{"id":2387,"date":"2014-08-16T06:18:37","date_gmt":"2014-08-16T06:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/?p=2387"},"modified":"2015-09-10T16:35:27","modified_gmt":"2015-09-10T16:35:27","slug":"the-theory-of-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/the-theory-of-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Ayreon &#8211; The Theory of Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_2399\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2399\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/toe-cover-1-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Theory of Everything (2013)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/toe-cover-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/toe-cover-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/toe-cover-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/toe-cover-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/toe-cover-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/toe-cover-1-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/toe-cover-1.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2399\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayreon &#8211; The Theory of Everything (2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>You can find a selection of reviews of The Theory of Everything <a href=\"\/content\/ayreon-the-theory-of-everything-reviews\/\">here<\/a>.<br \/>\nThe Wikipedia entry for <em>The Theory of Everything<\/em> contains a wealth of information, and can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Theory_of_Everything_(Ayreon_album)\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In his latest (2013) release, The Theory of Everything, Arjen unveils a completely revamped conceptual universe for Ayreon. Gone are the complicated story lines featuring sci-fi, aliens and time-travel; in their place is a real-world drama set in the here and now.<\/p>\n<p>Wrapping up the original Ayreon saga with \u2018Epilogue: The Memory Remains\u2019, a track on the \u2018<a href=\"\/content\/timeline\/\">Timeline<\/a>\u2019 boxed set, Arjen took a creative hiatus from Ayreon to focus on other projects including <a href=\"\/content\/arjens-projects\/guilt-machine\/\">Guilt Machine<\/a>, <a href=\"\/content\/arjens-projects\/star-one\/\">Star One<\/a> and his solo record \u2018<a href=\"\/content\/lost-in-the-new-real\/\">Lost In New Real<\/a>\u2019. And yet something kept calling him back to Ayreon. Determined to revamp and revitalize the Ayreon universe, Arjen spent 18 months crafting a simpler yet by no means less extravagant new record. Summing up the new concept, Arjen explains, &#8220;it takes a look at the fine line between genius and madness, focussing on the conflicting desires of the characters and the consequences of following their passions. It&#8217;s not science fiction, but a human story set in a science context.&#8221; <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Theory of Everything features a stellar cast of guests, with members past and present of Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Kamelot, Genesis, Yes, ELP, Asia, Toehider, Grand Magus, and Ancient Bards (<a href=\"#guestlist\">see below<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>It is a double album<\/li>\n<li>It covers a completely new story line for the Ayreon universe<\/li>\n<li>It comprises four 20-plus minute &#8220;epics&#8221; divided into <a href=\"#tracklist\">42 separate tracks<\/a><\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a true Rock Opera with a dramatic, real-world storyline<\/li>\n<li>It is available in 4 editions, including an exclusive 5-disc limited edition, as well as 2-LP vinyl<\/li>\n<li>The DVD for the special and limited editions features <a href=\"#dvdcontent\">two and a half hours of behind the scenes content<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Official release date is 28 October, 2013<\/li>\n<li>The 5-disc Limited Edition is currently sold out in Arjen&#8217;s shop, but signed copies of the vinyl and Special Editions are are still available in <a href=\"http:\/\/store.arjenlucassen.com\" target=\"_blank\">Arjen&#8217;s webshop<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Arjen ran a series of &#8220;guess the musician&#8221; contests via Facebook. You can see all of the videos on his <a title=\"Arjen's youtube channel\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ArjenALucassen\/videos?tag_id=UCihO6uVisilu1mn4x2u-HOA.3.theory-of-everything&amp;view=46&amp;sort=dd&amp;shelf_index=0\" target=\"_blank\">Youtube channel<\/a>.