Spectrum said:
So I've been listening to this album and I'm trying to figure something out. BU2B2 is a crazy depressing song, and I'm not sure how it fits into the story. It comes right after Headlong Flight, which is a really uplifting song, and right before Wish Them Well, which is kind of a "don't let 'em get you down" theme. Since the whole album is almost a narrative of a wandering character, what is happening there?
Ok, I'll break the album down.
Caravan - His childhood, watching the steam liners go by and dreaming of adventure.
BU2B - The overbearing religion in his family, that he was born into and raised to follow.
Clockwork Angels - He finally leaves, and goes to the main city, where he sees the wondrous angels, and the breathtaking buildings.
The Anarchist - A side story, introducing the antagonist.
Carnies - The protagonist has gotten a job at a carnival, where he spots the Anarchist with a clockwork detonator (bomb like device), the Anarchist throws the device at him, just as the crowd turns, and he flees.
Halo Effect - He had fallen in love with a performer in the carnival, and he is reflecting on what a fool he was to fall for her.
Seven Cities of Gold - He decides to follow his dream of finding the seven cities, after taking a ship to the city of Poseidon (and working there for a while), he sets off across the desert.
The Wreckers - Almost dying in the desert, he goes back to Poseidon, and takes a homeward ship from the city, while in a treacherous storm, they see a light, and follow it. It turns out to be a bait light placed by the denizens of an island to lead ships to a jagged reef, in the wreck the denizens plundered the ship and left passengers and crew for dead. Protagonist was the only survivor.
Headlong Flight - After the shipwreck, he looks back on his life, and all of his adventures that didn't seem so great at the time, but he now realizes he wouldn't change a thing. Stemming from the Freddy Gruber quote "I wish I could do it all again".
BU2B2 - Upon reflection, he realizes how many times he's been taken advantage of, and he is no longer the glowing optimist he once was, and has lost his faith that he was once brought up to believe in.
Wish Them Well - He is not angry at the people who have taken advantage of him, he just turns his back and doesn't waste his time with them. Just wish them well.
The Garden - Now an old man, he has quit adventuring, and now has settled down, to live and "tend his garden".
All put into my own words from the captions in the album book.
