Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Overture/Whirlwind
2. Wind Blew Them All Away
3. On the Prowl
4. Man Can Feel
5. Out of the Night
6. Rose Colored Glasses
7. Evermore
8. Set Us Free
9. Lay Down Your Life
10. Pieces of Heaven
11. Is It Really Happening?
12. Dancing with Eternal Glory/Whirlwind (Reprise)

Disc 2:

1. Spinning [*]
2. Lenny Johnson [*]
3. For Such a Time [*]
4. Lending a Hand [*]
5. Return of the Giant Hogweed [Cover][*]
6. Salty Dog [Cover][*]
7. I Need You, Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 [Cover][*]
8. Soul Sacrifice [Cover][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1076 in Music
• Released on: 2009-10-26
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .28 pounds

Customer Reviews

Soaring
I purchased the super deluxe version with the extra CD and the Making of DVD.
First of all, Bridge Across Forever is one of my fave CD's and Stranger in Your Soul is one of my favorite prog songs.
The Whirlwind CD is very good, and, compared to the other two Transatlantic CD's, is more consistent throughout. Bridge and SMTPe had some weak areas (Temple of the Gods).
One of the things that really stands out on the Whirlwind is the bass and guitar. The fairly well known rumors of grumbling by Roine and Pete over Bridge (and Roine's re-release of his own mix as proof) are not necessary here. The bass is strong with excellent tone! (I actually envy this bass tone). Roine's guitar parts are well executed with good tone, unlike the spacey wah-fest filler from Bridge.
The lyrics are overall very good. Some of Neal's vocals as usual are borderline too high; will be difficult to do live.
My favorite songs are The Wind Blew Them All Away, Rose Colored Glasses, EverMore, and the Finale. Although this is one big song it fits together nicely and some stand up on their own well.
This would be 5 stars.

The bonus CD (CD2) is hit and miss. The first four songs are new, but I really don't like any of them. Lenny Johnson has an interesting feel but it really doesn't go anywhere. For Such a Time is basically like I Can Only Imagine and would play well on Contemporary Christian (CCM) charts. Since I don't like candy-coated CCM, this is not necessarily a good thing.
These songs wouldn't be all that bad, but the Giant Hogweed song is SO GOOD that it makes these look like less than filler. The Giant Hogweed song has interesting parts, dynamics, funny vocals, and a great, fun feel. This song is 5 stars. The CD, however, is about 3 stars.
The Making of DVD is the usual. Not bad but about 15-20 minutes of interesting content in 90 minute DVD.

As good as you remember them
Radiant Records came through and I received my copy in the mail on 10/26/09 as advertised.

This is unmistakably Transatlantic. The musicianship is superb, as one would expect given the players involved with the project. Interestingly after the fourth listen, I really think that Pete (Bass) shined on this one. All of the players have their brilliant moments, and their collective talents come together to form a very creative and cohesive effort, one which will take many listens in order to fully digest - Just like all good prog.

Hold on to something stable and let 'er rip.....
For a band that has unashamedly composed prog epics of unmatched length, they leave no doubt at the start of this 77-minute epic that you're in for an epic of epic proportions.... ;-)

The opening track starts with a small brass ensemble that transitions to an orchestral flourish before settling into what is essentially the overture for this grand work, introducing the listener to many of the musical themes that we'll hear again in various forms throughout the next hour and a quarter.

In typical Transatlantic style, the recurring themes are catchy, sophisticated, and often turned inside-out to form new and interesting mind excursions. Folks, this is great stuff! It's probably one of my favorite progressive rock albums of the year (just behind the fantastic "Realms of Eternity" by Syzygy). To any naysayers out there, all I can say is that you sound like a baseball fan who is disappointed that the star slugger on your favorite team belted the game-winning home run "only" 400 feet when you were expecting a 500-ft homer instead. Get real, folks - this is some primo stuff.

I like Roine Stolt's increased vocal duties this time around, and I feel like these are the best guitar lines he's laid down since the TFK "Stardust We Are" album. I appreciate the fact that Portnoy is able to de-metalize his drum style for this band, and he really is impressive here. Likewise, Trewavas has his best Transatlantic showing on this cd - his bass is thick, trebly and melodic, and his vocals are great. Neal Morse is great here too - I love his vocals, and if he tends to drag the lyrics back to the edge of Christian music here and there, I'm fine with that. I do believe that the work as a whole shows a nice balance between all four members; and while the message is certainly one that aspires to a higher plain, the listener is not hit over the head with it until (perhaps) the last song (which is still a great one!).

Just a quick nod to the great cd artwork and liner notes - it's even kind of cool that they've been able to work their signature flying space zeppelin into the covers of all three studio albums now. And kudos to the sound engineers for nice separation and mixing - some of the jams and prog workouts here are just fantastic, and made even more so by the production.

The only thing that sort of bothered me (and this is a real nit) is that by the end of the second song, I was pretty darn sure that the whirlwind blew everyone away! and I really did not need one more chorus or song about it to convince me... I got it. (Perhaps some of the other songs could have been shortened or edited a bit as well.) But "Wind" is the theme of this suite, and integral to the metaphor of the overall message, so let's get over it and move on.

I liked the second cd too, but not nearly as much. I enjoy covers of songs that I like, so these are worthy - I think the combination of the two "I Need You" songs was clever. "Spinning" is a fantastic song in the Flower Kings style, while the lyrics to "Lenny Johnson" just seemed a bit clumsy to me. "Lending A Hand" is kind of a cool song in a late-60's spacey-psychedelic-prog style. I'd probably give that disc alone a 3-1/2 star rating, which prohibits me from assigning the entire package 5 stars.

So, please put away your lofty presuppositions about what this comeback cd from your favorite progressive rock band of the past decade SHOULD be, and let it wash (or blow?) over you for what it is - another great, thoughtful collage of masterful songwriting and performing from a one-of-a-kind band. Worthy.

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 8.7/10; Performance = 9.4/10; Production = 9.5/10; CD length = 10/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 9.1 ("4-1/2 stars")