Alan D
Group: Members
Posts: 3670
Joined: Aug. 2004 |
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Posted: Nov. 29 2006, 16:47 |
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Last weekend a small group of MVR devotees met in Tr3sLunas online after a long gap. There was a kind of magic around, that evening - rediscovering the thrill of 'being there' with old pals.
To tell the truth I haven't been listening to Mike much during recent months (nothing wrong - just taking a break), but the next day I was still haunted by the sights and sounds of the previous evening, so I blew the dust off the Tr3sLunas CD and popped it in the player. It hardly ever fails, this album - whisks me back there, fills my mind with so many images. I could feel a resurge of pleasure in listening to Mike again. The gap was a good idea, I thought.
The next day I spent a delightful hour with Tr3sLunas II (bless you, Brandon Blume), and the day after that, Return to The Origin. So I was pretty well soaked in Tr3sLunas after all that.
This morning, I decided on a complete change and played Amarok - the album that's been the source of a love/hate relationship for me ever since its release. I expected to find myself wincing in all the usual places, and end up dissatisfied. Now here's the rub. I didn't. I turned it up reasonably loud, and I think, for the first time ever, actually found it exciting in a lot of the places that previously had irritated me. I even found myself smiling a bit during the Margaret Thatcher interlude. (Now there's a first.)
I was a bit bemused to be honest. This wasn't what I'd expected. Coming straight from Tr3sLunas to Amarok, ... I mean, that doesn't seem like a very promising transition, does it?
Finally, this evening, I had the house to myself - so I put on Berlin 2000 and let the speakers off the reins. My goodness. That fantastic rhythm, that dazzling display of drums, surging, backing off, promising resolution, then delaying it, and at last releasing that tremendous, unbelievably powerful guitar solo..... I was making a meal at the time, but I just stopped and listened, doing nothing else, just feeling the power of the music. If ever there was a piece of music worthy of marking the millenium, this was it. I'm not entirely sure about the transition to the Beethoven in the last few minutes, but really, I have no conception of how anything could follow what had gone before - and the Beethoven does at least leave you on a high, upbeat note.
What struck me afterwards, when I'd recovered my equilibrium, was this: Tr3sLunas - Amarok - Berlin 2000. What a fantastic breadth of achievement they represent. What an immense variety of enrichment they offer. I'm still pretty awestruck.
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