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Arena - первая сольная группа клавишника знаменитых Pendragon Клайва Нолана. А ещё есть фолково-симфонический оперный проект Caamora с бесподобной Агнэшкой Свита в главной роли и последнее детище – Alchemy, также оперный проект, для которого Клайв собрал многих довольно известных на рок-сцене вокалистов и спел сам. Поэтому совершенно неудивительно, что лишь спустя шесть лет после „Pepper's Ghost“ 2005 года, у Arena выходит „The Seventh Degree Of Separation“. Добавлю, что Arena, конечно, рок-проект по своей сути, однако в силу того, что зачастую ведущую роль в музыке играют клавишные, порой задающие ритм, можно сказать, что музыка Arena – это поп-рок высочайшей пробы, наподобие Queen. Это неслучайно, ведь именно Queen - любимая группа Клайва. Однако маэстро никогда не заигрывал с хард-роком, поэтому музыка Arena абсолютно лишена приземлённости, агрессии, она „не от мира сего“, в ней слишком много призрачности, театральности. Её невозможно спутать ни с какой другой, она обладает ярчайшей индивидуальностью. Этого так не хватает некоторым современным, да и не очень современным прогрессивным рок-группам. Даже сравнения с Pink Floyd выглядят натянуто, потому что флойдовский саунд - принципиально иной, основанный на шумовых гитарных и электронных эффектах. Саунд же Arena - это кристальная чистота великолепных клавишных партий, красивый „правильный вокал“, без каких-либо намёков на психоделичность. И никакой импровизационности арт-рока и свободы в выборе инструментов! Только классика и порядок! Лишь гитарные соляки Джона Митчелла могут быть сопоставимы с гитарой Дэвида Гилмора – вот лишь только это роднит по музыке данные коллективы.
Что касается „The Seventh Degree Of Separation“, то можно сказать, что альбом получился не менее интересным, чем предыдущий „Pepper's Ghost“. Однако „Pepper's Ghost“ - это был совершенно уж „сказочно – театральный“ релиз, на котором Нолан начал воплощать своё желание создавать крупные музыкальные формы с действиями и увертюрами. В дальнейшем это желание он перенёс в создание уже упомянутых Caamora и Alchemy, оставив "Арену" всё же под знамёнами рок-музыки. И поэтому „The Seventh Degree Of Separation“ - это в каком-то плане „возвращение к корням“, то есть ближе к року. Безусловно, шедевры прошлых лет, такие как „Solomon“ или „The Butterfly Man“, слепят глаза своим совершенством, , дух захватывает от „Serenity“... но всё же новые песни не хуже! Маэстро Нолан напридумывал множество интересных решений клавишных партий. Особенно удачными и оригинальными мне показались таковые в „Echoes of The Fall“, которые даже слегка напоминают колдвэйвовое звучание. Великолепны „радужные картины“ в „Bed of Nails“. Конечно, красивейшие клавишные мотивы, напоминающие игру „призрака“ на покрытом пылью инструменте где-нибудь на чердаке в „Thief of Souls“. Самые мрачные рок-песни – это „Burning Dawn“ и „What If?“. Именно они великолепно спеты новым вокалистом Arena Полом Манци: его тембр более мощный и низкий, чем у предыдущего вокалиста. Остаётся порадоваться за его успех в рамках этой группы!
В итоге альбом удался. Его хочется слушать, и переслушивать, и даже перечитывать, потому что лирика альбома стала ещё более содержательной и философской, с вопросами вроде «а что ты будешь делать послезавтра, если завтра умрёшь?». Браво, Клайв — 10! |
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I'm suffocating – can't you hear me cry
A constant flow of faces on parade before my eyes
Can anybody hear me? So much to say
The secrets I have kept – stories from the good old days
Can anybody hear me? So much to say
The politics of people – and the games we choose to play
This is not a coma i am resting my eyes
Tired of the noise and scared of the lies
But for one night only i will captivate you all
With one last piece of magic... One last miracle
I'm suffocating – can't you hear me scream?
As you stab me in the arm in search of somewhere good to bleed
I'm suffocating – can't you hear my prayers?
