| When Dream And Day Unite | review #2 | 1989 |
| Images And Words | review #2 | review #3 | 1992 |
| Live At The Marquee | 1993 |
| Awake | review #2 | review #3 | 1994 |
| A Change Of Seasons | review #2 | review #3 | review #4 | 1995 |
| Falling Into Infinity | 1997 |
| Once In A Livetime | 1998 |
| Scenes From A Memory | review #2 | 1999 |
| Live Scenes From New York | 2001 |
| Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence | 2002 |
| Train Of Thought | 2003 |
If there's anyone that, in my listening experience, really pushes that boundary between a "band I happen to be reviewing" and a "band that I'm a huge fan of", it's without a doubt Dream Theater. It seems to me that almost everyone who's a serious music listener eventually comes across that someone that embodies just about everything they could have ever wanted in a band, and out of all the various bands I've ever reviewed, DT comes the closest to fitting that description. Basically, what makes these guys special is that they manage to combine just about everything I love in both hard rock/metal and artsy/progressive music with some of the most unbelievably awesome instrumental chops and breathtaking arrangements, lyrics and melodies I have yet to experience by any band, especially from albums released within the last 15-20 years. I dunno, maybe it also has to do with the fact that I love a lot of the guys' major influences to death as well but damn it, they really pull off that sound incredibly.
Of course, I'd like to believe it's gotten to the point where I can revise this page into something of a more 'objective' point of view rather than one of a serious 'fan', and I've probably gotten to the point in my listening experience where I can seriously judge the albums more by their actual musical quality, and accept the fact that, like it or not, the band does have noticeable flaws. Probably their biggest one is at the core, they're not a very original band (and this has become even more apparent in their 'tributes' on the last couple studio albums) - to a certain extent, their combination of progressive and metal had already been done earlier, even if they were probably one of the first to fully incorporate it into their sound, and I'm not sure there actually is anything in their sound (i.e. Mike Portnoy's Neil Peart-esque drumming to the Metallica style riffs to the operatic Styx-like vocals, among other examples) that hadn't already been exploited before.
Their second problem is that sometimes the band sometimes plays for the sake of showing off their chops and sacrificing the song in the process. Now, this doesn't happen all the time - the band has proven to me to be more than capable of creating entirely non-complicated songs based more upon incredible melody, arrangements and gripping mood on tons of occasions, but they do fall into the rut of sometimes making the songs an excuse for flashy chops (the middle of "Metropolis Part I" and the numerous jams on Scenes From A Memory are probably the biggest examples). Not that I'm not taken by a lot of these instrumental sections, but still, it does get excessive at points, and this approach is particularly bothersome on their often overly clinical live albums, where they often render the songs almost stiffly identical to the originals in execution, almost to the point where they're showing you they can get it right.
But heck, most of these flaws that the band has only serves to make them a bit more 'human' and manages to make their most powerful work stand out that much more. And believe me, their very best work is mindblowing in how they seamlessly blend all their different aspects together in one huge, epic sound. And in terms of consistently enjoyable songwriting (well, at least at this point in their career), it would be very difficult for me to name too many other bands that are effortlessly able to throw one great song after another, especially when the albums are over 50 minutes long (and in the case of their last four studio efforts, over 70!). Seriously, I don't have to use more than one hand to count the number of Dream Theater songs I could really do without, and even those can't really be called 'bad' overall.
Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the lineup yet. Well, three of the five members have been a constant throughout - guitarist John Petrucci, drummer Mike Portnoy and bassist John Myung. The first two in particular are probably the main creative forces behind the band, having perhaps the biggest impact on the musical arrangements and especially the lyrics (Petrucci tends to write the more imaginative and 'deep' ones that leave imagery in your head, often with a questioning flavor, while Portnoy seems to go for the more aggressive, 'psychological torment' approach). And as for their playing abilities, Petrucci can certainly be flashy, but he also recognizes the worth of actually suiting the song with this playing, and there are just as many instances of his soloing really taking control in terms of melodic progression and showing of restraint as there are of him blowing my mind with his technical abilities.
Concerning the work of the other two, it's entirely no accident that Portnoy's won Modern Drummer's ultimate honor for so many years, as the way he pulls off his various difficult tricks (i.e. double bass patterns and whatnot) he does on his kit all with mindblowing aggression has very few peers in modern music. And while Myung has the unfortunate tendency to get buried in the mix the most of all Dream Theater members, take a closer listen to his playing and you'll see his best work is just as stunning and integral in bringing the songs to life as the others, and he's also written some of the most inspirational and beautiful lyrics in the band's catalog during the rare chances he does get to shine in that department ("Learning To Live").
The biggest problem area for the band has probably been the 'keyboardist' position. Kevin Moore, the original one, actually contributed his fair share of lyrics to the band, and really understood the concept of 'mood' within the music, often making an effort to fit his complex, but almost always memorable, keyboard parts to the atmosphere of the song in question. Unfortunately, his changing musical taste (to a more ambient and electronic mold) became the reason for his exit after the release of Awake, and he was replaced by Derek Sherinian, who could probably have been called the 'rock star' personality of the band, with his image nearly as flashy as the way he attacks the keyboards almost the way a guitar wizard would. His playing was quite exceptional, but understandably, his personality caused friction within the band, and he was fired, replaced by the current keyboardist Jordan Rudess in 1998, by far the most technically sick and creatively tongue-in-cheek of these three players (to put in perspective, the guy practically falls asleep playing the already far from simple earlier material). Sure, he can get a bit indulgent at times (which makes me prefer Moore ultimately as my favorite of the three), but damn, his playing is friggin' mindboggling in its' difficulty.
Finally, if there is a 'weak link' position in the band, it's probably the lead vocalist. Their earlier singers Chris Collins and Charlie Dominici (who appeared on the debut When Dream And Day Unite) are often regarded as poor, for one thing. Plus the current singer James Labrie, who joined afterwards, is sometimes thought of as the reason why DT has never transcended their 'cult following' status into mass popularity, due to his operatic voice that some say recalls the 'hair metal' excess. As for my opinion, I happen to think his vocals are perfect for bombast like this, especially during the more intense high-register moments, and in recent years, while a little bit of the actual range of his voice is probably gone, it has gotten arguably even more pleasant to listen to and especially stable in a live setting. So he's good!
So there you are - Dream Theater might not get the highest ratings of any band I've reviewed, but they probably come the closest to being my personal 'favorite' band (i.e. the one I probably most display fan kind of admiration for), and I've yet to hear a more consistently awesome one come out in the past 20 years or so (well, up to around Six Degrees, anyway). And as a note, reviews of the DT albums aren't all this page has - almost every member of the band has been involved in a multitude of side projects (from Liquid Tension Experiment to Mullmuzzler to Platypus) and solo careers. I don't have all of the albums these projects spawned (and a couple of 'em I'm not sure I really want to), but many are reviewed anyway, including Transatlantic elsewhere on the site, since that's more of a Spock's Beard and Flower Kings-sounding project that Mike Portnoy just happens to be involved in. Anyway, let the reviews begin.
P.S. You might have noticed my reviews on this page are a little long, but when you're so attached to songs on albums that frequently pass 70 minutes (which in themselves are nearly twice as long as a lot of normal length albums I know of), and tend to have a thing for song analysis, they tend to be that way. Deal with my obsessive personality. Ha.
--Nick Karn
COMMENTS
[email protected] (john sieber)
Well, after reading several comments about these guys from both fan and hater alike, I think it's time I commented. I've only listened to Images and Words once, that is my exposure to Dream Theater. What do I think? Not too shabby, if you ask me. Their sound has a lot of good influences (I can hear Metallica, Yes, Rush) and the vocalist is actually listenable, kind of a cross between Steve Perry of Journey and Geddy Lee of Rush on a good day. A really fucking good day. The members are very schooled on their instruments, however I have a gripe in that the keyborads are usually washed over by the huge guitar sound, and when the keyboards are audible, the patches that are being played are too MIDI-esque and artificial. Not to knock Kevin Moore's abilities, per se. But oh well. They're no ELP or Kansas, but I like them anyway and will probably be adding their albums to my growing progressive rock selection. Expect some reviews from me in the future!!! Hahahaha!!!
How come Queensryche is seldom mentioned when analyzing DT's influences? Not any Queensryche, but that of Warning and Rage For Order. Even Mindcrime. For instance, Scenes from a Memory's structure is almost identical to that of Mindcrime. Am I the only one who noticed?
By the way, 6 Degrees is probably one of the best rock albums ever. And I am not a 13-minute songs fan at all.
[email protected] (Victor Camacho)
After reading your Dream Theater reviews I just had to e-mail you and write: YOU RULE MAN! And I mean BIG here... The most honest-to-God reviews on the Net. That's it.
Being a big DT fan exactly because of the reasons exposed by you in your site, and I quote, "... they manage to combine just about everything I love in both hard rock/metal and artsy/progressive music with some of the most unbelievably awesome instrumental chops and breathtaking arrangements, lyrics and melodies I have yet to experience by any band...", and having experienced them live twice here in Mexico City (including their "tribute" to Metallica's Master of Puppets in the middle of "Pull me under"... WOW!!!), I had to make an observation to your Six degrees of inner turbulence review...
How come you forgot to mention that the album begins EXACTLY as Scenes from a memory ended? Meaning it continues in some way with the "psychological thrill" created by their excellent and succesful previous effort. With this in mind, I think the entire scope of their latest album changes completely.
Keep up the good work!
hey, you say you like dream theater, or prog/metal. have you ever heard a band called conception? theyre pretty good. not as much keyboard as DT, but i think you'd like them
Hey Man, I enjoyed your reviews and I'd like to add something here if I might....I've seen these guys many times thru the years and they NEVER EVER make mistakes on stage. I mean, I'm a musician/guitarist and notice little note changes or fixes but NO outright fuck-ups ! Also, as far as being able to cover any style of music, DT are in a class by themselves.
The Elton John cover on COS blows peoples minds when I play it for them. The newer stuff, like Metallica's MOP cover (the whole freaking album !!!) is stunning...These guys just keep getting better, how many other groups can you say that about these days ?? Babble on ! DaveB
HIGH POINTS: Only A Matter Of Time, The Killing Hand, Afterlife. LOW POINTS: The Ones Who Help To Set The Sun.
I suppose every great band has to have at least one album that the die-hard fans don't particularly care for too much, and naturally, When Dream And Day Unite is the one many Dream Theater fans are most likely to turn away from. On the surface, this is easy to understand - the production is about the furthest thing from inviting, with a really crappy indie label sound that detracts from a lot of the edge, and more noticeably, this is their only effort with original singer Charlie Dominici whose voice isn't particularly up to the later standards, as he sounds like a potentially grating combination of Steve Perry and Geddy Lee. I don't have a particular problem with his voice or anything, as he does display some good conviction and effort in several of these tracks, but compare a couple of these songs here with live versions sung by James Labrie, and you will feel the difference (see Live At The Marquee). But yet, for some reason, I still find this album to be quite underrated.
Maybe this has to do with the fact that a lot of the elements in the sound are already firmly in place, albeit with Metallica and Rush influences worn on the band's sleeve a bit more than usual. While the playing maybe isn't as mindblowing as later on, the technical ability of the musicians and the arrangements here is really something to take notice of. Regardless of the vocals on the opening "A Fortune In Lies", the actual song is a fairly good thrash metal piece with the keyboards providing a somewhat symphonic addition to the music, and the way the music shifts from section to section here (not to mention the fabulous, if somewhat generic speed, of the solos) is very worthy. The instrumental showcase "Ytse Jam", while somewhat derivative of Rush's "YYZ" in several places, is still a fine display of how tight and proficient the guys already were, as this piece effortlessly builds on a great opening riff with several time signature shifts and mood changes.
There's also somewhat of a poppy influence in a couple tracks here, and it works to a somewhat good extent. "Status Seeker" is another piece clearly influenced by Rush's condensed prog format, moving from an anthemic keyboard build up to fast pace changes in the intro very effortlessly, and the vocal melody is good enough to support that kind of structure well (especially the terrific 'nothing is sacred...' chorus). I also find "Afterlife" to be extremely overlooked by many - the keyboard and guitar soloing alone in the jam portion (especially when they interplay with each other) alone would guarantee it a place on the highlights list, but the actual melody to this song is honestly one of the band's best attempts at pop songwriting, with a moving chorus and a very Steve Perry-esque vocal that somehow perfectly fits the song.
As far as the longest epics on here go, they're more of a mixed bag. "Light Fuse And Get Away" is certainly good, with a well thought out buildup portion, a neat symphonic metal tinge again, a cool, constantly shifting chorus, fine attempts at thrash in the middle, and an appearance of that neat liquid-y bass tone that John Myung would never really have again, but it doesn't really take my breath away like I expect their epics to do, you know? On the more negative side, the lengthy keyboard intro to "The Ones Who Help To Set The Sun" may be the most fantastically majestic thing Kevin Moore ever put to tape (or at least one of them), but that can't make up for the fact that the rest of the song is probably the most unmemorable and dreadfully aimless portion of music they ever wrote, and a genuine candidate for their dullest moment ever. I can't remember anything noteworthy about the last 4 or 5 minutes of the song.
Fortunately, the other two epics, along with maybe "Afterlife", can truly count as early Dream Theater classics. Say what you will about the ridiculously exaggerated vocals in places (which accounts for the later improvement of the song on Live At The Marquee), but the first half closing "The Killing Hand" is still simply fantastic even in its' original incarnation, as the intriguing lyrical subject matter (in which the main character actually sees his own name on a memorial wall by song's end!) is pushed forward by a powerful 3-part arrangement, which builds up from a solemn introductory portion (led by acoustic guitar and delicate keyboard textures), more anthemic thrash bits and resolving itself, or more likely leaving some kind of confused impression on the listener at the end, on an ultra-bombastic proclamation that ends in, well, a wail of 'I am the killing... haaaaaaaaaand' and a brief instrumental ending.
The closing "Only A Matter Of Time", though, is surely my ultimate favorite on the whole album. While John Petrucci's perfectly constructed guitar parts and lyrics were the centerpiece of "The Killing Hand", Mike Portnoy and especially Kevin Moore are kings on this one. The tempo of the song changes incessantly here, and while the schizophrenic nature of the song might have potentially been uneven, it really works in the end. All the various melodies of the song really work well together, while Portnoy's constant signature changing rhythms and Moore's insanely cool (often quite complex) keyboard bits are really showstopping in quality, and even the vocals manage to captivate a whole lot. And damn, that ending is breathtaking. Maybe I'm nuts, but I honestly feel like this is one of the 10 best songs they ever wrote, and that's no small feat. Concerning the album itself, I wouldn't get it early, since this stuff isn't generally as excellent as later, and the singing might completely turn you off, but I would get it eventually if you have an interest in the band, regardless of its' flaws.
You know, we all know how you're supposed to review this album. I'm supposed to say something like "The music is good, we all know that Dream Theater could NEVER write bad songs, it's that singer Charlie what's-his-face that ruins the album." I disagree. I don't like Charlie Dominici, but I also think most of the music, while not bad, is below the standards that they'd soon set. First for that singer guy. He sounds like a sick combination of Geoff Tate and Geddy Lee. No kidding. I'm not too sure about you, but that's not the kind of thing I like. He sits there and whines, not fitting in at all with the music, since the music here sounds neither like Queensryche nor Rush. Charlie doesn't completely ruin the album, since I find it almost impossible for an album to be ruined by a vocalist alone, but sometimes he ruins some of the songs. Like the opening "Fortune In Lies," where his vocal style absolutely kills the song, especially on the chorus. That's just the worst of many examples.
But the music doesn't show what the band was capable of either. Sure there are some beautiful moments, like an absolutely beautiful entry called "The Killing Hand" (a song that is so melodic and amazing that it could have easily been on the following album with James singing it and I would not have minded, the only one that good on the whole album) and "Status Seeker" which has a great catchy chorus. "Afterlife" has some excellent guitar solos to accompany a very good melody. The lengthy "The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun" is another highlight, showing just how great at their instruments these guys are. And finally "Only A Matter of Time" has some nice vocal melodies, and a solid musical backing to make it quite enjoyable.
But a couple of the others are just nothing more than bad, absolutely nothing compared to what Dream Theater would do in the future. "Light Fuse And Get Away" tries too hard to be a classic and fails miserably. Even ignoring the vocals on "A Fortune In Lies" it's still just a dumb and worthless waste, and I find "Ytse Jam" to be boring. Perhaps I could like this album more if it was my first Dream Theater release, but it wasn't, and it shouldn't be yours either.
COMMENTS
Was first turned on to this album as it came out, as a prog-mad friend of mine was in the mood to "enlighten" me and my 80s Purple/Maiden/Hard Rock leanings. Maybe it's because it was my introduction into the over-the-top progressive heavy sound, but I think musically this stands up to anything they've done musically. Had this not been my "introduction" to DT, I would probably agree that Mr. Dominici sounds far too Geddy-esque, and that the production was pretty thin at times, but the trio of Fortune In Lies-Status Seeker-Ytse Jam won me over for good. I'd heard featured solos on keys and bass before, but these guys meant business. The compositions were a bit heavy-handed at times, but isn't that what progressive metal is all about? Thank heaven after MCA (Musicians' Crematorium of America) dropped them, they were picked up by another major, recorded Images and Words, and were on their way! Long live When Dream And Day Unite and Charlie Dominici, wherever and whoever the hell you are!!!!
HIGH POINTS: Learning To Live, Take The Time, Another Day, Metropolis Part I, Surrounded. LOW POINTS: None.
After Charlie Dominici's not so unfortunate exit from the band, the remaining Dream Theater members suddenly found themselves in a difficult position to try and carry on with another singer, a position which they hadn't had much luck in thus far. While attempting to recruit vocalists, they began work on the music and lyrics for much of the new album, including the famous 23 minute epic "A Change Of Seasons" that would appear on an official EP release of the same name three years later. Their lead singer search ended with the band bringing in James Labrie of some 80's AOR band named Winter Rose that I know nothing about. No matter, though, not only does Labrie's highly operatic voice fit it wonderfully with the overall sound bringing an extra majesty to things, but what's even more amazing is how much the band had improved as songwriters. At this point, they had fully focused the progressive metal sound they were heading towards, with the melodies and playing being absolutely flawless throughout.
Looking back on this album now, it's hard to believe at one point the band had something close to a radio hit, but the opening "Pull Me Under" did indeed fit that description back in the day. I honestly believe it's one of the weaker songs on here, though with an album like this, that term almost doesn't apply - the two minute buildup this one has, with the repeated chiming guitar line and the keyboard touches here and there building up to an awesome crunch that's very hard to top for headbanging impact is actually one of the more powerful moments on the album. Maybe it doesn't define 'progressive' like the others do, as it's essentially a really long pop song that happens to have a jam section in it (and a rather great one at that), but how can I possibly not enjoy the hell out of it when the main melody, catchy chorus and interesting Hamlet inspired lyrics are this good? And I dig that sudden stop right at the end!
Likewise, "Another Day" can't really be called progressive either, but who cares? I really consider this song to be one of my favorite ballads of all time. I can understand how it could be called cheesy, with the slightly commercial tone and the saxophone soloing throughout, but the melody and atmosphere on this one is way too hypnotizing and gorgeous, particularly with those extremely personal and resonant lyrics, for me to call it anything less than truly inspirational. The really majestic middle eight to this one ('they took pictures of our dreams...'), though, is what truly makes the song into a masterpiece, with the keyboard backing and gorgeous melody behind it, and the guitar solo that follows it is one of John Petrucci's finest examples how extremely uplifting and well-constructed his solos can be at their best.
