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Guldbamsen 
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 Posted: April 16 2016 at 09:12 |
I've merged the most recent DT appreciation thread with this one. We tend to go by one thread per subject 
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“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
- Douglas Adams
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Manuel
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Posted: April 16 2016 at 08:25 |
 micky wrote:
oh yeah.. agree... not that it is wrong here.. but album reviews are the best places to show ones love (or hate haha) for DT albums. Or any albums! Plus you get in on one of the great games of PA's lore.. ratings manipulation by voting up or down albums to move them on the great list of 'popular' albums.
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Agreed!!!
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micky
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Posted: April 16 2016 at 07:15 |
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oh yeah.. agree... not that it is wrong here.. but album reviews are the best places to show ones love (or hate haha) for DT albums. Or any albums! Plus you get in on one of the great games of PA's lore.. ratings manipulation by voting up or down albums to move them on the great list of 'popular' albums.
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Pastmaster
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Posted: April 16 2016 at 01:30 |
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These might fit better as track by track reviews on the site, anyone is free to write reviews.
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KimberlyPierre
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Posted: April 16 2016 at 01:17 |
Heck, this band deserves appreciation after appreciation after appreciation. Here is where I show my love for Dream Theater.
Admins/mods: I'm sorry if this is the wrong thread! D:
Here, I will be discussing my love for each and every song Dream Theater has ever released! Are you ready for this journey? I will forever be grateful for them for turning my taste of music to them! I still think Dream Theater is the best band ever and they will always have a special place in my heart. So...let's begin!
A Fortune in Lies by John Petrucci (5:12) Here is the first song from Dream Theater's debut album. Their debut album was really hard to get into, but once I kept on hearing the album, something happened. My love for Dream Theater spiraled upwards and it all started with this album, even though Charlie Dominici is the one who sings this song. I would prefer Labrie any day, but Dominici was a very good start. This song begins with a drum introduction, and the band all comes in and jams out: the intro. Around a minute into the song, Petrucci dishes out a sick riff that gets me head banging. After Petrucci's riff, Moore has his own play time as Domini comes in. According to the drummer Mike Portnoy, this song is about a friend who stole something, got busted, and the experience he gleaned from it. The verses are nice, the chorus is sweet, and the instrumental section is mind blowing, especially Moore's "creepy" tune with an organ? He paves the way for Petrucci to come in with a rocking solo of his own. Even if it is pretty short (5:12), the song brings a lot. The song ends with Dominici's held note as the instruments fade. If I had to rate it out of 10, I would give this song a solid 6, the only reason being the quality of the song. Not a bad start.
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"There is a sacredness in tears. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love."
-Washington Irving
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KimberlyPierre
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Posted: April 15 2016 at 22:29 |
Dellinger wrote:
KimberlyPierre wrote:
Agreed and agreed.
Also, the only real kink for me is Rudess. Rudess is a brilliant, talented keyboard player, but I'd prefer Moore or Sherinian any day. I think Rudess and his keyboard solo's....well, I think he takes them too far. I think the majority of his solo's are: "Hey! Look how fast I can play!"
If Rudess does solo's like the one from The Best of Times, with his strings, I would find it more enjoyable. Although some of his solo's are good: A Nightmare to Remember, Beyond This Life, The Dance of Eternity, Blind Faith, and a few more, these just make me shake my head: A Rite of Passage (That bebot solo  ), The Great Debate, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, This Dying Soul, Endless Sacrifice, among others. |
How about the keyboards on "Stream of Consiousness"... I think they are all great in that one... and there are some other songs, I would have to check them out, were he uses piano, and they are really nice among all the metal around... unfortunatley sort of too short. But mainly on the older albums, pre Octavarium I think, the piano on the post-Portnoy albums I found rather dull. Well, perhaps on the last album it is more enjoyable, though. |
Stream, that's right! I loved it really much, when he played with his piano, but the synth right before Myung didn't click with me. Leave the soloing to Petrucci please.  And bout it being dull past 8vm, I totally agree.
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"There is a sacredness in tears. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love."
-Washington Irving
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Dellinger
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Posted: April 15 2016 at 22:23 |
KimberlyPierre wrote:
Agreed and agreed.
Also, the only real kink for me is Rudess. Rudess is a brilliant, talented keyboard player, but I'd prefer Moore or Sherinian any day. I think Rudess and his keyboard solo's....well, I think he takes them too far. I think the majority of his solo's are: "Hey! Look how fast I can play!"
