Track Listings (15) - Disc #1| All Artists: Magellan Title: Hundred Year Flood Members Wishing: 0 Total Copies: 0 Label: Roadrunner Japan Release Date: 9/4/2002 Album Type: Import Genres: Pop, Rock Styles: Progressive, Progressive Rock Number of Discs: 1 SwapaCD Credits: 1 |
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Search - Magellan :: Hundred Year Flood
 | Magellan Hundred Year Flood Genres: Pop, Rock
Hundred Year Flood. The idea that this is the big one, the one generations will recurringly talk about, the one that swept away everything. Prodigious progressive legends Trent and Wayne Gardner and their family had someth... more » |
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Album Description Hundred Year Flood. The idea that this is the big one, the one generations will recurringly talk about, the one that swept away everything. Prodigious progressive legends Trent and Wayne Gardner and their family had something taken away as well: a brother and a son, swept away in the heat of battle back in Viet Nam. The story is here, as Hundred Year Flood's opening track 'The Great Goodnight'. It is graphic and emotionally crushing. It is touching and it resonates a sort of timeless spirit-swift knowledge. But the event, in itself, as rare and poignant as it is, is not the Hundred Year Flood. The term refers directly to the act of just talking about it, letting an amazing story such as this get told. 'The Great Goodnight' is unarguably the Magellan masterwerk thus far. It is a swelling, rumbling wellspring of emotion and it alone seals the record's legacy as a neo-progressive rock classic. Along with Wayne for the harrowing ride are guitarists Robert Berry and George Bellas, the former providing a rock bed of tasteful rhythm guitar, the latter, upon Mike Varney's recommendation, providing the flash and fire. Drumming on the entire album is courtesy of seasoned New York City session god Joe Franco who pounds his way into the sound picture with force and finesse. But back to 'The Great Goodnight'. The tale of Jack Elroy Gardner's death, at the age of 21, will not be expanded upon here. The lyrics tell all, and the heartbreaking photographs and news clippings tell even more. The first song "The Great Goodnight," which has 13 sections, begins with Gentle Giant like vocal harmonies and progresses into mellower piano/vocal section than the Deep Purple like organ kicks in and the rest is history. The great transitions of Pink Floyd like moments to Dream Theater like hard rocking sections to Genesis and Yes like classic prog rock are melodic and smooth making them enormous and not to mention his production is quite a superb. Intense leads, cool vocal melodies, odd time grooves gets the tune rockin' for over 30 minutes making this tune perhaps the best Magellan to this date. "Family Jewel" is a beautiful instrumental featuring great Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson on flute and Trent Gardner on keys. "Brother Keeper" is a cool rockin' tune with more fresh progressive stuff, heavy guitars, cool keys, rockin' grooves and nice changes. Similar CDs
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CD ReviewsThis disc is awesome! Jaime Patterson | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 10/16/2003 (5 out of 5 stars) "To put it simply, the first track ( of three ) is the best track. It clocks in at about 35 minutes at is brilliant all the way. Similar in concept to the way classical composers composed music, the track " The Great Goodnight" uses a lyrical and melodic theme in many different ways throughout the entire song.Most prog bands will just throw one complex riff after another and call it a song. (Dream Theater, Andromeda come instantly to mind). The lyric in " The Great Goodnight" is inspired by his late brother Jack who was killed in Vietnam. It's Trent recalling and dealing with the vague memories of his brother's death and the impact it had on his family that inspires the entire piece. It's very bold and even unprecendted for ANY band to do that. Trent composed numerous different and creative ways of repeating that same motif throughout the tune.It's truly inspiring and touching too. There's great vocals everywhere and new drummer Joe Franco gets great drum sounds ala Marillion's classic, "Clutching At Straws". The next track is called, " Family Jewels". This is a track of Ian Anderon ( Jethro Tull ) playing flute over a organ pedal tone. Then Trent comes in with some cool keyboard parts. Nothing dramatic here, just fun to listen to. The last track, despite it's title, has no connection to The Great Goodnight. The track is " Brother's Keeper " and is more commentary than anything. Grammy nominated bassist and stick player Tony Levin lays down some deep, funky bass on the track. It clocks in about 10 minutes and it's groovin' the whole