Release Date: 1996.10.23.
Label: Transmission
Format: 1 CD
Release Date: 2012.05.15.
Label: Inside Out
Format: 2 CD + 1 DVD
Release Date: 2016.08.16
Label: Music Theories
Format: 2 LP (black)
Release Date: 2016.08.16
Label: Music Theories
Format: 3 LP (marble)
And here comes one of my personal favorites, the most underrated and album of the whole Universe… Actual Fantasy was released only a year after The Final Experiment and it became (at least financially) the most unsuccessful album of the Ayreon saga, maybe due to some bad marketing decisions or just the songs not being part of a big overarching story concept, but instead drawing on science fiction and fantasy films for inspiration, as well as stories written by Arjen himself.
Anyways Arjen undoubtedly liked the album that much that he could not accept that it had been overlooked by most people and he finally “revisited” it, making a 5.1 remix and re-recorded the drums with Ed Warby replacing the original electronic drums.
Recently the album was also released on LP that contains both versions because for most of us (like for me as well) the original was… well, it was just better : )
YouTube and streaming services only offer the revisited edition for some reason, so I encourage everybody to get the original – which is almost an impossible mission – or just purchase the Revisited album which also has the original CD… again… that is just… better, sorry Arjen : )
However most people consider this record completely unrelated to the Universe, I would argue that it actually shows us random pictures of it… so let’s embrace this Actual Fantasy…
How does it fit to the History of The Universe?
Here you can find the answer.
1. Actual Fantasy
2. Abbey Of Synn
3. The Stranger From Within
4. Computer Eyes
5. Beyond The Last Horizons
6. Farside Of The World
7. Back On The Planet Earth
8. Forevermore
9. The Dawn Of Man