I’ve no words on Stage 6 itself (as you yourself indicate, your own unfailing eloquence notwithstanding, what words are there?); however, I was wondering whether you had any views on the retrospective “outtakes” album Everywhere, an empty bliss, simultaneously released by Kirby as a limited-time bonus.
No i don’t – at least, not yet. i listened to it a few weeks back (around the same time as i first heard Stage 6) but can’t honestly claim i took it in properly, as i quickly realised i didn’t want the distraction from the ongoing journey through EATEOT, and so i could feel myself actively ‘resisting’ engaging with it. And that’s why i didn’t mention it in my Stage 6 article, both to keep things focused on the cycle and because at this stage i don’t have a meaningful opinion about it. But i’ll definitely be returning to it in due course.
Phil dB
6 years ago
Interesting review. The endtune of “Place In The World Fades Away” is “Friends Past Reunited” (Selected Memories from the Haunted Ballroom track 14 2:00 and also A Stairway To The Stars track 13 4:47).
Kind regards.
Thanks for the comment Phil – i noticed that, and i think the connection – considering the title of that track, ‘Friends Past Reunited’ – just makes the conclusion of the cycle all the more beautifully poignant.
“all the more beautifully poignant”: no better words.
I imagined the person had finally passed over (during the silence) and then (in “Friends”) was reunited with his loved ones.
But: the track is even more distorted than the originals, where I would have expected clarity in afterlife (what is depicted in NDE’s). Maybe we should ask Mr. Kirby himself? (very likable person by the way: I noticed the most unique artists like László Hortobágyi,Cheb I Sabbah, Kirby to be modest and accessible).
If I may ask, what do you think 5:4?
Regarding the ending, i think the words i used in my article remain my best way to articulate it: “a defeat, a consummation and sheer transcendence”. That being said, something i’ve been considering is that the ending exhibits real immediacy – you and i, and i suspect most others, will interpret it in a pretty similar way – which is a world away (in every sense) from the impossible fug that the music has become in the final three stages. That immediacy therefore becomes a moment of complete liberation and clarity, both for the work itself and for us as we listen to it. All of which reinforces further what a brilliant way it is to end the cycle.
The Boomkat blurb (which Kirby certainly endorses, and may even write himself) talks about “a final coda that breaks the fourth wall”, presumably referring to the Friends Past Reunited passage, so perhaps it marks a move away from the first person, and is meant to be collectively retrospective for all Kirby’s listeners in some way (funereal?).
Ah, well that makes sense, and reinforces further what i said about the immediacy of that ending, i.e. the way it enables us collectively to engage with it in essentially the same way.
Incidentally, i’ve pretty much avoided reading anything and everything that Kirby – directly in his mailouts and indirectly via Boomkat – has said about each stage of the cycle, as i wanted to approach it on its own terms. But now that it’s concluded it might be interesting to go back and check out what he wrote…
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I’ve no words on Stage 6 itself (as you yourself indicate, your own unfailing eloquence notwithstanding, what words are there?); however, I was wondering whether you had any views on the retrospective “outtakes” album Everywhere, an empty bliss, simultaneously released by Kirby as a limited-time bonus.
No i don’t – at least, not yet. i listened to it a few weeks back (around the same time as i first heard Stage 6) but can’t honestly claim i took it in properly, as i quickly realised i didn’t want the distraction from the ongoing journey through EATEOT, and so i could feel myself actively ‘resisting’ engaging with it. And that’s why i didn’t mention it in my Stage 6 article, both to keep things focused on the cycle and because at this stage i don’t have a meaningful opinion about it. But i’ll definitely be returning to it in due course.
Interesting review. The endtune of “Place In The World Fades Away” is “Friends Past Reunited” (Selected Memories from the Haunted Ballroom track 14 2:00 and also A Stairway To The Stars track 13 4:47).
Kind regards.
Thanks for the comment Phil – i noticed that, and i think the connection – considering the title of that track, ‘Friends Past Reunited’ – just makes the conclusion of the cycle all the more beautifully poignant.
“all the more beautifully poignant”: no better words.
I imagined the person had finally passed over (during the silence) and then (in “Friends”) was reunited with his loved ones.
But: the track is even more distorted than the originals, where I would have expected clarity in afterlife (what is depicted in NDE’s). Maybe we should ask Mr. Kirby himself? (very likable person by the way: I noticed the most unique artists like László Hortobágyi,Cheb I Sabbah, Kirby to be modest and accessible).
If I may ask, what do you think 5:4?
Regarding the ending, i think the words i used in my article remain my best way to articulate it: “a defeat, a consummation and sheer transcendence”. That being said, something i’ve been considering is that the ending exhibits real immediacy – you and i, and i suspect most others, will interpret it in a pretty similar way – which is a world away (in every sense) from the impossible fug that the music has become in the final three stages. That immediacy therefore becomes a moment of complete liberation and clarity, both for the work itself and for us as we listen to it. All of which reinforces further what a brilliant way it is to end the cycle.
The Boomkat blurb (which Kirby certainly endorses, and may even write himself) talks about “a final coda that breaks the fourth wall”, presumably referring to the Friends Past Reunited passage, so perhaps it marks a move away from the first person, and is meant to be collectively retrospective for all Kirby’s listeners in some way (funereal?).
Ah, well that makes sense, and reinforces further what i said about the immediacy of that ending, i.e. the way it enables us collectively to engage with it in essentially the same way.
Incidentally, i’ve pretty much avoided reading anything and everything that Kirby – directly in his mailouts and indirectly via Boomkat – has said about each stage of the cycle, as i wanted to approach it on its own terms. But now that it’s concluded it might be interesting to go back and check out what he wrote…