time! Wait over a minute or so at the end of the tune and you'll hear Trent give a brief dedication to his lost brother Jack. You'll have to sit through silence to get there... Forget any idiotic nay sayers ( that dork from Minneapolis being a great example ) and buy this album. I don't regret for a minute buying my copy. Listen to the great compositions going on all you'll see what I mean. This disc is truly AWESOME!" A strange one this....some beautiful moments but overall jus NDMB | 01/11/2006 (2 out of 5 stars) "Ok let me explain my rating system - 1 is poor, 2 Average, 3 Good, 4 Excellent, 5 Exceptional. By giving this album 2 stars I consider it an average album much as I'd like to give it more. The concept behind the 13 part title suite is that it is an ode to Trent and Wayne Gardners older brother Jack who was killed in Vietnam at the age of 19. The final two tracks are an instrumental which is pretty nondescript to be honest and seems an excuse to get Ian Anderson involved in the project, which is fair enough as he is a hero of Trent Gardners and another long track called Brother's Keeper which really comes across as nothing more than a filler My issue with this album is that while Trent Gardner is a talented musician (his vocals can be hit and miss though), he seems intent on stuffing every single musical idea in his head into his songs with little vetting. Therefore, as with the 13 piece title track we see instances where there is little or no continuity or blending of the seperate pieces into a cohesive body. Some of the time changes and chord progressions can be very jarring particularly as they usually follow a riff or melody that is haunting or beautiful. It's almost as if Trent wrote these pieces with little intention of fusing them together into one suite (and I imagine continuity is what he IS going for here). If you compare this to Dream Theater's 'A Change of Seasons' you can see the difference. 'Change' may only have 5 seperate 'parts' to the suite but they blend beautifully. Perhaps Trent should have cut down the number of seperate parts and concentrated on 6 instead of 13? That said there are moments here where you will be blown away by the melody and vocal harmonies. Parts 1,2 & 8 would be three such examples. There is also no doubt that Magellan are outstanding Musicians. Both Trent and Wayne are exceptionally gifted and Wayne really shows his abilities here with some emotion drenched soloing. To sum up this was a disappointment for me. I am a Magellan fan (Impending Ascension is a great album - arguably their best) and was expecting more from this after the fairly good Test of Wills. A little more analysis from Trent Gardner is necessary though if Magellan are to rise from being a relative curio in the Prog Metal world to become something more meaningful." I got it and I get it! William B. | CA, USA | 07/28/2006 (5 out of 5 stars) "Most of this incredible disc is comprised of just one song, "The Great Goodnight". It clocks in at about 35 minutes and is THE most emotional piece Magellan has ever written.
The song is about a the Gardner Bros losing their oldest brother in the jungles of Vietnam. Normally Trent's lyrics are broader in scope and let the listener decide the meanings. In this case, "The Great Goodnight" is much more direct and to the point. And like I said very emotional. Each and every Magellan album is unique and sounds nothing like the one before it. This is a band that's not afraid to take chances and at least to my ears, avoids prog cliches like the plague. Personally I feel that's why some fans are so incredibly negative and insulting in their reviews. They obviously expected more of the same but what they got instead was completely unique! For you fans out there that think Magellan suck, just ask yourself why the following musicians have guested on Magellan albums or Trent Gardner's side projects like Explorer's Club, etc.: Ian Anderson, Terry Bozzio, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Steve Walsh, Steve Howe, James Labrie, Kerry Livgren, Billy Sheen, Virgil Donati, John Wetton, Marin Barre, James Murphy, D.C. Cooper, and a host of other world class musicians. All of these guys and more would agree to play with Trent if he sucked??? Somehow I doubt that very much! The bottom line here is that everyone is entitled to their own tastes and opinions and Magellan's music is no different. However if you don't like the music it's no reason to be personally insulting to the man that wrote it. A few reviews (outside of the most positive reviews) get down right hostile! Anyways, get this album and give it a few listens. With Magellan you'll notice something different each time and eventually you'll see just how original these guys are. Oh, and don't forget to check out Ian Anderson's flute solo on the song, "Family Jewels"!" |
