h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yesterday I received an enormous fright. I was watching the VH1 music channel on TV. The program was one presenting some 'new' artists. I switched on in the middle of a music video, and a guy was singing, not a guy I knew, but he was a bit typical of lots of guys singing today, a 'tuneful' sort of song, then he was joined by a female voice. I didn't need long to identify the voice, it was Sharon den Adel. It was doubly confirmed when she came into view on the video. Oh, I thought, Sharon is doing a bit of charity work, having a duet with this guy, whoever he is ... I thought she was demeaning herself a bit because the guy wasn't all that wonderful, but well, she has a good heart. Anyways, the song, like I said tuneful, acoustic, a rather light and mainstream song.

Imagine my shock and horror when at the end of the song the name and info came up ... 'Utopia', by 'Within Temptation'!

Oh no!!! The song was official! The guy was a guest artist for Within Temptation, not the other way around!!! What is happening - is Within Temptation going 'light' now? Have they sold out? Gone totally mainstream?!! Say it is not so!!! Aaargghh! Help!!!

I spent the rest of the day in prayer and had difficulty going to sleep.

With trepidation I came online today and first of all went to YouTube and Wikipedia to try and get more info about this calamity.

Whew ... I think the praying helped. The song first of all turns out to be NOT so new. I had assumed it was a fresh new release, as in, within the last week or month, since I hadn't heard the song yet and I was under the impression I had pretty much got my hands on every Within Temptation song that there was up till now. It turns out there are even more Within Temptation releases than what I had managed to find on the music site I'm using.

Turns out the song comes from an ACOUSTIC live album released by Within Temptation in 2009. This album is for some reason not available on the music site where I've been downloading Within Temptation's stuff up till now. But ... ACOUSTIC! That explains it being 'light'. And not from their intended new studio album ... not a new direction they want to take with their next album ... not their next big single but, rather, a track from their live album that they considered nice enough to make a video of.

And finally, the song is actually quite nice. I took time and watched the whole video, and then watched it again. While not as powerful and inspired as most of their stuff, it still is above average compared to most music videos these days.

Even so, I will keep on praying that the new album is OK, that they haven't lost their edge, their drive, their power, their spirit.

Here's the video - 'Utopia' by Within Temptation, featuring Chris Jones, a not-very-well-known British artist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEIvlihb2Ms

Now watch this - vintage Within Temptation, a lovely and powerful song called 'Mother Earth':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reGlno9aUpw&feature=channel

Heh heh I love how Sharon turns into an owl ... 'cutting edge' computer graphic effects in 2000!

Here's another nice one, the video for 'Stand my Ground' from their third album 'The Silent Force':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sCkAvh50Vs

Note that both 'Mother Earth' and 'Stand my Ground' on the studio albums, contain 'heavy parts' (crunching guitar riffs, choir singing) that are not on the videos.

Here's one of their most recent vids, 'The Howling':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bqRn0rLq1c&feature=channel

They've got a large number of videos on YouTube.

Both 'The Silent Force' and 'The Heart of Everything' are albums that have fair commercial potential, but Sharon is still singing her heart out, they really give all they've got.

May they never be seduced by success, selling their souls, starting to churn out bland 'formula' music! The day that happens, what a sad day, what a tragedy it would be, for humanity, for our planet!