Hour Before The Dawn

Zero Hour dramatizes the hour leading up to some of the most memorable historical events as they unfold minute by minute. This dynamic original series dramatizes the final hour leading up to several pivotal historical events. Here we experience history just before it became history.

Witness the birth of a heroine in Dawn of the Dreadfuls — a thrilling prequel set four years before the horrific events of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. As our story opens, the Bennet sisters are enjoying a peaceful life in the English countryside. They idle away the days reading, gardening, and daydreaming about future husbands — until a funeral at the local parish goes strangely and horribly awry.

The Moody Blues classic 1967 album Days Of Future Passed is regarded as one of the foundation stones of the progressive rock genre. In 2017, the band headed out on the album's 50th Anniversary Tour including the wonderful show captured at the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts in Toronto accompanied by a full orchestra. The concert begins with the band by themselves performing a selection of classic Moody Blues tracks before they are joined by the orchestra to perform Days Of Future Passed in its entirety plus a couple of fantastic encore tracks. This is without doubt the definitive live version of this much loved album and will be treasured by fans of The Moody Blues for years to come.

Skillfully edited together from the handful of Wall shows Floyd performed between 1980 and 1981 (much of the recordings date from shows at Earl's Court in London), Is There Anybody out There? replicates The Wall live – which, of course, was a replication of the record, only with spectacular visuals. There are two songs not on the studio album – "What Shall We Do Now?," a tune pulled from the record at the 11th hour (early pressings still listed it on the sleeve), plus "The Last Few Bricks," which was an instrumental at the end of the first act that gave the crew time to finish building the wall – but they add nothing to the overall piece. There are no revelations at all, actually, with the possible exception of the layered harmonies on "Outside the Wall," which makes this coda seem like a full-fledged song. Since the show was so rigidly structured, there was little opportunity for the band to stretch out and jam. All of this means that Is There Anybody out There? is The Wall by any other name, and that it isn't for anybody but Floyd fanatics. Will this disappoint the less-dedicated listener? Not necessarily, since anybody familiar with The Wall will likely enjoy it as it's playing. The question is, how often will you put the record on? After all, if you want to hear this music, you'll listen to the studio recording. That doesn't really diminish the worth of Is There Anybody out There?, but it hardly makes it necessary, either. – Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine