Released: April 23(Europe) May 8(North America)
(Inside Out Music)
ARJEN ANTHONY LUCASSEN –
“Lost in the New Real”
CD1
1] The New Real
2] Pink Beatles In A Purple Zeppelin
3] Parental Procreation Permit
4] When I'm A Hundred Sixty-Four
5] E-Police
6] Don't Switch Me Off
7] Dr Slumber's Eternity Home
8] Yellowstone Memorial Day
9] Where Pigs Fly
10] Lost In The New Real
* Bonus feature CD Rom section: "Behind The New
Real"
CD 2
1] Our Imperfect Race
2] Welcome To The Machine (Pink Floyd cover)
3] So Is There No God?
4] Veteran Of The Psychic Wars (Blue Oyster Cult
Cover)
5] The Social Recluse
6] Battle Of Evermore (Led Zeppelin Cover)
7] The Space Hotel
8] Some Other Time (Alan Parsons Project Cover)
9] You Have Entered The Reality Zone
10] I'm The Slime (Frank Zappa Cover)
* Bonus feature CD Rom section: "The Artwork"
"This is a truly fearless album. It's so eclectic you're really going to need an open mind to get into it." Arjen embraced the opportunity to follow his muses without having to make any musical compromises. "Established projects like Ayreon or Star One carry with them certain expectations -- deviate too much from these and you risk disappointing people. So with my recent releases I've been pretty focused on trying to please the fans. But not this time -- this is an unashamedly ego-maniac album where I follow my heart.
That cannot be said better about an album of this taking and large style of music, this is what true felt music is all about-not what sells but what the artist(s) are trying to put across the only way for them to do that is through true expression, all the arts work best under the same structures.
Arjen was able to enlist the talents of legendary screen actor Rutger Hauer(above) as the psychologist, who is also the album's narrator. "Working with Rutger is a dream come true," says Arjen. "He's not only one of my favorite actors, he also starred in my all-time favorite sci-fi movie, Blade Runner." Rutger also enjoyed the collaboration with Arjen, saying that "it was marvelous work, very creative." Based on Arjen's story notes, Rutger wrote his own narration script, choosing the Blade Runner reference "Voight-Kampff" very deliberately. While not inspired by the film per se, both Blade Runner and "Lost in the New Real" examine questions about the nature of reality and what it means to be human.
This album is such a joy to listen to and I applaud him for his creative mind to do this fantastic album, I am just sorry I have not heard this mans music before as this is true genius work here.
Songs keep coming at such a diverse chord and structure from the previous song before it.
I cannot give him enough credit as he mentions above in the video that at 52 he has finally become to comfortable enough to sing an entire album, lucky us is what I say. Artists are always their own toughest critic.
For those of you, like myself who have not heard Arjen before do yourself a favor and listen to the Cd preview video below to get an idea of the range of this mans talents, don't judge his look like you might a book as you know what they say about books and covers.
Conceptually, "Lost in the New Real" deals with a host of controversial topics such as censorship, population control, euthanasia, and religion. "I wanted to raise questions about provocative topics, but didn't want to alienate anyone or come off as too confrontational or preachy, because I certainly don't presume to have any answers! So the album has two sides:on the one hand,d it's quite serious, and on the other, it's pretty tongue-in-cheek. I'm hoping that treating super-controversial topics with cheesy sci-fi and humor will let me get away with it without too much hate mail!"
The beautiful package, illustrated by the striking artwork of Claudio Bergamin, contains 2 Cd's. The songs on CD1 follow Mr. L's emotional journey as he is confronted with both serious and comical aspects of the "New Real", and desperately tries to decide if he can find a meaningful place within it. CD2 is a mix of songs that are part of the concept but didn't fit on CD1, and cover songs that are (more or less) related to the concept. As Arjen's fans have come to expect, informative and humorous 'behind the scenes' videos are added to both Cd's as CD-Rom tracks.
I thank you for reading this
Written by
Anthony Nadeau
P.S. He does an awesome cover of my favorite "Pink Floyd" song
"Welcome to the Machine" on the second Cd.
Additional Musicians:
Backing vocals: Wilmer Waarbroek
Violin: Ben Mathot
Cello: Maaike Peterse
Flute: Jeroen Goossens
Drums: Ed Warby and Rob Snijders
Hammered Dulcimer and vocals on 'Battle of
Evermore': Elvya Dulcimer
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