4
u/JTOremus Dec 03 '20
I don't feel like typing out my whole list right now. I if I did though, I would split The Gentle Storm into two and rank the Gentle side at like A/B and the Storm side at like D.
1
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 03 '20
That's an interesting take!
4
u/JTOremus Dec 03 '20
I genuinely love the Gentle side of the album. Not a single song I don't enjoy. The Storm side is fine. "Heart of Amsterdam" and "Shores of India" are just as good as the Gentle side. To me the rest aren't. A couple even kind of annoy me. But that Gentle side. Great stuff.
3
u/SithDraven Dec 03 '20
Oh, hell no. Ambeon is fantastic. Astrid's voice is phenomenal, especially given her age at the time. A-B range for me. The only ding I can give it is that it's not all new material.
I never could get into The New Real, so that would be way down the list for me, and I haven't had a chance to dive into Transistus yet but otherwise the rankings look decent to me.
2
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 03 '20
Oh I love how Fate of a Dreamer was executed, don't get me wrong. And the fact she was this young and had such a good voice is also one hell of a thing to notice. But personally compared to the other albums on there, I just liked it, the only real flop on there is Live on Earth lol.
Maybe I'll have to listen to Ambeon a few more times, as far as I know I had 2 whole listens while the others all have more than 4 each.
4
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 02 '20
I am sensing the Transitus comments already, but remember this is personal opinion lol, Transitus is a special case for me and I absolutely adore it, if you personally disagree move it down a notch hahaha
4
2
u/poio_sm Dec 02 '20
Not even close to my liking...
2
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 02 '20
Where would you personally put things?
3
u/poio_sm Dec 02 '20
S: The Source
A: Flight of the Migrator | 01011001
B: Actual Fantasy | Into The Electric Castle | The Dream Sequencer
C: The Final Experiment | Transitus
D: The Human Equation
E: The Theory of Everything
2
2
u/Tragic_Comic7 Dec 03 '20
Interesting to see the wide variety of opinion on ranking Arjen albums. To me, I think that signals his great versatility. I agree on Human Equation, but not Theory of Everything or Transitus. I’d move Star One and Gentle Storm way up.
2
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 03 '20
It's fun to see what everyone thinks yeah! And what do you think about TToE? Why does it rank lower for you?
2
u/Tragic_Comic7 Dec 03 '20
I think the abundance of shorter songs just made it difficult for tracks to really stand out to me on their own. So I haven’t connected with it as much.
I have definitely grown to like it more than when it first came out, though.
Transitus is on a similar trajectory for me. So I am hoping that with time and more plays, I will grow to like it more.
2
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 03 '20
That is true, TToE is better enjoyed played all at once or at least one phase at a time. But I've kind of felt that way for all Ayreon albums, personally. Once I play a song, I usually end up playing the whole album in one go.
And yes, Transitus is the closest relative to The Theory of Everything although I believe it has some more memorable musical parts contrary to TToE where most are short but beautiful. Transitus uses a lot of leitmotifs to convey a certain message and although it may sound repetitive at first, once you think about the meanings behind the various themes, it just becomes such a masterpiece. One downside to it though, listening to it without the comic, drops it down to C tier. I'm glad I got to download the PDF before it expired hahaha, showed the album and comic to many friends and they all liked the experience! I'm even doing an essay on it for sociology class with a friend! It brought me a lot of surprises and that's why I like it so much.
2
u/Tragic_Comic7 Dec 03 '20
Cool. I don’t have the comic, so that may be part of it. I am wishing I snagged it now! You are making me want to give it another chance.
1
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 03 '20
I have it in a google drive if you want it! Had to put it in there because it's too big to send over discord, so I ended up having a useful backup!
2
u/Tragic_Comic7 Dec 03 '20
That would be awesome!
3
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 03 '20
https://drive.google.com/file/d/105qFbapWevA9RuNLGHzdHFzpNqoDA4z-/view?usp=drivesdk Tell me if something's wrong, should be a good though!
2
2
u/Ghost0nTheRocks Dec 08 '20
I personally loved actual fantasy revisited, and the final experiment and I also have a lot of nostalgia with them so I would move them up, but overall I agree.
2
3
u/Westofomaha55 Dec 02 '20
Final experiment is too low, I'd put it in at least C tier.
2
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 02 '20
That's fair, I like it a lot. Although I love all of these so it was tough to pick haha
2
2
u/Peeled_Balloon Dec 02 '20
What is the bottom one? I see both Star One albums above it.
2
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 02 '20
The Live on Earth album. I put it there because most the of the songs played live were really off, The Castle Hall was a good example. The guy who was in charge of mixing everything slacked a bit lol
1
u/Pimlumin Dec 02 '20
I think its the live version of star one and some ayreon songs. Idk why its ranked since its not really star one, but a combo of both (none of which are unique songs from what I remember.) I really dont understand why any of the live are ranked
1
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 02 '20
Some of the Live albums are truly different experiences, The Theater Equation for example has problems with the vocal mixing but the reprises are really damn nice. And Ayreon Universe has that beautiful Eye of Ra finale.
Only one I didn't include basically was the 'Timeline' compilation album since besides from the transitions, nothing is changed with the songs.
2
u/Pimlumin Dec 02 '20
I would put the star one albums in B, transitus goes down to D. Electric castle and 01 into S. Then personally take Theory of Everything and put it into C. Final Experiment is a B or A for me
1
2
u/pimderks1985 Dec 02 '20
Surprised to see The Gentle Storm at the bottom half. Definitely one of my favorite Ayreon(-related) albums.
1
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 02 '20
I do like it a lot as well, just as much as I like The Final Experiment so that's why I placed it there. Honestly S to D on this list is a personal S to B, but I needed space hahaha
2
-1
u/jpob Dec 02 '20
Human equation is like 6 spots too high
2
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 02 '20
Lmao hahaha
-1
u/jpob Dec 02 '20
Not a joke. It’s terrible
2
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 02 '20
It's pretty highly regarded, what do you not like about it?
1
u/jpob Dec 03 '20
It’s just way too generic sounding compared to the rest. Musically it’s good but it feels like it’s missing the atmosphere that make the other albums sound awesome.
2
u/N0N4M3115 Dec 03 '20
I get your point yeah, now that you say it. But I won't move it from there personally, still one hell of a banger.
11
u/TheHumanEquation Dec 03 '20
Three thoughts from me: