…or, “Within Temptation just made my head asplode.”
I’m sure this type of thread has been done before, but my search-fu is failing me at the moment.
What are those special moments in music that just clobber you in the gut and leave you twitching on the floor gasping for air for lack of a better way to express the level of Awesomesauce you just experienced?
I recently picked up Within Temptation’s latest live album, “An Acoustic Night at the Theatre.” On Track 6, they start performing “Somewhere,” which was a pretty acoustic ballad to begin with. Anyway, the first verse and chorus goes by, and it’s exactly what I had expected out of Sharon and crew – but then a different singer starts in on the second verse to wild applause. It’s a voice I recognize, and I haven’t read the liner notes yet, so I wasn’t expecting it – but it’s Anneke van Giersbergen from The Gathering! Halfway through the verse, they start harmonizing as the percussion and orchestra really kick in. The sudden shock of the guest singer combined with the phenomenal duet just … it just … flops on the floor gasping like a fish Yah, that. Two of my favorite Dutch metal singers on stage together; i can haz goosepimples plz.
youtube linky – vid is from the Black Symphony DVD, but the arrangement on the Theatre album is the same.
From Phantom of the Opera: Phatom of the Opera leading into Music of the Night.
Phatom is an intense song, ever building into a crescendo of music and then BAM hits with a soft love song as it transitions to Music of the Night, so passionate, so intense, so tender yet desperately consuming.
I loved it! I have not heard them before but will definately check out more of their tracks on YouTube. As I get older I can appreciate the musical talent of the gifted over the everyday stuff we have to listen to on the radio.
Have you ever seen the Phantom of The Opera live? I saw them in Boston at the Wang twice. It was so good I had to bring my kids. They played The CD all the time. I am a big Andrew Lloyd Webber fan and I encourage you to see Phantom live if you get the chance. Sarah Brightman has an exquisite voice and she literally makes the walls vibrate at the theater. I agree just beautiful!
Here is another one from Webber, Requiem. It is Hayley Westenra singing Pie Jesu. Enjoy!
Oh, yes. Once here in CT and last weekend at the Majestic in NYC. I’d go back in a heartbeat. When I saw it the first time I actually had to be out during those two songs, so last week was the first time I’d seen that part. I couldnt breath. It was the most passionate thing ever.
There’s plenty of them out there for me, but one of them has stood out since the very first time I ever heard it. From the The Wall Part 2, it’s the couple of notes heard at :54-:57 and again at 1:59-2:02. I don’t know why but I just melt every time I hear those few bars.
But like I said, there’s other entire songs out there that ‘slay’ me, or at least did slay me at one point in my life, but for some reason, those 3 seconds of that one song have always just stuck with me.
It’s been 40 some years since I first heard it, but the rooster blending into a guitar note in Good Morning on the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band still gets to me.
The chorus of “What Have You Done?” just flattens me every time. That’s what hooked me on Within Temptation.
Other moments—
The intro guitar line to “Wish You Were Here,” and the Live8 version from Pink Floyd;
Guitar solo[s] in the middle of “Hysteria” from Def Leppard;
All of “The Great Below” from Nine Inch Nails
While I’m on this symphonic metal kick, another moment that destroys me every time:
Nightwish - Ghost Love Score – between 7:40 to 7:59 is a recap of the opening thematic material augmented with fuller orchestration and doubled this time by the guitar. Every single time I hear it, it makes me want to, I dunno, take something epic and throw it with great force against something else epic. And then watch the world burn.
One of my favorite moments is the piano outro from Camarillo Brillo (album version)- love it!
A couple of others that immediately come to mind:
Springsteen’s New York City Serenade is full of them, but my favorite spot is where the acoustic guitar comes in and blends with the piano;
Meat Loaf’s For Crying Out Loud- again, lots of moments in this one, but I especially like the tiny pause where the piano stops and then the violins first enter.
The moment that does it for me is the pre-climactic note from Alfred Reed’s Russian Christmas Music. There’s just so much emotion poured into that one note that it gives me the chills more than any single moment out of Back or Beethoven.
(If you haven’t heard of Reed or this piece it’s understandable. I’ve searched for years for a professional recording of it, but it eluded me before the Internet. This is apparently one of the top pieces of Band music out there, but it doesn’t make any “charts”)
By the way, Persiful, “Phantom” is Pepper Mill’s all-time favorite, which she’s seen live several times. And we did see it live at the Wang center.