A rain of gentle hands trying hard to show they care
I could fly so high and free – if my soul wasn't anchored to me
I've got one last showi have to do
And my powers of illusion will amaze and puzzle you .
Pull the rabbit from an old and battered hat
Cut the lady into pieces, just like that
I will mesmerize and dramatize and obfuscate
And I'll finish with undoubtedly the greatest e – the greatest escape!
Can anybody hear me? Am I hidden from your sight?
Did I suddenly expire; did I walk into the light?
Can anybody hear me? am I hidden from your sight?
Did you see me turn to stone, or go missing in the night?
Can anybody hear me? Can anybody hear me?
Did I suddenly expire; did i walk into the light?
Can anybody hear me? Can anybody hear me?
Have I turned into a statue, or gone missing in the night – can anybody hear me?
2. Rapture
I always wondered how my destiny would go
Taken by the ocean – abducted by a ufo
Caught in a field with a crowd of devotees
Waiting for the final judgement!
No repentance here – don't try to feed my fear
By now you should have learnt
I'll leave on my own terms!
I always wondered how my story would resolve
A strong defiant guesture – resolute and bold
Not lying here in shit – corrupted by disease
Waiting for the final judgement!
No repetance here – don't try to feed my fear
By now you should have learnt
I'll leave on my own fucking terms!
Don't tell me – what you think i should believe
Don't tell me – what you think i should believe
Don't you sow – those dark prophetic seeds
Watch them grow – into hysterical screams
No repentance here – don't try to feed my fear
(can you hear me – can anybody hear мe)
By now you should have learnj I'll leave on my own terms!
(can you hear me – can anybody hear me)
So now I'm ready to accept what comes
There is no rapture here so
I must take this final journey
I must walk alone
No repentance here – don't try to feed my fear
By now you should have learnt
I'll leave on my own terms!
3. One Last Au Revoir
Tapping the table fourteen times
Setting the cutlery down in line
Don't leave the house til the gas is checked
And checked and checked and checked and checked
Keeping those curtains tightly shut – or i'll be back to close them up
In the middle of the night middle of the night – just to sanitise my mind
Then i stop for a moment – time to question this life so
Where did i go wrong – i let this cruel obsession thrive
So here we are – just one last au revoir
I counted out the goodbyes and the fare thee wells so far
Keep the invisible rope as straight as a rope can ever be
If you walk around a lamp-post – then walk back to keep it free
Don't tie it up with people; you've got to hold them to the right
And never let the rope never let the rope – get too tangled or too tight
Then I stop for a moment – oh the freedom I have found
I'm back in control – these prison bars are melting down
So here we are – just one last au revoir
I counted out the goodbyes and the fare thee wells so far
So here we are – just one last au revoir
So here we are – just one last au revoir
I counted out the goodbyes and the fare thee wells so far
So here we are – just one last au revoir
I've thrown away the numbers; we were rivals from the start
So here we are – just one last au revoir
I'm free of all those bindings i just blew them apart!
Just one last au revoir – Just one last au Revoir
Just one last au revoir – just one last au Revoir
4. The Ghost Walks
This moment seemed so far away
A thousand long lost yesterdays
Floating down an endless stream
Of seconds, minutes, hours and weeks
We search for clues, we work we strive
To find a meaning in our lives
But when It's all been said and done
The end is the same for everyone
And yet as I cross this great divide
I finally see the other side
The sum of what i came to be
My genuine identity
But does it really matter now
Something we should care about?
Perhaps it has no meaning here
Perhaps it has no meaning here
5. Thief Of Souls
Gathered here – drowning in their
Angry tears – why do they not
Understand – Why do they not comprehend?
Torn from the world by some dark fate
Suddenly no one can hear what they say...
Cry for them – Sometimes death is not fair
Mourn for them – Sometimes death is not fair
Pity these creatures of twilight
Walking the earth and yet lost from its sight
Cry for them – Sometimes death is not fair
Mourn for them – Sometimes death is not fair
Prisoners of their unfulfilled ambitions for life
Nothing left but empty shells
Bitter shreds of living selves
Torn from the world by some dark fate
Suddenly no one can hear what they say...
Silent and grey
There they stay... watch them fade away... as the
Thief of souls... lets their hearts decay
Anchored to the earth they haunt us
Shackled by their rage they haunt us
There they stay... watch them fade away... as the
Thief of souls... lets their
Hearts decay
There they stay... watch them fade away...
