Line #47 Music/LostInTheNewReal


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3	[[AC:Note: This page is under heavy construction.]]
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5	''Lost in the New Real'' is a ConceptAlbum released in 2012 by Dutch musician Music/ArjenAnthonyLucassen. It is a departure from his Music/{{Ayreon}} project, which spans several albums and features dozens of guest musicians, as all main vocals are performed by Arjen himself. The story may have some loose connection to the overarching plot of Ayreon, in any case (see tropes below).
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7	''Lost in the New Real'' concerns a 21st century man known as Mr. L, who is awoken from cryogenic sleep several hundred years in TheFuture. He is welcomed by Voight Kampff, the "hard-headed shrink" who has been assigned to help Mr. L adjust to the strange world he now belongs to. Technology has progressed to a point where what is real and what is virtual reality is nearly or completely indistinguishable from one another. The album concerns itself primarily with themes and motifs running throughout the ''Ayreon'' albums: alienation, dream sequences, technology versus nature, etc. Probably an example of RomanticismVersusEnlightenment.
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9	'''Tracklist'''
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11	[[AC:Side One]]
12	# "The New Real" (6:24)
13	# "Pink Beatles In A Purple Zeppelin" (3:36)
14	# "Parental Procreation Permit" (5:03)
15	# "When I'm A Hundred Sixty-Four" (2:30)
16	# "E-police" (4:07)
17	# "Don't Switch Me Off" (4:06)
18	# "Dr. Slumber's Eternity Home" (3:51)
19	# "Yellowstone Memorial Day" (3:31)
20	# "Where Pigs Fly" (3:47)
21	# "Lost In The New Real" (10:19)
22	# "Behind The New Real" (13:45)
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24	[[AC:Side Two]]
25	# "Our Imperfect Race" (6:27)
26	# "Welcome To The Machine" (4:45)
27	# "So Is There No God?" (4:41)
28	# "Veteran Of The Psychic Wars" (4:34)
29	# "The Social Recluse" (3:55)
30	# "Battle Of Evermore" (5:28)
31	# "The Space Hotel" (3:49)
32	# "Some Other Time" (4:06)
33	# "You Have Entered The Reality Zone" (3:24)
34	# "I'm The Slime" (2:53)
35	# "Behind the Artwork" (13:55)
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37	----
38	!! ''Pink Tropes In A Purple Zeppelin''
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40	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "Parental Procreation Permit."
41	* AlternateContinuity: It appears the album takes place in the future society frequently alluded to in Ayreon. The protagonist seems to be the same MR. L from 01011001, and the future does show signs of impending collapse. However, it's ambiguous enough that it could go either way and seems to leave it up to the listener to decide. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Mr. L and his Shrink discuss the possibility of alternate universes.
42	* AuthorAvatar: According to WordOfGod, Mr. L is a stand-in representative of Arjen himself.
43	* BigBrotherIsWatching: The E-Police.
44	* CerebusSyndrome: Although the album starts off with catchy light-hearted music, with songs like "Pink Beatles in a Purple Zeppelin", it quickly becomes apparent that the future isn't a happy one. Still, the songs remain cheery enough until the halfway mark when the music gets foreboding and introspective. This culminates in Lost in the New Real where the song is dark, cynical, and ultimately about Mr. L resigning himself to dying again.
45	* ContinuityNod: As mentioned above, the album has many nods to the plot of Ayreon, including the character Mr. L himself. It can't be a direct continuation of the story, since Mr. L wouldn't have ever woken from his cryogenic sleep--in 01011001, the world ends in 2085. But since this album is part of TheMultiverse, it can simply be a universe where humanity averted destroying themselves.
46	** There's no direct mention of what year it is set during the album so it could be part of the Ayreon-verse. The subject matter certainly fits a descent towards 2084.
47	* CoverVersion: "Welcome To The Machine" is a cover of Music/PinkFloyd's album ''Music/WishYouWereHere1975'', "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" is a Music/BlueOysterCult adaptation, "The Battle Of Evermore" is a cover from ''Music/LedZeppelinIV'' by Music/LedZeppelin, "Some Other Time" is covered from ''Music/IRobot'' by Music/TheAlanParsonsProject and "I'm The Slime" a cover from Music/FrankZappa's ''Music/OverNiteSensation''.
