that surrounds it.  It involves a "journey" where the hero becomes something that he/she was not originally through contact with forces greater than themselves.  Whether the artist intends this or not the effect can be deeply stirring.
 
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jean-marie View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 27 2010 at 08:25
One album has been forgoten , 666 from aphrodite'schild with occasional flashback from various tracks through the long last piece ALL THE SEATS WERE OCCUPIED
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