<br \/>\n<a name=\"guestlist\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>GUEST MUSICIANS<\/h2>\n<h3>Vocalists<\/h3>\n<p>(in order of appearance)<br \/>\n<strong>JB<\/strong> <em>(Grand Magus)<\/em> as The Teacher<br \/>\n<strong>Sara Squadrani<\/strong> <em>(Ancient Bards)<\/em> as The Girl<br \/>\n<strong>Michael Mills<\/strong> <em>(Toehider)<\/em> as The Father<br \/>\n<strong>Cristina Scabbia<\/strong> <em>(Lacuna Coil)<\/em> as The Mother<br \/>\n<strong>Tommy Karevik<\/strong> <em>(Kamelot, Seventh Wonder)<\/em> as The Prodigy<br \/>\n<strong>Marco Hietala <\/strong> <em>(Nightwish, Tarot)<\/em> as The Rival<br \/>\n<strong>John Wetton<\/strong> <em>(Asia, King Crimson)<\/em> as The Psychiatrist<\/p>\n<h3>Instrumentalists<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Ed Warby<\/strong> <em>(Hail of Bullets, Gorefest)<\/em> \u2013 drums<br \/>\n<strong>Rick Wakeman<\/strong> <em>(Yes)<\/em> \u2013 keyboards<br \/>\n<strong>Keith Emerson<\/strong> <em>(Emerson Lake and Palmer)<\/em> \u2013 keyboards<br \/>\n<strong>Jordan Rudess<\/strong> <em>(Dream Theater)<\/em> \u2013 keyboards<br \/>\n<strong>Steve Hackett<\/strong> <em>(Genesis)<\/em> \u2013 lead guitar<br \/>\n<strong>Troy Donockley<\/strong> <em>(Nightwish)<\/em> \u2013 Whistles, Uilleann pipes<br \/>\n<strong>Ben Mathot<\/strong> <em>(Dis)<\/em> \u2013violin<br \/>\n<strong>Maaike Peterse<\/strong> <em>(Kingfisher Sky)<\/em> \u2013 cello<br \/>\n<strong>Jeroen Goossens<\/strong> <em>(Flairck)<\/em> \u2013 flute , bass flute, piccolo, bamboo flute and contrabass flute<br \/>\n<strong>Siddharta Barnhoorn<\/strong> \u2013 orchestrations<br \/>\n<strong>Michael Mills<\/strong> <em>(Toehider)<\/em> \u2013 Irish Bouzouki<br \/>\n<strong>Wilmer Waarbroek<\/strong> \u2013 backing vocals<br \/>\n<strong>Arjen Anthony Lucassen<\/strong> \u2013 electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, mandolin, analog synthesizers,<br \/>\nHammond, Solina Strings<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"tracklist\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Track Listing<\/h3>\n<p><strong>CD1 <\/strong><br \/>\nPHASE I: SINGULARITY (23:29)<br \/>\n1 Prologue: The Blackboard<br \/>\n2 The Theory of Everything part 1<br \/>\n3 Patterns<br \/>\n4 The Prodigy\u2019s World<br \/>\n5 The Teacher\u2019s Discovery<br \/>\n6 Love and Envy<br \/>\n7 Progressive Waves<br \/>\n8 The Gift<br \/>\n9 The Eleventh Dimension<br \/>\n10 Inertia<br \/>\n11 The Theory of Everything part 2<\/p>\n<p>PHASE II: SYMMETRY (21:31)<br \/>\n12 The Consultation<br \/>\n13 Diagnosis<br \/>\n14 The Argument 1<br \/>\n15The Rival\u2019s Dilemma<br \/>\n16 Surface Tension<br \/>\n17A Reason To Live<br \/>\n18 Potential<br \/>\n19 Quantum Chaos<br \/>\n20 Dark Medicine<br \/>\n21 Alive!<br \/>\n22 The Prediction<\/p>\n<p><strong>CD2<\/strong><br \/>\nPHASE III: ENTANGLEMENT (22:34)<br \/>\n1 Fluctuations<br \/>\n2 Transformation<br \/>\n3 Collision<br \/>\n4 Side Effects<br \/>\n5 Frequency Modulation<br \/>\n6 Magnetism<br \/>\n7 Quid Pro Quo<br \/>\n8 String Theory<br \/>\n9 Fortune?<\/p>\n<p>PHASE IV: UNIFICATION (22:20)<br \/>\n10 Mirror Of Dreams<br \/>\n11 The Lighthouse<br \/>\n12 The Argument 2<br \/>\n13 The Parting<br \/>\n14 The Visitation<br \/>\n15 The Breakthrough<br \/>\n16 The Note<br \/>\n17 The Uncertainty Principle<br \/>\n18 Dark Energy<br \/>\n19 The Theory of Everything part 3<br \/>\n20 The Blackboard (reprise)<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"dvdcontent\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>DVD content<\/h3>\n<p>(special and limited editions only)<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Feature: The Making of <em>The Theory of Everything<\/em> (47:49)<\/li>\n<li>Full length interviews with Arjen, Cristina Scabbia, Tommy Karevik, JB, Sara Squadrani, Marco Hietala, Mike Mills, and Ed Warby (Total time 1:31:19)<\/li>\n<li>Time lapse clips of recording sessions (total time 12:56)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The artwork for the album cover (top of page) was painted by Belgian artist Jef Bertels, who has painted all of the Ayreon covers since <a title=\"Ayreon \u2013 Into the Electric Castle\" href=\"http:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/into-the-electric-castle\/\">Into the Electric Castle<\/a>. Additional artwork for the album booklet is by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.midnight-artwork.com\" target=\"_blank\">Christophe Dessaigne<\/a>, who also designed the Star One &#8220;<a title=\"Star One \u2013 Victims of the Modern Age\" href=\"http:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/victims-of-the-modern-age\/\">Victims of the Modern Age<\/a>&#8221; and Guilt Machine &#8220;<a title=\"Guilt Machine \u2013 On this Perfect Day\" href=\"http:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/on-this-perfect-day\/\">On this Perfect Day<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can find a selection of reviews of The Theory of Everything here. The Wikipedia entry for The Theory of Everything contains a wealth of information, and can be found here In his latest (2013) release, The Theory of Everything, Arjen unveils a completely revamped conceptual universe for Ayreon. Gone are the complicated story lines [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"blackboxtitle","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-2387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ayreon-albums","tag-blackboxtitle","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2387"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3187,"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387\/revisions\/3187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arjenlucassen.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}