Even better than those two songs, however, is "Take The Time", the very first song I would point to in order to show a listener just what Dream Theater is all about, as it seamlessly flows through an incredible amount of equally awesome, but completely different, melodies and ideas. Just the way the song shifts tempo and tone in the bewildering first minute or so alone is simply fantastic, and the way in which the opening burst of time-signature changing funk (which has a really unconventional, but still incredibly catchy, melody) bursts into this big, unforgettable thrashing chorus simply floors me every time. As does the manner in which it shifts to that piano middle just before the jam. Both Moore and Petrucci throw in all sorts of extremely well-developed and effortlessly flowing parts here to keep things incredibly captivating and melodic, but still making it complex while maintaining sense to the song. And how about the way it all comes full circle with the bombastic, Queen-esque slower reworking of the original chorus melody, as well as that ending fadeout? Just absolutely devastating in power.
Finally, to close out side one is another ballad in "Surrounded", a slightly more complex and kinda multi-part take on the form than before. While it's probably not as melodically breathtaking as "Another Day", it is still an extremely beautiful, relaxing song, from the airy keyboard intro to the remainder of the song, where the main melody ('morning comes too early...') suddenly develops over a simple piano progression into this majestic, otherworldly arena rock epic that's too awesome for words. Not only are the main melodies of this piece virtually flawless, but the guitar and keyboard parts that pop up in the 'buildup' to it are really excellent, and the nature in which it goes back to its' original melody after an explosive climactic ending is yet another perfect close. And those lyrics... man, pure, beautifully written poetry (some of Kevin Moore's best). Enough said.
The very legend of this album in prog metal circles, though, seems to center around side two's opener "Metropolis Part I: The Miracle And The Sleeper" (and yes, there was a part two, read on in the reviews for more), an ultra-pretentious tale of two brothers with this huge, bombastic buildup that seriously rivals the earlier "Pull Me Under" in power. As anthemic as the melodies are, though, that's not the real reason the song exists - it's because of the mindblowing lengthy jam in the middle. Of course, I will not deny that this is an example of instrumental indulgence that so many accuse the band of, which is mostly why I don't rate the song that high in the context of the album, but man, the jaw-dropping difficulty of it is one of the most stunning, yet perfectly flowing, examples of a great prog jam I've ever heard, from the lightning fast keyboard and guitar runs to the insane aggressive and precise drumming. And there's even a warp-speed bass solo! Again, if it was any less smashing, I'd smack the band upside the head for interrupting the flow of the song with this, but it's so enthralling I'll forgive them and gladly call it a masterpiece. Especially since it again has a truly great way of resolving itself at the end.
Of course, even on an album like this, there has to be some song here that rates as the least spectacular, and the following "Under A Glass Moon" would be it. Not that it isn't impressive - the atmosphere of the song perfectly captures the night sky, from the image-filled lyrics to the majestic way Labrie sings the vocal melody, plus, it has another showstopping Petrucci solo. Nevertheless, the arrangement and overall vibe isn't as lasting or truly spectacular as the others, and it drags enough to be considered one of the few almost 'mortal' moments on this record. But no matter, it's still far from weak, and the same can be said for the short primarily piano ballad "Wait For Sleep". This one may seem like filler at first, but only because of its' length - the main piano line is for the most part just as gorgeous an instrumental melody as anything on the album, and the song itself is beautiful, poppy and dreamy, with nice 'introspectiveness' to the lyrics.
Plus, it also serves as a great lead-in to the most God-like track of them all. For a long time, I considered the closing 11-1/2 minute epic "Learning To Live" my absolute favorite song of all time, hands down. There have since been other songs that can legitimately lay claim to that title, but at least it still holds true that in terms of Dream Theater's career, this song is the pinnacle. The actual concept of it, with lyrics written by John Myung, apparently deals with a man living life in the aftermath of knowing he has the AIDS virus (told from a couple different perspectives), and the lyrics are some of the most well-written and poetic I have ever come across. But musically and melodically, it's absolutely stunning as well - I particularly love the uptempo keyboard intro leading the rest of the band into a fast-paced jam, and the way it shifts into a somewhat darker, moodier and slower bass-driven verse.
The dynamics of the song, though, are the most incredible. The opening verses are just a taste of what's to come as it shifts from several different moods, from an almost grinding uncertainty ('listening to the city, whispering its' violence...') to a counterpart melody that almost makes me feel like I'm soaring through the sky ('another chance to lift my life...'). And then there's the 'jam' portion - the most well-thought out and amazing 'middle section' I have yet to hear in any epic. It doesn't even attempt to one up the sick complexity of "Metropolis", but rather it throws several astonshingly great instrumental melodies, from the soulful flamenco guitar passage to this one particular solo portion after the 'whooooooaaaaa.... whoooooooooaaaaaaaaaa' yell that just kills me every time I hear it. Man, this thing just flows like nothing else I've ever heard, plus the reprise of the "Wait For Sleep" piano line and the great bassline that the rest band jams on to fade the song and album out (with a completely unforgettable repeating guitar part thrown in) are only even more astounding additions to the song.
In case the review wasn't a hint, these songs aren't just excellent, they are so incredible that for a long time the overwhelming greatness of the album led me to rank it as my absolute favorite. That's probably no longer true, though I still give it the high honor of being both the most complete and utterly breathtaking progressive and metal album I've ever heard, beating out stuff like Master Of Puppets, Close To The Edge (well okay, maybe this has edged I&W out - it SERIOUSLY gets better with every listen), Moving Pictures and Selling England By The Pound (that's extremely complimentary) and my favorite of the 90's as well. But yet, even though I've probably played this more times than any album I own, I still have yet to grow tired of it. Though I must admit, I can see one not liking it too much - sometimes it can get overly clinical, and it doesn't really break too much new ground. And there's that potential problem with the vocalist. But none of those things matter that much when almost all this stuff ranks as some of the most breathtaking music I've ever heard, and that's enough for me.
Dream Theater are a "progressive metal" outfit form New York. The fact that they come form New York makes them automatically better than anything that came out of California. Ha! Making fun of an entire state! 29 million people who SUCK! By the way, to all you anal Oaklanders, that opening paragraph was a joke.
The best way to describe this band is Rush with a thrash element on both the drums and guitar tracks. Yeah, there's keyboards, but most of the time they are doing some cool-ass funky progression, so I never really find them overblown, like 80's synths. Every member of the band is insanely schooled and gifted at their particular instrument. John Petrucci is one of the better guitarists you'll ever hear with James Hetfield crunch and Marty Friedman lead technique. And drummer Mike Portnoy spits out insane, pummeling, double kick drum tracks at incredibly high speed, yet somehow maintaining Neil Peart- type precision.
Now that I've drooled over the skills of the band, let me tell you who should stay away. You hardcore death-metal freaks will despise this band. They are far more Rush than Metallica. And that is who will most enjoy this band. They sound a lot like Rush, albeit with heavier rhythm guitar lines and better vocals. Images and Words is generally acknowledged as DT's best. It is a very diverse collection of songs, from the opening barnstormer "Pull Me Under", to the soft "Another Day" to the futuristic "Metropolis Part 1", and the funky "Take the Time". One of the better tracks on here is the soaring "Surrounded". Great vocals, blazing guitar line. All of the songs on side one are phenomenal in their own way, and the three remaining tracks on side two are pretty good. Sometimes they tend to wander aimlessly, most noticeably the way-too-long "Learning to Live", which is why I do not give the album a higher rating, but overall, a consistent album.
If there is proof anywhere that the internet critics are not always wrong, it's right here. I'd been visiting Music Junkies Anonymous for a while, and had seen Images And Words put in both the top of Nick Karn's best 90s albums and, later, in the "God-like" section of his favorite albums. To be honest I didn't even read the review before grabbing a few mp3s. Every critic can get their chance, I thought to myself. As I started getting the mp3s I noted that the AudioGalaxy genres said "Prog Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal." Up until this point I had not heard of the progressive metal genre. Sure it was easy to see some progressive elements in metal, like Iron Maiden epics, but this actual genre was something I did not know existed. I eventually got it all onto the computer (which actually took some time since I had some trouble getting a correct version of "Metropolis Part One;" I was scared that I would accidentally download part two instead, not knowing at this time that it was actually a complete album), listened to it and absolutely loved it. It worked perfectly all flowing together like nothing I'd ever heard before. Incredible music.
The opening "Pull Me Under" isn't all that progressive, but as far as great heavy metal goes, this is where to look. When I had it back on the mp3 the abrupt ending pissed me off because I thought that it was an incomplete file. Heh, stupid me. "Another Day" was familiar territory for me (except for the saxophone, of course) as it's just a great metal ballad, showing that John Petrucci is a shred master. It's probably the weakest song on the album since it really doesn't show what the band is capable of, and being the shortest song on the album ("Wait for Sleep" is really a part of "Learning to Live") it doesn't have the "more of a good thing" that, say, "Take The Time" has. I'm not saying it's bad; on the contrary I like it a whole lot, more than some of the other ballads the band had done ("Through Her Eyes," just to name one).
The real prog stuff starts up with "Take The Time," an epic that is just as good as most of the older epics I've heard from older prog bands. Watch for the great bass line in the beginning, and some super-fast shred as the song fades out. "Surrounded" has a soft synth centered beginning, and from there develops into another powerful rocker, and again to a soft ending in a perfect manner. Beautiful.
Iron Maiden influences become apparent in possibly my favorite track on the whole album, "Metropolis Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper." It's nine minutes of rocking rolling shredding complex perfection, with a middle instrumental section done in the way Harris did 'em back in the day. There's a part where the guitar flies away on a crazy shred bit, and it you listen really closely you can hear the keyboards doubling it. When the actual song returns to us it hits a great climax to finish it all off. Now that is classic. Following that is "Under a Glass Moon," and, yeah, it's a great song too, what did you expect? Ooh and there is some FANTASTIC work with the drums during the intro and the verses, and hell, the whole song. All of these guys are virtuosos, among the absolute finest at their instruments.
"Learning To Live," probably the other contender for the Images And Words' best song, follows the brief but gorgeous intro song "Wait For Sleep." Then it gets rocking with some synth entry into a dark song atmosphere, and launching itself into another instrumental section. This one however, is completely different and also one of the greatest pieces of music ever penned. A "Wait For Sleep" reprise comes in a little after the eight minute mark, and from there on until the end could be the greatest stretch of progressive rock music ever, or at least really high on the list (then again does anyone make lists like that?). It's such a powerful ending to an amazing album. If you are either a progressive or metal fan who doesn't think that you can have either genre done well in the 90s get this now. For me it ranks on the top five of both prog and metal albums, and is certainly one of my all time favorites by now. There haven't been too many albums on this level, and of all of the Dream Theater I've heard, this is easily the best.
Definitely an amazing album, and frequent listens are beginning to prove this to actually dethrone Bloody Kisses as my favorite album of all time (which isn't saying much considering I've only heard about 35 albums in my lifetime of 17 years). All the songs on side one are absolutely phenomenal: the gripping and irresistible "Pull Me Under", the soaring "Another Day", the entertaining "Take the Time", and the beautiful "Surrounded", perhaps my favorite song of all time by anyone, what with its gorgeous melodies and breathtaking solo section plus some great lyrical imagery; the song makes me feel like a woman! (and with me being a guy, that should basically clue you in on how lovely that song is.) "Metropolis--Part 1" has an amazing, pounding intro and powerful drama, plus that jam section just shreds, and "Under a Glass Moon", despite an awkward chorus, wins over due to a cool as hell riff, hook, and Gish-like atmosphere, plus during the awesome shredding solo (possibly John Petrucci's defining moment on this album), John Petrucci makes this REALLY cool noise with his guitar. I can't really describe it, it's sort of a weird scratching noise, but then it's not even that. Anyway, I LOVE that noise! How the hell did he do it? The only less-than-great part of the album would be "Wait for Sleep", which doesn't really do much for me (luckily it's only 2-and-a-half minutes long, so it doesn't really hurt the album any) although it does have a nice LaBrie performance. And "Learning to Live" takes a while to get used to, but eventually the song begins to sink in, plus that outro is absolutely priceless.
My only gripe is that the guitar sound (well, when it's heavy, anyway) could be better. I'm not too terribly fond of "dirty" guitar sounds (which is why I have a hard time getting into Guns N' Roses) as I much prefer more vibrant 80's sounds (Megadeth's So Far, So Good, So What! and pretty much any Type O Negative album is a good example of my preferred kind of distortion). Still, it's done very tastefully and fits the album well and is not much of a detractor. Overall, a definite 10.
[around two months later]
UPDATE:
Well, after several more listens, I've dicided to lower this album's rating down to a 9. I'm sorry, but that guitar sound simply BLOWS. Too dry and foamy and sandy and grainy; not smooth or "electric" sounding enough, if you know what I mean. The more I listen to it, the more it detracts from the album and whatever cool rythm chops Petrucci has in parts. However, the rest of the time (like during the solos) his guitar sounds great. Imagine if they had used guitar distortion like that on Awake or Master of Puppets or the Black Album or Iced Earth's Something Wicked this Way Comes. Oh well, at least it's not as bad as the rhythm guitar on Rust in Peace. And I agree with Pat D. about the overprocessed drum machine drums; they really piss me off, but they're not THAT bad. At least they have some weight and aren't anywhere near as horrid as those on Seasons and Infinity. Also, as cool as "Pull Me Under" is on the first couple of listens, I've gotten kind of tired of it recently, though the clean guitar intro and chorus are still amazing. Ditto for "Metropolis Pt. 1"; that song gets more and more boring on each successive listen, and the stupid jam section doesn't really do anything for me. "Take the Time" is nice enough in parts (especially the very cool ending section and funky keyboad solo) but the chorus does nothing for me and some parts are a bit aimless. Still, "Surrounded" is without a doubt the greatest song ever constructed by a homo-sapien, and I have recently fallen in love with "Learning to Live". Just plain beautiful, that song is, and it shows "Metropolis" how a jam session should be done. So that leaves two good songs, one decent song, one boring song, one great song and three incredible songs. I REALLY wanted to give this album a 10, but I guess I have to trust my instincts.
I read your comment on McFerrin's site (Selling England By the Pound) and the way you talked about Images and Words said to me that it had to be good (come on, better than Selling England By the Pound, that's a long shot comment). So, I bought it at the used cd store, dirt cheap, and I am still in shock. I thought I hated metal (ok, so a lot of Metallica's output is quite good, but I really hated the rest of what I had heard). This album had me thinking that metal was comparable with the Beatles. All of the songs are great and Pull Me Under has more musical ideas in it than 25+ years of AC/DC. It is really diverse for a metal album, something only Metallica (or so I thought) could pull off. So, is it the best progressive album ever? Well, lets go through a couple of songs and see what we can find. I already mentioned Pull Me Under and it is an excellent song. Another song I really like a lot is Surrounded. Although it isn't really progressive, its melody amazes me. The same thing goes with Metropolis Part 1. Learning to live is a little overlong (well, not too many songs over 10 minutes were able to be flawless. I'm leaning towards Dogs or Sheep, but I'm not quite sure I could call them flawless). Well, I was quite surprised and astounded by this album's excellence. So metal can be really interesting and creative. However, I don't think that it is the best progressive album. That honor still goes to Selling England By the Pound. But this one would definitely make my top 10, maybe 5 progressive albums and my top 2 of the 90's (The honor of #1 falls to Peter Gabriel's Us). Still, anything can change.
I'm listening to it right now. I agree with most everything you said, what a great, great album. James LaBrie was an excellent choise, and is probably one of my favorite vocalists. As far as the songs go, well... "Pull me UInder", the only hit the band ever had, (a shame too) is just an incredible power/pop/prog tune that has to be heard to be believed. "Another Day" is my favorite from the whole album, I love everything about it. LaBrie sings with such a passion, maybe a bit over-dramtic, but still something about it.
"Take the Time" , also, is very good. I love the lyrics in this one: "You can feel the wind coming on, they can destroy you or carry you on". Very uplifting.
Now "Metropolis" just flat out kicks ass! Dig that riff in the opening! Jeez!
Another one of my favorites has to be "Wait for Sleep", the opening keyboard parts aren't exactly 'genius', but they sure do the song well. I consider "Wait for Sleep" and the epic "Learning to Live" to be one trak, since I could never listen to one without the other.
...And just like you, Nick, I never get tired of listening to this. A 10 in any book.
This is the album I thought the intellectuals with an ear for speed should be into. I STILL have no idea what's going on at the end of the bloody Metropolis interlude! Not surprised to learn of the Zappa influence. This album is a tribute to what intelligent complex music composed and performed by excellent musicians with peerless production can accomplish. I'm reluctant to throw down a ten on this one, but I'm willing to round up a 9.5 to a 10 to get back at all the Metallica-heads who refused to admit DT ruled the turn of the decade. OK, guys. Go listen to Masturbator of Puppies (and pulling their things) ten more times. I found their next couple to be a bit overblown and not nearly as notable as these first 2 discs, as they perfectly balanced the delicate line between gratuitous and listenable.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Another Hand/The Killing Hand, A Fortune In Lies. LOW POINTS: None.
It may have been a little early in their career for Dream Theater to release a live album, but I guess they wanted to justify their presence as an excessive progressive band by releasing it, and, like Yes, to eventually prove how flawlessly they could execute their songs on stage. On occasions they do get somewhat clinical to the point where the performances as a whole sound exactly the same as the ones on Images And Words, which is both good and bad. Good in that it proves the superior skill of the band is no fluke, but bad in that it seemingly justifies the soulless accusations people make against them. That's not the only thing that makes Live At The Marquee the defining concert release from the band, as impressive as the performances are. Nope, from seeing them in concert twice, I can say that this is a better representation of a typical show than the later-released Once In A Livetime. At around 47 minutes, it's far less comprehensive, but it never gets overly exhausting either.
The album opens with "Metropolis Part I", and this is one of those cases where the clinic is on. The song itself is still mindblowing, but aside from a slightly different keyboard tone in parts, there's absolutely no change from the original version, and not a note out of place. "A Fortune In Lies", however, does offer a significant difference - James Labrie on lead vocals. I used to think Charlie Dominici wasn't as far off from that mark as people think, but this performance proves how utterly wrong I was. With Labrie's incredible high notes and much improved production, it smokes far more than the original could have ever hoped to, and the original was quite good in itself. Then afterwards, we get a non-album instrumental in the nearly 7 minute "Bombay Vindaloo", and it features a great build with typically vintage John Petrucci soloing, and it's certainly quite a majestic tune.
The second Images And Words tune "Surrounded", like "Metropolis", doesn't deviate too heavily from the original, but a slight rearrangement at the end, and again featuring a different, but just as attractive-sounding, keyboard tone, ensures that it's as beautiful as it ever was. Then afterwards I get to sympathize with the hardcore fans yet again who desparately want When Dream And Day Unite done with Labrie on vocals, this time with a take on "The Killing Hand". The acoustic intro is replaced by a much more convincing anthemic one entitled "Another Hand" with a fine uplifting melody, and as for the song itself, in its' original version, I already considered it a great triumph, but only here is it taken to its' full classic potential. For one, it reeks of bombast, with Labrie and actual decent, non-watery indie label production completely make it thoroughly amazing. It seems like that on every part where Charlie sounded kinda wussy before, Labrie gives it his all, and that's always worth hearing. Wow.
The closing "Pull Me Under" (introduced as the band's first hit single) is another mandatory runthrough that doesn't add anything to the original's power, but it doesn't detract from it either - it remains a classic metal anthem featuring what I consider one of the finest intro builds of all time. So in my mind, even if it might sound suspiciously like a studio record in its' execution, there are enough surprises (and virtually no flaws in the playing) to make this the most easily preferable live release in the band's catalog. It's a shame it's the least widely available, though, but it's definitely one worth searching for.
