Dream Theater Appreciation Thread

The Quiet One wrote: ^what is that suppose to do?I seriously didn't get the thrills I always get when listening to Gilmour play that solo.

I just thought it was a fantastic cover of the solo

I LOVE Dream Theater! They are probably my second favorite band after "any band that Neal Morse has ever been involved in". I remember listening to Scenes From a Memory for the first time and being blown away by it, one of the big moments of my musical journey. That is still my favorite Dream Theater album, and one of my top ten albums of all time.

They are the only band I've seen live more than once, the last time being this recent Progressive Nation tour in LA, which was amazing. I also love their new album, it is one of my top three albums of theirs, alongside Scenes and Images and Words. Amazing band, just love them.

Equality 7-2521 wrote: I'll never understand how anyone can deny Awake as their best album.

Big clappies!


Easily their best and easily my favourite

I love Dream Theater and frankly have them to thank for getting me back into progressive rock a few years ago. . .

I enjoyed progressive to a certain extent back in the early to mid nineties, though that was mostly Genesis and Dream Theater.  I lost track of the whole progressive thing for about ten or fifteen years until early 2007.  At that point I was a little bored, I'd been listening to electronica for about ten years and it was waring on me.  I started putting my computer on the 'shuffle all songs never listened to' setting while I was playing video games.  In the process, my computer started playing 'Misunderstood' from Six Degrees which really caught my ear. 

From there, I started listening to that and Scenes From a Memory, two CD's that I had picked up in cut out bins over the years.  I ended up really enjoying them and bought Score from iTunes shortly thereafter.  Score absolutely blew my socks off, especially the live version of Octovarium.  Over the next two months I picked up the missing Dream Theater albums (Train of Thought and Octovarium) and put them in heavy rotation.  From there I found Transatlantic and then Spock's Beard and The Flower Kings who have both since become some of my favorite bands, even more so than Dream Theater.

My favorite album by them is still Awake which I will always associate with the dawn of the internet.  For me, I'd listen to that CD when I surfed the net back in college.  Since that was my first exposure to the net, the two will forever be paired in my memory.  To this day, I get a certain chill on my spine when I hear Mike Portnoy's drum riff to open that CD.

I saw them only once, supporting Images and Words and was blown away by their technical ability. 

While I do appreciate Jordan Rudess' ability, i prefer Kevin Moore's keyboard work in the context of that band.  My impression is that his chord work was a perfect balance to the craziness of Portnoy and Petrucci's shredding.

Equality 7-2521 wrote: I'll never understand how anyone can deny Awake as their best album.

I wouldn't deny it either.... until Scenes came out

I just cannot get away with them. James voice just does not fit the music, in my opinion.

J-Man wrote: Blacksword wrote: Dellinger wrote: Well, I do love Dream Theater too. Great band, great playing. Though lately I've had the impresion that it is one of the most hated bands here. They've always polarised opinion. I've never been a big fan, but I'm warming to them, and I'm really enjoying 'Systematic Chaos' at the moment.. ..oh, and I thought i'd just slip it in, that I'm going to see them this Saturday, along with Opeth!! Have fun! Two of my favorite bands ever!-Jeff

Thanks! I'm sure I will. I've really been getting into Opeth.

J-Man wrote: Blacksword wrote: J-Man wrote: Blacksword wrote: Dellinger wrote: Well, I do love Dream Theater too. Great band, great playing. Though lately I've had the impresion that it is one of the most hated bands here. They've always polarised opinion. I've never been a big fan, but I'm warming to them, and I'm really enjoying 'Systematic Chaos' at the moment.. ..oh, and I thought i'd just slip it in, that I'm going to see them this Saturday, along with Opeth!! Have fun! Two of my favorite bands ever!-Jeff Thanks! I'm sure I will. I've really been getting into Opeth. Just out of curiosity, what are your favorite Opeth albums?

Only heard four so far. I would say Still Life and Blackwater Park are equal favourites. Ghost Reveries took a little longer, but I'm getting there.

I always had a problem with growl vocals, but I'm starting to appreciate how they work so well in Opeths music. For a while I would only really listen to Damnation. I still love that album, but I guess it not really representative of what they do.

What album do you think I should try next??

Thanks Jeff. I look forward to exploring them further..

rushfan4 wrote: With my fairly recent purchase of Black Clouds and Silver Linings I have been revisiting the entire Dream Theater discography.  I listened to Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence last night, and it kind of surprised me how non-metal it was.  They seemed to be concentrating more on making good music as a band versus the neverending solos that seem to always get criticized.  I have to admit that I was kind of disappointed with the concept behind Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.  To be honest I just didn't get what the concept was other then apparently there were 2 to 6 people with various psychological problems which were either trying to be treated or caused as a result of the treatments.  And then with the last song it just ended without really tieing any of the songs or story together or really having a worthwhile conclusion.  What did I miss?

Well, if it was your first listen, you probably didn't pick up all of the themes in one sitting. I thought the conclusion summed it up perfectly, though