The Difference Machine
| The Difference Machine | ||||
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| Big Big Train's studio album | ||||
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Publication |
2007 |
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| Label (s) | English Electric Recordings | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
7 (or 8 on the 2010 reissue) |
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running time |
54m50s (or 58m41s on the 2010 reissue) |
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| occupation |
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Andy Poole |
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Studio (s) |
English Electric Studios ( Bournemouth ), Aubitt Studios ( Southampton ) |
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The Difference Machine is the fifth studio album by the English retro-prog band Big Big Train . It was released on September 17, 2007.
Style and reception
The Difference Machine is a concept album that is about death, loss, loneliness and grief. The accompanying speechlessness is illustrated by instrumental pieces and passages. The conceptual theme was codified in a progtypical way through the inclusion of the butterfly effect from chaos theory : Can the death of an earthly person cause a distant star to explode? The title of the album - derived from a passage in the text Perfect Cosmic Storm - refers to Charles Babbage and his futile attempts to build a functioning difference machine.
Musically, this album can be assigned to both retro-prog and new-art rock, there are influences from Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator , but also from Sigur Rós , Mew and Oceansize .
Track list
- Hope This Finds You 03:12
- Perfect Cosmic Storm 14:40
- Breathing Space 1:47
- Pick Up If You're There 13:39
- From The Wide Open Sea 1:20
- Hope You Made It 03:46 (only included on the 2010 reissue)
- Salt Water Falling on Uneven Ground 12:38
- Summer's Lease 07:34
Reviews
“These guys are amazing! I haven't heard anyone so 'new' old prog (Does this make them 'neo'?) With such high quality, great melodies, great vocal harmonies, amazing song structures, album concepts (with musical themes being repeated throughout à la ' A Trick of the Tail '). "
“Engine driver Gregory Spawton rushes with his stoker Andy Poole and the rest of the crew, including the 'temporary staff' of the venerable Spock's Beard and Marillion steam locomotives, through landscapes overgrown with porcupine trees and strange creatures like the crimson king or young musicians, strangely enough all of them listen to the name Peter (a distinction must be made between the musicus gabrielus and the musicus hammillitis), are populated. Clouds of jazz tones and Banks keyboard swabs rush past in the sky and strangely familiar harmony singing sometimes comes from the engineer's cab. "
“Conclusion: a rather calm and yet exciting prog album. We recommend. Not for Frickel lovers. "
“With The Difference Machine, BBT may finally have made the album they have been promising all these years. [...] Jem Godfrey (Frost *) was right, with The Difference Machine, BBT have made a damn good album. One of the best progressive rock albums this year, at least for me. "
“The classic prog arrangements are spiced up with some modern technology, including digital loops and industrial sounding distorted vocals. This infuses the album with a schizophrenic quality. "
“Big Big Train know how to combine the sound of classic Prog-Rock with a modern variant of Porcupine Tree-based New Artrock on their latest long player. You may not believe it, but it works. "
“To be honest, I found the last work 'Gathering Speed' quite boring and now comes the new CD, which consists mainly of three long tracks - the short instrumentals in between are at best instrumental fillers (especially the anemic opener doesn't ignite at all) without any substantive essence. "
Web links
- Reviews of The Difference Machine on the Babyblauen Seiten
- Liner Notes for The Difference Machine on bigbigtrain.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ butterfly effect where the death of an individual was linked to the explosion of a distant star. ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , progressive-newsletter.de, accessed on May 7, 2012.
- ^ Influences include Genesis, Van Der Graaf Generator, Sigur Ros, Mew and Oceansize. ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , bigbigtrain.wordpress.com, accessed May 6, 2012.
- ↑ I haven't heard anyone so “new” old prog (Does this make them “neo”?) With such high quality . progarchives.com, accessed August 31, 2012.
- ↑ Dirk Reuter: Clouds of jazz tones and Banks' keyboard swabs rush past in the sky and strangely familiar harmony singing sometimes comes from the engineer's cab. babyblaue-seiten.de, accessed on August 31, 2012.
- ↑ Piotre Walter: Not for Frickel lovers. babyblaue-seiten.de, accessed on August 31, 2012.
- ↑ BBT have made a damn good album . dprp.net, accessed August 31, 2012.
- ↑ schizophrenic quality . seaoftranquility.org, accessed August 31, 2012.
- ↑ You may not believe it, but it works. rocktimes.de, accessed on August 31, 2012.
- ↑ without the essence of content . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. metalinside.de, accessed on August 31, 2012.
