Bye Bye Beautiful

There are only two reasons to purchase the Bye Bye Beautiful single... A: You really need a physical version of 'The Escapist' or B: You are a completist. Both are valid reasons to find a copy of this, myself falling into the former category rather than the latter. I was always confused why 'The Escapist' was left off the album; it easily outshines most of the tracks on Dark Passion Play. I am not slagging any of them, in fact, I like most of the songs quite a bit, but there are a few that are weaker than others and definitely nothing of the calibre of 'The Escapist'. The demo version of 'The Poet and the Pendulum' is also another cool bonus to this single, featuring Marco Hietala performing the lead vocals through-out. I am a fan of his voice, especially in Tarot, but here he sounds a bit out of place, probably just because I am so used to Anette's version of the song. Honestly, three of the four tracks on this single are good, save for the completely useless DJ mix of the title track. If you are wanting to track down 'The Escapist' plus the demo versions of 'The Poet and the Pendulum', 'Eva', and 'Reach (Amaranth)', then the best option is to find the compilation The Sound of Nightwish Reborn since it has all that plus more.

Nightwish has done the same thing with every one of their singles. They have created so much bonus material to accompany all of their single songs that singles with the band are more like promotional EPs. Amaranth, a previous single, was released three different ways, including on a DVD. The band did this (releasing countless versions of all their new songs) to boost album sales. Let's look at the result.

To promote the best song on "Dark Passion Play", the CD starts of of course with that song. Bye Bye Beautiful is an excellent song, except for the new singers vocals. Why didn't they just let Marco sing the whole thing? Next up is a pile of bullshit, "The Poet and the Pendulum demo". It is almost fourteen minutes, even as a demo, and a horrible song anyway. Next up is a new song "Escapist." It's pretty good, even for a new Nightwish song. And last we have the dance remix of "Bye Bye Beautiful". It is very interesting and it makes the singers voice sound a lot nicer.

This is pretty much worth buying, just don't listen to the Poet and The Pendulum, because it will put you to sleep.