Dream Theater- The Astonishing

[Progatron]

Literally the only thing I don't like on it is that superfluous string orchestra interlude in the final epic track.

Ha ha, and I love that.

Yeah, I like the orchestral section and the part that immediately follows. But as I mentioned early on in the thread, it's that final section where they descend into that swaying, sickly sweet bullshit.... "When you surrender to the light, you can face the darkest days..." - ugh. And this is my problem with The Astonishing... it's overflowing with stuff like that.

Overall, the self-titled album is by far the best of the three albums since MP left, and possibly better than the last one with MP. So I can thank The Astonishing for at least that: re-introducing me to the last album when I couldn't take any more of the new one.

[yamishogun]

Overall, the self-titled album is by far the best of the three albums since MP left, and possibly better than the last one with MP. So I can thank The Astonishing for at least that: re-introducing me to the last album when I couldn't take any more of the new one.

This is a coincidence. I thought the same thing. I checked out the previous album a few months after it came out and was surprised I didn't not like it. I didn't listen enough to go buy it, but I'll go listen on youtube if it is still there and could buy it. All I humbly hope for is 30 minutes of good DT per album. That hasn't happened to me in a very long time but maybe on the self titled one.

[jamesmanzi]

I made a 1 CD abridged version, it comes in at 79:27, really enjoyed it.

1. Dystopian Future
2. The Gift Of Music
3. The Answer
4. A Better Life
5. A Saviour In The Square
6. When Your Time Has Come
7. A Life Left Behind
8. Ravenskill
9. Chosen
10. A Tempting Offer
11. The X Aspect
12. A New Beginning
13. 2285
14. Moment Of Betrayal
15. Heavens Cove
16. Our New World
17. The Astonishing

Ha! I just came here to post mine. Over the weekend I had a long train ride. On the the way there I had my 4th complete listen thru, and at the midway point of each song I either skipped it or added it to a new playlist. On the return trip I listened to it and decided that "Highlights from The Astonishing" is a pretty damn good DT album, maybe my favorite since Awake. Here's what I ended up with; it differs from yours in a bunch of spots:

1. Dystopian Future
2. The Gift Of Music
3. A Better Life
4. A Saviour In The Square
5. When Your Time Has Come
6. Three Days
7. Brother Can You Hear Me
8. A Life Left Behind
9. A New Beginning
10. 2285
11. Moment Of Betrayal
12. The Path That Divides
13. Hymn of a Thousand Voices
14. Our New World
15. The Astonishing

[kid_runningfox]

Seriously… I tried listening to the thing on Google Play and it's like they tried to adapt Pete Townshend's Lifehouse for the beer/meth/pro wrestling crowd.

The perfect description!! I've been listening to bits of this album on Youtube over the last few days. It's the most appalling, sub-Lloyd Webber, cheese-ridden rubbish I've heard from Dream Theater yet. And I fail to see how I can 'ignore the lyrics' when they're clearly meant to be central to the whole the album, and much of the (largely tuneless) music is very evidently subordinated to their delivery. I really think that this is point where I give up - and I really liked the last album, listen to it quite often, and saw it as something of a return to form. This is just beyond bad, though.

Sadly, those wonderful days with Kevin Moore and Derek Sherinian seem to be an ever-more distant memory...

[Steve983]

^ I thought it was pretty poor after the first couple of listens. I think it needs more than listening to 'a few bits on you tube' to fully appreciate it. It wasn't until 5 or 6 full plays that I started to really absorb the music to work out what I liked and what I didn't, its 2 hrs 10 mins long after all.

[kid_runningfox]

^ I thought it was pretty poor after the first couple of listens. I think it needs more than listening to 'a few bits on you tube' to fully appreciate it. It wasn't until 5 or 6 full plays that I started to really absorb the music to work out what I liked and what I didn't, its 2 hrs 10 mins long after all.

To be honest, I have neither the time or the interest anymore, and there are much better things I could be spending my scarce listening time on than this. As I said, Frumious B's description just captures the album's essence perfectly for me, and I really can't be bothered wasting time on something I know I'm never going to like. For some, this might be a criminal admission of a limited attention span, but I can assure you that isn't the case at all, this album is really just not for me.

[yamishogun]

This could be a group project! How to cut The Abomination down to around a 45 minute album. Here are the 11 songs that overlap from the two lists above:

1. Dystopian Future
2. The Gift Of Music
3. A Better Life
4. A Saviour In The Square
5. When Your Time Has Come

8. A Life Left Behind
9. A New Beginning
10. 2285
11. Moment Of Betrayal

14. Our New World
15. The Astonishing

[PotatoSolution]

Progressive concept double-albums are supposed to be bloated and full of filler, that's the fun of them. Cutting them down to a single disc seems to be missing the point.

[TheLongshot]

Progressive concept double-albums are supposed to be bloated and full of filler, that's the fun of them. Cutting them down to a single disc seems to be missing the point.

Personally, I think 2 CDs is way too long for a concept album. See: Neal Morse's Testimony. IMO, it would have been stronger if it was cut down to a CDs worth of material.

