Dutch guitarist/composer Arjen Lucassen has completed work on a new AYREON 3CD + DVD compilation album entitled "Timeline".
"I've been asked many times before to release an AYREON compilation album, but it just didn't feel right to present fragmented bits of story by lifting individual songs out of their greater contexts," Arjen explains. "However, my attitude changed after I completed my 2008 album '01011001' in which I connected all the previous AYREON releases, musically as well as lyrically. Having completed the circle, so to speak, it seemed like a fitting time to put all things AYREON into perspective and create an AYREON timeline outlining the entire story."
"Timeline" follows the thirteen-year evolution of the AYREON sound from the 1995 debut "The Final Experiment" to the release of "01011001" in 2008. In addition to selecting tracks from the existing AYREON discography, Arjen has also written and recorded a new AYREON song exclusively for "Timeline". Titled "Epilogue: The Memory Remains", this previously unreleased nine-plus-minute track introduces AYREON fans to the clear, powerful voice of Jasper Steverlinck (ARID). Lyrically, "The Memory Remains" provides further insight into the final chapter of the AYREON saga and what the future might hold for its characters.
In addition to "The Memory Remains", "Timeline"'s three audio CDs comprise 32 essential AYREON tracks (almost four hours of music), all carefully remastered specifically for this release. The accompanying DVD features nearly two hours of released and unreleased video clips, behind-the-scenes featurettes, 5.1 mixes, and live performances of AYREON tracks (STAR ONE and STREAM OF PASSION versions). To illuminate the AYREON story further, a timeline poster illustrating the AYREON universe and 56-page booklet containing many new photos, all lyrics, and notes on the story are included in the "Timeline" package. The cover is a specially commissioned painting by traditional AYREON cover artist Jef Bertels (see below).
"Timeline" will be available from InsideOut Music on November 7 (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), November 10 (rest of Europe), and early 2009 (North America).
When asked what the release of "Timeline" means for the future of AYREON, Arjen explains, "I don't see this as the end of AYREON, but rather as a new beginning. I'll definitely be recording some side projects before I even start thinking about re-inventing AYREON. To keep things fresh for myself I've got to come up with a completely new concept for both the music and the lyrics. I hope I can do it...it will be definitely be quite a challenge!"
T R A C K L I S T
CD1
1995: The Final Experiment
1) Prologue 3:17
2) The Awareness 6:36
3) Eyes of Time 5:05
4) The Accusation (acoustic version taken from the Special Edition) 3:43
5) Sail Away to Avalon (single version) 3:40
6) Listen to the Waves 4:40
1996: Actual Fantasy (Revisited)
7) Actual Fantasy 1:31
8) Abbey of Synn 9:25
9) Computer Eyes 7:17 10]
10) Back on Planet Earth 7:04
1998 Into the Electric Castle
11) Isis and Osiris 11:09
12) Amazing Flight 10:21
Total time CD1: 73:53
CD2
1998 Into the Electric Castle
1) The Garden of Emotions 9:40
2) The Castle Hall 5:48
3) The Mirror Maze 6:23
4) The Two Gates 6:23
2000: The Universal Migrator parts I and II
5) The Shooting Company of Captain Frans B Cocq 7:42
6) Dawn of a Million Souls 7:44
7) And the Druids Turned to Stone 6:32
8) Into the Black Hole 10:17
9) The First Man on Earth 6:54
2004: the Human Equation
10) Day Two: Isolation 8:46
Total time CD2: 76:14
CD3
2004: The Human Equation
1) Day Three: Pain 4:53
2) Day Six: Childhood 5:04
3) Day Twelve: Trauma 9:23
4) Day Sixteen: Loser 4:47
5) Day Seventeen: Accident? 5:41
2008: 01011001
6) Age of Shadows (edit) 5:39
7) Ride the Comet 3:39
8) The Fifth Extinction 10:27
9) Waking Dreams 6:23
10) The Sixth Extinction 12:16
2008: New previously unreleased Ayreon track
11) Epilogue: The Memory Remains 9:16
Total time CD3: 77:23
DVD
1] The Stranger from Within (5.1, available on Actual Fantasy Revisited)
2] Valley of the Queens (available on Star One – Live on Earth)
3] Isis and Osiris (available on Star One – Live on Earth)
4] The Two Gates (available on Star One – Live on Earth)
5] Teaser: The Human Equation (available on the special edition of The Human Equation)
6] Day Eleven: Love (5.1, available on the special edition of The Human Equation)
7] Come Back to Me (available as CD ROM track on the EP Come Back to Me)
8] Loser (Star One version, previously unreleased)
9] Farside of the World (5.1, available on Actual Fantasy Revisited)
10] Back on Planet Earth (5.1, available on Actual Fantasy Revisited)
11] Featurette Actual Fantasy (available on Actual Fantasy Revisited)
12] Computer Eyes (available on Stream of Passion – Live in the Real World)
13] Day One: Vigil (available on Stream of Passion – Live in the Real World)
14] Day Three: Pain (available on Stream of Passion – Live in the Real World)
15] The Castle Hall (available on Stream of Passion – Live in the Real World)
16] Release Party 01011001 (previously unreleased)
17] Beneath the Waves (5.1, available on the special edition of 01011001)
18] Teaser 01011001 (available on the special edition of 01011001)
19] Featurette Epilogue: The Memory Remains (previously unreleased)
Total time DVD: approx 2 hours
Petite édition pour dire que ça n'a guère d'interet quand même
