Prog supergroup Transatlantic have unveiled the video for Overture / Reaching For The Sky. The nine-plus-minute track is taken from their fifth album The Absolute Universe: The Breath Of Life (Abridged Version), which is out on February 5, 2021 via InsideOut. An alternate version of the song will also be available on The Absolute Universe: Forevermore (Extended Version), out the same day.
Says drummer Mike Portnoy, “Reaching For The Sky is a great introduction to this epic album as it sets the tone in traditional Transatlantic style: proceeded on the album by an extended Instrumental Overture and then launching into this upbeat first song.
"I love that it features one of my favourite qualities of the band in the sharing of the lead vocals...in this case: Neal Morse singing lead on verse one, myself singing lead on verse two, Pete Trewavas and Neal sharing the chorus with myself and Roine Stolt on backups and Neal taking the glorious bridge... all leading to Roine’s distinctive guitar solo.”
The album is the follow-up to 2014's Kaleidoscope and will be available as two separate editions on CD, LP and digitally, as well as a part of the lavish The Absolute Universe: The Ultimate Edition that includes five LPs, three CDs and a Blu-ray with a special combined mix in 5.1 surround sound with visuals and a behind the scenes documentary. All editions have artwork created by Thomas Ewerhard featuring the airship by Pavel Zhovba.
As Portnoy explains: “We've got two versions of this album. There is a two CD presentation, which is 90 minutes long, and a single one - that's 60 minutes. However, the single CD is not merely an edited version of the double CD. They each contain alternate versions and even in some cases, new recordings. We wrote fresh lyrics and have different people singing on the single CD version tracks as compared to those on the double CD. Some of the song titles have also been changed, while others might remain the same, but compositionally what you'll hear has been altered. You must appreciate that what we have done is unique. We revamped the songs to make the two versions different.”
Pete Trewavas adds: “We did write some new music for the single CD, what's more, there are also differences in the instruments used on some of the tracks across the two records.”