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HIGH POINTS: Space-Dye Vest, Erotomania, Innocence Faded, The Silent Man, The Mirror. LOW POINTS: None.
The first thing that immediately came to my mind about this album was not how much darker and heavier it was than Images And Words (a daunting album to follow up if there ever was one), but how incredibly awesome the cover art is. Sure, one might see it as pretentious and all, but man, those images (which do a quite wonderful job of referencing the material inside) are such a pleasurable view. But enough with the artwork here, the most important thing is the music, and in many ways, this is as incredible of an album as Images. For one thing, the production style is awesome, truly giving the heavier and edgier tracks the crunching power they deserve to have (and that power is intense), and on the quieter, more mood-based songs, the nuances and textures throughout come together rather nicely. Plus, just like the last album, there are a number of brilliant classics throughout its' very lengthy 75 minute running time.
However, while the actual songwriting is still consistently excellent, with not a single weak song to be found, there are a few factors that make this album a little less impressive than its' predecessor. Nothing really huge, but in terms of melodies that are truly able to captivate the listener and the amount of sense to the song structures and/or playing, Awake is a bit of a step down from before. At times I really do feel the sometimes overly clinical nature of the band to be more noticeable, especially on what is probably the weakest track on the album in "Caught In A Web" - this song's a good enough, aggressive crunch machine, with a nice symphonic edge to the chorus, and the jam is tight, but there's nothing about the instrumental parts and melodies in particular that allows me to call it anything special.
These problems extend a little to the longer epics here, too. There are several moments on the 11 minute "Scarred" that are truly impressive, like the opening bassline (probably Myung's most memorable one ever), and the pleading 'how come you don't understand me....' middle section which precedes a fairly gripping guitar solo, plus the individual melodies are quite good (and the lyrics are among the deepest any member has ever penned), but the shifts to the 'blood in me, fear change me...' portions seem iffy, and the ending keyboard/guitar interplay part are kinda simplistic, repetitive and anticlimactic. Elsewhere, I don't find "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream" to be one of their more impressive ballads - it's definitely good, with another simply excellent six string bass intro from Myung (and nice lyrics from him as well), but the melody just doesn't actually live up to either of those things in overall power. Not bad at all, but subpar given the standards the band has set for themselves.
Fortunately, the remainder of the album mostly counts as breathtaking, and in many cases just about classic. The opening "6:00" is a shining example of how well the darker and angrier sound of the heavier songs works, with truly conviction filled vocal yells really helping things out. Not that its' simplistic angst, though - it also features some really tricky rhythmic things going on from Portnoy, and a complex fast guitar part that serves as kind of the main instrumental hook, with some blazing thrashy soloing going on to boot. And the poppier side of the band is still well represented in the mostly overlooked "Innocence Faded", one of the most affecting and genuinely catchy melodic metal songs they ever wrote. I don't know about you, but I love it when complex playing like what's displayed on this track is so well complemented by hooks like these (how can anyone not love that chorus?), and some friggin' awesome high range vocals, too. I can't forget that classic ending jam section either, where Petrucci rips some really melodic lines here and there.
Amongst this material, there are also several songs here that can be grouped into sort of progressive 'suites', the most notable of these being three tracks that make up the 20 combined minutes of 'A Mind Beside Itself', a pure psychological thrill. Well, not so much the first part, as "Erotomania" is a nearly 7 minute instrumental that's easily the best of its' kind in the Dream Theater catalog. It's built on this really terffically crunching, sort of ascending riff that all the instrumentalists throw really great difficult bits over (especially Moore's smooth, pearl-like lines in there and the fast Petrucci soloing), until it switches to an instrumental version of the vocal melody from "The Silent Man", which proves to be a really breathtaking high point of the whole album. Not that the great breakaway symphonic part or the delicate, almost watery bass and guitar interplay ending are any slouch either, of course.
The really 'tortured' part of this suite, though, comes in "Voices", which, despite its' 9:53 length, is actually not that 'progressive' a song, despite some complicated parts like the great bass intro and another melodic yet difficult guitar solo towards the end. Instead, the emphasis is clearly on the really deep religious and psychological imagery of the lyrics - James Labrie must have thought they were provocative, since he really gives it his all vocally here, whether it's on the delicate but haunting moments of the opening verses ('love... just don't stare...'), the really angry section just before the midpoint of the song ('thought disorder...') or the very contemplative portion right before the solo ('I'm kneeling on the floor...'). Very captivating, and did I mention the chorus is fantastically memorable? Maybe the song's a little overlong and a bit lacking in musical ideas to justify its' length, but still, what a fine piece this one is.
The last part of the suite, meanwhile, is the almost completely acoustic "The Silent Man", a beautifully written ballad that brings a totally relaxing closure to the previously chaotic songs that came before. The melody and lyrics are surely among the most moving John Petrucci has ever written, the chorus ('when there is reason, tonight I'm awake...') rates as another resonant high point on the album, and I can't put into words how much the acoustic solo here perfectly suits the song. I have to say, it's a very nice breather before the listener is again plunged into total heaviness and darkness with two of the most intense songs in the Dream Theater catalog. The first one in particular ("The Mirror") is one of the band's best moments as a straight ahead 'metal' band, with this huge, crunching riff over Mike Portnoy's confessional 'coming to grips with alcoholism' lyrics. Again, like in many of the earlier songs, James must really recognize the emotional impact of them, since he just yells them out as if they were his last words ever. And the shifting chorus ('it's time we made a deal...'), lighter keyboard touches in there and a pulverizing slow grind at the end are welcome additions to the song.
Afterwards, that song literally melts into the following "Lie" (one of the smoothest and most effective transitions I've ever heard on an album), a slightly more conventional but still intriguing number where Kevin Moore offers his tortured visions within the lyrics over a less memorable, but still pretty quirky and entertaining, set of melodies, plus the 'don't tell me, you wanted me...' portion is a pretty convincing burst of hurt and anger, and watch out for that blazing Petrucci solo at the end! Excellent. Concerning Moore's contributions here, though, it is somewhat strange to me that considering all these progressively heavy songs, his at times virtual unnoticeability in the mix and his eventual leaving the band due to changing musical taste that he would contribute the absolute greatest moment on the album, and not only that, it's one of the most atypical and Dream Theater songs I can think of.
This song I'm referring to is, of course, the closing "Space Dye Vest", a completely one of a kind, mysterious epic if there ever was one. Built on a simple piano line and poignant melody that's layered with all sorts of nuances in the sound and lengthy movie/television clips, it is essentially a Moore solo number that would predict his future exploration into atmospheres and electronic textures. And despite its' total non-resemblance to the band's sound, it manages to be an absolutely shattering song - the melody is absolutely top of the line, the way it gets sung by Labrie in such a mournful, detached tone is stunning, and let's see... the samples only seem to help the progression of the song, plus it's a really chilling moment when the rest of the band joins in towards the end, and those lyrics, holy crap... I won't give them away, but these are powerful and extraordinarily poetic, especially in the context of the song. At least in my opinion anyway. Anyway, the song is surely the true masterwork of an album that's not too bad itself - it might be a tad long and lacking in the amount of stunning songs Images And Words had, but it's still, Awake is damn near a classic in its' own right.
Listening to this album basically convinced me that I'd never be a Dream Theater fanatic. Sure, I loved Images And Words, but I think anybody who had a passing interest in Progressive Rock would. Even though Awake is heavier than its predecessor with some monsterously heavy riffs courtesy of the brilliant John Petrucci, it just is not as enjoyable to me. On to the tracks. The first three are all great, with my favorite track being the swinging "6:00". And it simply amazes me how the band can play so damn precise! I dare you all to find a weak link in this band's instrumental prowess. Well, OK, vocalist James LaBrie can be rather one-dimensional sounding at times, and if he stays in the high registers, it tends to get a little annoying. But overall, even he is fun to listen to most of time.
That brings me to another point. It seems to me that DT's instrumental prowess is FAR ahead of their ability to write hooks and memorable tracks. A lot of the tracks on here fail to interest me in the least. The first three tracks aside, there are only really three other tracks that I listen to.Those being the weird "Erotomania", the heavy-as-hell "Lie" and the last track "Space-Dye Vest". Not only that, but I'm sure that many of you will not understand why I like any of those. The other tracks are uninteresting (to me, at least), but if you are a budding guitarist, you might enjoy them. As a casual listener, I usually skip 'em. Conclusion? If you are looking to get into DT, get Images and Words first. Even DT groupies agree its by far the best.
Update: This is one of those albums that you may change your mind on after a while. This album really is quite an accomplishment with such phenomenal ballads like "Space Dye Vest" (a gorgeous keyboard piece thats even better than i originally gave it credit for), and the brilliant beginning of "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream". I simply cannot stress enough how brilliant the melody Petrucci and Moore came up with for the beginning, with intertwining clean electric guitars and keyboards. Unfortunately, the rest of the song isn't that great. But oooh, that beginning. "The Mirror" is another groove heavy, powerful track that I forgot to mention. "Voices" is a great progressive tour de force, with another brilliant melodic beginning. And "The Silent Man" is a nice acoustic ballad with double tracked Labrie vocals.
On the other side of things, I really just can't get into "Scarred". I think it's rather long with a lot of noodling in it that doesn't seem to go anywhere. And of course "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream" just loses me after the beginning. But bear in mind that i'm not the absolute biggest progressive rocker on the planet. All in all, I raise this grade to an 8.
HIGH POINTS: Scarred, Innocence Faded, The Silent Man, Caught In A Web, Erotomania, 6:00. LOW POINTS: Lifting Shadows Off A Dream.
No here's an album that takes a long time to like. There are few albums that took me so many listen to appreciate. I do now, but I still don't think it was wise for Dream Theater to release a 75 minute album this early in their career, especially one that has such a dark and heavy style and atmosphere, and not much else. And the album does drag in places (especially "Lifting Shadows Off a Dream," which is as boring as the song title is dumb), but there are so many killer tunes on here that I can almost completely overlook a misstep or two.
The opening stretch of the album is the best, "6:00" rocks hard, with a huge taste of the darker, angrier feel of Awake, and it's followed by "Innocence Faded" and "Caught In A Web," which are two of the first songs I really began to like on the album, and both supply two of the best choruses to be found here. A big three-song stretch called "A Mind Beside Itself" (made up of "Erotomania," "Voices," and "The Silent Man") really brings out the album's dark atmosphere from its brilliant instrumental to the anger and hatred of "Voices" and finally to a peaceful acoustic section to finish it off. Nothing on this album can compare with "Scarred," though, which may just seem like a typical Awake epic until the end, which absolutely blows me away. A great guitar solo is there, sure, but it's Kevin Moore's keyboards as the song draws to a close that really drop my jaw. It reminds me a little of "Learning To Live," as it's a similar style epic, but just as powerful, and my vote for the best song on the album.
And closing everything off is "Space-Dye Vest," which I don't like quite as much as I should. The piano melody is beautiful and all, but the sound clips do nothing but hurt the atmosphere with cheezy quotes ruining several otherwise nice moments. Labrie's vocals don't do much at all, as whatever lyrics he's groaning out are done emotionlessly and add nothing to the music. But the music itself is absolutely incredible. I personally think this song would have worked better as a completely instrumental masterpiece rather than the somewhat flawed, but still good, song that it is.
On a good day Awake can be my second favorite Dream Theater album, and on a lesser day I think it's just too long and at some times even boring for its own good. After all, Awake's got the first bad song the band has written since the 80s (which isn't saying all that much, actually) but at the same time some really great stuff. Whatever the case may be this is a good purchase for Dream Theater fans for its outstanding highlights (not to mention the band's best album cover as well as the only decent photos of the members themselves) and fine performances from everyone in the band, even though it may take some time to get used to.
COMMENTS
Awake? More like ASLEEP if you ask me! Sorry, but I'm going to have to side with Pat D. on this one and state that this album is BOOOOORING. I'd have to disagree with John Chedsey that it's the bands technical virtuosity that kills the songs (in fact, I don't really see that much wanking except for a couple of useless guitar and keyboard solos). There are definitely melodies and moods, all right. The problem is that 1) there are no HOOKS and 2) The melodies, for the most part, are boring. With the exception of "Lie" and "Innocence Faded", none of these songs are catchy! And that's what kills the album. There's plenty of drama and emotion in the songs, but without any hooks or decent melodies or riffs to back them up they just fade into dull elevator music. A shame, really, since this production is perfect. And the horrible foam that plagued the guitar on Images and Words is gone. But good sound can't save poor song craftmanship. God dammit why coudn't John Pet-Tushy used a guitar sound like this on the last album? It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than that horrible noise that he used on I&W. Still, this album does have its moments, as there are a total of four (or rather, more like three-and-a-half) songs that are actually really good! "Innocence Faded" is a wonderful, life-affirming song that holds its own with the best of I&W (and that's saying a lot) with a guitar solo that actually doesn't suck, "Erotomania" has a breath-taking middle section in between the boring riffs that bookend it (although the fact that they rip off a classical melody in the song really pisses me off), "Lie" is actually catchy and has a killer groove thanks in part to James Labrie's cool pseudo-rapping in the verses, and "Lifting Shadows off a Dream" is six minutes of pure beauty (which reminds me: they should let John Myung write lyrics more often!). Judging from the these songs, it's plain to see that the band should stick to being beautiful, as they apparantly can't seem to do a good job of being dark and angry. And I don't understand why everyone loves "6:00" so much, especially with that horrendous keyboard solo. In short, I gotta say I feel ripped off, and as much as I want to give in to my vengeful rage and slap this album with a 4 or 5, with all it's good qualities I just can't, and thus a 6.
[a couple days later - noticing a trend here?]
Well, after multiple listens I can honestly say with : never, ever, EVER make a comment or review about an album after listening to it once. What was I thinking? These songs ARE catchy! And the melodies aren't weak! And no, I'm not being sarcastic; I really like this album now! With the exception of the silly "6:00" and the overlong and overbearing "Voices", all these songs are really good! "Caught in a Web" grinds better than KoRn-hole could ever hope to and one-ups Trent "Generic High-School Poetry" Reznor in the tortured lyrics department. "The Silent Man" is a great relaxation song with a beautiful chorus; those echoey background vocals make love to my soul. "The Mirror" sounds like what Marylin Manson would sound like if he was actually any good, and dig that keyboard intro! Then there's "Scarred", a heavily underrated song that starts out a bit iffy but gets better as it goes on and, unlike "Voices", ISN'T overlong or overbearing and actually has a decent solo! And that chorus is just ace! How can you not dig that chorus? Speaking of which, isn't it odd that both "Metropolis Pt. 1" and "Voices" as well as "Learning to Live" and "Scarred" both have the same time lengths (9 and 11 minutes, respectively). And isn't it odd that both songs overlap in the quality department (both of the 9 minute songs are a chore to sit through and have useless instrumental waking in the middle, while the 11 minute songs are much more exciting and have uplifting melodies and more melodic instrumental sections) and the popularity department (both "Metropolis" and "Voices" are hailed as classics by DT fanatics, while "Learning to Live" and "Scarred" are more rudimentally ignored). Weird. Anyway, "Space Dye Vest", despite ripping off another classical melody at the beginning, is a very haunting pseudo-industrial piano ballad that would make Tori Amos jealous. Not only that, but the sample of the British dude in the middle not only enhances the atmosphere, but also speaks for anyone who sick of chauvinist men who are just in it for the sex. Each song is a powerful display of drama and emotion (except for maybe "6:00" and "Lie" which are more in the "catchy pop song" territory) that's hardly a "pointless wankfest". The only real problem with this album (and the main reason it doesn't get a higher rating) is because some of the songs aren't constructed perfectly. A couple of the songs don't really "flow" well and often there'll be a major shift in the song that doesn't seem natural ("Scarred" being a good example, as this phenomenon occurs at the first appearance of the chorus as well as at the end of the song) and sometimes there'll be a solo or break where they could have made a better and/or more fitting one (the pointless shredding solo in "Voices", the ending section of "Scarred" that, although really good, doesn't fit or end the song on quite the right note) . It probably would have been a good idea if they had spent more time fleshing out the song structures and had someone (like me!) to tell them "No, no, no! That section/change doesn't fit." or "This might work better." or "Why don't you try putting a bit more melody into that guitar solo instead of just random scaling?" Still, Awake is a great album, that, as I said before, is much better sounding than I&W, and thus I listen to it more often. Still, it's a tough choice whether I prefer the worse sounding but more well-constructed and higher reaching album or the much better sounding but more iffily constructed and not as high-reaching one. That said, I give this album a high 8.
[email protected] (John Schlegel)
This was my favorite Dream Theater back in high school when I used to listen to these talented boys (that's an understatement). I always found this album darker and more engaging song-for-song than Images and Words, although I now may be hunted down and lynched by some circles for stating that. There's still some of the gaudy jam-sesson stuff here ("Eurotomania," "Voices"), and it's still a bit overlong, but that's not to say the LP doesn't go without many a good cut. "Scarred" (available only on the CD version) is a lengthy, exhaustingly detailed piece that still manages a memorable hook. The juxtaposed, riff-heavy monsters "The Mirror" and "Lies" are radio-friendly tunes that still have cool changes and impressive performances, and "The Silent Man" is a nice, brisk, acoustic guitar-based break from all this fun progressive metal mayhem. The organ-augmented "6:00" kicks Awake off to an enjoyable start, and the melancholy epic closer "Space-Dye Vest" is nothing short of enthralling. Incidentally, I used to write for a heavy metal fanzine back in '95-96, and our editor got a Dream Theater interview in which Mike Portnoy explained the inspiration for the unusual lyrics to the latter song. Apparently, Kevin Moore had a a magazine pull-out of a woman advertising some piece of apparel called a "Space-Dye Vest," and he carried it around and obsessed with the woman in the ad for a time. Hence came this beautifully moody composition. As for the album, I give it an 8.
HIGH POINTS: A Change Of Seasons (particularly from 'Another World' onward and 'The Crimson Sunrise'). LOW POINTS: None.
This so-called 'EP release' is probably the most notorious examples of how Dream Theater fans are really lucky bastards (wait, I'm one of them... ha). Like I noted before in my Images And Words review, one of the songs they recorded for that album which didn't make the cut due to its' length was none other than the title track here. Apparently, the original version of this epic had been circulating on bootlegs among the diehard fans, and it was mainly at the request of the fans on the Ytse Jam mailing list that it be released officially. Well, things had understandably changed a bit since the song was first written, as Kevin Moore had just left to pursue other musical interests, being replaced by former Alice Cooper touring keyboardist Derek Sherinian. At the same time, the piece had been undergoing quite a few changes and extensions both in the studio and in live performances before the band finally got the opportunity to record it again. And so it was, they reunited with Images producer David Prater to attempt to capture that album's vibe, and redid the song that many fans swear by as the band's pinnacle.
And so is the story behind "A Change Of Seasons", a seven part, 23 minute epic dealing with the cycle of life, is indeed a stunner, with various, effortlessly flowing musical changes, melodies, some of the most intensely personal lyrics (courtesy of Mike Portnoy) ever to come out of the band, and a fairly representative display of them at the peak of theirs powers. Sure, one might think the concept of it is corny and pretentious and whatnot, but the ambition is completely justified by the simply fantastic melodies and music. The introductory instrumental portion 'The Crimson Sunrise' just lets you know how awesome the experience is going to be in particular, with one of the most distinctively beautiful opening guitar lines I've ever heard anywhere, and the heavier jam it shifts into is incredibly powerful (with equally great guitar, bass and drum work to pay particular close attention to).