If Rudess does solo's like the one from The Best of Times, with his strings, I would find it more enjoyable. Although some of his solo's are good: A Nightmare to Remember, Beyond This Life, The Dance of Eternity, Blind Faith, and a few more, these just make me shake my head: A Rite of Passage (That bebot solo ), The Great Debate, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, This Dying Soul, Endless Sacrifice, among others. |
How about the keyboards on "Stream of Consiousness"... I think they are all great in that one... and there are some other songs, I would have to check them out, were he uses piano, and they are really nice among all the metal around... unfortunatley sort of too short. But mainly on the older albums, pre Octavarium I think, the piano on the post-Portnoy albums I found rather dull. Well, perhaps on the last album it is more enjoyable, though.
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Catcher10
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Posted: April 15 2016 at 18:03 |
I think he is very inspired. What he listens to and when you hear him speak in interviews I get the feeling he is trying to create very interesting music, using inspiration from different genres of music, just look at his playlist.....It's not just about prog or getting inspiration from prog artists......That's uninteresting to me.
But apart from that, if you don't like his music nothing wrong with that. For me I am tired of the old sound that seemingly people here long for, re-hashing the 70's sound and style, fun while it lasted and great music but I can't go to my grave not having listening to new artists and new ideas.
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Cristi
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Posted: April 15 2016 at 15:43 |
micky wrote:
ummm... lack of being inspired and definite lack of being interesting 
He suffers from Ian Andersonitis.... perhaps it is small dick syndrome but feels the need to prove his worth not with quality but with quantity.. his material stopped being interesting about 10 years ago.
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what's Ian Andersonitis? I think he's quite inspired, he's never screwed up like others did, at least not yet IMO.
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The T
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Posted: April 15 2016 at 15:19 |
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They were a great band once...
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micky
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Posted: April 15 2016 at 15:06 |
ummm... lack of being inspired and definite lack of being interesting He suffers from Ian Andersonitis.... perhaps it is small dick syndrome but feels the need to prove his worth not with quality but with quantity.. his material stopped being interesting about 10 years ago.
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Cristi
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Posted: April 15 2016 at 12:43 |
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Catcher10
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Posted: April 15 2016 at 11:27 |
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Catcher10
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Posted: April 15 2016 at 11:21 |
Dellinger wrote:
Catcher10 wrote:
I have no problems with SC, again more metal than not. BC&SL is also a big rotation album for me, but it is the last of them. DT12 and ADToE gets minimal plays but there are some decent songs....Production is what has been lacking since Portnoy left and Petrucci is trying to do it all and the quality is suffering.Also getting bored of Rudess's sound, I like him very talented, artistic but again the creativity is lacking, especially when I think about his performances in SDoIT, Scenes and Octavarium.
Petrucci is also missing the mark by leaving out Myung in the mix.....he needs to be more forward.
The good thing is their back catalog is very good, enough that I can leave the recent releases alone. |
I'm not sure how much is lack of creativity on Rudess' part, and how much is puting Dream Theater music in a box and not wanting to get out of it. I really loved what Rudess did on Steven Wilson's Grace for Drowning, and I really wish he would use some of that playing with DT... I mean, not all the songs, but on parts where it could help to give some diversity. He can surely play, and compose I hope, on many stiles... he should use them, what the band needs most right now is more variation in their songs. |
Well there you have it.....by a country mile Steven Wilson is a much better producer than Petrucci will ever dream about being. Rudess is very good, but the production of recent DT albums brings out the boring in him. 
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KimberlyPierre
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Posted: April 14 2016 at 22:38 |
Agreed and agreed.
Also, the only real kink for me is Rudess. Rudess is a brilliant, talented keyboard player, but I'd prefer Moore or Sherinian any day. I think Rudess and his keyboard solo's....well, I think he takes them too far. I think the majority of his solo's are: "Hey! Look how fast I can play!"
If Rudess does solo's like the one from The Best of Times, with his strings, I would find it more enjoyable. Although some of his solo's are good: A Nightmare to Remember, Beyond This Life, The Dance of Eternity, Blind Faith, and a few more, these just make me shake my head: A Rite of Passage (That bebot solo ), The Great Debate, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, This Dying Soul, Endless Sacrifice, among others. |
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"There is a sacredness in tears. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love."
-Washington Irving
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Dellinger
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Posted: April 14 2016 at 22:07 |
Catcher10 wrote:
I have no problems with SC, again more metal than not. BC&SL is also a big rotation album for me, but it is the last of them. DT12 and ADToE gets minimal plays but there are some decent songs....Production is what has been lacking since Portnoy left and Petrucci is trying to do it all and the quality is suffering.Also getting bored of Rudess's sound, I like him very talented, artistic but again the creativity is lacking, especially when I think about his performances in SDoIT, Scenes and Octavarium.
