Post Reply - The Great Collection Rediscovery

Album: The Final Experiment

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 149 (24 Tracks - 15 + 9 Bonus)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: The very first Ayreon album has some things about it that might cause fans who came along later to dismiss it. Arjen Lucassen wasn't a known name back then, so we don't have the all star cast that modern Ayreon albums attract - that said he did get some people from reasonable notable bands to lend him their voices on this record. Apparently most of them did it for free too. Vocalists are tied to a particular character on this one, like on later albums, so it feels less like a proper rock opera. It's certainly not as polished as his later work. But it remains one of my favourite Arjen Lucassen releases. I still remember when I first bought this and how I felt when it arrived. It wasn't the first Ayreon album I bought, that was Into the Electric Castle, which remains my favourite album to this day, but it was the first time I recall feeling like I was holding a piece of musical history - yet it was by an artist that absolutely no one I spoke to in real life had even heard of. Although it is not my favourite by Ayreon, I still consider this album worthy of classic status. Like Follow the Blind above, I find it a real shame that the MMA average sells it short at barely scraping 3.5 stars. Philistines. 

New Rating: No Change.