Afterwards, a complex keyboard part leads us into the quite song-oriented 'Innocence', whose time signature shifts (man, the drumming kicks ass here!) and quite unconventional verse melody might seem bewildering at first, but once you get used to it, you'll be able to fully appreciate the charming beauty of the atmosphere and especially that incredibly catchy sort-of chorus ('innocennnce caressing me...'). But soon, that joyous mood turns somewhat more uncertain and cold with the haunting ballad portion 'Carpe Diem', with an intricately repeating guitar line that gradually builds into this brilliant climactic melody in which Labrie again really brings out the feeling and emotion apparent in the lyrics. The ensuing jam that this flows into, 'The Darkest Of Winters', may be a little indulgent in terms of what it actually adds to the build of the song other than a bit of darkness and tension, but still, Dream Theater jams are always incredible to listen to, especially when the instrumentalists sound extremely tight and exciting.
As impressive as the song has been, though, the true climax comes at the start of the following 'Another World' portion, where seemingly all the emotional outpouring and anger that the main character in the song expresses from being taken advantage of and abused by his peers among other disturbances seems to come out in that vocal performance, seemingly coming to a climax in the 'I'm sick of all you hypocrites holding me at bay...'. The 'oh come let us adore him... ' melody is damn great, too, and how about the following instrumental jam 'The Inevitable Summer', which seems to have a bit more build overall in the context of the epic than the 'Darkest Of Winters' jam of before, especially during that slow 'moving train' style grind and engaging fast keyboard solo? Or how it all comes to a close on the ultimately reflective 'The Crimson Sunset', where a sort of 'grand finale' style melody brings us to the triumphant call of 'I wiiiiiill live oooooooooooon....' followed by a reprise of the opening guitar line to bring us back to where it all started? Simply fantastic.
As a whole, while "A Change Of Seasons" isn't my favorite Dream Theater song of all time (or even among my top 5 favorite sidelong length tracks), it still more than proves the band is comfortable in kicking the listener's ass with 20+ minute compositions as anything else. I do think, however, that it might have been better off in the context of an actual studio album where its' epic nature can be fully appreciated, but regardless of this, it's still a hugely recommendable track for any serious prog fan's collection.
But out of all this, why not a higher rating for the album itself? Well, the remainder of the disc is filled out by selections from a cover show the band performed early in the year in paying tribute to the members' influences, and while everything here is still extremely well-played and tight, there aren't really any awesome surprises here. That's not to say they aren't still enjoyable, though - Elton John's closest thing to a prog rock epic "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" seems almost tailor made for DT to play, and while the melodies and vocals of the original were so distinctively Elton that it sounds a little awkward in the hands of another band, it's still done flawlessly.
Elsewhere, the renditions of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" and the medley of Led Zeppelin tunes ("The Rover", "Achilles Last Stand" and "The Song Remains The Same") are all energetic and listenable, but all these performances are a bit too faithful. I do think, however, that it's really interesting how well snippets of songs in the closing "The Big Medley" flow together. After hearing this, it'll naturally feel like "Carry On Wayward Son" was made to flow into "Bohemian Rhapsody" and that into Journey's "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'". Plus, the snatches of Floyd's "In The Flesh?", the Dixie Dregs' "Cruise Control" and the showstopping chorus of the Genesis classic "Turn It On Again" also work wonderfully. But the covers aren't why the album exists - it's because of "A Change Of Seasons", obviously, and that fact alone makes this worth having, especially if you have an interest in the band.
For all of ye mild Dream Theater 'fans', bear in mind that for the first side of this album, at least, you MUST listen to it as a whole. Don't be going on a 5 minute trip to the local supermarket and pop this tape in. The first side is, I guess, the general reason this EP was released. It is a 20 minute plus progressive rock epic entitled ummmmm....oh well, the title does not matter. It will come to me eventually.
Now, I am no progressive rock expert. I listen to a lot of Rush, but none of their mid 70s stuff, which in my opinion is the time when they were most progressive. Most of the Rush tracks I get into are mostly advanced technical pop songs, no more than say 5 minutes in length. So, needless to say, seeing that the title track on this album was so lengthy did not inspire positive thoughts. But that song is amazing. Sorry, I can't think of another word for it.
I'm guessing that "A Change of Seasons" is an epic that spans the life of any human being. The Crimson Sunrise, for example, would be birth, Crimson Sunset would be death, etc. The most amazing thing is that the composition moves from energetic, bursting joy in the beginning (like birth), to changes that reflect growing up, to slowing, calming tones near the end (or the gradual decline in the later years of life). Some people might say "So Freaking What?", but I was blown away by the impact this song has. And what a closing!
The covers on side two are ok, and the band sounds tight. In particular, John Myung's bass sounds massively loud, which is cool. Some of the covers do nothing for me, and Mike sounds ill suited to be playing Zeppelin. That's not a knock on Mr. Portnoy's drum skills; rather he is just NOT a power drummer, and thats what you need to play "Achilles Last Stand" or "The Song Remains The Same. John Petrucci actually seems to do a better job on Mr. Jimmy Page's solos than Mr. Jimmy Page himself, which is frankly amazing.
So, why the less-than-great rating? Well, the studio mix on that otherwise incredible title track is absolutely unacceptable. Horrendous. They made Mike Portnoy sound like David Silveria of Korn, with that weightless drumming. The music gets distorted when you crank it. Its bad, people. If DT had gotten an Awake style production on this tape, I'd bump the rating up. Just thinking of "Change Of Seasons", crisp and clear, with an ambience to it, makes me drool. As it is, a solid 8.
This album is some sort of a present to the fans for sticking with the band or something like that. The first half is a 23 minute or so side-long song, and as far side-long epics go the only better one I've heard is "The Gates Of Delirium," and this is still pretty darn close to being equal to that Yes classic. "A Change Of Seasons" is divides into several parts, as these really long songs often are, describing life and some the things that happen while living and eventual decline into death. The guy who wrote the review of this for Satan Stole My Teddybear complained about the lyrics, but I don't mind them. Not the best ever, no, but there are still some great lines to be found here.
The music feels somewhat like the story of life that the lyrics are, and some fantastic music it is. It's more beautiful than you would imagine, and has some of the strongest melodies ever written. Plenty of instrumental sections connect the different parts of the song expertly. From the birth to the death, "The Crimson Sinrise" to "The Crimson Sunset," it flows effortlessly and masterfully. There's also the extremely powerful segment "Another World," and that, along with "Innocence," features vocal melodies done better than any other prog band (or maybe even any other band) ever has. Period. Not just the vocal melodies themselves, though. You need some insipred singing to make it work. In my opinion James Labrie also gives his best vocal performance ever in "Another World," and from there this epic returns to more great and beautiful melodies and a repeat of the beginning intro to serve as a lovely departure from the masterpiece. This song is completely perfect, nothing even looks like a flaw. "A Change of Seasons" more than likely hits my top three songs in both metal and prog, and my top ten songs of all time too.
The second half is the reason for the lower grade (not that a 7 is bad or anything). It consists of a bunch of live covers paying tribute that some of the members' favorite bands. Though they aren't really all that bad, I never listen to them. Except the last one. I really admire the way the "The Big Medley" flows well from song to song, covering six bands (Pink Floyd, Kansas, Queen, Journey, Dixie Dregs, and Genesis) and notable songs from each. It's the only section of the "Uncovered" part of the album that does anything for me, and that explains the rating I was forced to give it. Ignore the rating, though, and pick up this album RIGHT NOW, the opening epic is absolutely ESSENTIAL for any prog fan.
My first Dream Theater buy. That said, this will be short, cuz I don't know too much about these guys, apart from their excellent musical chops and halfway-decent writing skills. Case in point: the 23-minute "A Change Of Seasons" that opens the album out. I guess it can be separated into it's seven parts rather easily if need be, but why? The flow that carries this tune through its several parts is magical. Makes me think of "Thick As A Brick" or "Close To The Edge", moving from one section to the next with ease. The problem: not too many of the melodies are terribly memorable. Only the first and last ones really stick in my head (probably a side effect of a side-long epic, as it began with me for "Close To The Edge", but now I remember the whole song start to finish, so I guess things will improve in this department, and now I have made an ass-long parenthetical aside that has probably befuddled even the most attentive reader, so look for an apology later in the review).
With that in mind, still a good job by the heavy-metal-rockin', Rush-and-Yes-worshippin', long-haired crew from... oh wherever. And the live stuff is prettier than Jessica Alba (you know, "Dark Angel"!). Even prettier than Drew Barrymore (Drew, if you're reading this, dump that fucking Canadian Tom Green and go with some lovin' from the heartland!! Yeah.. Unh.). The Elton John cover is faithful and beautiful, unlike any girl I've ever dated. Not terribly familiar with Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin, I found those covers rather well done anyway, but the showstopper is the closer, aptly named "The Big Medley", encompassing three of my favorite bands (Pink Floyd, Kansas, Journey) and a couple others that are okay. The main thing here is the fact that these guys played these covers down to the tee, and at some points better, than the originals!! LaBrie sings circles around Steve Perry in "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'", and the solo section of Kansas' "Carry on Wayward Son" has even more energy than my fellow Midwesterners did it with 25 years ago! Dayum, dayum, dayum! Pink it up, even if you're a casual fan! p.s. Sorry about before. And, Drew, don't sue me.
HIGH POINTS: Anna Lee, Lines In The Sand, Burning My Soul, Just Let Me Breathe. LOW POINTS: You Not Me.
Oh yes, now we come to the famous 'sell out' effort, the most controversial album among Dream Theater fanatics and the one that ends up in used bins most often. As you might have guessed, the band wasn't exactly selling records in huge quantities at this point (in the US, anyway) and the record label was apparently putting pressure on them to come up with something more 'commercial' for mainstream hard rock audiences. As a result, during the sessions for the album, they were supposedly pushed into making artistic sacrifices in the way the songs were recorded - Mike Portnoy has said he prefers the demo versions of many of the songs to what actually ended up on the album, and the record company also didn't allow his original idea in making it a self-produced double album (though the 78 minutes on the finished product is pretty damn long anyway). Yes, the end result is indeed more accessible than any record the band had made to this point, with more conventional song structures and all, but the question is, does it work?
Well, for all the reputation the band has gotten for being clinical instrumental wankers, up to this point they had still more than proven they could be successful with simpler pieces based a lot more on melody and musical mood than ass complicated technical stuff. And indeed, there are a lot of instances on this album where they pull off that kind of thing here. Take "Burning My Soul" and "Hell's Kitchen", for instance - the former is quite a convincing burst of intense, straight ahead angsty metal (nice disturbed lyrics over it) with a rumbling bassline, neat keyboard textures over it and a very catchy pop hook. Even the latter track's instrumental status would signal that it would be one of those wankfests, but that proves not to be the case - sure, Derek Sherinian pulls out some quite showy keyboard solos here and there, and the drumming is its' usual shifting self, but a huge amount of the song is based on a simple repetition and build of this not exactly complex, but still beautiful, guitar part and very tasteful melodic Petrucci solos that prove the guy can be a master of the 'less is more' dynamic along with so many of my favorite guitarists.
There are some rather noticeable problems throughout the album, though. Not that they're big enough to call this less than excellent, but they're enough to make me seriously question what the hell I was on when I gave this a 10 and called it better than Awake. First of all, there are a few serious lapses into obvious derivativeness here - I understand that the band didn't have an entirely original sound before, but stuff like "Peruvian Skies" blatantly combining the groove of Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar" and something closely resembling Metallica's "Enter Sandman" in the heavier portion of the song is enough to detract from the otherwise considerable power of it. There's another fine vocal melody, an unsettling atmosphere (though the lyrics are a bit ugly) and another ripping guitar solo that starts close to the 4 minute mark, but still, it's hard to get past that 'tribute' once it really becomes noticeable. I could also say the same for the otherwise fine closing 13 minute epic "Trial Of Tears" (more on this one later), which has an ambient intro that's almost an unashamed ripoff of Rush's "Xanadu".
There are also a few questionable moments in terms of actual arrangements of the song that are a bit bothersome as well. For instance, although the melodies in "Take Away My Pain" are top-notch (as is the guitar solo) the overall tone of the song does admittedly seem almost way too happy considering the sadness of the lyrics - consult the version on the following live album to hear it done correctly. But on a more negative note, there's the most controverial song here ("You Not Me"), which was actually co-written with Desmond Child, of all people. While that fact isn't bad in itself (though it is troubling), the song, catchy as the chorus might be, is still way too straightforward and unimaginative for the band, and that's especially true of the almost boneheaded lyrics and those bothersomely simplistic and ugly wah-wah guitar, symphonic instrumental breaks, plus the melody does have the smell of soulless corporate rock. While it's not a bad song (I actually used to love it at one point), I wouldn't hesitate to call it a mistake on the album.
Also, the album does admittedly take a while before it becomes all that impressive, as along with "Peruvian Skies" and "You Not Me", the opening "New Millennium" and the ballad "Hollow Years" are all songs that don't quite live up to high Dream Theater standards. Not that those last two aren't quite good in themselves, though - the former has an interesting futuristic build to it courtesy of the keyboard and guitar interplay, a middle section that has a somewhat bleak vibe to it yet with a hint of optimism, and another good, tight jam section, even if the overall tone to the instrumentation and melody is a bit too ugly for me to love it. The latter, meanwhile, kind of has a straightforward soft rock acoustic vibe with the atmosphere (and is it me, or does that guitar melody sound really close to the beginning of Billy Joel's "The Stranger"?), and it can get a bit tiresome to listen to because of that, though the acoustic playing and melodic quality (especially the uplifting chorus) are way too good for me to ever dismiss the song.
Most of the rest of the album, though, is simply awesome, and even the lesser tracks I mentioned before have numerous amounts of good or great in them. I already mentioned "Burning My Soul" and "Hell's Kitchen" as particular standouts, and following that one would be probably the most impressive epic of the album in "Lines In The Sand". As far as the structure to it goes, this is just about a complex 12 minute pop song, due to the verses and middle eight being really stretched out, and it works phenomenally. For one thing, the mainly keyboard-led intro (and the great touches he throws in when the rest of the band joins him) is proof enough of Derek Sherinian's total worth to this incarnation of the lineup, and the considerable dark funk touches to the extremely catchy verses of the song (John Myung rules on this song just about as much), are highly engaging. And hey, the singalong chorus (with guest vocalist Doug Pinnick of King's X fame doing a call and response thing with Labrie) is another highly worthwhile moment here.
The total king of this song, however, is John Petrucci. First off, the lyrics for this epic are really among the most deep and insightful ever penned by any member of this band, and it's because of works like this that I could never ever join the chorus of people who bash Dream Theater lyrics in general. But even disregarding that, his contemplative soloing right before the slow and eventually majestic middle section ('we fabricate our demons...') is another absolutely stunning example of the gift he can have for pure beauty and flow in his soloing while at the same time showing his abilities. Oh, and if you're looking for a good example of the talents of the other main songwriting member (Portnoy!), look no further than "Just Let Me Breathe". His sort of 'tribal' bashing in the beginning along with his absolutely manic playing totally suits the remainder of one of the band's most rousing, uptempo songs ever (and one of their most popular live favorites). Plus, the appropriate and often hilarious lyrical bashings of the corporate world of music he throws in there ('a daily dose of eMpTyV, will flush your mind right down the drain...') are a trip, and don't miss the purely great pop catchiness of both melodies, the incredible Sherinian and Petrucci solos, or the overall vocal conviction, either.
My pick for best song on here, though, will probably annoy most hardcore fans, as many instantly dismiss "Anna Lee" as a sappy, 70's style throwback ballad, but I don't care. This is one of the most powerfully resonant songs in the Dream Theater catalog, due in big part to James Labrie. Oh sure, the absolutely gorgeous piano line and incredible guitar solo in the middle (what a friggin' awesome display of melodic soloing to suit this song there) are more the work of the respective instrumentalists, and I'm not sure he even came up with the melody, but what totally makes the song work is the simply amazing way he really makes the sorrowful lyrics centering around the life of this particular character in the song come to life through his extremely passionate vocal performance (especially on the simply soaring middle eight - or bridge, whatever it's called). Just the way I love these sorts of ballads done.
Finally, there's the aforementioned closer "Trial Of Tears". Regardless of the "Xanadu" rip in the first couple minutes, it's a terrifically flowing three part epic on which John Myung comes to the forefront, both in his standout melodic bass playing (especially during the tasteful and captivating 'Deep In Heaven' jam portion, plus the overall way it just seems to groove in several parts) and some beautifully written, poetic lyrics here. Not to mention the 'it's raining deep in heaven...' hook has the potential to get stuck in your head if you're not careful, and the acoustic-flavored final part ('The Wasteland') is a wonderful way to build up to that majestic 'it's raining...' chorus for the final time. It should be considered a somewhat impressive way to end perhaps Dream Theater's most flawed, though not weakest, studio effort, since it's a testament to their still immense playing and songwriting talents that Falling Into Infinity still turns out as highly excellent as it does despite its' numerous problems. And regardless how much it has grown off me recently, it's generally underappreciated by many fans, and still highly recommendable.
I haven't heard this album, thought I have heard a couple of MP3s off it (thank god for Napster! Which remind me: FUCK YOU METALLICA!!!!!) and when I heard them I cringed. I cringed at the horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE drums. Oh god I couldn't believe my ears! They were so poorly tracked; totally weightless and buried in the mix. But that's not the worst of it. The sound of them was absolutely HORRENDOUS. It sounded like Mike Portnoy had replace all his drum heads with tin cans! I don't know whether I should blame the producer or Portnoy for making the drums sound so lifeless and terrible. Speaking of the producer, I'm kind of wondering if this is the same guy who did the supposed suck job of "A Change of Seasons" (I say supposed since I haven't heard the song yet). I tried to look for the flaws that Pat D. had mentioned pertaining to said track, but I just couldn't get past those shitty drums to do it. AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! No wonder this "sell-out" effort didn't work; music has to SOUND GOOD in order for mainstream audiences to embrace it, and what I heard did not sound good.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Take Away My Pain, Scarred. LOW POINTS: None.
My guess would probably be that on account of the somewhat hard to find status of Live At The Marquee and the fact that it wasn't really a full-length representation of a Dream Theater live show, plus factoring in the addition of Derek Sherinian to the lineup and the attraction of him taking on the old 'classics' in addition to material from the last couple albums, that a second concert outing was inevitable. Recorded during the Falling Into Infinity tour in Paris, France, it manages to be a very comprehensive overview of the band's career up to that point - but the problem is that it's almost too much so, as it's a two disc set with over two and a half hours of performances, apparently making it even longer than the notorious 'triple live LP' efforts Yessongs and Welcome Back My Friends. It's simply too much to take in at once even for a huge admirer like myself - I'd recommend listening to it only a few songs (or at most one disc) at a time for the best experience, as you won't be able to listen to the whole thing often, much like a typical show.
But regardless of the length, and the fact that several of these songs are done a bit too closely to the studio orignials, there are enough key performances, changes and surprises that make the album very recommendable. "Take Away My Pain" is transformed into an incredibly beautiful acoustic song with sax accompaniment done in such a way that it conveys the sadness and overall emotional power far better than the original, and "Scarred", while still not the most ideally flowing epic in the world, has more powerful vocal emotion, an excellent extended intro that benefits the structure even more, and it's cut off before the guitar solo and anticlimactic ending, instead flowing into 'The Darkest Of Winters' excerpted from "A Change Of Seasons" (which takes four of its' parts and separates them throughout the show), a pretty novel transition there.
