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More Existential than Kierkegaard and Nietzsche Put Together

I have briefly mentioned before how much I like albums that are created as a complete whole, instead of three-minute pop songs that are created as much to sell ring-tones as they are to convey an artistic expression. A good album, much like a novel or movie, should present a continuous whole, designed to be enjoyed from beginning to end, with a distinct opening, middle, climax and conclusion, with the songs building off of and referring to each other to create a whole that is much more than the sum of its parts.

My previous two musical obsessions, Sunset Rubdown's Random Spirit Lover, and Frog Eyes' Tears of the Valedictorian where just such albums, but my current infatuation takes the whole "album as a whole" thing a bit further than these. Toronto's Rock Plaza Central's album Are We Not Horses is a concept album so ridiculously outrageous that it could justifiably be mentioned in the same sentence as Rush's 2012, or Supertramp's Crime of the Century (and of course, any sentence mentioning Supertramp should also include the words 'totally awesome'). The album is about, and get this, six-legged, mechanical horses who, during the great war between the humans and angels, believe they are actually real horses, and the existential dilemma that ensues when their allies, the humans, try to tell them that they are not. Add into the mix a poignant love story between an angel and one of these mechanical horses and a singer who sounds like he has no business perusing a music career, and you've got yourself the best darn album I've heard in a while. (Well, at least since I listened to Random Spirit Lover a few weeks ago).

And if that is not enough to rush out to your local record store and purchase this equine masterpiece, check out this non-horse-related music video for their wonderful single, which features one of Canada's great home-grown children's shows, Nanalan:

My Children Be Joyful
The MP3 is here

Full post as published by Adventures in a Strange and Distant Land on September 23, 2007 (boomark / email).