Clone Live

[forgottenglory]

I've been listening to Clone today. That is such a great concept album. Everything is perfect! Somehow, it seems that Clone doesn't get the attention that it should as one of the best concept albums I've ever heard.

I think it would be a great idea if the band could organise a series of special concerts where they would play Clone in its entirety in the first part of the gig and then play songs from the remainder of their discography in the second part.

Who thinks it's a great idea and who thinks I'm taking my dream pills?

 

[Iris0367]

I think it's a great idea. Seeing a whole album performed live is always special and in my experience it makes you listen to it afresh. If it ever happens I hope it will be recorded or even filmed - would make a great DVD

 

[Graham_s]

brilliant idea! A release of everything Clone-related would be really good. I think Clone is my album of the month at the moment. It hasn't left my CD player and I think it may be melting a bit...

 

[Markoth]

I would rather have the long overdue remastered special edition of Clone. I wonder if that will ever happen?

 

[Fortune]

I never saw Clone as a concept album, per se. It has a few really good songs, some of which I'm dying to see live (such as Goodbye Mother Earth), but a whole show devoted to Clone isn't something that's on my wishlist. ^^ If they do that, please leave out Sunrise On Mars.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

I never saw Clone as a concept album, per se.

That's because you don't know the plot, here it is:
The story starts with the opening track on the album called "Freaks", where scientists discover they can clone humans from artificially created genes. Our protagonist's mother enters the story in "Angels", who decides to have a clone baby after a rather bad argument with her parents. In "The Latent Gene" the baby is formed, and quickly grows up to discover in "Lovelorn" that he is totally superior to everybody, resulting in loneliness, isolation, and lots of people not appreciating being told how stupid they all are. In "Change" he soon realises that only his creator can help him so he vows to go in search of him, resulting in a far more positive outlook and the realisation that actually "Life's too good".

Unfortunately the world around him isn't too good at all, so with the immortal cry "Goodbye Mother Earth" (post-ironic "Wounded Land" references notwithstanding) he jumps aboard "Voyager II" and heads off for the read planet, as previously depicted on the cover of "Extinct Instinct" (allegedly). On arrival at his destination, he realises that this was where he was supposed to be all along, meets up with his creator and they sit down together to watch "Sunrise on Mars", totally unaware that they were nothing more than the product of a bass player's over-active imagination.

(This is an extract from the Threshold fan club magazine "Devoted" Issue 3 - Winter 1998)


As for the rest, most of the songs are great in live versions, such as Freaks, Angels, Chance and The Latent Gene, while I'm definitely not fond of how they played Sunrise on Mars in Zoetermeer at the dvd show (it sounds quite, err, weak), but i DO guess they would bring some backing vocalists if they'd ever play the whole Clone live!

 

[forgottenglory]

Clone not a concept album!

they would bring some backing vocalists if they'd ever play the whole Clone live!

The Voyager II Choir!

If they do that, please leave out Sunrise On Mars.

That's the climax of the album...how can you possibly leave that out of the story. It's like going to the movie and not watching it till the end.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

The Voyager II Choir!

you got it, dude :Smug:

 

[BurningDownTheMiddle]

i like the idea but would be happy with just the latent gene

 

[Graham_s]

i DO guess they would bring some backing vocalists if they'd ever play the whole Clone live!

Having listened to the album a fair bit lately, I decided that I think a live performance of it would work really well with a small orchestral group doing some backing, but then woudl it make it more Symphony X than Threshold?

 

[forgottenglory]

Having listened to the album a fair bit lately, I decided that I think a live performance of it would work really well with a small orchestral group doing some backing, but then woudl it make it more Symphony X than Threshold?

I would prefer to have Clone played as on the album with just the backing vocalists - the Voyager II choir - no orchestrations which I feel would dilute the Clone that I cherish and like.

Furthermore it would probably be expensive for Threshold to have an orchestra. Remember that the Voyager II choir are some of the band members and their relatives - they did an incredibly fantastic job.

 

[Graham_s]

Remember that the Voyager II choir are some of the band members and their relatives - they did an incredibly fantastic job.

they did indeed! Listening again, I see what you mean about the dilution. I still think that it would work well on a couple of songs, perhaps voyager II and sunrise on mars. A live performance of clone with a choir would be really good. I think Threshold would do a much better job at it than Evergrey did with A Night To Remember. There's something about the choir parts on that live album that doesn't sound quite right to me.

 

[Defiance]

That'd be brilliant, really! (Hopefully the band will read this and actually consider it.)

 

[forgottenglory]

He realises that this was where he was supposed to be all along, meets up with his creator and they sit down together to watch "Sunrise on Mars", totally unaware that they were nothing more than the product of a bass player's over-active imagination.

This is intriguing...who is the Clone's creator? Is it an alien or is it God?

 

[LavagesOfTime]

This is intriguing...who is the Clone's creator? Is it an alien or is it God?

Sunrise On Mars's first verse says "Doctor found me just in time", so I guess the creator his him, not the product of FG's over-active imagination

 

[forgottenglory]

Sunrise On Mars's first verse says "Doctor found me just in time", so I guess the creator his him, not the product of FG's over-active imagination

Now that you mention it, it's quite obvious:the Doctor is his creator! However, does the clone really watch the sun rise on Mars or is it a metaphor for a spritual awakening? Lyrical evidence seems to point to this theory:

"smile pretend you're on a trip searching
for yourself connecting with your soul"

 

[LavagesOfTime]

Now that you mention it, it's quite obvious:the Doctor is his creator! However, does the clone really watch the sun rise on Mars or is it a metaphor for a spritual awakening? Lyrical evidence seems to point to this theory:

"smile pretend you're on a trip searching
for yourself connecting with your soul"

Intriguing, indeed, but - in a fit of pique - it is weird that they haven't got much time 'til sunrise on mars, if it is a spiritual awakening

Anyway, the serious answers is: probably both

 

[LavagesOfTime]

By the way, seeing people debating the meanings of the songs should be the authors' greatest satisfaction

 

[forgottenglory]

Intriguing, indeed, but - in a fit of pique - it is weird that they haven't got much time 'til sunrise on mars, if it is a spiritual awakening

Anyway, the serious answers is: probably both

The Doctor said to the clone that:

"he said my body mind and soul
had lost their true alignment"

So I think that the Doctor was referring to the alignment of the clone's body, mind and soul to the planets. The sun rising on Mars must have some significant astrological impact. When the Doctor said they didn't have much time till the sunrise on Mars, I think that he meant that the planets will align for an impending auspicious moment which would allow the clone to experience a spiritual awakening and find out who he really is.

I doubt that the physical journey was actually undertaken. On the surface the lyrics point to a physical voyage but upon closer analysis there are serious hints that his trip is spiritual.

The lyrics to Goodbye Mother Earth tends to confirm this:

"i'll turn my soul from the world and fly
it's time to say goodbye"

This flight is surely spiritual as opposed to the act of physically taking off the surface of the earth in a rocket ship.

 

[BurningDownTheMiddle]

At school for A level English Literature we were allowed a "free slot" - I picked a few maiden tracks (Run to the hills and 2 minutes were a couple) and then did a "literary criticsim" on them

How great it would have been to analyse the whole album, especially Latent Gene. You could probably write an essay on just "this cuckoos changing its spots"