Terry G. Reed, The Film of Eternity (Classic Coupe Music, 2003)
I am usually a big fan of concept albums. They feed that part of my brain that likes novels over short stories and that has a longer attention span than the part that thrives on top 40 radio and sound bites. Nevertheless, an album has to have an engaging concept, and execute it well, to hold my attention. Terry G. Reed's The Film of Eternity at first seemed like a good risk but unfortunately proved to be a disappointment, mostly because of a poor choice of theme that is simply too vast to be encompassed in a single album.
And Reed does cover a lot of territory. Guinevere, Plato, Emerson, and Dylan are all mentioned -- there's even a song just about space aliens. Unfortunately, there is no common thread to tie all the songs together into a cohesive "film" -- or even to tie one song to the next. There are just a selection of interludes (including a prelude and postlude) to separate the songs from each other like notebook dividers.
This in itself would not necessarily be a problem, were it not that the interludes are often laughable in their content or delivery ("Guinevere -- is she a woman? morality? Americana?...or is she you?" [Interlude 1]; "Has anyone seen Lao-Tzu? or the apostles?" "Look inside yourself." [Interlude 4]) and almost always unnecessary. The lead-in to "The Forlorn Spirit of Smallville" -- which has no discernible connection to Superman -- goes a step further and makes the song unnecessary, saying in twenty seconds what it takes over five minutes to sing (subtlety is not one of Reed's strong points). And these interludes tend to run out of steam after a time, with Reed resorting to found sounds to fill out the remainder.
The twelve songs, in addition to being heavy-handed, also have a tendency towards verbosity, though Reed states clearly at one point that "wisdom resides in what is not spoken." The first sign of bloat rears its head during the title song, "The Film of Eternity." When I thought the lyrics had run their course and the song was about to end, Reed came up with at least two more verses which contributed to the length of the song without really adding anything important to the concept. Four of the twelve songs run over five minutes, with "Dying for Truth and Living with Lies" coming in at well over six -- and that's after he's told us everything the song is about in the title.
However, I was struck by the musicianship of the accompanists, as well as Reed's ability to write really catchy tunes. I found that I was, in spite of myself, humming or singing the choruses of several of the songs on this album. I can imagine that children would probably enjoy The Film of Eternity, especially if they are intellectually inclined, and most especially if their parents are known to quote Emerson in daily conversation.
Get more information about The Film of Eternity from the Classic Coupe Music Web site.