Elsewhere, "Ytse Jam" really benefits from being faster, more energetic and technically flawless than the original was, and while I could do without the drum solo in the middle as phenomenal a player Mike Portnoy is (what is this, Rush circa Exit: Stage Left?), it's still highly impressive. But what isn't so impressive, however, is that it was clear that the vocals of James Labrie weren't in top form here, and that mars a few otherwise brilliant performances a little, particularly "Take The Time". That song may be even more phenomenal musically than the original (and that says a ton), no doubt helped by keyboardist Derek Sherinian's more interesting 'guitar' approach to his instrument, but the vocal performance just doesn't cut it. It also doesn't help that a few of the other classics (such as "Voices" and "Just Let Me Breathe") are done too similarly to the originals as it is without the weaker vocal performance.
There are also other minor flaws in the execution here - we have "Lie" and "Metropolis Part I" performed too unenergetically, and the immortal "Learning To Live" coming off as an almost fake radio edit version here at 4-1/2 minutes - without the bridge and following melodic jam, it loses a lot of its' impact not lasting the entire time. Also kind of adding to the unfortunate excess are band member solo spots - Sherinian's keyboard solo, while kinda interesting, is somewhat dull, and as much as I totally adore John Petrucci as a player, his unaccompanied guitar solo (with Liquid Tension Experiment's "Paradigm Shift" and "Flight Of The Bumblebee" thrown in) does seem to drag on forever as mindblowing as it might be. And "Peruvian Skies" only magnifies its' obnoxious derivativeness by the band actually playing the instrumental parts to "Have A Cigar" and "Enter Sandman". Don't get me wrong - it does actually sound great, but the concept of it doesn't sit well with me.
Well, after these criticisms my rating of the album may seem a little high, but bear in mind, even factoring in some of these flaws, these are still peak period Dream Theater songs we're dealing with, and there's not a single less than very enjoyable one in the whole batch. I should also mention that the duo of "Learning To Live (radio edit)" and 'The Crimson Sunset' from "A Change Of Seasons" work perfectly as a sort of encore to end everything in the context of the actual album, regardless of whatever flaws there may be in the execution. And the one portion when the Paris crowd chants 'Metropolis! Metropolis!' and their erupting cheers once the band starts the song off... now that's a devastatingly great reminder of the adrenaline rush that is a concert experience. And this album does a fairly nice job of capturing that feel, even if its' weaknesses ensure that it's not really an essential purchase. Still quite good, though.
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HIGH POINTS: Strange Deja Vu, Finally Free, Fatal Tragedy, Home, One Last Time. LOW POINTS: Through Her Eyes.
After their unfortunate record company related experiences and sacrifice with the writing and recording of Falling Into Infinity, the band wasn't about to go through something like that again, and instead they retreated to Bear Tracks studios in New York and self-produce the next album themselves, with new keyboardist Jordan Rudess (replacing Derek Sherinian, who was fired supposedly because of 'creative differences', but I would guess that it was because his flashy rock star image didn't sit well with the band). The results apparently went so well that the band had kept all information about the album under a 'veil of secrecy' prior to release, and it's easy to see why. See, there was this thing with the earlier "Metropolis" song and its' "Part I" tag (which was apparently added for no particular reason) that had fans itching for a sequel. And indeed, the band had already recorded an over 20 minute instrumental demo of that very song. And prior to release, one of the few bits of information about the upcoming album that leaked out was that the song would be included.
Sure enough, it was - as the entire new album, and a concept release at that, a kind of thing that the band had supposedly always wanted to make. Basically, Scenes From A Memory, the title of which is taken from a lyrical reference to "Metropolis", takes lyrical themes from the song (and allegedly, heavy elements from the film Dead Again, which I've never seen) and constructs a confusing, pschologically challenging story around it. It more or less deals with a young man named Nicholas, who has been haunted in his dreams by Victoria (a girl whom he had lived as in a past life), and he consults a 'hypnotherapist' about these visions. He eventually finds out through 'regression' that Victoria was murdered by a jealous lover who she left for his own brother (these two brothers who play a major role in the story are in fact the representation of the characters in the subtitle of "Metropolis Part I" - the 'miracle' and the 'sleeper'), and the story progresses on from there to an ending that leaves elements of the plot almost out in the cold.
It's almost as if ambition like this, though, has led a number of fans to consider Scenes the band's absolute creative pinnacle, and it is indeed a truly excellent record, even an improvement over the previous one. But let's face it - its' legacy has been overrated by fans, as there are several flaws here that aren't the hugest things in the world, but are nevertheless more than enough that I could never possibly rank this on the level of Images. For one thing, there are several musical and lyrical references to "Metropolis Part I" scattered about the album, and while they're certainly well integrated, the fact that they are being rehashed alone is enough of a detraction. And although I greatly appreciate the band seems to have matured significantly as musicians and that the 'improvisational jamming' spirit lacking on Falling Into Infinity is back in full force on this one, this is a concept record with a storyline going on here, and considering that, there's quite a huge amount of lengthy jamming that often seems out of place. They're really impressive jams, as I'll go into later, but sometimes inappropriate ones nonetheless.
Plus, there are also a couple of individual songs that, while not bad, bug me somewhat - both of them being ballads. The first of these, "Through Her Eyes", is probably one of the few Dream Theater songs to leave me cold - the vocal performances of both guest Theresa Thomason and James Labrie are way overdone and irritating in parts, and the lyrical matter often has a huge dose of sap to it, though I can admit the piano part and vocal melodies are all too good for me to totally write it off. On the other hand, "The Spirit Carries On" isn't sappy at all - the lyrics are extremely moving and uplifting, and the overall flow is quite spectacular (especially with the gospel choir at the end), but in many ways, this is Pink Floyd 'influence' taken to a ridiculous extreme - the vocal intonations in the beginning are almost completely Roger Waters (circa The Wall), the verse melody is dangerously close to redoing "Eclipse", and the emotional but 'calculated' guitar solo is totally David Gilmour (at least most of it, anyway). It's a very well-written song at the core, but the problem is that most of it's already been written.
Alright, now that I've gotten my little complaints out of the way to deny Scenes of its' undeserved 'best album ever' title, I can mostly be very positive about it. Because a lot of the music and melodies on here are amazing. None of the individual songs really match up to the best of Images, but as a whole album, it flows incredibly well. From the the calm hypnotherapist voice (courtesy of Terry Brown) and gentle acoustic strums on the opening intro track "Regression" to the sudden album-ending static, there are a ton of great moments to be found here. In all this conceptuality, the great melodies haven't been lost, as evidenced by "One Last Time", which has equally breathtaking hooks in its' grinding, contemplative verses and totally brilliant ballad-like chorus. I also really love the way that kickass bassline after the opening verse flows into a totally majestic section which reprises melodies from earlier in the album, and watch out for that insanely fast piano intro from the new guy Rudess that introduces things. Wow.
Speaking of Rudess, while I still hold the opinion that many of the jams on here aren't really integral to the flow of the concept, many of them are among the most mindblowing ever conceived by the band, and that's in no small part helped by his stunningly virtuosic ability. The most impressive of these is probably in "Fatal Tragedy" - really introduced by the interlude "Through My Words", the actual song part is a really important portion of the album as far as plot setting goes, and the way it melodically builds up is impressive (I've always dug that excellent guitar and organ interplay thing starting at 2:06 in the song as well), but the jam is just brilliant. Tons of mindblowing, fast keyboard parts, guitar parts, bass runs and casual signature shifts over what's pretty much a video game vibe is just really, really neat. And the ending part, where the Hypnotherapist speaks 'Now it is time to see how you died... remember that death is not the end, but only a transition...' flows into the opening chords of "Beyond This Life" is awesome beyond words.
And speaking of that song, the way it gets introduced on a fast, punk-ish burst is extremely thrilling, then it shifts into a tense, bass heavy verse where the details of the murder scene in the story are sung ('headline.... murder... young girl killed...') and alternates between those 'punk' sections and a gentle, but eerie, Radiohead-ish sort of chorus ('our dreams have traveled faaaaaaaar...') for about 5 minutes before another one of those long jam sections. I admit that this particular jam does get excessive, and parts of it are a bit aimless, but it at least has other moments that are perfect background music for the 'murder scene' happening. And the stuff Rudess does here will have you wondering how a mortal man can possibly play that fast. Hey, did you know he plays most of his parts with like, one hand in concert, using the other only to change his tone on the keys? Damn, this guy is good. Oh, the rest of the song - well, after that jam is over, it comes full circle with that chorus. Satisfying.
The most notorious of these jams, though, is in the instrumental response to the middle jam in the original "Metropolis Part I" - namely, "The Dance Of Eternity". Now as far as overall importance to the storyline of the album goes, it has no right to exist other than to show off their mindblowing abilities, thus creating an even worse excess than its' original counterpart. But damn it, those abilities at this point are incomprensibly great. Mike Portnoy has said something along the lines that this is the most challenging song in the Dream Theater catalog to play, and it certainly seems like it, as it goes through an insane amount of signature changes and overall sick instrumental parts, including a fast ragtime piano portion (which is quite accurate in harkening back to the time period Victoria was murdered - specifically, 1928).
Speaking of that year, it's associated with what is probably the crowning moment of the album in a sort of mini-suite, starting with the other instrumental "Overture 1928", which is certainly not as technically impressive as "The Dance Of Eternity", but it's much more effective in the conceptual picture, establishing the melodic themes that come later on, with some beautifully melodic and challenging solos throughout. And then that one flows into "Strange Deja Vu", probably my personal favorite song on the whole album. This one's a great compact prog/metal piece in the fine tradition of Rush (the aggressive 'back on my feet again...' fast-paced section is certainly reminiscent of those Canuck boys), and it has the extremely great melodic quality of those types of songs. There's such a power to all the individual melodies here, from the uncertain ('what a pleasant nightmare...'), to the majestic (the first appearance of Victoria in the 'tonight I've been searching for it...' portion and the ending 'I don't mind... I have to find.... the truuuuuuth...'), to the exciting ('closer now... slowly coming into view...'), all with marvelous playing throughout.
Oh, and what better way to 'round out' this album analysis than talking about a pair of 12 minute epics here? The first of these, "Home", incorporates a heavy Eastern vibe in the keyboard playing and overall melody, and serves as a truly climactic tension-building moment between the two brothers (The Miracle and The Sleeper) in the story. While it annoys me that the main bassline is practically identical to Tool's "Forty Six & 2" (and no, there's no way it's a coincidence, as Dream Theater are particularly big admirers, and Portnoy has listed Aenima as one of his favorite albums), the song's dynamics more than make up for it, from the extremely intense CRUNCH of the verses to the climactic chorus ('living this charade is getting me nowhere....') to the haunting and umm.... intimate sample-filled middle section followed by a fast keyboard solo plunging out of it to that friggin' awesome ending jam that really brings out the Eastern influences in the song, from the percussion to the keyboard playing to that guitar part.
Of course, all concept albums must come to an end, and this one does so with "Finally Free", but this song hardly leaves everything answered (I won't give away the ending, but it's provided in the last couple sound effect dominated last two minutes). Regardless of that, the song itself is terrific, turning from uplifting (with that gorgeous guitar part and symphonic keyboard backing) to dark and chilling in the music and melody. In fact, those two disparate moods alternate throughout the course of the song incredibly well, with distinctly creepy ('Friday evening, the blood still on my hands...') and celebratory ('feeling good this Friday afternoon...') melodies as the lyrics shift from past to present, afternoon to evening. And after the last appearance of the chorus, the song suddenly breaks into an ominous instrumental melody (played on both guitar and keyboards) that repeats itself for a few minutes while Portnoy simply goes wild with his drum bashings. Yeah! Now that's a great song right there.
At this moment, I feel like I should shut up about this album now, since at this point this is one of the longest rambling analysis of an album I've ever written. But it's the band's own fault for providing such an overwhelming, epic experience of a concept album that throws a ton of things at you, both musically and conceptually, which serve as potential insights (and debate starters, for those of you who read deeply into lyrics). And this is really almost as long as most concept albums, despite its' single disc status, at 77:14 (which, when read upside down, spells HILL, as in 'Echoes Hill', where Victoria was kil-- okay okay, I'll stop). But no, it's not the greatest Dream Theater album of all time, as I hope I've made that clear through pointing out its' flaws (derivativeness, indulgence, sappiness, etc.). But its' general epic nature and amount of amazing moments ensures it is fantastic, and I certainly recommend it highly.
You wouldn't think a band like Dream Theater would have an overrated album (especially to this extent), but here it is. I've heard Metropolis 2 called the greatest Dream Theater album by many fans, and even the greatest progressive rock album by others. Big DT fans who consider this the best usually knock on Images And Words almost to try to, for lack of a better word, convert fans from there to here. I think that I've read a total of three negative reviews (i.e. reviews that do not award a perfect score) for this album so far, one of them being Nick Karn's here, who, like me, still gives it a nine (the others being The All Music Guide, which gave it four stars out of five, and some other guy out there on the web giving it a bold one out of five).
There are actually two major flaws on this (other than the extremely confusing and fairly dumb story), and those are "Through Her Eyes" and "The Spirit Carries On." Without these the album could have been a classic of classics, with them I sadly can't even give Scenes a full 10. "Through Her Eyes" begins with a completely unlistenable female vocal section, almost like a more controlled yet far inferior version of "The Great Gig In The Sky." Things get a tad better from there, and the song is not as bad as I used to think it was, but geez I wish it wasn't here. "The Spirit Carries On" is such a cheap Pink Floyd imitation it makes me sick. Anyone who says it's not is either simply in denial, or just hasn't got a clue about classic rock. The beginning spoken section is almost identical to Waters' beginning vocal section in "One of My Turns," the solo has got much too strong of a feel of the David Gilmour style, and the ending just screams out "Eclipse." I'm sorry, but these two songs are completely unforgivable.
However the rest is awesome. "Overture 1928" is a highly melodic piece leading right into "Strange Deja-Vu," another beauty here. "Beyond this Life" has got some great jams in it, as well as some excellent vocal melodies. Speaking of vocal melodies, some of the best ever written can be found in "Home," which just could be my favorite song on the album. The whole thing works out to be an incredible epic standing out above the others. Concerning the "Forty Six & 2" bass line, yeah it might seem like complete and total ripoff, but the rest of the song is just so great that I think we can just sort of get away calling it "uncanny resemblance." Oh, I must mention that "The Dance of Eternity" is NOT the best song on the album as many people would have you believe. Sure it's fantastic, but any of the big epics on here could beat it. "Finally Free," probably the second best on the album with a good deal of variety and an unforgettable musical ending. The problem there is the tail end with just forty-five seconds of pointless static. What a waste.
Even though there are loads of classic songs, I don't think there is a single one on the entire album that matches up to "Metropolis Part One," and I still think Images And Words is better. I do, however, enjoy the way the band ties in sections of the original song into the full album. And you gotta love what people can do with CD's nowadays. This single album is only about three minutes shorter than either The Wall or Quadrophenia. This is a very long album, and while I doubt the lesser numbers on here are filling songs, it must be pointed out that a more than complete album could have been made without them. I'd like to rate it perfectly, but I can't. I'm just going to have to give it a high 9.
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COMMENTS
[in response to the first review:]
[email protected] (Peter Ross)
How the hell can you call yourself a Dream Theater fan and bash "Through Her Eyes?!" That song is ARGUABLY the finest moment on that album! Irritating, overdone and sappy? Ha, I tell thee! James sings that song so damned convincingly and emotionally that it nearly reduces me to tears every time I hear it. My advice to you, Karny...LISTEN TO IT AGAIN.
Oh, and how could you give this masterpiece a 9 and the mediocre at best Falling Into Infinity a 10? God, what injustice...
As long as we're on the subject, here's my POV on all of DT's albums:
When Dream And Day Unite: 5/10. Chas Dominici's voice gets really grating at times, and after "The Killing Hand," the second half is damn near worthless. However, great band harmonies on this one, and fast as hell bass whackin' c/o Mr. Myung (why doesn't anyone ever mention this?)
Images and Words: 9/10. "Surrounded" and "Metropolis" kick complete and total ass, and the lyrics and playing have never been tighter. Oh, and LaBrie really adds more depth to the band. The only bad point is the keyboards in "Learning To Live"--they irritate the crap out of me.
Live at the Marquee: 7/10. The jam is good, and James sings the two WDADU songs quite well, but they butcher "Surrounded" and "Pull Me Under." That, people, is just inexcusable.
Awake: 10/10. What more can be said about this album other than "YAHOO!!"? Absolutely incredible playing, great epics (Scarred kicks ass, the ending part of said song doesn't) and a grand piano ballad make this a must buy for anyone with taste.
A Change of Seasons: 8/10. The epic is great, and most of the covers cook with a vengeance, but the Zeppelin medley really irks me--I don't know why.
Falling Into Infinity: 7/10. That's a really low 7, mind you. Why? "Take Away My Pain" sounds like danceable reggae music instead of a song of mourning, "Hell's Kitchen" is blatant filler and the band's worst song, and "Hollow Years" is complete and total crap compared to the OIAL version. But, many songs on here (especially Burning My Soul) are convincingly done, and it's worth buying--after all, it IS Dream Theater.
Once in a Livetime: 6/10. This would've gotten a higher score if the drum and keyboard solos were left out and James didn't sound so damned horrible. Other than that, the song selection is good, the musical bits tagged on to some songs (especially Freebird at the end of Take the Time) are entertaining, and "Hollow Years" and "Take Away My Pain" are done the way they should've been done on FII. Great stuff.
Scenes From a Memory: 10/10. The goddamn peak. They'll probably never reach this plateau again, and if they do, YEEHAA!!!!!!? One hell of a storyline, great songs and jams, and just incredible lyrics. Yes, Karny, I think "Through Her Eyes" is one of those songs. Deal with it.
Oh, and Jason Newsted left Metallica earlier this week. Serves the greedy bastards right--they lost most of their fans, and now they're losing band members! I give Kirk two weeks.
Scenes From A Memory is by far THE Dream Theater cd to own! It's an undisputed classic, from the first tick of the clock in "Regression", straight on through the subject being violently awakened from his being hypnotized! There isn't a wasted note here, folks...it never ceases to amaze, even after listening to it every freakin' Saturday night on the headphones! If you can find live bootlegs of this show, you'll also be floored by how they can pull it off on stage. Just absolutely awe-inspiring! Oh, did I mention I like this cd? :o)
[email protected] (Frank Matyok)
I don't understand your mentality here. Quit bashing on the band in ways only you can see. I do, however, agree with "The Spirit Carries On" sounding Floyd-ish, but, nonetheless, it's an incredible song. It's the mind behind the album really, including the lyrics and song structure, that are completely mind-blowing! You need to appreciate the ideas of Petrucci and Portnoy. I ran a search for an analysis of Scenes from a Memory so I could quite possibly become enlightened by some factors within the plot that I hadn't been aware of. But, basically, I just wasted my time. Your site has no purpose. Do something with yourself...
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Learning To Live, A Change Of Seasons, The Silent Man, The Spirit Carries On. LOW POINTS: Caught In A New Millennium and the overall superflousness of the Scenes performance.
Oh boy, this is gonna be a tough review, since there is no other album from this band I'm torn over as much as this one. But before I get to exactly why, let me give you the background story first. Basically, on account of popular demand from the fans (hey, these demands really seem to work, eh?), the band decided to perform a really lengthy show at the Roseland Ballroom in the core members' hometown of New York on August 30th of 2000 in which it would be the final performance of Scenes From A Memory in its' entirety (they had been playing the album for much of the shows on the tour) along with a whole setlist worth of older material in which Jordan Rudess would put his keyboard stamp on it. The Scenes portion of this concert (with conceptually-related film footage interspersed with the band performance), was released on video, and the DVD version (which I possess) includes this portion plus extras (band commentary and the last five tracks, included here among other things).
