How to Measure a Planet?
| How to Measure a Planet? | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album from The Gathering | ||||
| Label (s) | Century Media | |||
|
Format (s) |
||||
|
Title (number) |
14th |
|||
|
running time |
103 min 21 s |
|||
| occupation |
|
|||
|
Attie Bauw |
||||
|
Studio (s) |
||||
|
||||
How to Measure a Planet? is the fifth album by the Dutch progressive rock band The Gathering . The double album was released in 1999 via Century Media . In Japan the album was released as a single CD without the half-hour title song.
Emergence
With this album, the band made a huge correction of musical course. After the very successful previous albums Mandylion and Nighttime Birds , the musical preferences of most of the members changed. As a result, the music changed from metal to progressive rock. The band itself has referred to their music as trip rock since that album.
The album was produced between July and October 1998 by Attie Bauw, who has already worked for the Scorpions . The album was recorded in the Bauwhaus studios in Amsterdam and in the Wisseloord studio in Hilversum.
How to Measure a Planet? is a concept album about space travel . The album cover , the booklet and the lyrics make this clear. A single was released with Liberty Bell . In the accompanying video clip you can see the singer Anneke van Giersbergen in a model of a space station .
reception
The album received mostly excellent reviews from music journalists. The Metal Hammer magazine named the album album of the month. In both Metal Hammer and Rock Hard , How to Measure a Planet? rewarded with the respective highest grade. With this album, the band won many new fans from different audiences. Nevertheless, many fans from the metal sector turned away from the band disappointed.
How to Measure a Planet? is seen by many fans as a milestone in the band's history. Songs from this album make up the majority of the songs on the live albums Superheat (2000) and Sleepy Buildings - A Semi Acoustic Evening (2004).
Track list
CD 1
- Frail (You might As Well Be Me) - 5:04
- Great Ocean Road - 6:19
- Rescue Me - 6:22
- My Electricity - 3:22
- Liberty Bell - 6:01
- Red Is a Slow Color - 6:26
- The Big Sleep - 5:01
- Marooned - 5:56
- Travel - 9:06
CD 2
- South American Ghost Ride - 4:25
- Illuminating - 5:41
- Locked Away - 3:24
- Probably Built in the Fifties - 7:26
- How to Measure a Planet? - 28:33