The Lateralus Experience - A Visual Journey Through Space And Time
- connerspeed6
- Mar 1, 2021
- 5 min read
It's not everyday that a song, let Alone an album/CD changes someone's life, and overall vision of
the world they live in. When music moves you in a way that is difficult to explain, it's beyond music at that point. You stop listening, and begin experiencing it on a whole new level. This gem of a 13 track release is one of very few that can give me chicken skin from track 1, through 13. While I listened to the CD religiously as a teenager, I never quite understood its real impact, and meanings. Not necessarily its meaning in general, but its meaning for me as an individual. Music is art, and art can be interpreted a million different ways, by a million different people. It simply hits each person in a unique way, so that its impact on that individual can only truly be understood by the person being impacted. To truly understand my connection with TOOL, we have to go back just a bit more.
I never heard or listened to TOOL (that I can remember) until I got my driver's license and a job. I went in to my local music store (yes... There used to be stores where you could walk in and by CD's and Albums! Weird, right?!) and saw this intriguing CD cover that looked to me like an Amoeba trying to wrap its arms around me or something, and I was immediately intrigued. A friend of mine (Emma) worked there so I asked her what she knew about TOOL, and she just said with a very serious tone, "Just buy it.. I promise." So I did! I jammed out the popular songs while cruising around in my truck with friends, but never really sat down, closed my eyes, and REALLY listened. Until I did...
I decided to dedicate some time one night to just listen. I turned off the lights, turned on the music, and went on the "ride." After the last song, "Flood" (track 9) ended, I was just anticipating that the CD would simply start over. I laid there, eyes closed, in a sort of dream state. Then all of the sudden, I was in a nightmare. I had never known of the secret song 69 "Disgustipated" until that moment! Imagine being awaken by the sounds of wood chopping, and goats... It was a wild moment in time! I laid listening in astonishment, and was in complete awe over what I was hearing! That night, I was hook, line, and sinker... All-in on TOOL. The band has a way of doing that to people. Their creativity, and lack of fear when producing music is truly something to behold. After that night, I went back in to see Emma at the music store, and bought Opiate, and Ænima the next day!
Fast forward to May of 2001. TOOL Releases Lateralus, their third studio album, and the world
was blessed with the greatest album in history! (in my opinion of course. If you don't like it, piss off!) All joking aside. From the jump, you could tell that Danny, Justin, Adam, and Maynard had poured their entire beings into this album. You're thrown immediately into the abyss with the first song being "The Grudge" and the ride just gets better and better from then on! Lateralus has always felt like a long story, jumping from one chapter (song) to the next, with little breaks in the story (album) to set you up for the next chapter. The seamless transitions from Mantra into Schism, Parabol to Parabola, and Disposition to Reflection to Triad, are so incredibly well done. It harkens back to the original story tellers, Pink Floyd, and the days when an album, wasn't just purchased for that one good song you heard on the radio. It was purchased for you to listen to over and over again, from the first song to the last, and every time you listen, you take a little something different from the experience. But Lateralus always gave me more than I could ever take from it when I was younger. It wasn't until my late 20's when I really began to let the album really touch my soul on a much deeper level. I always knew that it was a special album, but it wasn't until recently that I truly began to appreciate just how incredible it was, and still is to this day. Nearly 20 years later... It has taken me 20 years to fully appreciate it, but let me be the first to tell you... Everything good in this life, is worth waiting for.
This brings me to why I have written this rambling blog! I always felt that the only thing that would
make the album as a whole, better, would be to have some sort of visual to go along with it. Since TOOL never gave us anything to satisfy my thirst, I decided to do it myself! I put together a FUL ALBUM visual video to go along with the Lateralus album! It took multiple months, over 200 clips and videos from around the internet, and many hours of work! I uploaded and released the video to my Youtube channel in early February, only to have it removed from the channel because of some third party taking it down, so I have had to seek alternate avenues to get this out to the world! Below is a link to watch the video in its entirety in HD. I wish I could share the original Youtube link, however, the video is now gone from my channel and the platform.
The video is a beautiful interpretation of what the album, and each song means to me. From the
Rings of Saturn in "The Grudge" to a spiritual awakening in "Reflection." I urge you to really immerse yourself in this full album experience, as it will give you a whole new appreciation of this fantastic album, and band. I used numerous different videos from different creators, and channels on Youtube. A lot of the Space visuals you will see is from a channel called "Melody Sheep" and he makes some incredible content! A link to his videos are below!
I am planning on making a limited run of DVD's for anyone in the lower 48 here in the U.S. If you would like a copy, you will need to contact me directly here through email, and I can get you a price which will including shipping! I am not here to make money on this, but I will need to recoup costs with DVD's, cases, and covers! I will take orders up front and then print so I am not over-spending on the DVD's, Cases, Etc... and then ship out when completed! If you would like to support my work in another way, I will have links below for my Youtube channel where I create racing game videos on Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon, Paypal for a cup of coffee, and my Patreon! Thank you all so much for coming by to read the short blog, and for watching the video. I hope you all take something away from it that is good for your soul!
I am ConnerSpeed6. Much love, everyone. See ya soon!
Discord: https://discord.gg/qaB8VYU
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