If you enjoy this song, please be respectful of its creators by buying it.
Considering the combination of unrelenting stresses in my life, and the fact I’ve had an anger mismanagement problem since time immemorial, I often cleave to music that I perceive as having a calming effect. ‘Silent Lucidity’ is a song that for me, takes the tone of a comforting lesson from someone of great learning and experience. Although it continually skirts the perimeter of being patronising, it never quite crosses the threshold.
I do wish it was possible to remove the four-sentence crash course in ‘dream control’ without damaging anything else in the song. This ghastly interlude notwithstanding, the overall subject matter is admirably ambitious for a 1990 release. This is not the place to set forth my own views about active dreaming, but suffice it to say, I warm to the fact Queensrÿche wrote a very successful song about an esoteric discipline that is close to my heart.
Aside from the sentiments expressed therein, the lyrics themselves are composed with considerable skill. I always think highly of poetry in songwriting, even if it’s not an issue that can ruin a composition for me if other qualities are strong enough to carry the piece as a whole. Favourite moments include “Living twice at once, you learn”, “A round-trip journey in your head”, and “A doorway that I run through in the night”; extra points are also earned for painstaking attention to the complex rhyme patterns and meter.
The expansive orchestration is also very forward-thinking for its time, and serves to greatly enrich 'Silent Lucidity'. Although listening to a song -- no matter how exquisite -- is no substitute for the Land of Dreams itself, this represents a lovely window into it. Even if that window is open for just shy of six minutes at a time.
Check it out on YouTube
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