01011001
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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01011001
- Artist: Ayreon
- Rating:
- Release Date: January 29, 2008
- Total Time: 102:07
- Type: Lyrics are included with the album
- Genre: Rock
Review
With Ayreon, Dutch multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen has built a career around massive prog metal opuses with hordes of guest vocalists. Basically, anybody in metal who can hold a tune has sung for Ayreon at some point. 01011001 features Anneke Van Giersbergen (ex-the Gathering), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia), Floor Jansen (After Forever), Tom Englund (Evergrey), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Simone Simons (Epica), Ty Tabor (King's X), and Daniel Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation), among many others. These singers are the focal points of their bands, but in Ayreon, they're merely characters in Lucassen's rock operas. 01011001 is a sprawling two-disc set that one critic called "the longest CD ever made." Indeed, the album spans 100 minutes, and feels like 100 years. It's a perfect fit for the Inside/Out label -- pristine production, byzantine songs that feel like full albums, hi-tech synths that wish they were guitars. Lucassen really, really likes his synths; in "Waking Dreams," he entirely forgoes bass in favor of a percolating ostinato that suggests a beefier Kraftwerk. Electronics also pervade the percussion; "Beneath the Waves" is as if Alan Parsons covered the Beastie Boys' "So What'cha Want." Ray gun synths, operatic vocals, fake and real strings, and even Celtic melodies adorn this sonic mansion. Its ambition would be laughable if the record didn't actually fulfill it often. Admittedly, such fulfillment was purchased at Guitar Center (or its Dutch equivalent); the record is most touching when it strips down to acoustic guitar on the gorgeously compact "Web of Lies." These two discs, subtitled Planet Y and Earth, are about humanity's disconnect with itself and destruction of the planet. But that's really not important. Music this over the top almost defies criticism. Reviewing it is like reviewing the world's tallest building. It doesn't care; it just goes on and on. ~ Cosmo Lee, Rovi| 010 (1999 Album by Machine) | |
| 01011001 [Bonus Tracks] (2008 Album by Ayreon) |
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01011001
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| 01011001 | |||||
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| Studio album by Ayreon | |||||
| Released | 25 January 2008 | ||||
| Recorded | 2007 | ||||
| Genre | Rock opera, symphonic metal, progressive metal, progressive rock | ||||
| Length | 1:42:16 | ||||
| Label | InsideOut | ||||
| Producer | Arjen Lucassen | ||||
| Ayreon chronology | |||||
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| Arjen Anthony Lucassen chronology | |||||
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01011001 is the seventh studio album by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's long-running Ayreon project. "01011001" is the binary representation of the ASCII value of the letter Y.
Seventeen singers in total (including Lucassen himself) contributed to the album.[1] Of these, only Anneke van Giersbergen, Floor Jansen, and Arjen himself have sung on previous Ayreon albums: Anneke on Into the Electric Castle, Floor singing backing vocals on The Dream Sequencer, and Arjen on every Ayreon album, except Actual Fantasy and Flight of the Migrator.
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Contents
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Critical reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |   [2] |
| Allmusic |  [3] |
| Dangerdog.com | [4] |
| Melodic.net | [5] |
| Metal Storm |   [6] |
| Metal Storm (2) |  [7] |
| Record Collector | [8] |
Allmusic reviewer Cosmo Lee praised the album, saying that it has "pristine production [and] byzantine songs that feel like full albums."[3] He went on to say that "Music this over the top almost defies criticism. Reviewing it is like reviewing the world's tallest building. It doesn't care; it just goes on and on."[3] Exclaim's Laura Wiebe Taylor felt that the album had some great songs, such as "Liquid Eternity" and "E=mc2," but that some of the other songs were weaker, including "Newborn Race" and "Web of Lies."[9] She concluded her review by saying that "ultimately, 01011001 is a hard rock extravaganza."[9]
Chad Bower, in his review for About.com, said that 01011001 "has something for everyone," and that the album is "a musical tour de force that takes the listener on a musical journey with an interesting storyline and very well-written songs."[2] Record Collector's Tim Jones noted the differing styles of the album's songs, saying that "The Truth is in Here" is similar to the music of Blackmore's Night, that "River of Time" is reminiscent of Jethro Tull, and that "Beneath the Waves" reminded him of Pink Floyd.[8]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Arjen Anthony Lucassen, except Anneke van Giersbergen who wrote her own vocal melodies of tracks 1 (disc 1) and 2 (disc 2), and Jonas Renkse who wrote his own vocal melodies on tracks 1 (disc 1), 2, 4 and 7 (disc 2).
