Empire Of The Clouds

How good is Empire of the Clouds on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    24
I agree the orchestra mix is really weird. Especially the way it's panned at times. It's as if they weren't sure how to get the orchestra and rock band to coexist in the mix.
 
In the melodic 'scales' being played, it sounds like someone flubs a note or plays it twice at 08:17? I tried to give the benefit of the doubt and see if they deliberately slipped another note in there, but I don't hear it on any other similar parts of the song.

Also, at 8:51, it sounds like the guitar is 'taking a breath' - that is, if you were singing the notes, that's where you would pause to take a quick breath.

I wish I hadn't noticed these because I like the song a lot but I noticed myself tensing up at these parts so I decided to see if anyone else heard them that way.

Great album, all in, though.
 
I think the mix is kind of weitrd on the wnole album to be honest with you. But is could havd been better on this final song. On the other hand they did something similar in Paschendale which also sounds too fake. But I guess I can live with both songs.
 
About the Titanic fitting inside: no, it wouldn't have.

But that's not why the Titanic was mentioned, really - it's to paint the picture of the torturous demise of R101 on its maiden voyage - a direct parallel to the death of the Titanic.
 
Total volume of R101 : 156,018 m3
Total usable (internal) volume of RMS Titanic : 131,108 m3

Based on this quick google; "Fits inside" would mean that Titanic wouldn't fit into usable (carriage) volume of R101, but RMS Titanic as an object takes less spatial volume than R101. I don't believe that constructive elements of Titanic (eg hull and everything 'built on the deck') take 25 thousand square meters.
 
Consumer Of Souls said:
B= Bruce Dickinson
M= Mattias Reinholdsson

B= Oh, no, no, no, you mustn't get into, no! I was talking about this with the manager of Entombed, Dave Thorne, who's a huge Van der Graaf Generator fan and we were talking about how amazing some Van der Graaf Generator songs would sound if a metal band did them. It'd sound really f***ing heavy... I mean, can you imagine "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" done by a real prog metal band, it'd be amazing.

M= Or "Scorched Earth"...

B= Yeah, it's f***ing great. I might get there before them... [laughter] Peter Hammill was one of my childhood lyrical hero's but, you know, you say "Peter Hammill" to most people and they go; "Huh?"... And it's such a shame cause they had so much more to them, I think, than Genesis. They were a bunch of pansies compared to Van der Graaf, really...
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Check this out!
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http://www.curlysairships.com/
CURLY'S AIRSHIPS is an epic work of words and music about the R.101 airship disaster of 1930, written in a new form of narrative rock music called songstory.

This double CD involves eighteen featured performers, among whom are four of the original members of Van der Graaf Generator, including respected solo artist Peter Hammill and the composer of Curly’s Airships, Judge Smith. Also participating are singer Arthur Brown (of The Crazy World), Pete Brown (of Battered Ornaments and Piblokto), Paul Roberts (of The Stranglers), John Ellis, (formerly of The Vibrators and The Stranglers), plus a 1920’s dance band, a classical Tenor, an Indian music ensemble and several cathedral organs.

Six years in the making, Curly’s Airships is probably one of the largest and most ambitious single pieces of rock music ever recorded.
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Both Arthur Brown and Peter Hamill? Both Bruce heroes? That's no coincidence anymore for Bruce, co-intruiging him to also make music about this topic. I know he is passionate about aviation, but seriously, I can't imagine he must have thought of the idea himself, without being aware of his heroes having done "the same".

It doesn't make Empire less good, but it strikes me that he never mentioned this project.
 
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Zare said:
Total volume of R101 : 156,018 m3
Total usable (internal) volume of RMS Titanic : 131,108 m3

Based on this quick google; "Fits inside" would mean that Titanic wouldn't fit into usable (carriage) volume of R101, but RMS Titanic as an object takes less spatial volume than R101. I don't believe that constructive elements of Titanic (eg hull and everything 'built on the deck') take 25 thousand square meters.
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I googled this after first hearing it, too, and came to a similar conclusion.
 
Well, I consider Empire Of The Clouds to be a good song, no more, no less.

There's so much going on in 18 minutes and it never gets boring or feels lengthy.

The part I don't like whatsoever comes at 12:56 to 14:25, horrible cacophony.

This and the fact that the song lacks a chorus, a grand one, an epic one, leads me to rate the song as 8/10 only.
 
Cosmiceddie said:
Well, I consider Empire Of The Clouds to be a good song, no more, no less.

There's so much going on in 18 minutes and it never gets boring or feels lengthy.

The part I don't like whatsoever comes at 12:56 to 14:25, horrible cacophony.

This and the fact that the song lacks a chorus, a grand one, an epic one, leads me to rate the song as 8/10 only.
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That section is actually my favorite part of the song and possibly my favorite on the entire album. It's a great prog section, reminds me of Fates Warning.
 
Forostar said:
Perhaps it's just the length of the Titanic, fitting inside R101.
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We've been through this, it doesn't!

Caveman Ninja said:
For all you believers, I checked Wikipedia and it seems to me that the Titanic doesn't fit inside unless you want to cut 33.7 metres off the length of it, and another 10 metres off the height. Which seems like a bit of a pain in the bum. Maybe the line was going to be "The Titanic fits inside if you get a load of crushing machines and squish it all up into a little ball" but Steve didn't like the flow and took the second half of the lyric out.
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Cosmiceddie said:
Well, I consider Empire Of The Clouds to be a good song, no more, no less.

There's so much going on in 18 minutes and it never gets boring or feels lengthy.

The part I don't like whatsoever comes at 12:56 to 14:25, horrible cacophony.

This and the fact that the song lacks a chorus, a grand one, an epic one, leads me to rate the song as 8/10 only.
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Hallowed Be Thy Name doesn't have a chorus. And yet...

This is what makes The Number Of The Beast the classic 80's Maiden album:

Hallowed Be Thy Name 10/10
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Not that I'm saying you should change your rating on either of these songs (I fully agree Hallowed is a 10, and if there is a minute and a half of Empire you consider a horrible cacophony then an 8 sounds generous) but it feels like you're being a little inconsistent here.
 
Maybe he simply thinks Empire would benefit from a chorus whereas Hallowed doesn't need one?

Just like I like a cold beer when I eat dinner, but (usually) not for my breakfast :D
 
I've really tried to get into this song. I've tried to look at it into as positive a mindset as possible. But I just can't love this song.

This is way too inconsistent, and apart from suffering from FTGGOG-itis, it's just overly long. There are so many parts that could have been shaved down, or cut entirely, and nothing would have been lost. I can't say the same for other epics like Wild Wind or Rime,

Are there parts that I adore about this song? Of course. The piano at the beginning is beautiful, and I love the main gallop throughout the song, and I remember the first two guitar solos being excellent. But it just collapses under its own weight I feel.

Really hard to grade this one, I'm leaning between a B and B+.
 
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