It is hard enough coming up with 2 CDs worth of quality material. It is tougher to have it in a concept album that keeps the attention of the listener for that long. There have been few examples of ones that have worked. (Ayreon is one of the few who can pull it off, and that's only because of the variety of vocalists.)

[Rand Kelly]

Apollo was astonished, Dionysus Thought me mad..

Sorry, I couldn't resist that.

James starts singing and I'm hearing:

I have passed into Olympus
As was told in tales of old
To the City of Immortals
Marble white and pure as gold.

Basically, the very beginning of the Cygnus, Bringer of Balance section and the Sphere.

I'm not familiar enough yet to say which Astonishing song it is, but Rush is hardwired so I picked that up right away.

Anyway, I'm loving the inspiration here flawed as it may be. I think the hook in this whole thing is the created mythology that was developed and the listener has a choice about just how deep to go into it. I'm sure they've won a lot of new fans with this but the detail in the story and the lyrics really aren't resonating with me.

I really like most of the music but lyrics are important to me too so I'm still trying to reconcile that.

A+ for effort though. If Portnoy was still in this band (And I'm not trying to stir up anything as that ship has long sailed) I think his arranging strengths would have made this even better.

I only have Hemispheres on lp. My turntable is pretty "iffy" these days.

[Steve983]

Progressive concept double-albums are supposed to be bloated and full of filler, that's the fun of them. Cutting them down to a single disc seems to be missing the point.

I made my 1CD collection purely to reduce the the time aspect - its takes so long to listen to! There's not so much filler on this album for me, just a few tracks I'm not so keen on including the NOMACS tracks which are pointless. If you're looking for some serious prog filler then look no further than The Flower Kings..

[sergio]

boring as... I think this is it for DT.

[the illusionist]

I recently got my shipment from Lasers Edge which included the following:
The Astonishing
Flying Colors Live
Martigan, Distant Monsters

I think Martigan is the best of the bunch.
I haven't even listened to the second CD of The Astonishing yet
Got my tickets to see DT live in May, maybe the record will grow on me...

[progman1975]

IMO, DT started this cheese -laden path when they let Portnoy start singing. The Dark Eternal Night make my ears cringe.

[Nearfest2]

Filler ≠ Fun

[DoubleDrummer]

boring as... I think this is it for DT.

I read where sales are doing pretty well.

I haven't even listened to the second CD of The Astonishing yet

The best of the two, IMO.
Both discs get better each time I listen.

[sergio]

sales is no indicator. Taylor Swift is doing better in sales. There is so much exciting music out there. Don't have time for DT any more... Labrie has started to sing with that exhaling thingy again... god. might have been good in 92' but not in 16'.

[Rufus]

Yeah, it is charting well globally! It is certainly a grower, less shredding and lots of melody. Labrie's box sounds great too!

[nearfest]

ok... I listened to it today, bracing for an unlistenable cheese fest...and something happened unexpectedly. I quite like it! I don't see this as a direction Dream Theater will continue to furrow... but it's an interesting sideways twist into doing something a bit different.

[Steve983]

I don't know if this is just a coincidence but since Mike Portnoy left DT have become a lot more melodic to my ears. For me, the last 3 albums (including The Astonishing) are their best ever.

[DoubleDrummer]

sales is no indicator. Taylor Swift is doing better in sales.

You said this it for DT................as in finished.
CD sales IS definitely an indicator that notion is wrong.
What you meant was "Don't have time for DT any more".
Looks like Swift will be around for a while as well.

[jamesmanzi]

You said this it for DT................as in finished.
CD sales IS definitely an indicator that notion is wrong.
What you meant was "Don't have time for DT any more".
Looks like Swift will be around for a while as well.

Sales don't determine whether an artist is talented. Sergio from the internet is in charge of those decisions.
Sales don't determine whether an album is a success, or if it's so poorly-received that the band has no choice but to retire. Sergio from the internet makes that call.

[Scott Bails]

Sales don't determine whether an album is a success.

That would depend on a few factors, don'tcha think?

[jamesmanzi]

That would depend on a few factors, don'tcha think?

I thought I was pretty clear that the only factor was what Sergio thought.

[Serendipity]

OK. Here's mine. It's 75 minutes and cuts all noise tracks and all sappy/ballad/string tracks (or at least tracks that are predominately sappy/ballad/strings). I tested myself and listened about 10 times and always came back to these 17 tracks. Try it, you might like it! Tx.

"Dystopian Overture" 4:50
"The Gift of Music" 4:00
"A Better Life" 4:39
"Lord Nafaryus" 3:28
"A Savior in the Square" 4:13
"When Your Time Has Come" 4:19
"Three Days" 3:44
"A Life Left Behind" 5:49
"A Tempting Offer" 4:19
"A New Beginning" 7:40
"The Road to Revolution" 3:35
"Moment of Betrayal" 6:11
"The Path That Divides" 5:09
"The Walking Shadow" 2:58
"My Last Farewell" 3:44
"Our New World" 4:12
"Astonishing" 5:51

75.21