| CD 1 – "Y" | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Age of Shadows" (including "We are Forever") | 10:47 | |||||||
| 2. | "Comatose" | 4:26 | |||||||
| 3. | "Liquid Eternity" | 8:10 | |||||||
| 4. | "Connect the Dots" | 4:13 | |||||||
| 5. | "Beneath the Waves" (I. "Beneath the Waves" / II. "Face the Facts" / III. "But a Memory..." / IV. "World Without Walls" / V. "Reality Bleeds") | 8:26 | |||||||
| 6. | "Newborn Race" (I. "The Incentive" / II. "The Vision" / III. "The Procedure" / IV. "Another Life" / V. "Newborn Race" / VI. "The Conclusion") | 7:49 | |||||||
| 7. | "Ride the Comet" | 3:29 | |||||||
| 8. | "Web of Lies" | 2:50 | |||||||
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Total length:
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50:13 | ||||||||
| CD 2 – "Earth" | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "The Fifth Extinction" (I. "Glimmer of Hope" / II. "World of Tomorrow Dreams" / III. "Collision Course" / IV. "From the Ashes" / V. "Glimmer of Hope (reprise)") | 10:29 | |||||||
| 2. | "Waking Dreams" | 6:31 | |||||||
| 3. | "The Truth is in Here" | 5:12 | |||||||
| 4. | "Unnatural Selection" | 7:15 | |||||||
| 5. | "River of Time" | 4:24 | |||||||
| 6. | "E=mc2" | 5:50 | |||||||
| 7. | "The Sixth Extinction" (I. "Echoes on the Wind" / II. "Radioactive Grave" / III. "2085" / IV. "To the Planet of Red" / V. "Spirit on the Wind" / VI. "Complete the Circle") | 12:18 | |||||||
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Total length:
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52:02 | ||||||||
Personnel
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Charts
| Chart | Peak position[10] |
|---|---|
| Dutch Album Chart | 2 |
| French Albums Chart | 90 |
| German Albums Chart | 18 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 54 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 85 |
References
- ^ Official release-note
- ^ a b Bowar, Chad. "Ayreon – 01011001". About.com. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. http://heavymetal.about.com/od/cdreviews/fr/ayreon01011001.htm. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
- ^ a b c Lee, Cosmo. 01011001 at Allmusic. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
- ^ "DangerDog.com review". http://www.dangerdog.com/reviews_2008/ayreon-01011001.php. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
- ^ Roth, Kaj. "Ayreon – 01011001 Review". Melodic.net. Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. http://melodic.net/?page=review&id=6474. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
- ^ "Ayreon – 01011001". http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=5197. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
- ^ "Ayreon – 01011001". http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=5117. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
- ^ a b Jones, Tim (February 2008). "Ayreon – 01011001". Record Collector (346). ISSN 0261-250X. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. http://www.recordcollectormag.com/reviews/review-detail/2029. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
- ^ a b Wiebe Taylor, Laura (February 2008). "Ayreon 01011001". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. http://exclaim.ca/Reviews/Metal/ayreon-01011001. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
- ^ "AYREON – 01011001 (ALBUM)". ultratop.be. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. http://www.ultratop.be/en/showitem.asp?interpret=Ayreon&titel=01011001&cat=a. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
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Mentioned in
01011001 [CD/DVD]
(2008 Album by Ayreon)
01011001 [Deluxe Edition]
(2008 Album by Ayreon)
01011001 [Bonus Tracks]
(2008 Album by Ayreon)
01011001
(2008 Album by Ayreon)
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