Thief of Souls...
Thief of Souls
6. Close Your Eyes
There is no conjuror, or sleight or hand involved
There is no mystery to be solveo
This is a magic with a purity of form
This is a miracle
Close your eyes Close your eyes
Don't rely on what you see
You ve got to keep your faith in me... Now!
You cannot hide in the safety of the crowd
This is the moment when you step right now
You surely know this is no cheap and common trick
This took a lifetime to perfect
Close your eyes Close your eyes
Don't rely on what you see
You ve got to keep your faith in me... Now!
You 're flying now – and that's what matters
You re flying now – and that 's what matters
You ll never fall from safety with my arms around your waist
And that 's what matters – That 's what matters
Close your eyes – I said close your eyes
Don't rely on what you see
You ve got to trust in me. take the leap I've got you!
Close your eyes
I said close your eyes
Don't rely on what you see
You ve got to keep your faith in me
Faith in me – faith in me...
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
Close!
7. Echoes Of The Fall
Leaving here is hard to do
Every time i think of you
All my plans, my secret schemes
Failed to meet my hopes and dreams
You will never know – Just how far i had to go
You could never guess – And now It's far too late to confess...
Take a serious look at how this works
Do you stand in line or push till it hurts
There s an end design you can put to bed
It's easy It's simple – like everybody said
But the tick and the tock of the cosmic clock
It hammers in your head
The tick and the tock of the cosmic clock
It hammers in your head – hammers in your head
You could sneak it in like a back door pilot
Sell it as a classic or a late night high
Don't let the final plan go dead
It's easy, It's simple – like everybody said
I thought there would be more time
Plenty of time to go i thought there would be more time
But fate said no no no!
And the tick and the tock of the cosmic clock
It hammers in your head
The tick and the tock of the cosmic clock
It hammers in your head – hammers in your head
Leaving here is hard to do
Every time I think of you
All my plans, my secrets schemes
Failed to meet my hopes and dreams
You will never know – Just how far i had to go
You could never guess – And now it 's far too late to confess...
8. Bed Of Nails
Throw me on that bed of nails
Every spike another tale of – Thoughtless voices
All the roads they lead to here
What l made of all the years – Reckless choices
This is my show – It 's all that I know
The sum of my actions – A life as it flows
Don't read my mind – you'd hate what you find
Those short cut solutions • the trail of the cruel and the kino
See those nails
Every spike another tale of – Wrong intentions
All mistakes were mine to make
No one else is here to blame – self-deceptions
This is my show – it's all that i know
The sum of my actions – A life as it flows
Don't read my mind – you d hate what you find
Those short cut solutions – the trail of the cruel and the kind
Grieve for me... but don
Weep for me... but don't
Remember me... And i can live on forever
Remember me... And l can leave on in you
Baggage that l throw away
Clean the slate and start again – Now is my finest illusion
How will they remember me?
Was I everything I seemed – witness my finest illusion
Throw me on that bed of nails – Every spike another tale
Throw me on that bed of nails – Every spike another tale
Grieve for me... but don
Weep for me... but don't
Remember me... And i can live on forever
Remember me... And l can leave on in you
This is my show – it 's all that i know
The sum of my actions – A life as it flows
This is my show
9. What If?
What if the world had been different that day?
What if I'd chosen to stay?
What if you d stopped me from running away?
There s that twenty twenty hindsight – that keep us sane
I know what you'd say – sometimes other paths seem safer
We just drifted away
Am I for real or just something you made?
A man that your dreams would create
You should have known that the fiction would fade
There s that twenty twenty hindsight – that keep us sane
I know what you'd say – we were simply an illusion
We just drifted away
We could never have known
Where our futures were guiding us
We were never alone
Our defences were hiding us
Can you see what we could have been?
Did you ever believe? Could you believe?
Should I have tried to become this ideal?
Could I have made this fantasy real?
I know what you'd say
We were always too afraid
We just drifted away
We could never have known
Were our futures were guiding us
We were never alone
Our defences were hiding us
Can you see what we could have been?
Did you ever believe?
Could you see there was truth in me?
