Timeline (3CD/DVD)

Ayreon | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 13, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 4
• Label: Inside Out / SPV
• ASIN: B001HAS3L0
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,151 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Prologue: The Time Telepathy Experiment / Overture / Ayreon s Quest

2. The Awareness: The Premonition / Dreamtime / The Awakening

3. Eyes of Time: Eyes of Time / Brainwaves

4. The Accusation (acoustic version)

5. Sail Away to Avalon (single version)

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. The Garden of Emotions: In The Garden Of Emotions / Voices In The Sky / The Aggression Factor

2. The Castle Hall

3. The Mirror Maze: Inside the Mirror Maze / Through the Mirror

4. The Two Gates

5. The Shooting Company Of Captain Frans B Cocq

See all 10 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Day Three: Pain

2. Day Six: Childhood

3. Day Twelve: Trauma

4. Day Sixteen: Loser

5. Day Seventeen: Accident?

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. The Stranger From Within (5.1 mix)

2. Valley Of The Queens

3. Isis And Osiris

4. The Two Gates

5. Teaser: The Human Equation

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Timeline is the first retrospective release from Arjen A. Lucassen, the chart storming Dutch musical mastermind. Packaged in a high-quality box, this release contains three CD s and a DVD, which presents both the artistic vision and continuing storyline that he has created under the artist name Ayreon. The retrospective highlights Ayreon s albums: The Final Experiment , Actual Fantasy (Revisited) , Into The Electric Castle , The Universal Migrator Part I & II , The Human Equation , and 01011001 . The DVD is packed full of video clips, documentaries and rarities.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good intro to Ayreon, but not necessarily for long term fans, January 13, 2009

By 

M. Goodwin (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Timeline (3CD/DVD) (Audio CD)

If someone has recommended the Ayreon project to you, but you haven't heard any of Lucassen's work, look no further. This is a great place to get to know Lucassen's sound. There's a little bit from every album [including from the semi-acoustic version of The Final Experiment] so you can very clearly see the development of the Ayreon project from beginning to end.

If you've heard one of the Ayreon albums and want to know what the rest are like, then you're in for a real treat with this album.

If either category applies to you, buy the album and read no further: my complaints below might seem numerous, but they are irksome only to the die-hard fan.

If you're that die-hard fan, someone who already owns the entire Ayreon collection, you might be a little disappointed. Or more than a little. In that case, you should really only look to pick this up if you're a collector... and if that is so, do yourself the favor, and quickly head over to ayreon.com so you can get a signed copy before that offer goes away. It's about $[...] more, but worth it for the collector.

This album is a compilation of both fan favorites as well as Arjen Lucassen's own favorites, picked from all the Ayreon albums. As a bonus, there is an "epilogue" to the Ayreon saga. I feel the epilogue falls a little flat as an end-cap however, when you consider how epic this saga is. It works as an Ayreon song, but Lucassen has no new tricks up his sleeve for this final song in the story. It also doesn't wrap any story threads up that can't easily be inferred from the ending to 01011001.

Another problem that I have with the album is the track order. I would have liked to see the songs in "timeline order", much as the title suggests it should. Instead everything is grouped by album, and even then inexpertly when it comes to The Universal Migrator. "And the Druids Turn to Stone" is between "Dawn of a Million Souls" and "Into the Black Hole" for some bizarre reason. Worse, before "Dawn" is "The Shooting Company of Captain Frans B. Cocq"; and after "Black Hole" comes "The First Man on Earth". What were they thinking? More to the point, what were they smoking?

Similarly, I am confused by the inclusion of both "Actual Fantasy" and "Abbey of Synn" from Actual Fantasy. The other two tracks from this album, "Computer Eyes" and "Back on Planet Earth" could be justified to fit in the Ayreon story, but neither "Actual Fantasy" nor "Abbey of Synn" are remotely tied to the story. I just do not feel that they belong. On a differently themed compilation of Ayreon tracks it might be appropriate to include these songs, but not on Timeline.

Another complaint that I have is the booklet. I realize I'm being picky now, but all tracks -except- those from Into the Electric Castle contain blurbs from Arjen about the track. Why were the Electric Castle songs skipped?

All that said, there are nice things about this compilation. While the track list has failed to live up to the album's title of Timeline, this special edition comes with a poster that does. On one side is a very nice full-sized version of the album artwork; and on the other is an actual -Timeline- for the Ayreon saga. All of the significant years [and dates, for AD 2084] are included, with a brief blurb about what events take place and which songs cover said events. This, this was what I was looking for. If the album's songs were listed in this order, I might well have given the album a five star rating.

All in all, as a collector, I don't feel that I wasted money in buying a signed copy straight from the Netherlands. But I would not have wasted the money on buying this from Amazon, and would not recommend it for anyone else who has all or most Ayreon albums already.

5.0 out of 5 stars Ayreon compilation: it's for fans, June 29, 2009

By 

Rifugium (Newtown Square, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Timeline (3CD/DVD) (Audio CD)

Pretty awesome dealie for Ayreon fans who are willing to put out the money for a set of mostly-already-released material. The package is in a box similar to the THE special edition, and comes with 3CDs and a DVD in slipcases, a small poster containing a layout of the core Ayreon story, and a nice informative booklet. The only thing really new, music-wise is the final song, "Epilogue." Even the DVD is a compilation of stuff that's mostly previously released, but it's nice to have it all in one spot, and with some quality menus and such.

I'd imagine this release would be desired by hardcore fans only.

Pre-orders were signed by Arjen.

DVD includes:

- "The Stranger Within" animation

- "Valley of the Queens" (Star One live)

- "Isis and Osiris" (Star One live)

- "The Two Gates" (Star One live)

- The Human Equation teaser

- "Day 11: Love" video (THE promo)

- "Come Back to Me" music video

- "Loser" music video (Star One version) (previously unreleased)

- "Farside of the World" animation

- "Back on Planet Earth" animation

- Actual Fantasy Revisited featurette

- Stream of Passion concert footage: "Computer Eyes," "Day 1: Vigil," "Day 3: Pain," "Castle Hall"

- 01011001 release party/performances (previously unreleased), contains clips of from that album plus "Childhood," "Castle Hall," "Valley of the Queens" (alfresco), etc.

- "Beneath the Waves" animation

- 01011001 teaser

- "Epilogue: The Memory Remains" featurette (previously unreleased)

PS - For the lose: editing out the best part of "Age of Shadows."

PPS - The singer on the new song is amazing.

PPPS - For the win: subtle difference in "Back on Planet Earth." :)

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You get what you asked for, August 10, 2010

By 

Rabid Lemming (Chico, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Timeline (3CD/DVD) (Audio CD)

An anthology of a band with a long career would be useful. The only use I got out of it is the revelation that 89 (otherwise known as 01011001) is their only decent album. Double album at that. Forego buying this album. Just get 89. Woulda' called it 86 myself.