The band apparently then decided to release the entire concert on three CDs, and of course, the resulting Live Scenes album had the horrible misfortune to come out on, you guessed it, September 11th, with the extremely eerie coincidence of it containing the band's 'flaming heart' logo that had NYC embedded into it on the album cover (which got the album's re-release delayed for a month and a half for a replacement cover). But going back to the music itself, well... hmm... first off, the concert must have kicked complete and total ass for everyone who was there, and it pretty accurately conveys the excitement of the two shows on the tour that I was present at (as is usual for their live stuff), but the main problem is that there really isn't that much here that adds anything to their catalog.
The Scenes From A Memory performance taking up all of disc one and nearly half of disc two is probably the most frustrating. I mean, there's nothing really wrong with it at all, but the very few changes they make to the songs are so minimal that it's almost like listening to the album itself with crowd noise, and it seemingly proves the clinical accusations people make against the band yet again. True, "Regression" has a different voice for the Hypnotherapist part instead of Terry Brown, "Home" has more of an emphasis on the Eastern-influenced keyboard soloing, and "Through Her Eyes" might be marginally better than the original, since the vocal/guitar duet between Theresa Thomason and John Petrucci in the intro really works, the vocals are less overwrought and the ending has power instead of fading out, but these are minor exceptions.
The only major one is "The Spirit Carries On" - it may be performed faithful to the original for around half of it, but once the 'move on be brave...' bridge portion hits where Thomason takes over the vocal spot, the overall power of it rises - the gospel choir that comes out of the midsong guitar solo creates such an effect that it's positively spine-chilling in its' beauty, and the band must have realized its' power, since the gospel part and ending solos get extended slightly for a gorgeous coda. And regardless of my 'it sounds the same as the album' complaints, the Scenes stuff live at least works to a pretty neat effect with all the conceptual footage on the video and especially the hilarious band commentary on the DVD (something I might review separately one day elsewhere on the site).
The remainder of disc 2 (a runthrough of several older songs) isn't really bad, but it suffers from the same types of problems. "Metropolis Part I" is yet another 'let's see how perfectly we can replicate the sick jam in the middle' showcase, while a lot of the rest are really superfluous, too - "The Mirror" is only distinguished by a "Lie" guitar solo at the end, Liquid Tension Experiment's "Acid Rain" might be better than before, only because 2-1/2 minutes is a more reasonable length for it than 6, and "Another Day" at least has nice sax soloing from Jay Beckenstein himself (to liven up an otherwise samey runthrough). The only song that's done bad here, though, is "Caught In A New Millennium", a combination of "Caught In The Web" and "New Millennium" where they arrange it by going back and forth between maybe a few lines of one then the chorus of the other then the solo section of the first one, and it doesn't really work at all. Pretty ugly and awkward, if you ask me.
Thankfully, despite the thoroughly unnecessary nature of the first couple discs, I can still give this a fairly good rating. Why? Because the final disc of this show really kicks ass. The set list alone should inspire great thoughts in you if you're a big fan - the 'Mind Beside Itself' three song suite, "Learning To Live" and "A Change Of Seasons"! Well, not so much with the first two parts of the suite ("Erotomania" and "Voices"), even if they aren't done any worse than before, but "The Silent Man" (in an electric version) is superior to the album one, with more passion and beauty in the chorus (and at the end), with an even better guitar solo. Likewise, this rendition of "Learning To Live" floors me - I still consider the original version of that song to boast the most well-thought out and breathtaking solo section ever, and it's even better here, especially since Jordan adds a synth-led reggae to the end of it, and the way the main themes of the song come back instead of it just fading out is mindblowing. You know, the rest of the song is surely not done any worse, so this might even be better than the original, and that speaks volumes.
Then, to close the show, there's the entire 23 minutes of "A Change Of Seasons", another epic that may be done even more high-energy than before. You can just feel the adrenaline going through the crowd and the band as they run through it with even more intensity (the 'moving train' portion is done in a great slow grind fashion, for instance), and during 'The Darkest Of Winters' jam they even quote The Simpsons theme!!! How cool is that?? And I just love James' 'apology' at the very end of the show: 'Sorry about the short set.' Yeah, no kidding. Needless to say the last three-fourths of the disc made me specifically raise the rating of the album a point. It's a good show overall, but it's a little excessive and still remains the most unnecessary of all DT releases so far despite its' merits. I'd probably recommend getting Live Scenes on DVD if you have a player, but I don't recommend getting both the DVD and CD, or else you may end up feeling ripped off. Now do you see what made me so torn?
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: The Glass Prison, Disappear, the 'Overture' and 'About To Crash' portions of Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence. LOW POINTS: Misunderstood.
After the (relative) worldwide success of Scenes From A Memory, plus the ensuing tour and DVD, I suppose the record company was convinced that giving the band total creative freedom wasn't such a bad idea after all, because that's exactly what they were allowed for the followup. Going into the recording, the last thing on the members' minds was doing another concept album, but in actuality, they only half-succeeded in not doing so. With no one really down their backs for the recording, the band began writing a few really long songs, and before they knew it, they had five of them, which may not seem like a lot, but these spanned 55 minutes worth of music! But naturally, being in about the same excessive camp as Yes in the past, they just couldn't get away with doing an album that short (especially after the last like, five albums, including the live ones, had been so long). So the original plan was to end things with a 20 minute epic, and... well, even that one kept growing and growing and growing until it reached its' status as an eight part, 42 minute concept piece, which eventually became the title track.
Of course, this meant the ensuing record was released as a double album, but this time, the record company wasn't against the idea, and so here it was... Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, arguably the absolute high point of Dream Theater excess in terms of scope, a record that probably could be the 21st century's early answer to Tales From Topographic Oceans. The thing is, though, with all these supposedly overwhelming long songs, this is one the most effortlessly flowing, easily accessible prog albums I've ever heard - very few of these songs feel overlong or excessive at all - in fact, they often flow right by as if they were normal length. Strangely enough, it also might actually be the easiest DT album to get into - I could more or less remember the flow of all the melodies and arrangements by second listen, and my overall opinion of the album as a whole has changed very little since then. But what exactly is it?
Well, let's begin with disc 1. You may have noticed that (not counting A Change Of Seasons, as that's not really a studio album) the album openers from the band have generally not gotten anywhere near as much praise that the highlights. However, "The Glass Prison" is no such case - it certainly has an initial almost "Change Of Seasons" style build and calmness in its' mostly bass and keyboard driven intro, but it quickly turns into what is almost without question the most consistently heavy and intense 10 minute stretch the guys ever came up with. Divided into three parts that lyrically detail the overcoming of alcohol addiction (sort of like the subject matter of "The Mirror" continued), it is a truly ripping, in your face song that almost never lets go of its' thrashing intensity the entire time, except maybe a little on the slightly poppier refrains in the first couple parts ('crawl into my glass prison...', 'help me...'), but not by much.
Don't be put off by the 13 minute length, though - I am absolutely amazed at how quickly the song flows by, from the initial opening kinda speed metal-ish first part in which Portnoy begins singing along with Labrie three minutes in ('dominating, invincible...') to a pulverizing Pantera-esque power groove with pseudo-rapping added throughout ('run - fast... from the wreckage of the past...'), to another one of those vintage Dream Theater jams that eventually lead into the hopeful melodic 'resolution' and escape from the 'glass prison' the main character experiences ('way off in the distance I saw a door...') This song is longer than "Home" and "Learning To Live"? No way - if anything, it seems almost too short for me (it would be nice to have that third part developed a little more), though that's a hardly a flaw, as this song is perhaps the peak of Dream Theater as a 'metal' outfit, and easily the best on here.
It's hardly the only great moment here, of course, as the following 10 minute "Blind Faith" also comes extremely close to highlight status. Granted, the heavier portion of the chorus sounds somewhat awkward coming after the more poppy keyboard and guitar based verses, but the overall melodies are so smoothly written and infectious that I can dig the song. Don't forget about the wonderfully constructed middle jam either, as Petrucci and Rudess both engage in a thrilling duel for instrumental supremacy before the song returns back to its' original chorus melody. And closing the disc is the kind of ballad I wish the band would write more often - "Disappear" is clearly an attempt to write something as atmospheric and layered as "Space Dye Vest" without Kevin Moore in the band, and while not quite as timeless and shattering as that, it still works incredibly well. From the haunting melodies and instrumentation to the overtly personal lyrics to the extremely well arranged multi-layered sound (at one point there's a harp in one speaker and an electric guitar in another! how cool is that?), it's a very special song.
The remaining two songs here, however, are much more of a question mark for me. "Misunderstood" is another sort of ballad stretched to a 9 minute epic length, and not a very good one at that. The opening guitar part is nothing to write home about, the mostly bland main melody sounds much more suited to a weaker Magna Carta prog band, and those last three minutes? Ugh. It's some sort of experimental jam supposed to create the vibe of 'Hell', but that's surely a place I don't wanna visit based on this... thing, which starts out with a decidedly unattractive as it is symphonic keyboard part and then regresses into some shitty and ugly noisemaking by the end. Of course, no song by this band is entirely without merit, including this one - the introspective lyrics are quite good, and the countermelody with electronic tinges in the background that shows up 3 minutes in ('it challenges the essence of my soul...') is very nice, but otherwise... ehh. If you ask me, this is undoubtedly the worst song the band has done to this point. Just skip it.
As for the remaining 13 minute "The Great Debate"... now this is a track I'm extremely divided about. On one hand, the idea of Dream Theater doing an overtly political song is really, really cool - the concept behind it is the 'debate' over stem-cell research, with samples of the 'left' and 'right' sides coming out of separate speakers, and it also comes off extremely well in the lyrics. Several of the melodies ('turn to the light...' and the 'human kind has reached a turning point...' ones in particular) are also top-notch, and the way Rudess rips out some fantastic Tony Banks-ish keyboard solos during the jam is wonderful. On the other hand, though, a bit too much of the song is taken up by the samples which could potentially sound dated in a few years, and as far as a lot of the music and a few of the melodies go in the first half, while "Home" merely ripped off a bassline from a Tool song, this is an almost exact copy of that band's unique style in many places. The rumbling bassline is almost entirely reminiscent of something on Lateralus (or that album's style in general, really), and even the vocal intonations are total Maynard James Keenan (especially the 'life to save life...' and 'anarchistic moral vision...' portions). Guys, stuff like this doesn't exactly help your status in the progressive world, and makes you harder to defend.
Alright, now that I've talked about the first disc of 'shorter' songs, let's get to the supposed 'magnum opus', the 42 minute mammoth that is "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence". Like Thick As A Brick or A Passion Play, that famous pair of Jethro Tull 'album length' songs, this one can be intimidating if you think of it as merely a continuous piece. I dunno. Maybe it's just the psychological effect of the tracks being split up here, but I really think of this as more of an 8 song concept album almost separated from those initial disc one tracks, and thinking of it that way (which is easier to do than you think), this epic flows surprisingly well and almost never drags at all. And as far as the concept goes, it's quite a bit on the pretentious side, but I find it a lot more intriguing (and probably more original) than the one on Scenes - it's essentially a trip through a mental institution that focuses on six different chacters throughout, the lyrics of which are penned in nearly equal parts by Portnoy and Petrucci.
While the track certainly has its' frustrating flaws which I will get to in time, I can't really complain about the first two sections at all, and yes, that includes the somehow much despised 'Overture'. I suppose the fact that this is extremely Broadway-ish and overblown in execution, with the symphonic keyboards sometimes sounding a bit fake, is what that bothers people about it, but considering the overwhelming quality of the instrumental melodies contained within the suite that are being introduced here and the amazing, bombastic way they flow together, I think it's perfectly adequate and damn breathtaking. Screw you people, but I honestly believe it to be the best moment here. Though 'About To Crash', while a bit cheesy in its' 'fly, cry, try, high...' rhyming pattern during the chorus, comes very close to it - the vocal melodies throughout the entire song are really beautifully written, the keyboard and guitar melody drives it along so wonderfully, and the melodies only enhance the power of really making you feel for the 'perfect girl' who eventually goes insane during the course of the song.
The next couple tracks, though, are somewhat less spectacular - regardless of their awesome titles, 'War Inside My Head' and 'The Test That Stumped Them All' are catchy, but mainly just decent and overall standard 'metal' entries, though I must admit the symphonic tinge in the former and the hilariously goofy System Of A Down imitation in the refrain of the latter section are pretty welcome additions. On the other side of things, the somewhat Queen-esque ballad 'Goodnight Kiss' leaves me really, really torn in terms of its' overall quality - as far as the main vocal melody's power and the way the solo section interprets what is essentially the main bombastic theme of the entire suite, it is almost completely shattering. But really, when we're speaking of the vocal performance and lyrics, the sap nearly reaches "Through Her Eyes" level, and there's such awful lines in there as 'those bastard doctors are gonna pay...' and especially the awkward way 'I'm just a poor girl ...lost in this cruel world' sounds sung by Labrie. Ehh.
The remaining three parts here are about at that same frustrating level of occasional mindblowing excellence and occasional lapses into misguided arrangements and derivativeness. Well, maybe not so much the reprise of 'About To Crash', as it's pretty much a more upbeat, 'rocking out' version of that original part with a great opening riff in there. But 'Solitary Shell', now that one definitely is frustrating. On one hand (boy, I'm getting tired of saying that), this is one of the rare moments of lyrical brilliance in the suite, with the subject matter of living with autism coming through incredibly well, and in a perfect world, that extremely powerful singalong chorus would be blasting on radios all over the place. Plus, the jam is totally a excellent display of Rudess brilliance (with an imaginative Latin-tinged portion). But the melody and overall tempo of the verses... this is not just similar to Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill", it is almost an exact clone of it, and that alone should be enough to really take away from that portion, especially since that melody is so distinctive. Arrrgh.
Likewise, what should have been an incredibly powerful ending in 'Losing Time/Grand Finale' is reduced to a completely anticlimactic and 'bang my head against the wall' frustrating idea to end the whole epic. The main melody of the first portion is wonderfully hypnotizing in a depressing sort of way, and by the time this begins to build into the 'Grand Finale', I can sense this totally special ending approaching as the main melodic theme here seems to be coming full circle. Though the final yell of 'our illusive miiiiiind....' might suggest something explosive, all we get at the end is one friggin' keyboard note being held down for almost two minutes! You know, in spite of all these flaws, there are so many great moments here that I almost gave it the album an 8.5, a rating I was originally planning on for awhile, but there are enough annoying instances of blatant derivativeness, not to mention a lot of the same kind of thing that marred a few albums from certain other prog masters like Yes, Genesis and Rush (namely the loss of sense for what works in the context of the song and what doesn't) that it makes me a bit sad they're losing their way a little, so I can't. Even if this is, on the whole, a fairly impressive album.
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COMMENTS
Talk about a disappointment!
I have been a Dream Theater fan from almost the beginning and this album is not up to DT quality. In my opinion the two best songs on this release are "The glass prison" and "Misunderstood". What happened on the second CD? On the first track, I thought I was listening to a "Disney Land Theme".
Everyone has their bad days, I guess.
Buy Scenes from a memory or any of their previous releases.
[email protected] (Peter Ross)
Uh...no. This album, for me, not only topped SFAM, it set new standards for Dream Theater in the process. I have never heard an album as good as this one, and I probably never will again.
Every epic tendency DT had on their previous records came into full fruition on this one, and it shows in the complexity of "The Glass Prison," the ambient atmosphere of "Blind Faith," and the devastating, cathartic "Disappear." While I can understand that you think "The Great Debate" sounds like Tool in some spots (which it does; I noticed that right away), for me, it's now my number one fave DT song. The slow, agonizing buildup over the samples in the beginning, the terrifying bridge, the insane delivery from James, the thundering drums and bass, and the way it all comes full circle at the end is amazing. And the lyrics are the best I've ever heard.
Now, "Misunderstood"--I don't know why you hate it so; just skip past the noise section when it comes up (although it's cool to hear them beat Radiohead at their own game). The chorus is haunting and reflective, the opening drenched in mysteriousness. The lyrics are great, too.
The title track--all 42 minutes of it--to me, are flawless. The goofy opening really turned me off the first time I heard it, but it grew on me. The mid-tempo second bit, "About To Crash," is terrific, as are the speedy "War Inside My Head" and the brutal "The Test That Stumped Them All." "Goodnight Kiss" and "Solitary Shell" are two incredible ballads, the reprise of ATC has that great instrumental jam at the end, and the last part...I read an analysis on the DT message board that the two-minute ending is to give you time to think about all that you heard on the album, and I agree with it. Give it a try, Nick.
Anyhoo, I've gone on too long. This is DT's finest hour--10 points.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: In The Name Of God (I guess). LOW POINTS: Not really, but there are far too many moments of excess pointlessness.
First things first, I'm not going to ramble about this album anywhere near as long as I did for Scenes and Six Degrees in such a pointless fashion (guh, I don't know what came over me - I apologize for boring the shit out of most of you). But with that out of the way, Train Of Thought has been called by the band themselves their version of a 'classic metal' album, their Master Of Puppets or Number Of The Beast or whatever (two albums they actually covered live in their entirety), and opinions on it have ranged from 'Oh my God this is abominable nu-metal shit... what the hell????' to 'What a masterpiece... they've topped themselves again... AHHHHHH' and in my opinion, both of these are views are utter nonsense. You know what this album really is? Dream Theater essentially watering down their 'heavier' side in an attempt to please the section of their fanbase who always cried there were too many goddamn ballads on their albums.
The main problem with the album, I think, is that it was recorded too quickly - as a result, the riffs are often done much more simplistically than usual, the soloing is much closer to generic aimless metal wanking, and most noticeably, there's a good 20 minutes or so of pointless excess that simply doesn't need to be there. Plus, can anyone argue that explicit 'sequels' to previous songs in your catalog are a sign that you're jumping the shark? This is never more evident than the obnoxious 11 minute "This Dying Soul" - were it my first Dream Theater song, I'd probably dig it, as the playing is typically great, with exciting high energy, but hearing snatches of "The Mirror", "Home", and quotes of "The Glass Prison" riff done on purpose (I don't even need to mention ripoffs of other songs, like Metallica's "Blackened" and the dumbass parody of Dave Mustaine's Countdown-era Megadeth vocal stylings - oh wait, I just did), it just strikes me as an utterly useless rehash, especially when it has an average vocal hook - and James should not be rapping under any circumstances. There is a top-notch, incredibly frenzied, jam at the end, which saves it from low point status, but I'd much rather listen to past work for this type of song.
And once again like last album, the lead single is probably the weakest thing here - it's not bad (the chorus is definitely mightily catchy), but the opening "As I Am" has those flaws of overly simplistic riffing and especially soulless and generic wanking from Petrucci in the middle, the vocal melody is rudimentary, the song is too stretched out at over 7-1/2 minutes, and what's with those lamebrained 'don't categorize us!' lyrics and lines like 'lost in a sea of mediocrity' that are such an easy target? Speaking of 'stretched out', another 11 minute 'epic' in "Endless Sacrifice" should really be considered two songs - part one a second rate "Peruvian Skies" redux both in music and melody with a 100% generic 'fist pumping' modern metal chorus, and part two is another crazy, even comical jam with some hilarious keyboard noises.... which again save it from low-point status. Neither part really needed to be written, though.
