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Rating: The second installment of the Vast saga by Jon Crosby is an open-hearted declaration of love towards melody. Every single note of this wonderful album is infused with it, even cleaner and more refined than the debut. Musically, the stronger sounds, products of industrial influences, are abandoned. Despite the names involved in the production of the album, including Alan Moulder (NIN) and David Botrill (Tool), the sounds become more polished, acoustic guitars take precedence over electric ones, which are limited to just a couple of tracks, and the tones generally become much more positive.
Anger has made way for joy. This is apparent even in the only track that could be considered in line with the '98 debut: “Free.” Here, the metallic power of the guitars is channeled into an anthem of freedom, which has little to do with some of the angry performances of the past. Powerful tones are still felt in “The Gates Of Rock'n'Roll,” “Song Without A Name” and partly in another symbolic track, the memorable “The Last One Alive,” where it's especially the acoustic atmospheres that lead the listener's ears into the fantastic world of “Music For People.” Pure and delicate melody is the absolute protagonist of the rest of the album: some songs are truly unforgettable: “I Don’t Have Anything,” “Blue,” “A Better Place,” “We Will Meet Again” and the concluding instrumental with ambient tones “Lady Of Dreams,” all pieces that leave a mark on the listener's heart and inevitably provoke a sense of inner peace. Here, all of Crosby's love for the '80s emerges: The Cure, Depeche Mode, U2, Joy Division, etc.
Two tracks stand somewhat apart from the tones of the album: “Land Of Shame,” which sounds like an electrified country song, and “My TV And You,” a little trip into the old Industrial neighborhood where Reznor and company lived, but with more of a bubblegum attitude, like chart-topping Manson. The formal elegance and intimacy of the melodies make this work an attempt at achieving a popular form of music that still presents as alternative. An attempt that could not have succeeded better, except that the world didn't quite notice it, allowing to pass unnoticed what is, indeed, a masterpiece, suitable even for an ear not well-tuned to less ordinary sounds.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Free (03:07)
It's time to laugh, it's time to cry
It's time to be what you need to be
It won't be long 'till they are gone
And we can be what we want to be
I'm gonna run from everything
Everything that holds me down
Nothing to win, nothing to lose
You can't tell me what to do anymore
You can't tell me what to do anymore
Now I'm free, now I'm free, now I'm free
I'm gonna run, I'm gonna win
I'm gonna do what I need to do
'cause it's time to be what I need to be
It's time to be what I need to be
You can't tell me what to do anymore
You can't tell me what to do anymore
Now I'm free, now I'm free, now I'm free
I want to hold air in my hand
Own the one thing you can't buy
Nothing to win, nothing to lose
It's time to be what I need to be
I'm gonna run from everythinq
Everything that holds me down
Nothing to win, nothing to lose
It's time to be what I need to be
You can't tell me what to do anymore
You can't tell me what to do anymore
You can't tell me what to do anymore
Now I'm free, now I'm free, now I'm free
03 I Don't Have Anything (03:46)
I stood on mountaintops
That overlooked the world
I can't find anything
Except a void inside
I went to places where
I could forget your name
I can't find anything
Except a void inside
I don't have anything
Because I don't have you
I don't have anything
What can I buy to make
The sky turn blue again
Where can I go to feel
Like I'm alive again
Show me the places
Where I can forget your name
I can't find anything
Except a void inside
I don't have anything
Because I don't have you
I don't have anything
I've been stripped of everything
Except some flesh that bleeds
And I've been robbed of everything
Except a soul, except a soul
That needs...you, sweet you
I don't have anything
Because I don't have you
I don't have anything
04 The Gates of Rock 'N Roll (03:24)
Take me to the places
You keep secret
Into a land of fur and diamonds
Here in my mind
'cause there's a girl I'd like to love
And there's some things I'd like to say
To who is gonna hear
The gates of rock n roll will never close on me
The gates of rock n roll will never close on me
Take me to your mansions
Way beyond the gates
I'll do anything to get there
You know I will
'cause there's a man I'd like to be
And there's some things I want to say
To who is gonna care
'cause there's a girl I'd like to love
And there's some things I'd like to say
To who is gonna hear
The gates of rock n roll will never close on me
The gates of rock n roll will never close on me
The gates of rock n roll will never close on me
The gates of rock n roll will never close on me
07 Land of Shame (03:26)
Looking out my window staring
At the things that I can't see
If I listen closely,
I can hear a dying dream
I'm wrapped up in the warmth
Of an unforgiving mind
I'm on vacation in another time
And we can thank the TV
We can thank the men of old
For this legacy of hate
Somehow they have sold
I'm wrapped up in the the warmth
Of an unforgiving game
I'm on vacation in the land of shame
When the pigs are flying
And it's freezing cold in hell
Maybe we'll forgive the children, baby
Only time can tell....yeah, yeah
If I listen closely
I can hear a dying dream
I'm on vacation in the land of shame
We'll be alone together
In a world we call our own
We'll be alone together
In a place that doesn't feel like home
I can hear a dying...
We'll be alone together
We'll leave this land of shame
08 A Better Place (03:23)
Days, how many days
Do I have until
I am set free to a better place
A place of love
A place of no tomorrow's
Release me from this need I have of me
Hours, how many hours
Do I have until
I am set free to a better place
A place of no misery
Release me from this need I have of me
When will you believe me
When I say these things to you
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all
When will you receive me
When I say these things to you
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all
I guess I have something to look forward to
I guess I have something to look forward to
When will you belive me
When I say these things to you
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all
When will you receive me
When I say these things to you
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all
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