It's the message
A. Dudley | Aichi Japan | 02/12/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is all about the message. The madman, The lighthouse keeper. I know it all sounds strange and all that, but listen to the words. It may just give you hope!"
Great Thematic Rock Opera
Mark Lee | Woodruff, UT USA | 04/17/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Okay, it's not *actually* an opera, but this classic alternative rock album from the late '70s is a single story told through some exceptional orchestrated rock. I owned a vinyl LP copy back in the day, wore out a cassette copy, and recently rediscovered the CD.
The story of "Hope" is an analogy to the human experience on earth told through a series of songs about those no-long-existing beings on the planet "second from the sun." One can enjoy the music at several levels; as stand-alone classic alternative rock, excellently produced (a la Alan Parsons Project before they were around), or one can dig deeper and get into the message and clever writing within the thematic message of "Hope."
My favorites include the Politzanian national anthem embedded in "Politzania," "The Loneliest of Creatures," a wonderful space-choral piece, "Around the Universe in 80 Days..." Pretty much the whole thing. I rarely listen to bits of this album and tend to prefer it on long drives when I can enjoy the whole thing."