Operation: Mindcrime
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| Operation: Mindcrime | ||
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| Studio album by Queensrÿche | ||
| Released | May 3, 1988 | |
| Recorded | 1987–1988 Kajem/Victory Studios, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, USA |
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| Genre | Progressive Metal | |
| Length | 59:04 | |
| Label | EMI | |
| Producer(s) | Peter Collins | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Queensrÿche chronology | ||
| Rage for Order (1986) |
Operation: Mindcrime (1988) |
Empire (1990) |
Operation: Mindcrime is Queensrÿche's third full-length album, which was released on May 3, 1988. It is a concept album about a man becoming disillusioned with American society, and joining in a conspiratorial plot to assassinate its corrupt leaders, with spoken dialogue between songs that advances the story and ties the songs together. The album is generally considered to be the first, and still one of the most important and popular, progressive metal recordings; paving the way for bands such as Dream Theater.
During the tour for 1990's Empire, Operation: Mindcrime was performed in its entirety. The stage show featured video, animation and guest singer Pamela Moore as Sister Mary. This live show was successful enough that the band released it as a box set called Operation: LIVEcrime. The story was initially explored in a series of video clips for MTV in the 1989 VHS video, Video: Mindcrime.
In the United States, the album was certified gold a year after its release and was certified platinum in 1991.
In 2003, a 24-bit remastered version of Operation: Mindcrime was released that included live versions of "The Mission" and "My Empty Room" as bonus tracks.
In 2006, EMI released a deluxe Operation Mindcrime box set that included the 2003 remaster, as well as an audio disc of a November 15, 1990 Hammersmith Odeon concert, with the band performing the entire album, and a bonus DVD containing Video: Mindcrime and bonus clips.
The sequel, Operation: Mindcrime II, was released on April 4, 2006, with Ronnie James Dio taking over the role of "Dr. X".
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "I Remember Now" (Chris DeGarmo) – 1:17
- "Anarchy-X" (DeGarmo) – 1:27
- "Revolution Calling" (Geoff Tate, Michael Wilton) – 4:42
- "Operation: Mindcrime" (DeGarmo, Tate, Wilton) – 4:43
- "Speak" (Tate, Wilton) – 3:42
- "Spreading The Disease" (Tate, Wilton) – 4:07
- "The Mission" (DeGarmo) – 5:46
- "Suite Sister Mary" (DeGarmo, Tate) – 10:41
- "The Needle Lies" (Tate, Wilton) – 3:08
- "Electric Requiem" (Scott Rockenfield, Tate) – 1:22
- "Breaking The Silence" (DeGarmo, Tate) – 4:34
- "I Don't Believe In Love" (DeGarmo, Tate) – 4:23
- "Waiting For 22" (DeGarmo) – 1:05
- "My Empty Room" (Tate, Wilton) – 1:28
- "Eyes Of A Stranger" (DeGarmo, Tate) – 6:39
[edit] Bonus tracks
- "The Mission" (Live) (DeGarmo) - 6:11
- "My Empty Room" (Live) (Tate, Wilton) -2:43
[edit] Story
The album begins with the protagonist, Nikki, lying in a hospital bed. He lies in a nearly catatonic state, unable to remember anything but snippets from his past. Suddenly, Nikki has a violent flashback in which his memories come flooding back in a torrent (I Remember Now, Anarchy X). He remembers how, as a heroin addict and would-be political radical frustrated with contemporary society, he was manipulated into joining a supposed secret organization dedicated to revolution (Revolution Calling). At the head of this organization is a political and religious demagogue known only as Dr. X, who, manipulating Nikki through a combination of his heroin addiction and hypnotism, uses Nikki as an assassin. Whenever Dr. X uses the word "mindcrime" Nikki becomes his docile puppet (ala The Manchurian Candidate), a state which Dr. X uses to command Nikki to undertake any murder that the Doctor wishes (Operation Mindcrime, Speak). Through one of Dr. X's associates, a corrupt priest named Father William, Nikki is offered the services of a hooker-turned-nun named Sister Mary (Details are vague whether these services are sexual or simply emotional) (Spreading the Disease). However, through his friendship and growing affection toward Sister Mary, Nikki begins to question the nature of what he is doing (The Mission). Dr. X notices this and, seeing a potential threat in Mary, orders Nikki to kill both her and the priest. Nikki goes to Mary's church and kills the priest, but after confronting Mary fails to comply with the command to murder her (Suite Sister Mary). He and Mary decided to leave the organization together, and Nikki goes to Dr. X to tell him that they are out. Dr. X, however, reminds Nikki that he is an addict, and that he is the only one who can provide his daily fix (The Needle Lies). Nikki leaves conflicted and returns to Mary, only to find her dead (Electric Requiem). He cannot cope with the loss, as well as the possibility that he himself may have killed her and not known it, and begins to succumb to insanity (Breaking the Silence, I Don't Believe in Love). The police, arriving on the scene, arrest him for Mary's murder and the murders he committed for Dr. X (Waiting for 22). Because he is in a near-catatonic state, he is put into a hospital, where he starts to remember… (My Empty Room, Eyes of a Stranger).
