SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE

More is often less, even though it often goes against our basic human desire for more. I thought Scenes from a Memory would have been a near masterpiece without some of the cheese and noodly filler. Instead of paring back with their next album, Dream Theater take the opposite approach and offer a double album.

Disc One. This is the Dream Theater that I just cannot get into. Plenty of tantalizing, awesome guitar from Petrucci, maniacal drumming from Portnoy, and flair from Rudess, but level of cheese and filler keep me from coming back (and I'll refrain from nitpicking LaBrie's vocals here as well).

Disc Two. The upside in producing a double album is that if you stretch your wings a bit, you're likely to offer something desirable to many audiences. For me, the Inner Turbulence suite hits the spot. If you remove the three middle songs (War..., Test... and Goodnight Kiss), the Dream has almost assembled an epic for the ages. There are lots of catchy melodies, a GREAT mix on the instruments (I can actually hear some bass!), and a very solid overall song structure in experimenting with variations on musical themes. Special mention to Rudess, who provides a wonderful variety of keys, fills, and rhythm (and avoids his habit of extended, superfast blaring synth runs). LaBrie also generally stays within his range, but boy oh boy does he really stretch out his lyrics, particularly at the end of the piece. You could say the 50 states in the time he holds on to some of these notes, maybe even do your taxes--you get the point! I would much prefer a blistering guitar solo for this dramatic ending, which we know Petrucci can deliver (Octavarium-style, perhaps?). These are small points, as the overall piece is quite strong prog.

Dream Theater fails to dream big and swing for the fences with Six Degrees, but even though you won't hit any homers with this strategy, you can still score runs (and make some cash!).