Genius: A Rock Opera --- Episode 3: The final surprise --- 2007 (Frontiers)
And so we head into the final, concluding part of this amazing rock opera, as Genius and his friend Twinspirit n.32 enter the Asian stores, looking for the one warehouse where the prince is being held captive. For some unexplained reason, the part of Genius is this time taken by Royal Hunt's DC Cooper, which is a little of a disappointment, as it sort of disrupts the narrative flow that had been running through the three albums. We've become used to the voice of Mark Boals in the title role, and this is a little like someone telling Jeff Wayne that Richard Burton wasn't available for side two of
his masterpiece! However, what's done is done, and I'm sure there was a rational reason for it, as Daniele Liverani is otherwise so passionate and meticulous about every aspect of his rock opera, so this must have been a change forced upon him.
So, “Toy warehouse” opens the final volume in this trilogy, with Philip Bynoe again reprising his role as the Storyteller and filling in the listener as to what is happening. After a low synthy opening, the song explodes as a huge choir belts out the question
”Where is the toy warehouse?” and the keyboards go into overdrive as Liverani shows us that three years since the completion of episode two, he has not lost his passion for this project. Cooper, to be fair, sounds enough like Boals to make the change not too jarring, with Daniel Lindenlow again in the role of Twinspirit n.32 as the two search for the toy warehouse.
Luckily for them, the prince and indeed the storyline (wouldn't have been much help if they had failed!) they find it, and enter it, looking at all the toys appearing and disappearing as they are used in children's fantasies. Liverani breaks out the guitar for a screeching solo as the friends run through the warehouse looking for King McChaos's son. Meanwhile, in the wake of his failure to find and terminate the runaway Twinspirit, the commander of the Dream League Force has been replaced, and his successor, Apikor, played with gusto by Jorn Lande (Millenium, Ark, Vagabond, Masterplan) declares his sworn intention to find his quarry.
“No more chances” is a heads-down, speed metal rocker, with insistent organ, thundering drums and fretburning guitar as Apikor snarls
”I have prepared a secret plan/ This time we must be sure/ There will be no more chances!” Back in the toy warehouse, the friends' attention is attracted by the plaintive singing of a tiny doll, who asks them to help her escape the factory. Kokeshi, played by Lunatica's Andrea Datwyler, sings “Save me from my destiny”, a lovely little ballad, backed by piano and keys, which becomes a powerful, operatic and stirring anthem, with full choir joining in to lend real heart to the song. Though unable to rescue the doll, Genius and Twinspirit n.32 manage to get the passkey from her before she fades back to the console, and they enter the place where they find the king's baby.
The song, the longest on the album at just under eleven and a half minutes, is really two songs, the first part ending when Datwyler's Kokeshi doll vanishes and the friends go through the door, the second part opening when they enter the room where the prince is being held. This is a powerful, stirring, march-type song, like a hallelujah chorus, with full choir, orchestral backing --- though as Liverani is the only musician apart from Daniel Cicconi on the album, he must be creating the whole orchestra on his keyboard! --- dramatic and epic, as the other toys exhort the friends to save the baby.
In “Alive and safe”, Mr. Niko, father of the European king whom we last heard from in episode 2, is updating his senators on the situation, hoping all can be well. Eric Martin reprises his part, and the song is a powerful slice of AOR and pomp rock, with plenty of warbling keys and chunky guitar. Martin puts in another fine performance as he tries to reassure his senators that the practice of creating humans' dreams will continue, that this blip will be sorted out, and all will be well.
Genius's dream is now coming towards an end, signified by the approaching train which is carrying its cargo of “used” Twinspirits, who are all going back to the factory to be terminated, their humans also about to awake, heralding the end of their dream architects. “Jump off this train” is another speed/thrash metal beast, rocking along itself like a runaway locomotive, Cicconi going absolutely Animal (remember the Muppets?) behind the drumkit, Liverani matching him on the keys and guitar. They then break into a spirited copy of the riffs from the Beach Boys' “Good vibrations”, before the song speeds up again as Genius is told by Twinspirit n.32 that he must leave his friend, in order to get the prince safely back to his father. If Genius jumps off the train as it passes through the European kingdom, he can get the heir to the throne safely back to his father.
Genius does not want to leave, but Twinspirit n.32 tells him that if his dream is lost before Genius wakes up he will remember nothing, and the proof of the king's innocence of the entrance of the human to the European kingdom is contained on Twinspirit n.32's storage disk, the media Twinspirits use to transfer the dreams they have created to the humans' minds. He tells Genius that he must take this disk to the senators, to show them the king is innocent. When Genius is still reluctant to leave his friend, Twinspirit n.32 pulls off that old trick, pretending to hate him and drive him away.
“Let me live” ratchets up the tension as Apikor, having been on board the train, and seeing Genius leave his friend, swoops on Twinspirit n.32 intending to terminate him. The rogue Twinspirit tries to explain what happened, and that he must remain alive in order that Genius's dream be completed, and the innocence of the king be exposed. A fast rocker, it rides along on chugging guitar, with a fine vocal turn by Jorn Lande at his most manic, with Lindenlow as Twinspirit n.32 also turning in a fine performance as he pleads desperately for his life, for the dream of Genius to be allowed to finish.
As Genius runs towards the European jail, to try to demonstrate his and the king's innocence, and return to McChaos his son, he can hear his mother calling from reality, and knows he is beginning to wake up. In the lyric to “Inside these memories” he tries to plead his case, the song a marching, epic one, full of desperation and frustration as Genius tries to save the prince. He hands over the disk, which shows what happened, how Genius got here, that it was nothing to do with King McChaos and that his Twinspirit is also innocent. Toby Hitchcock (Pride of Lions) takes the role of Senator Jaramus who listens incredulously to the story Genius tells, and then looks at the disk to confirm what he's being told is the truth. The song builds in intensity as the situation becomes ever more desperate, but eventually the truth is revealed, and Genius has completed his mission. The king will be set free, reunited with his son, and not a moment too soon, as Genius can feel himself waking up.