[edit] Mary's death
Details about this crucial point of the story are ambiguous (in the album itself). The lyrics themselves do not hold clues, and the booklet remains vague about this part of the story.
Three possible situations can be taken into account:
- Nikki killed Mary in a brainwashed state under X's command, thus he doesn't remember.
- Dr. X realized Nikki won't be able to perform the murder, so he took matters into his own hands and killed Mary himself. (Or perhaps through other mindcrimers.)
- Mary committed suicide.
There are some possible interpretations on some existing clues:
- Chris DeGarmo in an interview has noted that Electric Requiem is how "Nikki comes back to the church and finds Mary dead hanging by her rosary", but states that "You don't quite know who killed her. Was it X or Nikki?", excluding her suicide.[1]
- The cinematic video snippets shown during the Livecrime concerts and in the "I Don't Believe in Love" and "Eyes of a Stranger" music videos show Dr. X approaching Mary while wrapping a rosary around his fist, likely to strangle her.
- The band released a VHS recording called "Video: Mindcrime" in 1989. At the time of its release, EMI claimed that Video: Mindcrime contained the answer to the question of who killed Mary. It contained videos for several songs on the album, as well as a "hidden" bonus video for the song "I Don't Believe In Love," which appeared after the ending credits. The video is featured split-screen images which "match" only once, toward the end of the song, to form the word "suicide."
Any doubt as to how Mary died were eliminated in the live performances of the Operation: Mindcrime album (An Evening With Queensrÿche) that Queensrÿche did in 2004. Mary's death was quite clearly shown. The show featured Mary sitting down to a telephone and receiving the same "Mindcrime!"-phone call as Nikki, from Dr. X. He commands her to shoot herself. She is unable to resist and complies.[2]
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Band
- Geoff Tate - Vocals
- Chris DeGarmo - Guitar, background vocals
- Eddie Jackson - Bass, background vocals
- Michael Wilton - Guitar, background vocals
- Scott Rockenfield - Drums, percussion, keyboards
[edit] Cast
- Pamela Moore - as Sister Mary
- Anthony Valentine - as Dr. X
- Debbie Wheeler - as the Nurse
- Mike Snyder - as the Anchorman
- Scott Mateer - as the Preacher
- The Moronic Monks of Morin Heights - Choir
[edit] Credits
- Peter Collins - Producer
- Michael Kamen - Orchestral arrangement
- James Barton - Engineer, Mixing
- Jim Campbell - Assistant Engineer
- Bob Ludwig - Mastering
- Paul Milner - Assistant Engineer
- Paul Northfield - Engineer
- Ronald Prent - Mixing Assistant
- Glen Robinson - Assistant Engineer
- Snakemeister - Conductor
[edit] Charts
[edit] Album
Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | The Billboard 200 | 50 |
[edit] Singles
Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | "Eyes of a Stranger" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 35 |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Another page explaining the Operation: Mindcrime story in detail
- The official story from Queensrÿche's website
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| Geoff Tate – Michael Wilton – Mike Stone – Eddie Jackson – Scott Rockenfield |
| Chris DeGarmo – Kelly Gray |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums and extended plays: Queensrÿche - The Warning - Rage for Order - Operation: Mindcrime - Empire - Promised Land - Hear in the Now Frontier - Q2K - Tribe - Operation: Mindcrime II |
| Live albums: Operation: LIVEcrime - Live Evolution - The Art of Live |
| Compilations: Greatest Hits - Classic Masters |
| Singles: The Lady Wore Black - Take Hold of the Flame - Gonna Get Close to You - Walk in the Shadows - Breaking the Silence - Eyes of a Stranger - Revolution Calling - I Dont Believe in Love - Empire - Silent Lucidity - Jet City Woman - Best I Can - Another Rainy Night - Anybody Listening - I Am I - Bridge - Disconnected - Sign of the Times - Open - I'm American - Hands |