48	* CrapsackWorld: Overpopulation, a cataclysm brought on by a massive eruption of the Yellowstone super-volcano, and society appears to have wedded [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Orwell]] and [[Literature/BraveNewWorld Huxley]]'s visions into one.
49	* CyberPunk: The society as a whole has this feeling to it.
50	* DarkerAndEdgier: A DownplayedTrope in the case of this album, steering a little away from the bleak outlook of the ''Ayreon'' albums. It certainly isn't ''cheery'', given the DownerEnding and CrapsackWorld. However, "Pink Beatles in a Purple Zeppelin" is a psychedelic, reminiscent mash-up of Mr. L's favorite music. And despite the cataclysm, it would appear humanity has survived and flourished regardless.
51	* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The cover is designed by Claudio Bergamin.
52	* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Played with. In the present day, piracy is described in an unmistakably negative tone. However, the strictly-controlled policing of the internet by the E-Police if anything is seen as even worse. Ultimately, the message seems to be that file sharing and hacking are unavoidable and that both extremes are equally detrimental.
53	* DownerEnding: Sadly, Mr. L doesn't think he could find a place in this new real.
54	* DarkReprise: "Lost in the New Real" takes Mr. L through a pretty wild range of emotions, but has a reprise of "Don't Switch Me Off," which is a pretty melancholy song as it is.
55	* DreamLand: The entire setting of the story may be this. Or maybe not.
56	* EpicRocking: It should go without saying.
57	* GainaxEnding:
58	--> ''Now I know this is not real''
59	--> ''I can't trust the way I feel''
60	--> ''I'm alive but in a dream''
61	--> ''Am I only...'' [only vocoder remains] ''A MACHINE?''
62	* LighterAndSofter
63	* LyricalDissonance: "Dr. Slumber's Eternity Home". You'd be forgiven for jamming to an upbeat rock song about getting euthanized.
64	* ManInTheMachine: Or ''is'' man ''the'' machine?
65	* MindScrew: Like Ayreon before it, Arjen continues the proud tradition of screwing with our heads.
66	* MotherNatureFatherScience: "Let me tell you about mama...our ''only'' Mama... Mama Nature." Voight Kampff and Mr. L, the two faces of science, are both male.
67	* TheMultiverse: "Where Pigs Fly." It would seem that we live in a multiverse after all.
68	* PopulationControl: In the future, parents will have to apply for a permit in order to procreate. And WeWillHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture.
69	* QuestioningTitle: "So Is There No God?"
70	* RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman: TheMultiverse has spawned an infinite number of possible universes. [[AC:Darwin defended creation. Einstein traveled in time. Columbus discovered India. Shakespeare couldn't rhyme.]]
71	* {{Sexbot}}: "Don't Switch Me Off" - it's not clear whether the woman is a physical bot, or a virtual simulation. In any case, she can be [[IncrediblyLamePun turned on]].
72	* ShoutOut: Voight Kampff is presumably a reference to either ''Film/BladeRunner'' and its own source ''Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep'', both of which have an empathy test used to detect replicants by the same name. The fact that actor Creator/RutgerHauer speaks the part is an extra hint, as he played a part in ''Film/BladeRunner''.
73	* SpecialGuest: Creator/RutgerHauer provides narration as Voight Kampff.
74	** Gjalt, Arjen's brother, [[StepUpToTheMicrophone steps up to the loudspeaker]] for "I'm the Slime".
75	* TitleTrack: "Lost In The New Real".
76	* WeWillHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture: "Dr. Slumber's Eternity Home" is essentially one big, happy advertisement for such a center.
77	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: "When I'm a Hundred Sixty-Four" has a tinge of this.
78	* WorldBuilding: Pretty much the point of disc 2 on the album.
79	* ZeroGSpot: "The Space Hotel" mentions making love in zero G.

Context Music / LostInTheNewReal