Unaware of his friend's success, Twinspirit n.32 tries to resist the attack of Apikor, but is gradually succumbing. As he goes under, he sings a lonely ballad, simply entitled “I die”, in which he apologises to Genius for not being strong enough to hold on, and allow him to wake up with his dream intact. It's an intense lonely and morose song, given added pathos as Twinspirit n.32 thinks he has failed, when in fact he has stayed alive long enough to allow the story to be told, and should be now able to die in peace, but his end is far from peaceful, and as life flees his body he feels a failure. Beautifully passionate guitar from Liverani underlines the tragedy, and haunting piano takes it to its sad conclusion, one of the best tracks on the album.
“Back to life again” is another AOR stomper, as Hitchcock puts in another fine performance as Senator Jeramus, welcoming the king back as everyone celebrates with the penultimate track, “To dream in liberty”, a fast, joyous rocker somewhat in the Iron Maiden mould, very guitar-driven, and the album, the story and the trilogy comes to a blistering conclusion with “The final surprise”. As Genius fades from the dreamworld, back into his own reality as he begins to come awake, he mourns the loss of his friend Twinspirit n.32, but he hears a voice in his head which turns out to be he, bidding a final farewell to Genius, and he tells him that he has managed to copy his existence into another dimensional plane, so allowing himself to live long enough to be able to pass on to Genius the complete dream, and then he terminates himself, happy that he has said goodbye to his friend.
Twinspirit n.32 knows that he has broken some cardinal rules, and that he may have placed the dreamworld in danger of discovery, should Genius choose to act on the knowledge now in his head, but he trusts his friend to keep their secret, and keep the world of dreams and the world of men forever separate.
TRACKLISTING
1. Toy warehouse
2. No more chances
3. Save me from my destiny
4. Alive and safe
5. Jump off this train
6. Let me live
7. Inside these memories
8. I die
9. Back to life again
10. Dream in liberty
11. The final surprise
So, there you have it. Genius: a rock opera in three parts, conceived almost five years before a note of music was written, and played out over a further five years and three albums. A mammoth work of inspiration and entertainment spanning two worlds, a rocket ride of immense proportions, a rollercoaster of emotions and relationships. A masterpiece that Danny Elfman, Jeff Wayne, Trans-Siberian Orchestra or even Jim Steinman would be, and should be, envious of. A feast of music and lyrics created by one person and played by two, with some of the cream of the talent from the rock, metal, AOR and prog worlds, a narrative spanning, in reality, ten minutes of one boy's life that stretched out over five years of work.
It's hard to get across the breadth and scope of this opera: you really have to hear it for yourself, but hopefully this all-too-brief synopsis will have whetted your appetite for the full thing. I can only promise you that you will not be disappointed: there's something for everyone here, from hard rockin' stompers and crunchers, speed metal freakouts and bombastic radio-friendly tunes to slow, lush, tense ballads and more talent than you can shake a good-sized stick at. Interestingly, across the scope of the three albums, Daniele Liverani never once goes for the easy option of just filling in the story with music: there isn't one instrumental track on any of them. Although he originally wrote a totally instrumental score to his book, that remains unpublished and is probably markedly different to what you experience here.
This guy has talent with a capital T, and deserves to be better known internationally. He's obviously well-regarded and respected, when you look at the sort of icons who agreed to work with him, taking often only a small role in his unfolding
meisterwerke, but if you ask the man in the street who Daniele Liverani is, he'll look at you in ignorance. Sad. I intend to seek out more of this man's work, and will at length report on that once I've had time to absorb the full vista of his musical artistry. If there's one small quibble I have with these three albums, it's the old chestnut that crops up when someone writes lyrics that are not in their native, or first, tongue, and it's that sometimes the syntax and grammar can be off, which can make some of the lyrics a little nonsensical. But that's a small criticism, and it certainly doesn't take from the powerful story told here. It's an amazing ride, and deserves to be heard by more people. Let's start, shall we, with, oh I don't know … you!
Genius: A Rock Opera : complete musician listing
Episode 1: A human into dreams' world
GENIUS: Mark Boals
STORYTELLER: Philip Bynoe
DOORKEEPER: Lana Lane
TWINSPIRIT N.32: Daniel Gildenlow
STATIONMASTER: Chris Boltendahl
KING McCHAOS'S CONSULTANT: Joe Vana
WILD TRIBE KING: Steve Walsh
WILD TRIBE CONSULTANT: Oliver Hartmann
McCHAOS, KING OF EUROPEAN LANDS: John Wetton
MR. MAINDREAM: Midnight
Episode 2: In search of the little prince
GENIUS: Mark Boals
STORYTELLER: Philip Bynoe
TWINSPIRIT N.32: Daniel Gildenlow
DREAM LEAGUE COMMANDER: Russel Allen
JASON BECKER: Edu Falaschi
SEVENTREE: Jeff Martin
ODDYFER GUARDIAN: Roberto Tiranti
MR. NIKO: Eric Martin
KING ODDYFER: Johnny Gioeli
KLEPSYDRA: Liv Kristine
Episode 3: The final surprise
GENIUS: DC Cooper
STORYTELLER: Philip Bynoe
TWINSPIRIT N.32: Daniel Gildenlow
APIKOR: Jorn Lande
MR. NIKO: Eric Martin
KOKESHI: Andrea Datwyler
SENATOR JARAMUS: Toby Hitchcock
DANIELE LIVERANI: All guitars, bass, keyboards. All music and lyrics.
DARIO CICCONI: All drums and percussion.