The Dream Theater Appreciation Thread

Thatfabulousalien wrote: Over the years my love for many DT albums have diminished but I still think I love Awake a lot. There is something about that albums dark and really personal atmosphere of that album that they never really did before or after it.

Love almost every DT album... the self titled and black clouds are a bit less enjoyed, though. Both feel kinda rehashed and soulless to me (with the exception of certain songs). And a seemingly unpopular opinion is that the astonishing was a bit too short on the second disc haha, I really enjoyed the cheesy musical-theatre nature of it all and thought it ended a bit abruptly.

Davidf60 wrote: Dream Theater are one of my very favourite bands, I have all of their studio albums, several of their live DVD,s including the deluxe edtition of Live at Luna Park which is truely superb.  One of the things I really appreciate with DT is you always get a lot of music for your money, a lot of bands albums are barely 40 minutes long which really bugs me. I must admit The Astonishing did shock me on first play,  but I don't think you can knock any band for doing something different and now after many plays it's really rather good.

Actually, I often prefer when the bands make somewhat shorter albums... usually when they try to fill up to the last minute of the CD, they end up putting fillers and such. This may be one of the reasons I don't find any DT album to be a 5 star masterpiece, while they are one of my favourite bands... actually, I think almost all of the albums up to Silver Linings have enough songs I love to make 40 or 50 mins 5 star albums. The problem is, often different people love different songs from each album, so how to choose the right songs to make the masterpieces?

Dream Theater are one of my very favourite bands, I have all of their studio albums, several of their live DVD,s including the deluxe edtition of Live at Luna Park which is truely superb. 

Thank you for digging out this thread which had fallen by the wayside. I took the occasion to re-read it. It seems that I am not the only one who has problems with Jordan Rudess's playing style. He sometimes sounds as if the following dialog between him and his mother happened in his childhood:

Jordan: Mum, I want to learn guitar.
Mum: No way, you'll learn piano. Has more culture.
Jordan: OK, then I'll learn piano. But some day I'll find out how to play guitar on that darn thing!

I liked Kevin Moore better.

Funny how this thread hasn't had any posts for so long....

Anyhow, Laz Junior expressed a wish to see DT live, so tickets booked for Cardiff in April today

I decided to put some early DT on the other day, been a while since I've heard I&W or Awake and it's got me on this DT kick. Now I'm listening to all studio releases in chronological order in hopes that maybe I'll be able to appreciate The Astonishing more.



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Edited by darkshade - May 07 2016 at 09:45

For me, DT was a major influencing factor for moving from brutish heavy stuff to a more refined taste. My "peak DT fan period" was around Awake and A Change off Seasons, when it still sounded very fresh to me. With later releases, my excitement was reduced, although I still consider Black Clouds... close to perfection in their style.

The latest "opera" approach is certainly new, better than putting out more of the same; however, it didn't resonate much for me.

KimberlyPierre wrote: 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.

If you liked When Day and Dream Unite, but definitley prefer LaBrie singing (I'm not really much of a fan of his singing, but in general I do believe he's better than Dominicci), then perhaps you would like to check out the official bootleg "When Day and Dream Reunite", from the 20 or 15 or something anniversay of the album, played by the line-up with LaBrie and Rudess already on board. For me it was a mixed bag, with it's strong aspects and the weak ones. Strange enough, one of the weak aspects are the vocals themselves... LaBrie wasn't on one of his best days, I guess, but at least I don't really find them better than Dominicci's... so that might be a disapointment. The other weak point would be the keyboards... they are still great, but in general I prefer the sounds Moore used on the original, the mood he sets is more special to me. The strong point would be that the heaviness was improved, so that it rocks more, and in general the sound is better, and the band does sound more mature. Ytse-Jam in particular is wonderful in this new version... though Only a Matter of Time is definitley better on the original one in my view (perhaps my two favourite songs from the album).

KimberlyPierre wrote: 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.

Well, for me Stream is just perfect, and not close to being dull, since it's so varied all along, nor do I feel it is messy despite all the changes it goes through (though I guess there are people who wouldn't agree with me on this)... but yeah, it might have gone rather wrong if they had done it any longer. I can think of 3 keyboard parts that stand out for me on this song, and they are all wonderful for me. First at the beginning of the song, the one with the dramatic theme (to call it some way) that comes allong with the heavy guitars... it's short, but it sets the way for the whole of the song (plus, it's reprised near the end). Then the piano part you mentioned near the middle, it's just the kind of piano things I love him doing and which he doesn't use so often... And then the synth solo near the end, which might be the one you mentioned not liking, but for me it's another wonderful passage within the song, followed by one of the best Petrucci solos within Dream Theater. Really, this is a song I can't stop once I have stared listenig to it.