i have to say, i don't like that it (may) just be a daydream. if you look at it all as just a story rather than the whole introspective thing i thinks its an annoying ending , just like the ending of Ayreons the human equation... other that that though i love this album really really love it.... city>terria>ZTO>the rest

I disagree about the ending, without Tall Latte it would've still been complete, and a great and deep ending at that, but Tall Latte to me ads the sense of someone figuring this whole thing out for themselves (maybe I'm lucky it doesn't take away form the absurdness of the story I guess, which I can see as being a problem for someone else), remember that the reality behind many great fictional stories is the same thing as this album, someone daydreaming about a concept and getting lost in their own story.

Just my take on the whole thing.

Edit to clarify just a little bit, so often people view these types of endings as easy copouts, but that's not the case with Ziltoid at all, the story was complete already when this was revealed so it can only add the way I look at it.

I consider listening to good music kind of like daydreaming so I think Tall Latte works pretty well

By the way, I think this whole cd is a metaphor to how Devin is feeling. About how he wants to just tune out. It really shows once you read along. I'll post parts that show it probably tomorrow.

My take on Tall Latte is that it's a bit (a lot of?) of Devin in there, always having music in his head and possibly not being able to properly concentrate on other things because there is just so much music going on in his head.
maybe a trip back to his old days working in a restaurant

maybe a trip back to his old days working in a restaurant

In The Rainy Season (intro) revisited.

What's with the captain/commander interchanging?

[djskrimp]

What's with the captain/commander interchanging?

No change. Captain is a rank, commander is a position, Fragile. In the military, a Captain CAN be a commander.


Err..shoulda been Fragile One. Bah, stupid fingers.

What's with the captain/commander interchanging?

No change. Captain is a rank, commander is a position, Fragile. In the military, a Captain CAN be a commander.

Oh, okay. I was wondering that myself

maybe a trip back to his old days working in a restaurant

In The Rainy Season (intro) revisited.

Exactly, but not quite as angry

maybe a trip back to his old days working in a restaurant

In The Rainy Season (intro) revisited.

Yeah, that's exactly what i thought of.

I just want to throw in my 2 cents about the album. I got it 2 days ago (Melbourne) and I've been far beyond impressed with it. It is a brilliant synthesis of everything Dev has done and tried to do over the last 10 years, and it is done effortlessly. I almost feel that if Dev were to throw in the towel on making music right now, Ziltoid would be the perfect swansong to his career. It is simply phenomenal. On the issue of the storyline, for me it's very obvious that it's about being an ordinary nobody who longs to be more significant and more powerful. This idea takes place within the context of a guy who's working in a coffee shop who begins to daydream about power. This, and the aroma of coffee around him, obviously merge in his head to create the idea of a being of incredible power (even omniscient) who is on a quest for coffee. The whole storyline of the album probably takes place in his head over the space of a few minutes before he is abruptly interrupted by the boss and made to go back to work. Could it also be about Devin's memories of being a kitchen hand and working in a similar environment with similar longings for power and significance. Jesus, don't we all?
Brilliant work Dev.

That's an awesome way to look at it.

-Warning, radical critisism ahead-

I would have to disagree with the whole swansong theory. This album is really amazing, and what makes it better is how unique it is compared to all of his other solo albums. In my opinion that can be a bad thing as well. I was hoping that the traditional devin style would be perserved on this album like it was on Synchestra, but this album is so outside the box that it seems to bear no reseblence to anything devin has ever done before.

In fact, This album may have been more believable as a SYL album since it has much more of a heavier edge than any other album devin ever did (except physist, but that topic's for another day when i have about 3 hours to kill). Which is wierd because i heard somewhere about SYL breaking up because devin didn't want to be part of that band anymore, meinwhile, this new album sounds just like SYL.

I guess to conclude, i'm not saying that the album is bad, it's just not what I'm used to hearing as far as devin's repertiore goes. I just hope this doesnt mark a permanant change in his style.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you about it not sounding like Devin's other work. To me, it sounds like everything.

I think it sounds like another one of his solo albums lol... it has some similarities in the overall sound but doesn't sound exactly like any of his previous albums. Its definitely not consistently heavy enough to be a SYL album though.

"Long time no see ... although, I see everything."

"Tell me, what is the true nature of my reality?"
"You gotta chill, man," *bambambambambambambam*

Makes my day everytime. Like "The beat starts here AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHHHH!!!" from Home Nucleonics. Superb record.

I honestly have thought about it a lot, and I'm certain my favorite part of the whole album is that ridiculous bass drop on Planet Smasher when Herman comes in and says "cherish the mind." It gets me every time. Freaking awesome. Well, the whole album rocks, but that part is one I keep tracking back to.