You know it’s going to be a long review when you realise it will take two paragraphs just to explain who is is involved, what it’s about and why. But it has to be – The Gentle Storm’s debut offering “The Diary” demands it. Two CDs containing two different arrangements of each song, a lyrical concept, and all masterminded by Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon/Star One etc. fame and Anneke van Giersbergen, who initially rose to fame as the vocally distinctive front-woman for The Gathering as well as being a renowned solo artist. CD1 is entitled ‘Gentle’ and CD2 is ‘Storm’. One lighter/more acoustic, the other heavy/more bombastic. The track-list is the same but the performance and attitude markedly different for each. Unashamedly patriotic for these two Netherlandian musical giants, the lyrical concept focuses on a love story full of trials and tribulations, set in 17th century Holland and…when was this album’s release date again? Bugger, not enough time to analyse the lyrics then or I’ll be here until May – maybe for the best, so let’s go with…Lyrics Excellent, Concept Interesting, Much Emotion. Sorted. Right, let’s get on to the songs…
Arjen has a song-writing style of his own, a trademark if you will, that always shines through in everything he does. But he also has a talent for writing musical melodies for particular vocalists that he is currently working with. He proves this time and time again with Ayreon – a knack of bringing out the best in a singer. Never more apparent for me than with Anneke. I didn’t really gel with The Gathering personally, they just weren’t a style I liked, but it always kind of bugged me that I didn’t like a band with such a great singer. It just didn’t happen for me until I heard Anneke’s contribution to Ayreon’s “Into The Electric Castle” album. She was fantastic – one of the album’s highlights, and a feat she emphatically repeated a decade or so later on Ayreon’s “01011001” opus! So what an absolutely mouthwatering prospect a whole album featuring the two of them is! My only reservation when I heard the news was a slight concern that the album would be torn between showing off Anneke’s acoustically leant prowess and Arjen’s Metallic Progressiveness. Neatly sorted by having 2 discs, with 2 different treatments of the same songs – nice solution!
Now, listening to any new Ayreon-related album is always a bit of a ritual for me I’m slightly embarrassed to admit. It’s OK, I don’t have a lucky pair of underpants I must wear or anything, but I do like to sit on my own with the lyrics/booklet – list of singers/musicians to hand, drinking in each person’s contribution (along with a glass of red wine or few), enjoying the arrangements and losing myself in the whole sound-scape and experience of the thing. But then it needs to be said that I’ve never actually reviewed an Ayreon album. So how do I to go about putting “The Diary” into words – It’s not Ayreon firstly of course (though obviously it has plenty of musical similarities), and it’s all one singer, rather than many. It is just as complex, interesting and innovative as any Ayreon album…and add to that the fact that it is as complex, interesting and innovative as an Anneke van Giersbergen solo album. What to do? How to approach it? Luckily my rather ancient, wheezing computer made my decision for me. When I downloaded my review copy it didn’t split the two discs, it stuck the ‘Storm’ version of each song right after it’s ‘Gentle’ counterpart, making it easier to directly compare each version. That’s a stroke of luck, thought I, and waded in…
With the review now reaching Essay proportions and readers having to order out for food, I shall refrain from going through the album on a track by track basis – after all, there really is no need to spoil the fun of the prospective listener! But there are some things about “The Diary” that should be mentioned. The use of every single instrument, be it cello, flute or mandolin through to distorted guitar or full orchestra is expertly thought out and executed. Yes, yes, I know, Arjen fans now expect it, but sometimes you just need to take a step back and marvel at the time and effort that goes into arranging the music for just one of his songs. Now, like a few people I’ve spoken to, I initially wondered about the need to do two versions of each song. Either pick a version or incorporate the two elements in one yes? Well what if you have got the layout and length of the song perfect and you can’t cram everything in? And what if the best parts of the quieter version are then hidden, buried in the production, or just don’t work in the heavier? Take ‘The Greatest Love’ for instance – my favourite version is ‘Storm’, but my favourite ELEMENT (the fabulous mandolin and violin melody lines) are only apparent on the ‘Gentle’ version! Two versions justified straight away. And in this computer/I pod era we can all make our own play-lists, and therefore compile our own personal favourite version of “The Diary”. It’s a marvellous idea really.
It’s not like each song just has two different mixes either – these are two different recordings, with different instruments and different vocal emphasis and delivery. Sometimes the tracks aren’t a million miles apart, like with the subtleties of ‘The Moment’ (until ‘Storm’s giant crescendo), but usually each track’s alter ego really does have a totally different approach. ‘Brightest Light’ is just one example of this. ‘Gentle’ echoes Blackmore’s Night (a similarity on a few of the ‘Gentle’ tracks), playing in a seedy, dimly lit bar, crossed with prime ”Electric Castle” Ayreon – but ‘Storm’ is up-to-the-minute Ayreon/Star One heaviness with the fantastic drums of Ed Warby driving the song ever onward and drenched in orchestration for added power and drama. Vocally the stripped back single voice of the first version is replaced by Anneke using more harmonies and letting her voice soar and rather than ebb on the second. To be honest, when you really delve into the album, it is a nerd’s nirvana, a reviewer’s retinal headache and a fan’s phenomenon!
It was never really in doubt though was it? These two together for a whole album with their collective experience and ability, it was always going to be a bit special. On the whole, this is more an extension of Ayreon than an appendage to Anneke solo releases, but rather cleverly there is enough of both that everyone is happy. Anneke’s versatile voice also means that most areas of Ayreon past and present are visited (along with plenty of Ambeon and fledgling Stream Of Passion too). Two great albums for the price of one and arrangement-wise no stone left unturned. This isn’t self-indulgence if you understand what fans of Arjen and Anneke would want. They understand their fans and they have delivered an absolute gem that is very difficult to find fault with – so why try? Just immerse yourself!
(9/10 Andy Barker)
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