{"id":37655,"date":"2003-07-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-07-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/the-other-side-of-time\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:20:13","slug":"the-other-side-of-time","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/the-other-side-of-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Side Of Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

You longtime readers of the DV know that Christopher Thelen, Our
\nFounder, and I play several little games in our reviews. His
\nfavorite, for example, is to make sure that he gets in an
\noccasional comment about my fanaticism for October Project (for an
\nillustration, check out his review of OP lead singer Mary Fahl’s
\nfirst solo EP,
\n
\nLenses Of Contact<\/i>
\n<\/a> ). In return, I make sure to keep comparing making occasional
\nreferences to October Project and the sheer ignorance that killed
\ntheir recording career — think of it as my own personal version of
\nremembering the Alamo.<\/p>\n

However, there will be no October Project reference in this
\nreview, save one\u2026<\/p>\n

This is NOT an October Project CD.<\/p>\n

After a long absence, Mary Fahl has returned with her first
\nfull-length solo CD,
\nThe Other Side Of Time<\/i> — and it’s a departure from the
\nsound of October Project entirely. From operatic (Donizetti’s
\n“una furtiva lagrima”<\/i>) to almost bittersweet (“The Other
\nSide Of Time”), Fahl’s repertoire is unique and idiosyncratic,
\nsomewhat of a departure from her past work.<\/p>\n

So is it good? The answer is yes, but\u2026first off, the
\nrecording is peerless. Engineering and production are perfect,
\nfocusing on Fahl’s steam-and-honey alto voice — which is exactly
\nas it should be, given the magnificence of that instrument. Its
\npower and passion is uncompromised.<\/p>\n

What in the final analysis turns
\nThe Other Side Of Time<\/i> from a great to a good CD is the song
\nselection. Some tracks work — “Paolo” and “Raging Child”, which
\noriginally appeared on Fahl’s
\nLenses Of Contact<\/i> EP; “Into The Great Unknown”; “Want To”,
\n“Redemption”; and “The Station”. Some don’t; specifically, I’m not
\nat all fond of the pseudo-Celtic,
\nmade-for-a-movie-soundtrack-Celine-Dion-lite “Going Home” and “The
\nDawning Of The Day”. Interestingly enough, both are from movie
\nsoundtracks; I won’t be going out of my way to purchase them. In
\nmany ways, Fahl’s song selection is similar to Sarah Brightman’s
\nsolo work; and just like Brightman, the CD can rise or fall based
\non the appropriateness of track selection.<\/p>\n

In summary, Mary Fahl’s voice is still a brilliant thing,
\nbreathtaking and rich, and
\nThe Other Side Of Time<\/i> is still a decent piece of work. What
\nI suspect is happening is that some pinheaded A&R man at Sony
\nhas decided Fahl needs to appear on every mellow movie soundtrack
\nthat Enya and Celine aren’t already signed to do. My suggestion is
\nto dump him or her into a bucket of piranha forthwith, and let Mary
\nFahl be Mary Fahl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6691],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37655","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mary-fahl","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37655"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}