Shadow Gallery - 07 The Queen of the City of Ice part 1

I uploaded it because i didn't find it on youtube.
Line-up:
Brendt Allman - acoustic & electric guitars, vocals
Mike Baker(RIP) - lead vocals
Carl Cadden-James - bass, vocals, flute, fretless bass
Chris Ingles - piano & keyboards

Additional musicians:
Ben Timely - drums & percussion (Ben Timely is a name that the band gave to the
Alesis HR-16 drum machine)
John Cooney - additional percussion
Lianne Himmelwright - backing vocals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Gallery_(album)

Music: W.B.Allman, C.Ingles, Lyrics, Vocal Melodies: C.Cadden-James,

Lyrics:

Chapter 1:
Long ago the skies turned gray
the fallen sun had gone away and left us cold
until one thousand years would pass and we'd sail away
Trapped within such misery
we'd seen a light we'd never seen all crowned with gold
through morning mist with tears of ice see her coming down
All upon our knees
Falling with the rain, with the rain
a queen has come before us
Falling with the rain, with the rain
I was alone, see how she took us all
By her side we'll stay
Shadows of love, blacken dawn, fill the empty skies with
Powerful her throne, oh my queen, upon this silent maze of ice
Oh how I love her so, yah I can't let go, she is all I need
In the ice I'll stay 'till my dying day

Chapter 2:
I have come here for so long I never have known why
only to have been shown away
There I saw you standing in the light for so long
knew you had something more to say
All my night times are full of dreams of you and I
and falling rain
Oh I know you so well

Chorus:
You are my queen of the city of ice
a frozen love has never left her eyes
Long live my queen of the city of ice
and alone her frozen love was carved in stone

Chapter 3:
I had a dream
something I believe in
Always knew the
day would come
and they would come
and they would go
and they would melt
away our home
and in my dreams
their fires burned
they tear my heart I
listen to the wind
listen to the wind
listen to the sad song
she is singing now
listen to the falling of the night
and see what she knows
it's written in her eyes
Lately I've had feelings
that are so hard to describe
like armies marching
from the South
and all the while she's blind
she's falling

Chapter 4:
So it came to pass that
no more rain
would fall to them
They come to
bring us to our knees
With mighty fires they built
around these city's castle walls
Our city melts into a sea
So we run into the hills and
far away to cry in vain
Oh no no my queen

Chorus:
You are my queen of the city of ice
the bringer of my life is fading fast
Goodbye my queen of the city of ice
and alone she slowly sinks into the sea


Song analysis:

Chapter One

Here we are introduced to a world (or place) where the skies are grey and the sun is gone. People have only known misery. But one rainy day a Queen appears, crowned with gold, and gathers all the people by her side. One Man has fallen in love with the Queen, he needs her, and he'll never let her go.

Chapter Two

As the Queen decides to make a City of Ice, we learn that the Man has been "lost", only to be "awakened" by the Queen. The Man now dreams with the Queen, dreams full of love. Soon the Man realizes (or believes) tha a 'frozen love' is still in the Queen's eyes.

Chapter Three

The Man reflects about the Queen's arrival. Somehow he always knew this day would come. Then he points that the days would come, and go, and melt, away from their home (this means that the Man still has hopes with the Queen). Then, one day, the Queen sings, and the Man can read in her eyes, and begins to have feelings 'so hard to describe, like marching armies from the South, and all the way she is blind'. Now the Man notes that the Queen is falling.

Chapter Four

The City of Ice is soon invaded by other people, who begins to build around the City. Eventually the City is melted by the 'mighty fires'. The people of the City runs to the hills, but the Queen couldn't escape the melting and she sinks beneath the sea produced by the melting. Nobody know the fate of the Queen.

The people of the City, safe but homeless, returns to the place that once was their City of Ice, but now there is a sea. So, in the shore, they kneel and grieve. But suddenly someone shouts "Look... the water is freezing over into a sea of ice". The Man now remembers how hard and cold was life before the Queen's coming. But once the Queen had arrived, he never thought she would ever leave him.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Shadow
• Gallery
• progressive
• metal
• rock
• Mike
• Baker

[vampiroangelico]

Actually this is by far their best album, because it isn't stuck in the "metal" silly cage, and the music of this album flies free and breathes.

I wish they would have recorded more CDs like this one. This is by far t heir best song, for those out therelike me who prefer Genesis and Marillion's real music, to headbanging metal that never goes anywhere, musically.

[cadenzasi]

SHADOW GALLERY is the best progressive metal band in the world !!

[lxlandia]

Mike Baker was a gift to us...his ability to create such harmonies and melodies was simply magical. I really miss him. Of all my SG catalog...this cd is still the best one in so many levels.

[depthoftheoceans]

I have listened SG's debut when it was released in 1992 in Turkey where progressive rock/metal had more limited followers due to alternative rock/metal epidemic. It has always been a magical album for me and opened the doors of progressive world to me.

[vampiroangelico]

@Whackooyzero I wasn't "much of a metalhead"???? LMAO Ever since the mid 80s I played any metal genre out there from thrash, speed metal, epic metal, glam/class metal, power metal, you name it! But it was just a natural process for me to BROADEN my musical horizons, as I learned how to play better over the years. Have I "abandoned" metal, as you superficially claim? Nope. It just has become from 80% of what I played, to 20% of what I play now. And I am very happy and content this way.

[Whackooyzero]

@vampiroangelico Stop making generalizations. I love many kinds of music and am currently studying jazz and have written pieces in ambient and folk genres before. Yeah I prefer metal, but I fail to see what's wrong with that. It seems as though you weren't much of a metalhead if you would completely abandon the genre just because of some close minded people, which I can get annoyed by as well. Your initial comment came across as if you were some prog rock elitist who considers metal "silly".

[vampiroangelico]

@Whackooyzero And you're being rather superficial in your dismissing my judgement. I've been playing metal since the mid 80s, I'm a trained musician, I studied classical and jazz guitar, and I got tired of playing metal and grew out of it. To me it was a natural process, given the fact that I enjoy all sorts of music styles, and ALL metal musicians I've played with over the years only wanted to play metal, which I find rather small minded. Maybe it works for you, but I view the world in colors.

[Whackooyzero]

@vampiroangelico But this album still has definite elements of metal and stop being such a snooty elitist. Technically speaking, their later more metal material does go places musically and the only reason you don't think they do is because you can't get past the fact that it is also heavy. I love prog rock as well and the bands you listed, but you're being very immature in your outright dismissal of the metal genre as being silly.

[evoken696]

LUXUS,absolutně vyhovuje mým velkým nárokům.NEJ!NEJ.NEJ!!!

Ohromný výraz inteligence.LUXUS!!!

[freezehawk3]

+1 in favor of a new recording of this awesome piece of music with real drums.

[wilddog270]

if only they could record this album again with real drums and better production! still...it is one of the best records i have listened to in my life! i love this song!

[vampiroangelico]

This is my favorite among all their albums, because it's less metal and more great music.