Voyager should have been the closing track!
True. Gone are the days when an epic would be the closer, the climactic point to which an album climbs towards. It seems to be more of a cliche now to have an epic placed second-to-last, with a "comedown" song to close the album. BBT have done this on all their recent albums:
English Electric Full Power (to me and the band the definitive version of EE): East Coast Racer followed by Curator of Butterflies
Folklore: Brooklands followed by Telling the Bees
Grimspound: A Mead Hall in Winter followed by As the Crow Flies
And obviously GT does the same.
I guess you can toss on "Atlantic Cable" and "Endnotes" as well.
Cliche or not, I enjoy it. It's a sort of breather song to help calm the listener after such a big piece, and a way to reflect upon the album as a whole. And actually, I love "Endnotes" just as much as "Curator Of Butterflies" and "Telling The Bees". Three of my favorite BBT songs, actually.
And like I pointed out in one of my first reivew posts for Grand Tour, the end-run of "Ariel"/"Voyager"/"Homesong" is some of BBT's best, but the end-run of "Common Ground"/"Atlantic Cable"/"Endnotes" is about as good to me as well. Both have different strengths, but I love each three-song run on both albums.
Got my CD of Common Ground today. As much as the cover art is OK, the lighthouse picture in the booklet would've made a much nicer front cover.
Anyway, favourites early on are definitely Black with Ink and Headwaters.
"Black With Ink" is slowly becoming a favorite of mine on the album. Everytime I listen to it, it just gets better and better. And Rikard's playing on "Headwaters" is such a beautiful way to mark the halfway point of the album, and just the way he plays the theme that Greg wrote for "Endnotes" is just so... *chef's kiss* SO GOOD.
I've been spinning this album a lot. While it has some great moments, I still cringe with the opening track. Otherwise, it would have been a perfect album. Star of the album for me is NDV: superb drumming, great lead singing, and even better background vocals.
Nick is just amazing on the whole thing. He just gets better and better as a drummer. Just an example, the ending of Endnotes is sublime with these really subtle rolls at just the right moments.
Nick has been on a roll with BBT, and his solo album last year was a stand-out for me as well, especially after having been so long since his last solo album. He is quickly becoming a star in the band, and easily one of the most underrated musicians in prog and rock in general. Between his work in Spock's Beard, Big Big Train, solo stuff, and the Rewiring Genesis album, he's got a pretty insanely high caliber discography after 26 or so years, and he just keeps getting better and better!
-Marc.