By-Tor.com

Slaine mac Roth · Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1295 Location: Mansfield, (UK)

A thought struck me in my insomnia disturbed night.

I was thinking about how dark and bleak and, basically, dystopian GUP is. Is it coincedental that the album came out in 1984 or did Neil have George Orwell's dystopian vision of the fututre in his mind while writing the lyrics?
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'Do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say it will not become a dragon?'

Sir Myghin · Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 9148 Location: Ontario, Canada

whats a dystopian?

Slaine mac Roth · Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1295 Location: Mansfield, (UK)

A dystopia is opposite to a utopia. Generally, in Science-Fiction terms, a Utopian future is one under the heel of a rigidly repressive totalitarian state (rather like the ones in Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Running man, Brave New World and Anthem.)
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'Do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say it will not become a dragon?'

Sir Myghin · Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 9148 Location: Ontario, Canada

hmm but not all them are futuristic, only like 3 or 2... the album is quite great though

D'Anconia · Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 411 Location: Beaverton, OR

*Lifesonite · Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 7:20 am Post subject:

So is the only difference between a utopia and dystopia the fact that you don't starve in a utopia?

Confused

An ideally perfect society wouldn't have an oppressive government.
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I remember watching in amazement as Geddy sang, played bass, and played the keyboards with his feet. I thought, "Who is this guy???"
-- IFALT

awip2062 · Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 25518

You might starve in a utopia, as there can be those on the outside of the society. There were terrible conditions on the indian reservations in North America in Brave New World with starvation and poverty, addiction, et cetera.
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Onward and Upward!

Slaine mac Roth · Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1295 Location: Mansfield, (UK)

Sir Myghin · Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 9148 Location: Ontario, Canada

i have been owned lol

Xanadu · Joined: 14 Nov 2003 Posts: 7878 Location: My vortex.

I love this album, the lyrics can be appreciated on so many diff levels...and the music

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We're all mad here!

Fridge · Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 2:28 pm Post subject:

I agree. A very dark, haunting album with an almost brutally minimalist production. The whole effect is harsh, jarring to the senses, and works very well indeed.

It has some of Lerxts finest guitar moments on it, and I only wish he had the same deftness of touch and depth of feel in his rhythmic playing today.....

As for the lyrics, as the album title suggests, each song is exploring a different take or angle on coping under severe pressure or difficulty. So yes, I would concur with Slaine here re his Dystopian comments. The overall feel is one of some kind of post apocalyptic future with bleak prospects indeed.

Definitely a classic
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Ach, if Dougie was here he'd tell you himself....

ElfDude · Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:18 pm Post subject:

If I remember the Neil's text in the concert program correctly, a lot of the darkness of the album reflected their mood at the time. After letteing Terry Brown go, after having produced all their albums up to that point, they ran into problem after problem trying to hire a producer to do the next album. Deadlines approached... they continued to write, but not to begin recording the album. The whole thing became very stressful. At one point someone suggested the Grace Under Pressure title for the album. They decided that would be perfect... it fit their mood as well as the songs.

Also, we were at the height of the cold war back then, and a lot of albums of the era took inspiration from the uneasiness of the period. Pink Floyd's The Final Cut springs to mind as another example. I remember the Genesis song Land of Confusion being about that too. The press was telling us every day that we had enough weapons to blow up the planet six times over and that the US had a mad man at "the button" who just might do it. You can hear some influnce of that sort of thing in Distant Early Warning and other tracks.
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Mechanix · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 53 Location: New England

Everytime someone mentions how gloomy this album is, I think of the keyboards that start "Between the Wheels". That keyboard riff could frighten children.

It rules. Twisted Evil

3 travelers · Joined: 01 Jul 2004 Posts: 2271 Location: brooklyn, ny

Rocinante · Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 402 Location: I am

Bumpin this......album brought out of the cupboard after many years dormant. To think I called S&A melancholy, P/G is very very dark. I appreciate there are elements concerned with Yad Vashem etc. but the whole album ( apart from kid gloves ) is quite distressed to me. Not good pale