We were almost there...
We were never alone
Our defenses were hiding us
Can you see what we could have been?
Did you ever believe?
Could you see there was truth in me?
We were almost there...
10. Trebuchet
Now I pass the point of no return there is no way back
Take the choice embrace this place don't harbour needs to look back
This is me here... let it all go... Slung like a rock through the layers now
This is me here... Falling away... Got to let go of the past now!
There are symbols in the silence colours in the darkness
Now I know what i have always known but I was sightless
Look at it all... Trappings of life... Soon they will pass from my memory
Am I so sure? Can I let go? Do I exist if I'm set free?
No blanket pictures – no custom cocktails
Let go the creatures – houses and hotels
Time to go and walk into the light
Time to go and walk into the light
No more possessions – leaving behind them
All those confessions – need not deny them
Time to go and walk into the light
Time to go and walk into the light
Now I pass the point of no return
Now I pass the point of no return
Naked and alone – Am I the only one?
Fading from the world – Is this where I begun?
Turn around and look – Resist the urge to run
Fading from the world – is this where I begun?
Naked and alone Am I the only one?
Fading from the world – is this where I begun?
Fall into a state – Of tranquil calm acceptance
Faвing from the world is this where I begun?
11. Burning Down
So this house is now on fire. Let me warm myself
The flames no longer burn me. There's no danger to my health
I can see the falling cinders, making ghosts upon the ground
This place is the story of my life, and I see it burning down!
Not much time left now, before my final bow
I'll let the fires rage, so I can clear the stage
I need to purify if I am going to rise
Into a different place – into a different state
This place is the story of my life
And I see it burning down
Not mucij time left now before my final bow
So I must clear my head on any doubt or dread
I need to sanitise if I am going to rise
Into a different place – into a different state
All signs are gone now of my previous existence
All signs are gone now of my relevance significance of worth
When this fire is truly over, there is nothing to be found
This place is the story of my life
And I see it burning down
All signs are gone now of my previous existence
All signs are gone now of my relevance significance of worth
All signs are gone now of my tedious existence
All signs are gone now of my innocence my childhood or my birth
All signs are gone now of my tedious existence
All signs are gone now of my presence here or consequence on earth
12. Catching The Bullet
A last act of compassion as this old world disappears
A message to a loved one – a warning to colleagues or peers
Standing perhaps at the end of the bed or floating through your dreams
It's true I will be long departed before you decipher what it means
Let me go now my friend let me go
There are still so many things i would like you to know
There s no pain now my friend there s no pain
Be sure we will meet again
A last act of kindness and decency now as this world disappears
May get lost in a valley of sorrow or drowned in a ocean of tears
A visit like this may be too much for sanity's grasp – the need to deny
But the chance i can feel is too tempting to miss and i know i must try
Time to go now my friend time to be gone
Thanks for being there – being there for so long
I am safe now my friend I am safe
Be sure we'll meet again
This is me signing off
This is me signing out
This is me signing off
This is me signing out
Just when you thought I was gone
And the trick was complete
l return to bring this curtain down
As the audience will rise as one to their feet
13. The Tinder Box
It all began with a single spark
The universe the world and me
That spark – it's still there, the source of living things
The source of this eternity
I saw the little people working there
In the echoes and the chambers of my mind
And i saw the lantern man as he stood so still
And the child knew this gentle soul – his kindness
The light went on – and he was gone
But the meaning – the meaning still remained
Like the fading away of a sweet familiar taste
Like the cleasing of the cool summer rain
I was a child then – I never understood
I was a child then – but I knew more than I should
We are innocent – we are ignorant
We are a spark from the tinderbox
The element – the miracle
I had no time for the hand on my shoulder
I had no time for the voices in my head
I didn't even notice when the room grew even colder
This was no sleight of hand this was no silver thread
If there's magic in this show, it is greater than we think
They tried to tell me once, to decide what I should think
I am free now
I am free
With age brings a blindness of the spirit and the soul
If only you were here now I could finally tell you
I know I know!
We are children – We could never understand
We are dancers, we are actors we are players in the sand
We are children – We could never understand
We are part of this arena; we are part of this band
We're a spark from the tinderbox
We're a spark from the tinderbox