Let's imagine that Nuclear Blast, realising the extent of your knowledge and loyalty to Amorphis, have asked you to personally put together a 'Best of' album of material from the Tomi Joutsen era (Eclipse to Under the Red Cloud). Which tracks do you choose? One disk only, so keep it under 80 minutes. Here are mine: Two Moons (Eclipse) Death of a King (Under the Red Cloud) House of Sleep (Eclipse) Silver Bride (Skyforger) Mermaid (The Beginning of Times) Silent Waters (Silent Waters) Majestic Beast (Skyforger) Hopeless Days (Circle) Nightbird’s Song (Circle) Leaves Scar (Eclipse) Bad Blood (Under the Red Cloud) Tree of Ages (Under the Red Cloud) The White Swan (Silent Waters) Perkele (the god of fire) (Eclipse) Eclipse: 4 Silent Waters: 2 Skyforger: 2 The Beginning of Times: 1 Circle: 2 Under the Red Cloud: 3
1 I Of Crimson Blood 2 House Of Sleep 3 Beginning Of Time 4 Death Of A King 5 Song Of The Sage 6 Under A Soil And Black Stone 7 Hopeless Days 8 Silent Waters 9 Perkele (The God Of Fire) 10 The Four Wise Ones 11 Three Words 12 Silver Bride 13 The Smoke 14 Towards and Against 15 Majestic Beast 16 Enemy at the Gates 17 Skyforger The self-imposed rule that pained me most was "no bonus songs." I hated to lose "Godlike Machine," "Separated," "Dead Man's Dream," and "Winter's Sleep," but it helped me to narrow things down.
Oh wow, this is going to be hard. Can it be a 3-CD album? No? Damn. I'm going to break my head over this, and then I'll post my result in a week or so. Mine will include bonus tracks though, I can understand why you'd leave those out, but my list cannot exist without Come The Spring.
Ugh, I might have to give up on this, as I am pained too by self-imposed rules. I can't get past them, ARGH. The thing is, for me a best-of album should contain songs from all albums involved, and they have to be (somewhat) equally distributed, too. This is what I have so far: Eclipse: 1 Silent Waters: 4 Skyforger: 6 Magic & Mayhem: 7 The Beginning Of Times: 0 Circle: 5 Under The Red Cloud: 6 That's not gonna fly...
I didn't count M&M in this because the songs were originally written and recorded by a previous incarnation of the band. Dropping it out entirely helped narrow things. If it is any consolation you could always use a TJ or a current live version of some of those M&M tunes on the Pre-TJ best of list...?
It's not supposed to give people nightmares hahaha. Just list 13-16 songs that showcase the best of the era!
Nah, it's still fun! It keeps the dust off my brain. That would be a good idea, but sadly I will not be able to compose such a list because I dislike the Pasi era so much. But leaving the album out anyway could be an idea, it's not a "real" album after all.
Okay, tough one, but I I think I can narrow it down to (in no particular order): 1.) The Smoke (Eclipse) 2.) The Wanderer (Circle) 3.) Leaves Scar (Eclipse) 4.) Towards and Against (Silent Water) 5.) Silver Bride (Skyforger) 6.) You I Need (Beginning of Times) 7.) Winter's Sleep (UTRC) 8.) Sacrfice (UTRC) 9.) Shades of Gray (Circle) 10.) Brother Moon (Eclipse) 11.) Silent Water (Silent Water) 12.) Skyforger (Skyforger) 13.) From the Heaven of my Heart (Skyforger) 14.) Three Words (Beginning of Times) 15.) Tree of Ages (UTRC) 16.) Death of a King (UTRC)
Here's what I chose. I wanted more songs originally, but I had to cut a few songs to get it below 80 minutes. If I put all the songs I really wanted, this would need to be a double album! 1. Perkele (The God Of Fire) (Eclipse) 2. Leaves Scar (Eclipse) 3. A Servant (Silent Waters) 4. Silent Waters (Silent Waters) 5. Towards & Against (Silent Waters) 6. Sampo (Skyforger) 7. Silver Bride (Skyforger) 8. Course Of Fate (Skyforger) 9. Battle For Light (Beginning Of Times) 10. Reformation (Beginning Of Times) 11. The Wanderer (Circle) 12. Hopeless Days (Circle) 13. Into The Abyss (Circle) 14. Under The Red Cloud (Under The Red Cloud) 15. Death Of A King (Under The Red Cloud) 16. Winter's Sleep (Under The Red Cloud)
House of Sleep The Smoke Brother Moon Silent Waters Enigma Black River Sampo Silver Bride From Earth I Rose Battle for Light Mermaid Escape Narrow Path Hopeless Days Enchanted By The Moon Bad Blood Death Of A King White Night Might be over 80 minutes but I just picked 3 songs off each album.