After these first three tracks, the album does get better, but still, there's not one of these songs I'd call great from start to finish, and if you really understand how much I love this band, that's really the ultimate disappointment. I do like "Honor Thy Father" quite a bit, though - regardless of the nu-metal riffage I complained about, the band at least does build on these riffs (and there are often several of them in one song), especially here, with good chugging energy. Plus, the lyrics condemning Mike Portnoy's stepfather are among the most vicious anyone in the band would ever write, and the middle section with creepy movie samples over the heavy music serves as a great epic buildup (plus it's the only time you'll ever hear 'cocksucker' spoken on a Dream Theater album!). It's only about as worthwhile as their more minor 'really good' songs, though, and it certainly doesn't have nearly enough momentum to be 10 minutes long.
The sole ballad on here (and by far the shortest track total) is the under 3 minute "Vacant", which is certainly about as hopeless sounding as anything they've done, with a neat minor-key violin, piano and bass arrangement, and the lyrics are convincingly depressing, though it lacks the same strong hook power of earlier ballads. Its' extension, the 11 minute instrumental "Stream Of Consciousness" is more famous for the band making a pre-album contest out of it (i.e. translate our obsessive song charts and record your own version - what a neat idea!) is about as entertaining as your average Liquid Tension Experiment jam - maybe it's really overlong, with several moments that could easily be cut out (so I'd never rank it anywhere close to DT's best instrumentals), but it still works great as background music. Plus that main 'theme' is definitely good, and it's groovy how they turn into a funk band for a couple minutes in the middle!
As for the closing 14 minute "In The Name Of God" (which has rather nonsensically been touted as 'the new "Learning To Live"'), it's probably my favorite song on here, as that bass/keyboard-heavy riff is definitely the most memorable and epic on the album, with a nice intensity to it, and it's eerie in the middle of the song how it achieves an airy tribal feel. Plus, I love the incredibly high-pitced parts of the guitar solo, one of the rare moments where the generic wanking actually benefits things in a fun way. However, like everything on here save "Vacant", it doesn't deserve most of its' length, and the more bombastic chorus doesn't seem to gel with the verses (a chorus which is good and dramatic and all, but hardly emotionally shattering, though it does gain power during the coda)
Really, you know, there are still a lot of really good moments, enough good melodies, enough great musicianship, to ensure that I'll still far prefer this diet DT style over whatever garbage Disturbed or Puddle Of Mudd will crap out, but ugh, it's still a tremendous disappointment, however good a lot of it may be. There's nothing on here that the band hasn't done much, much better, and there's not even any signs of progression like the last album had ("Disappear", "Overture" and even "Misunderstood", crappy as it was, was at least experimental). I know I'm really gonna get some flack for this, but guys, I think you should go in a more condensed 90125-ish art pop direction - you still have terrific musicianship and occasionally great melody, but Christ, not every song has to be over 10 minutes, especially since your talents for writing epics are declining - write more concise songs for once, and don't forget to actually work more on arrangements. And please no more sequels on the "Unforgiven II" level. Yes, I'm giving a Dream Theater album under a 7 - the world has ended.
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COMMENTS
BLASPHEMER! HOW DARE YOU INSULT THE GREAT DREAM THEATER! I THUSLY REVOKE YOUR TITLE OF "BEST DT REVIEWER" AND PLACE IT ON MYSELF!!
Nah, just kidding. I can understand your POV on this album--there are a few spots where they seem to be playing stuff just because they can...I hate that. But for me, those were few and far between--I love this album. Again.
It was good to see you rated "In The Name Of God" as the best song--the first time I listened to this song, I was absolutely scared shitless. That chorus! Oh man! And "This Dying Soul?" Yeah, it's a direct sequel to the themes previously explored in "The Glass Prison" and "The Mirror," but that's the way they wanted it--Mike's supposedly planning on writing about the 12 steps in AA. Brace yourself should that ever happen.
Overall, I'd give this a 9.
And James is NOT RAPPING, DAMMIT!
I love Dream Theater too. I try to analyse most of their songs and learn more for my benefit. I've probably learned more from their music than my lessons which I spent 12 dollars/half hour on for years. The way they modulate and phrase change to playing chromatically is amazing, if you listen to how smooth it is. But back to the album; I thought of it as very welcoming. I loved 6DOIT, it was musically wonderful but I felt that there should have been some more heavier songs to it. I think Train Of Thought, although simplistic comparitively, yes, was a nice step in the long run. It's a Dream Theater you can put in your stereo to mix things up. I'm sure it will only build up to an amazingly written album in the future. Also, I think SoC was a great instrumental. It may not sound it but in terms of music theory ther's some neat stuff in there. I learned it as soon as I got the album and gained a further appreciation of it. Overall I think the album was a great move; if not just for a stand alone album at least as a good stepping stone, which I think represents Dream Theater's "prgoressive" approach in a subtle way.
Much like Yes that came before them, nearly all the members of Dream Theater (current and former) have actively attempted to kept themselves creatively fresh by engaging in side projects and/or solo careers, and at this point the total number of albums all these projects have released actually exceeds the amount of DT releases at the current moment. Mike Portnoy has said that the band itself probably would have broken up without the release of these projects, and while most of them can hardly approach the level of the original band in quality, I can only be grateful for these their existence because of this, not to mention the very good quality of some of the material. Like I said before, this section of the site isn't quite complete, as I've still got a couple holes. But I figure this is a good enough starting point the way it is.
--Nick Karn
REVIEWS:
After his departure from Dream Theater after Awake, Kevin Moore satisfied his need for adjusting to a changing musical taste by forming a new band called Chroma Key (which also includes drummer Mark Zonder of Fates Warning), which is much more in the ambient, electronic, and/or industrial vein.
--Nick Karn
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released by Chroma Key
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: America The Video. LOW POINTS: Hell Mary, Camera 4, Mouse.
Ugh. This, Chroma Key's debut album, can serve as one of two things - a perfect cure for insomnia, or a major cause of chronic depression. For a songwriter who churned out as emotionally shattering a relationship song as Kevin Moore did with Dream Theater on "Space Dye Vest", the comatose mood established here throughout the tracks on this debut effort Dead Air For Radios is distressing to say the least. Basically all the tracks here suffer from the same flaws - overeliance on samples (two of the songs, in fact, are almost completely based on them, and on the otherwise potentially moody and haunting "Even The Waves", they get really grating), a toneless vocal style, and unvaried backing music in the repeated chord progressions, loops and drum machines that make me feel like I'm listening to the same song over and over again. In fact, that's a common theme throughout this entire effort.
In a sense, the style of this album is also a shame, since all these weaknesses tend to obscure somewhat good vocal melodies and especially creative lyrics. For instance, the ones on "Colorblind" and "America The Video", for instance, are quite well-written and intriguing. On the former, though, they're much more interesting a read than the overwhelmingly morose opening song is a listen (even if, again, the melody is too good for me to call the song too weak). At least I can somewhat praise the latter tune - besides being the only even slightly uplifting song on the entire album, the vocal melody is also the most impressive, and the heavy electronic textures manage to work very well with the vibe of the lyrics and engage you in spite of their potential overly mechanic tone.
But a lot of this stuff really makes me frustrated. I mean, the song quality as a whole isn't bad, and the stretch of the first four tracks is decent, but everything shares exactly the same lifeless atmosphere, the sound becomes extremely tiresome by the middle of the album, where it starts taking a real nosedive. Personally, I can find almost nothing to distinguish "Undertow", "S.O.S." and "On The Page" from each other (except a similar kind of "Space-Dye Vest" thematic in the lyrics during the last one), and not even the humor apparent in the samples of "Mouse" can save that song from pure lifelessness. And did I mention how much the closer "Hell Mary" sucks? The way the computerized voice speaks over cold lifeless sound effects really brings forth a horribly unsatisfying 'end of existence' tone. I can almost give the album a 5, since the song material isn't that bad, but considering the overall tiresome mood here, it's just too sour of a listening experience for me to give it that. Avoid.
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REVIEWS:
The brainchild of Trent Gardner of Magellan, Explorer's Club is a side project which features a multitude of top progressive musicians, including Gardner himself, Steve Howe of Yes, Matt Guillory, John Petrucci and Derek Sherinian of Dream Theater, D.C. Cooper and Terry Bozzio.
--Nick Karn
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released by Explorer's Club
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Fading Fast. LOW POINTS: Time Enough, No Returning, Last Call.
As the above sort of introduction kind of hints at, the amount of big name musicians who agreed to participate in this project probably set high for many fans of modern progressive rock, myself included. But unfortunately, this thing could not have been further from living up to them. Although the prospect of all these superstar musicians playing on the record might have seemed attractive, but the huge source of the problem here is that a large amount of the material here was not written by them. The creative force behind virtually all the lyrics, music, and arrangement of spots for the soloists, was all one person (Trent Gardner), so it all sounds extremely contrived and forced. Maybe if all the musicians had collaborated together, the results may have been a lot different (if still a bit unfocused), but as a result, huge portions of the album wander around aimlessly.
The other main problem with this album is that everything here is overlong - all the tracks pass eight minutes in length, with the opening "Fate Speaks" being twice that, and only one of them really contains enough gripping moments of truly inspired and memorable instrumental performances to justify its' length at least a bit. It's not exactly a shattering song, but the mellow and atmospheric nature of "Fading Fast" really grabs hold of the listener, and its' keyboard-heavy sound is really quite a nice contrast between the main guitarists featured on the song - Steve Howe's acoustic playing (mostly in the introductory bits) and lyrical John Petrucci soloing. Elsewhere, the opening "Fate Speaks" is reasonably hard-hitting, with enough musical twists and turns, interesting lyrics, memorable impressive performances and pretty good melodies to at least make it somewhat worthwhile, if dreadfully overarranged.
The remainder of the album (namely, all of side two), however, is just about a complete disaster, with very little to redeem it. With its' lengthy introduction, "No Returning" practically exemplifies the album's tendency of being progressive just for the hell of it - there's no real significance or power to the various riffs or changes, and the actual melody and lyrics of the piece are depressingly weak, with the buried vocals here not exactly helping things. On the other hand, "Time Enough" does have some great power vocals from D.C. Cooper, but the song itself? Not great. An utterly useless reprise of the original "Fate Speaks", only with an extremely monotonous lengthy jam section. The closing "Last Call" may not be quite as bad, but the weak melody, contrived arrangement, uncaptivating instrumental work, and the way it just hangs there for what seems like forever as it ends is extremely disappointing. I guess it just goes to show you that one person writing everything doesn't work when there are already too many cooks in the kitchen. To summarize: side one is somewhat decent, side two is inadequate garbage. Final verdict: don't buy this thing.
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REVIEWS:
Arguably the most well-known (and best) of the Dream Theater side projects, Liquid Tension Experiment came together when Mike Portnoy was contacted to assemble a progressive 'supergroup' of sorts in 1997. After recruiting Tony Levin on bass (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel) and Jordan Rudess on keyboards (who would eventually join Dream Theater before the release of Liquid Tension Experiment 2), guitarist John Petrucci then joined, making LTE essentially a band composed of 3/4ths of the current instrumentalists from DT with Levin filling out the lineup. The band recorded their debut in just a week's worth of studio time for eventual release in early 1998, and followed it up a year later. Naturally, with the 3 of the 4 band members associated with DT, LTE is now considered pretty much defunct, but not before they recorded one excellent album and one decent one for me to review.
--Nick Karn
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released by Liquid Tension Experiment
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Freedom Of Speech, Universal Mind, State Of Grace, Kindred Spirits. LOW POINTS: some portions of Three Minute Warning.
Considering the short amount of time this album was recorded (in roughly a week, a period almost unheard of by modern music standards), it's a marvel that the songwriting quality of it is as high as it is. Obviously, a huge part of it has to do with the members' individual musical chops, which are nothing short of phenomenal, as all of them (Petrucci, Rudess, Levin, Portnoy) are clearly among the most fluid and gifted performers at their instruments. But what's really impressive is that, despite this effort's 74 minute long running time, that potentially disasterous indulgence is very often transferred into almost song-like epics here, as the main melodies of most of these pieces are quite, quite memorable and the remainder of the songs often build off these initial hooks in such a dramatic, captivating, and instrumentally challenging way. Of course, there is a good amount of indulgence within (how could there not be?), which is why I wouldn't recommend this album to just anyone.
The most notable moments of excess are mostly limited to the opening and closing compositions here, but even they have their moments. The opening "Paradigm Shift" is built on an insanely fast guitar riff on which the rest of the band joins in, and the faster portions of the song are often a pure thrill to hear. It's probably a bit too multi-part for its' own good, though, as its' slower, atmospheric moments seem to drag on forever. And then there's "Three Minute Warning", a completely improvised 28-1/2 minute jam 'tacked' on at the end. I will say this - it is a testament to the talent of these musicians that it manages to captivate me for as long as it does, and it usually sounds tight as if the song was actually worked out before hand, but being as endless as it is, it does inevitably have several sections that don't really go anywhere or do anything other than cause boredom. If you were to ask my overall opinion of it, I'd say I liked it, but much of it really only works as background music, and it does test my patience at times.
Aside from those two tracks, however, a huge portion of the remainder of the album is some of the most awesome all-instrumental music I've ever heard. The most brilliant example would probably be the 9-1/2 minute "Freedom Of Speech", a pure epic composition that centers around a simple, piano-led ballad melody and gradually builds up to some totally cathartic and amazingly well-thought out guitar and piano solos and melodies, all done with incredible emotion. Maybe it could have been something even more spectacular with vocals and lyrics, but sometimes I even doubt that - it reminds me of Joe Satriani at his very very best, especially in how it's able to create such an incredible intimate and epic mood without a word spoken or sung. And elsewhere, "Osmosis" is surprisingly moody and restrained, with a great atmospheric bassline from Levin on which the other members throw in some beautiful textures, particularly the ethereal keyboard playing.
The remainder of the tracks all have something worthwhile to offer as well. Even the two interlude pieces, "The Stretch" and "Chris And Kevin's Excellent Adventure" have a good touch of humor and lightweight groove power to allow the listener to catch their breath during some of the longer pieces. Which rule, by the way - "Kindred Spirits" features some of John Petrucci's most uplifting and heavenly guitar work ever within the breaks of this song (and Rudess chimes in wonderfully over them), and speaking of Petrucci and Rudess, their duet "State Of Grace" is a gorgeously intimate moment on the album, more shining proof that, for all their indulgence at times, these guys are capable of saying so much with simple, heartfelt melodies.
Finally, the most daring and exciting song here comes in the form of "Universal Mind", an amazingly unpredictable and probably extremely challenging to play piece that manages to flow very smoothly through several different riffs and solos for the first few mindbending minutes before becoming musically eclectic on us - there are some somewhat classically influenced piano lines, a bit of funk, tongue-in-cheek cartoonish stuff, and even reggae towards the end. A very, very neat composition that never manages to drag at all through its' 7:53 length. Groovy. In all, I would very much recommend this to prog metal fans, lovers of instrumental music and especially Dream Theater fanatics - everyone else may get impatient and sick of it, and I do admit this album would have been much better off without "Three Minute Warning" at around a 45 minute length, but at least there is a humorous warning for those people who get impatient with this stuff to hit the stop button after track 8.
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COMMENTS
To me, this is a eight song, 45 minutes album with 28 minutes of bonus tracks. I don't like Three Minute Warning, even if it's wonderful as a jam, but I never listen to it. I don't need to. Besides, it has a warning.
I'm a quite mediocre electric guitar player, but if I had to learn, I'd want to play like Petrucci. It's my favourite guitar player, and not because of Images and Words. Because of this. This may sound weird, but I prefer the musical chops in Liquid Tension Experiment I rather than those on Images And Words, even if the latter is a better record overall.
This record isn't like my Vai/Johnson/Satriani record that is pure soloing and is BORING (there are lots of records like that, you know them; yeah, those), because even if full of musical chops, there are actual songs. Or not. Anyway, this record is highly recommended to everybody (even if you don't like instrumental music too much or self indulgent music, remember I said I hate pure soloing records?), even if it 45 minutes long (which is kinda short compared to other records by DT) and it has better production than Images and Words. Yes, it has a 28 min jam, but is a bonus track, and it's not bad.
released by Liquid Tension Experiment
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Biaxident, Another Dimension, 914. LOW POINTS: Chewbacca, Liquid Dreams.
It seems to me that the short amount of time in which LTE were given to record their debut actually helped the dazzling results it had, since it gave them the opportunity to just be loose and not overwork the songs. I guess focusing in on it that way at least partially explains why that the debut was such a success and this is a bit of a letdown - given even more time to record this particular effort than before, the group seems to focus much more on the progressive aspects of their instrumental music rather than the melodic side, and the result is very mixed. Sure, the musical ability is unparalleled here, as the previous release was, but the songs are seriously lacking in memorable riffs and unexpected, effortless time changes, and sections that take the listener's breath away. It feels like the band concentrates more on how many meter shifts or difficult bits should be placed into each song here, rather than their dynamics, so each song seems to become a showcase of how expertly the band can play and not much else, and as a result a good amount of this material is completely indulgent and a real bore to listen to, especially for non-musicians (who should completely stay away from it).
The worst offenders are particulary the songs of the second half, which is significantly longer than the first - the guys just don't seem to have an understanding of the even dynamics of albums. "When The Water Breaks" is at least the most interesting of the two, as it seems to have a moody concept going for it (the dramatic middle section signifies the abrupt stop in the recording process on account of the birth of John Petrucci's daughter), but doesn't it feel somewhat empty for being 16 minutes long? The initial instrumental melodies are fine, but it ends up very much chasing its' tail musically for at least half the length of the damn thing. But I can hardly say anything positive about "Chewbacca", as it is completely slow, dragging, and ultimately so coma-inducing because all it seems to be based on is 'dark' atmosphere and nothing else. At least it seems to help give the listener extra sleep.
Elsewhere, even the 10 minute jam "Liquid Dreams" completely and totally pales in comparison to the earlier "Freedom Of Speech" - I hardly hear any changes in dynamic the entire time from its' already just competent instrumental hook. The mercifully normal-length "Hourglass" doesn't really have much in the way of inspiration, either - sure it's intimate and nice, but so was "State Of Grace", which this song just seems to be an overly lifeless, though salvageable, copy of. But still, I wouldn't want to complain too much about this album - if you happen to be playing it while working on something, whether it be yardwork or a term paper or whatever, along with the first LTE album, this is really effective to listen to as background music. Plus, there is a fine stretch of three tracks following the album's opening forceful, but repetitive and overlong, guitar driven jam "Acid Rain", which a lot of people love, but I fail to see why, really.
OK, OK, enough with the complaints, as he last three songs on 'side one' are excellent as individual compositions in their own right. Maybe not as effortlessly 'song like', but "Biaxident" is such an effective, Latin-tinged epic in the same instrumentally uplifting vein as "Freedom Of Speech", especially resolving itself wonderfully at the end (making it the best song on here). "914", meanwhile, is surely the most intense groove based song in the LTE catalog made even more exciting with the creatively exciting and quite diverse pallette of keyboard tones, and it's quite fascinating how the dark, storm-imitating feel of "Another Dimension" builds for 10 minutes and actually has an accordion solo in the middle. Neat! If only the rest of the album were as inspiring, but like I said before, even the weaker stuff on here works fine as background music, which certainly saves it from being incredibly boring like I thought it was originally, even if too much of it does feel like a step in the wrong direction.
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REVIEWS:
Essentially the solo project of Dream Theater frontman James Labrie under a band name, Mullmuzzler has a bit more of a focus on laid-back sounding, slightly artsy pieces with more of an emphasis on the lyrical and emotional aspects of the songs.
--Nick Karn
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released by Mullmuzzler
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: His Voice, Statued, Beelzebubba. LOW POINTS: Sacrifice, Slow Burn.
Given the way things worked songwriting-wise in Dream Theater, it's certainly understandable that James Labrie would want to undertake a sort of 'solo venture' on his own, as he's never gotten more than one or two lyrical contributions per album, and even many of the band's vocal melodies weren't conceived by him. But of course, he couldn't get rid of the 'band' dynamic completely here, so he assembled a lineup of guest musicians and occasional songwriters such as Trent Gardner, Mike Mangini and members of fellow Magna Carta prog act Shadow Gallery, wrote and recorded bits of songs with them through phone contact and mail, and came out with this debut. Unsurprisingly, Keep It To Yourself is for the most part much more focused on the lyrics and straightforward melody-writing approach than a typical Dream Theater release, and features only rare occurences of extended progressive jam sections that are a common occurence on those albums.
Then there's the matter of the song quality, and it's generally good, though a little uneven. For one thing, the ballads here ("Sacrifice" and "Slow Burn") are very noticeably weak compared to the rest, particularly the former, which is actually the first Labrie fronted song I'm aware of where his usually dependable vocal performance really grates on me. The latter, meanwhile, mostly escapes me every time in its' dull mellow state. Elsewhere, "Guardian Angel" and "Lace" don't have that much in the way of well-written hooks, which makes them a little weaker when compared to the better harder edged songs here, but still, the former has arguably the finest jam section on the whole album, and the latter's interesting futuristic synth intro propels a somewhat more raw rocking section effectively, even if the rest of the song is a bit of a blur.
Elsewhere, things do get off to a great start with the first few songs on the album, the opening "His Voice" in particular coming pretty close to being a condensed prog tour-de-force. The fast paced keyboards and guitar riffing manage to blend very seamlessly with the soothing, but decidedly haunting verses, and the chorus ('ma, you know you can't hold me, now') serves an incredibly uplifting, climactic high point of the song. Oh, and great keyboard solo on this one (by Matt Guillory, I suppose?). "Statued" is nearly as good in terms of inventive song arrangement, with a groovy hard-hitting opening riff merging with a great bassline during infectious jazzy verses, all merging with a solid modern-prog chorus, and "Shores Of Avalon" is perhaps the most epic number on the whole thing - maybe it treads a bit too close to "Kashmir" in the symphonic melody, but it builds wonderfully, and it has the most beautifully written lyrics here.
The most bizarre numbers here, however, would be in the form of "Beelzebubba", a truly bizarre commentary on the Bill Clinton / Monica Lewinsky fiasco. The former song is probably the most diverse one on the album, with its' tongue-in-cheek lyrics pushed forward by horns in the 'slick' groove of the verses, and the way it merges with a powerful acoustic-tinged refrain and neat jam bits is effective. I can understand people hating it, as it can sound a bit ugly and overly repetitive, but it's at least interesting. And finally, the 8 minute closing "As A Man Thinks" can be called the most progressive composition of them all, with quite a few shifts in arrangement and tone throughout and a Genesis-like keyboard sound, and those adrenaline rushes of lyrics help set up a fantastic, engaging mood. And that's when this effort is at its' best - when it engages you, which is a big reason why Keep It To Yourself is certainly a good buy for modern prog fans (especially Dream Theater ones) despite being a little inconsistent and messily produced.
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I agree with your overall rating of the CD, but to me "Guardian Angel" is the best song on the disk. Mike Keanelly did a great job on the rhythm section as well as the solo. Obviously, John Petrucci could have written a better solo, but overall I think it's s great song.
Beelzebubba gets on my nerves so bad that I can't even listen to it. I think all the horns are just a metaphor for "blowing" to go along with the Monica Lewinski theme.
released by Mullmuzzler
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Venice Burning, Tell Me. LOW POINTS: Stranger.
Hmm... it seems as if James Labrie and his co-songwriters (on this particular album, almost exclusively Matt Guillory with a couple exceptions) have fallen into a little bit of a rut here. Don't get me wrong - as far as a consistently pleasurable listening experience, Mullmuzzler 2 is a somewhat more enjoyable effort than before, but as far as the amount of great or adventurous material goes, it comes up a little short. It almost seems that he's accepted his solo role of churning out moderately artsy pop songs with little in the way of jam showcases, but there's no real sense of ambition or inventive textures to the songs, and several of them, well, sound nearly identical musically. The saving grace is that the individual vocal melodies are memorable here, but you don't know how sick I am pulling my teeth out in trying to find interesting things to say about songs when those neat ideas barely exist.
There's also the problem of James kinda recycling (or trying to one up) the stylstics of both his main band and the debut's sound. Case in point: what's with the opening "Afterlife"? Dream Theater already had a song called that on their debut! Is James trying to beat Charlie Dominici's admittedly trite lyrics on the original into the ground? Dunno, but it's a cool melodic rocker anyway, with some nice time signature shifts in the chorus and a haunting Who-ish synth part. But the When Dream And Day Unite connections don't end there - don't the intro and jamming portions of "Stranger" sound exactly like an outtake from that album (like "A Fortune In Lies" crossed with "Light Fuse And Get Away")? Though that point's moot anyway, cause the song is kinda lame, especially with the muffled vocal tone. And of course, the acoustic and electric interplay and "Kashmir" vibe of "Confronting The Devil" was already done better on "Shores Of Avalon", even though this song has a nice melody of its' own.
Nevertheless, most of these songs are quite nice listens in spite of how formulaic they may be. The slightly electronic-tinged piano pop ballad "Falling" is probably a good example of the pleasurable tendencies here, and "A Simple Man" is a pretty good introspective, shimmering number that definitely has a mid-90's Dream Theater vibe to it. Admittedly, things do get a bit formulaic in the second half's assembly line of generic song titles (the more standard and unmemorable but still pleasant "Believe" and "Listening"), but "Save Me" is pretty engaging at least - fine spiraling keyboard line in the chorus.
Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the two highlights here yet. "Venice Burning", one of the rare collaborations with Shadow Gallery's Carl-Cadden James and Gary Wehrkamp on here, is probably my favorite of them all, since its' convincing groovy funk verses manage to melt effortlessly into this great majestically epic chorus ('no one came... no one saw...') that makes it a somewhat moving number. And the closing "Tell Me" is a fine sort of industrial hard pop piece whose simplistic riff, piano transitions, top-notch vocal melody and hard-hitting chorus all make a strong impression. So in spite of the album's somewhat unspectacular nature, I can almost even give this a 7, but it's a bit too insubstantial and unassuming in the songwriting department for it to get that. Not far off, though.
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REVIEWS:
I guess Platypus is a project that could arguably go on the King's X page, since guitarist Ty Tabor is in charge of the vocals and practically all the lyrics, but since in its' original incarnation it had two current and former Dream Theater members (bassist John Myung and keyboardist Derek Sherinian), I can probably make a spot for them here. Oh, and filling out the lineup was drummer Rod Morgenstein (ex-Winger, Dixie Dregs). Under the Platypus name, this lineup released two albums, When Pus Comes To Shove and Ice Cycles, but when Sherinian left the group, they carried on as a three piece under the name The Jelly Jam (yeah, I know - I think the name's stupid, too), releasing their self-titled debut in 2002. Maybe it will be reviewed here some day.
--Nick Karn
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released by Platypus
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Willie Brown, Platt Opus, Chimes. LOW POINTS: Rock Balls/Destination Unknown, What About The Merch?
Considering the dynamics of the Platypus members (i.e. a frontman and guitarist who's known a lot more for his songwriting and contributing to the harmony work of his regular band, and three instrumentalists who are known primarily for their excellent musical chops), it's hardly surprising that this effort would be comprised of half-instrumental, half-vocal songs (mostly pop-influenced pieces). This compromise works well in bringing out both the considerable songwriting talent of Ty Tabor, as if I wasn't aware of that already from listening to King's X albums, and the chemistry all four musicians have during the instrumental compositions. The quality of the songs in the latter category, though, are somewhat hit and miss - they're either among the most breathtaking, fully realized numbers on the whole record, or the most aimless and disappointing. So yeah, this is a rather inconsistent mess of an album. But it's good!
Let's start first with the vocal pieces. "Standing In Line" is perhaps the most straightforward of these, as your regular catchy opening riff rocker / pop song, and while there's nothing that special here, it does showcase the tightness of the band well. And speaking of tightness, they really strike gold on the fantastic "Willie Brown", probably the best individual song here. Everything about it is really, really entertaining, especially the main melody and the completely unorthodox opening groove, and the overall flow of it is helped immensely by the creative piano embellishments Sherinian uses throughout. Plus, there's a great hard-hitting jam at the end that truly has a showstopping quality to it thanks to its' unpredictability (i.e. constant time changing throughout).
The remaining three vocal songs, though, are a bit more ballad-like and mellow in their approach, particularly the pleasantly melodic lullaby atmosphere of "Bye Bye". "Nothing To Say", meanwhile, has a somewhat mysterious and almost heavenly mood throughout that's mostly created by the interplay between Tabor's guitar and John Myung's fabulous bassline (not to mention lyrical passages such as 'now I awake to the ice on the lake'), and "I'm With You" is basically your typical King's X-like singalong here in terms of melodic construction and the harmonies within the chorus - good stuff. And if a bizarre and hilarious spoken word section counts, "Platt Opus" could be categorized as a vocal number, but I would rather place it in the 'instrumental' category, since the main focus of the piece is how the musicians build it up so Rod Morgenstein can go absolutely nuts on the kit in the middle of it. If you need proof that the guy is one of the most overlooked and talented drummers of the past decade or so, this is one of the best exhibits to come to.
Like hinted at in the opening paragraph, though, not only are a couple of the instrumentals responsible for some of the album's best moments (there's also the absolutely gorgeous ambience of "Chimes", which needs no other explanation other than it lives up to the mood its' title implies), they're also responsible for the weakest ones. The funk-flavored closer "What About The Merch?" and the otherwise hilariously titled "Rock Balls / Destination Unknown" are pretty much just long wankfests that have impressive playing, but don't really go anywhere captivating, and are practically impossible to listen to all the way through without getting distracted by other things. "Blue Plate Special" at least has its' moments, since the slow groove it sets up makes for effective keyboard and guitar soloing improvs, but still, the main hook it is based on is a little too simplistic for the piece to really merit its' 7 minute length. But hey, enough rambling about the weaknesses here - this is still a pretty fine record.
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REVIEWS:
Post your comments about Jordan Rudess
released by Jordan Rudess
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Revolving Door, Quantum Soup. LOW POINTS: Headspace.
Ooh yeah, another keyboardist solo album. Most people would be kind of rolling their eyes at the fact, and maybe I kinda do to a point, at least a little, but Feeding The Wheel is an effort that com.es from one of the most technically sick keyboardists I've ever heard in Jordan Rudess. Granted, he can reach a rather high level of indulgence (not unlike Keith Emerson), and on occasion he does have a questionable choice of tones that'll probably sound dated eventually (not unlike Rick Wakeman), but in actuality, these are only on rare occasions. Jordan seems to have something of an understanding that the average listener can't really put up with constant displays of showoff-ish chops, so during the course of this album, he makes fine attempts at song based creations. And not only is it surprisingly song-oriented, it also makes effective attempts at varying the mood.
And how does he vary the mood? Well, this guy is not the type of player who will stick to only a couple tones here and there - instead, he seems to have an endless sound coloring palette, and he pulls out all the stops to use it. This is why I've got to admire something like the 11 minute "Quantum Soup" - it's based on essentially one horn-like melody, but he really does a good job of keeping your attention throughout in a manner that doesn't seem overlong at all, and the fast jazzy piano are one of the very welcoming dynamic additions to this piece. He can also show an impressive amount of restraint on a hypnotizing mood piece or two ("Shifting Sands"), try and schizophrenically throw about as many mood changes and solos as possible into the course of a four minute song ("Dreaming In Titanium"), or strip it down to the bare bones of just blowing you away with a spare but complex piano arrangement ("Interstices").
Not only does this album show off the full extent of Jordan's talents, it also works arguably just as well as good background music not unlike the Liquid Tension Experiment albums. And of course, LTE (and Dream Theater) influences do show up in a couple places - the 8-1/2 minute epic "Revolving Door", which combines a huge orchestral intro and outro with a powerfully flowing Liquid Tension song like build, and it reminds me strongly of the times he took the spotlight on one of those mindblowing, vintage Scenes From A Memory jams. So I guess you could say it's my favorite here (and it actually has a brief rap section, too - so I guess this isn't an all-instrumental album). The arrangement of "Crack The Meter" is also kind of a neat approach to uptempo funk, and the way it builds on that to an uplifting musical theme is definitely something either band would do.
Any letdowns? Well, yeah. Also taking into account that there's not much here that's exactly great (except some good portions of those two highlights I noted), and that the album is a bit too lengthy at close to an hour, there are also a couple songs that don't excite me much. Most notably "Headspace", which is a rather generic and bland atmospheric piece that almost sounds like it's gonna break into the Phil Collins-era Genesis tune "Driving The Last Spike". The closing "Feed The Wheel" is a little overlong and boring considering it lacks both the memorability and strong playing of most of the rest, and adding to that unmemorability note, "Ucan Icon" does actually sound groovy while it's on, but it lacks any kind of solid instrumental theme for my memory to hang on to. Nevertheless, this is probably one of the more enjoyable and diverse efforts from the Dream Theater side project / solo album camp that I know of, and I'd also recommend it to keyboard enthusiasts.
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COMMENTS
You have missed something on this album : Ucan Icon is far from being forgetable to my ears. The work on the sounds is excellent and the solos are positively sick and fit wery well. Jordan Rudess proves his songwriting skills: just listen to the bass and guitar riffes in this song.
And Interstices kills me every time I hear it. I wish he played it live :)
REVIEWS:
Following his departure from Dream Theater, Derek Sherinian decided to try his hand at solo work, recruiting a backing band consisting of Virgil Donati on drums, Tony Franklin on bass and Brett Garsed on guitar, recording two all-instrumental efforts with this lineup (which is often labeled as Derek Sherinian's Planet X, or just Planet X) before assembling a cast of alternating guitarists and a steady rhythm section on his latest effort Inertia.
--Nick Karn
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released by Derek Sherinian
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Box. LOW POINTS: None.
In contrast to the mostly lively mood of his performances on A Change Of Seasons and Falling Into Infinity, Derek Sherinian's solo debut seems to take on a somewhat darker and moodier tone than those particular Dream Theater albums, which makes sense, given that this kind of thing lends itself well to keyboard-based compositions. Also not surprising is that much of this album is based a lot on his trademark lead-guitar like wanking, but he does a good job in building most of the songs around at least somewhat memorable melodic themes and resolving them satisfyingly by their end. And surprisingly, almost none of this material drags very much, since the atmospheres Sherinian creates here are consistently captivating, especially as mood music, which is more what an album like this is for anyway, as the material isn't really meant to be taken on a 'song' like level the way Liquid Tension Experiment can be.
Then there's the matter of the musicianship. It goes without saying that Sherinian is able to throw out quite a few nice instrumental melodies, but the other three hold their own quite nicely. Tony Franklin and Brett Garsed (bassist and guitarist respectively) don't stand out overwhelmingly (even if there are several moments where you do notice how well they can play) but drummer Virgil Donati proves himself to be quite a virtuosic and captivating drummer here, particularly on the faster Van Halen-styled compositions "Money Shot" and "Space Martini", the former of which sounds like what you would think from its' title, as an arrogant, egotistical 'rock star' keyboardist rips away on his instrument of choice while the drummer holds the groove down while throwing in some nice fills of his own, and the latter's case, totally making the groove.
As far as the material here goes, none of them are truly great as individual compositions, but many are fairly even in terms of well-constructed melodies and quality of playing. I would probably have to single out "Box" as the best track only because it's the most dynamic of all, as its' neat futuristic keyboard part is one of the album's most memorable hooks, and it's able to define the moodier sound well. A few of the others are able to create diverse tones of their own as well, from the almost pop-styled "Day In The Sun" (probably the most upbeat and well-flowing number), the tense "State Of Delirium" (what's striking about this, the slowest composition on the album, is that it sounds like a recreation of someone who's just about to lose their insanity), the somewhat majestic and spacey, mildly dark groove of "Crab Nebulae", and "Brunei Babylon" (which drags a bit in the first couple minutes, but once it really gets going, it gains a very dramatic, credit-rolling mood all of its' own).
Probably the most well-written stretch of this effort, though, is the opening three song suite 'Atlantis', which surprisingly enough, goes on for almost 17 minutes without ever really becoming tiresome (and that's not easy for a piece like this to do). Sure, it's not exactly breathtaking, but the moods it goes through are quite attention grabbing, from the somewhat chaotic, dark undertones and start-stop rhythms of "Apocalypse 1470 B.C." to "Sea Of Antiquity" (which really puts you in a peaceful, but quite unknown, underwater world where you can almost witness a lost city there) and the final portion "Lost Island", a piece that is effortlessly able to turn from hauntingly mysterious to somewhat uplifting while reprising the same sort of stop-start dynamic the opening bit had, all with awesome playing throughout. Again, none of these songs can count as truly brilliant classics or anything like that, and the melodies generally don't really have lasting impact, but it's still very easy for this to work as pleasurable listening without getting bored with it, and it's especially effective playing in the background.
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released by Derek Sherinian
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Inertia, What A Shame. LOW POINTS: Goodbye Porkpie Hat.
Apparently, Derek decided to assemble himself a new backing band for this album, including two guitarists - Zakk Wylde and Steve Lukather who alternate duties throughout the songs - and drummer Simon Philips, three musicians that are arguably even more technically impressive than what he had assembled with Planet X. There's something about this album that's rather strange, however - as flashy, almost egotistical, a player as Sherinian is, it seems that throughout the running time of this album, he seems to consistently let himself be overshadowed by the other musicians, and I'm left noticing the performances of them a lot more, especially Wylde's really aggressive style. Maybe it's reverse egotism or something like that, but apart from the occasional great chops of his (it often seems he plays the keys with a lead-guitar style of precision), he's just content to color the overall sound and let his bandmates take over. Plus, the overall album just seems like one long jam session.
Not that it's a bad jam session, of course. There might be a certain sense of 'unratedness' that comes from me thinking of all-instrumental albums as background music, but most of Inertia is fairly pleasurable, if not too substantial, and as a result there's not a lot to say about the individual compositions. Probably the best of them are the title track (which creates quite a spacey atmosphere due to the keyboard playing, one of the few moments where it does take center stage), the gorgeous mellow guitar duel of "What A Shame" that highlights both Wylde and Lukather's talents, the fun, aggressive guitar solo fest of "Evel Keneivel" (Wylde again!) and "La Pera Locka", which has thrilling bass playing in the beginning.
The rest of the album isn't really all that special, but for the most part, it's hardly bad either. The only real moment that's boring beyond words would have to be their rendition of Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Porkpie Hat", where Sherinian does define his presence well, but it's just so slow and dull that it just seems to drag on forever (sorry jazz fans). Their rendition of Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" is a bit ugly, but remains exciting, "Astroglide" is another spacey guitar and keyboard duel, "Rhapsody In Black" is most notable for the amazing drum work in the middle (hooray Simon Philips!), and finally, "Mata Hari" is a pleasurable, almost Eastern sounding, extended atmospheric piece. You can probably pick out nice individual melodies in all of this stuff, but again, most of it is merely a nice jam session, and these jams are never really taken to epic or breathtaking proportions - more like relaxing background music, even if it is background music made by great individual players.
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