Petrucci is also missing the mark by leaving out Myung in the mix.....he needs to be more forward.
The good thing is their back catalog is very good, enough that I can leave the recent releases alone. |
I'm not sure how much is lack of creativity on Rudess' part, and how much is puting Dream Theater music in a box and not wanting to get out of it. I really loved what Rudess did on Steven Wilson's Grace for Drowning, and I really wish he would use some of that playing with DT... I mean, not all the songs, but on parts where it could help to give some diversity. He can surely play, and compose I hope, on many stiles... he should use them, what the band needs most right now is more variation in their songs.
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Dellinger
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Posted: April 14 2016 at 22:02 |
KimberlyPierre wrote:
Dellinger wrote:
Catcher10 wrote:
Pretty much the same for me, I enjoy their music and musicianship, very high level. What is lacking in recent years has been creativity, they are in a rut where it seems they are trying to find themselves again. At this point if they do not take a break and recharge the creative batteries, the latter part of their career will be forgettable.
Train of Thought is my fav album of theirs, that set the bar for prog-metal for me and recently have been very locked in with Falling Into Infinity, been getting lots of spins lately on the turntable.
I don't even want to mention the the last album, have only heard about an hours worth of it and have no interest in hearing the whole thing right now.
They should have taken Portnoy's suggestion and taken a 5yr break, which means right about now they would have been releasing a new album.
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Train of Thought is also my favourite album from them. Almost no weak track... and the few weaker ones are enjoyable just as well. And Train of Thought is among my very favourite songs from the band. Actually, 6 degrees would be my favourite, if it was a single disc album, and that disc was the first one (the one that is NOT the suite), but since it's a double album, and I almost don't like any song from the second disc, Train of Thought gets it's place as my favourite one. Falling into Infity doesn't do much for me, though. It still has a few very good songs and all, but it does sound weaker that the rest. Actually, I do enjoy the demos version, indeed many of the weaker tracks were better the way the band originally intended them. As for their last albums and Portnoy's departure, I have found them notably weaker indeed, and they should have taken that break... though I do have enjoyed a little bit better the listens I have given to their latest; at least they do vary their sound a litte bit more... still, I think that if this album had been done with Portnoy in the band, it would have been so much better, even if most of the music and story remained Petrucci's, Portnoy did give direction to the efforts in a better way.
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One of the reasons why I think Train of Thought is weak is actually because of Honor Thy Father and Endless Sacrifice. HTF is a good song, but the song is too long. Trim the instrumental section in the middle at bit and it will be much better. And Endless Sacrifice...well, the verses are good and the bridge is awesome, but the instrumental section! What was supposed to a love song is ruined by the instrumental. I think Systematic Chaos or Black Clouds and Silver Linings is one of their strongest, but I've seen so much hate to it. |
Yeah, for me Honor thy Father is also the weak link in the album... though if I listen to it I might just as well enjoy it a bit anyway, the other one I don't remember it's name, but it's the short ballad... however, once again it's not as bad as other ballads from the band anyway. Endless Sacrifice, however, is among the songs I do like on the album, I just don't see much wrong with it. About Balck Clouds, that's also an album I like very much too... though it's perhaps the first one in which their sound started sounding tired and like... yeah I have heard this before... still, not so bad as with the post-Portnoy albums. And again, some of the songs are a bit weaker, but overall the whole album is enjoyable (despite some really terrible lyrics). But Systematic Chaos is indeed for me among their weaker albums... really, the only song that I find good here is "In the Presence of Enemies part 1"... but what a song that one is, though.
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micky
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Posted: April 14 2016 at 16:37 |
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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twalsh
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Posted: April 14 2016 at 14:50 |
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So far, i'm having trouble with their new release, finding it boring overall. I need to give it a more serious listen, though it's not a great sign when that seems like work. Like some others above, I like DT at their heaviest and would add that I believe they don't do ballads well. Still a great band, but finding myself returning to IAW, SFAM, and SDOIT, and TOT.
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More heavy prog, please!
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Catcher10
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Posted: April 14 2016 at 09:48 |
I have no problems with SC, again more metal than not. BC&SL is also a big rotation album for me, but it is the last of them. DT12 and ADToE gets minimal plays but there are some decent songs....Production is what has been lacking since Portnoy left and Petrucci is trying to do it all and the quality is suffering. Also getting bored of Rudess's sound, I like him very talented, artistic but again the creativity is lacking, especially when I think about his performances in SDoIT, Scenes and Octavarium.
Petrucci is also missing the mark by leaving out Myung in the mix.....he needs to be more forward.
The good thing is their back catalog is very good, enough that I can leave the recent releases alone.
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The Dream Theater Appreciation Thread
