Dream Theater

[Just Eric]

I've just spun for the first time the self-titled Dream Theater release from 2013? and will continue to attest to the fact that the last decent DT album was ToT. All the releases up to and including Train Of Thought were, for the most part, unique, showing willingness to experiment with sound and composition. Some of this was due to the early line-up changes, but I want to believe that most of it was due to the bands desire to keep pushing boundaries.

Here is my album to album assessment -

1989 - When Dream and Day Unite - Love it! Gritty beginnings of Prog Metal showing raw composition and dirty wankery, the best kind. Still one of my favorites from the band.

1992 - Images and Words - Their best that essentially took the grittiness of WDADU and polished it up a bit, BUT remained metal, the kind one could mosh to. Pull Me Under, Another Day, Surrounded and Metropolis are highlights.

1994 Awake - Another step forward from IAW but not as eye-opening. The Mirror is the timeless classic here along with my favorite, Erotomania. At this point DT have found a sound they can embrace and evolve.

1997 Falling Into Infinity - The hidden gem I like to call this one. Unfortunately Sherinian's only release with the band. Of all the keyboardists, he really captured the fine balance between presence and minimalism.

1999 Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory - Another of my favorites as the band expands a concept from Images and Words into a full length. Rudess' first recording with the band and fortunately for us he is restrained. This is the point where many early fans started to drop off, but I see in this album another step in the evolution, this time mixing more Prog and less Metal into the recipe.

2002 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - I thought this would be my last DT album as the songs and success are mixed. Instead of a full length concept we get a mini concept song in The Glass Prison. This song is probably the most cohesive aspect of the album. Continuing the theme from SFAM if not a bit of a step back.

2003 Train of Thought - DT's perfect marriage between Prog and Metal with a dash more crunch than earlier materiel. The material on ToT is close to a 180 degree turn from SDOIT and prior material. Not only that, it's fun, super fun and energetic. I had high hopes after this release.

2005 Octavarium - And those high hopes were dashed with Octavarium. Sadly this album is SDOIT take 1.5 and what I consider the beginning of their future and current sound, Bleh Metal. No emotion Prog Metal full of wanking for wanking sake.

The rest .... Systemic Chaos, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, A Dramatic Turn of Events and Dream Theater are all retreads of Octavarium with little or no innovation, interest, or compositional mettle. The songs on these albums could be jumbled up in a big hat, rearranged on different albums and turn out nearly the same.

Sorry DT, oh how the mighty have fallen. Yawn.

[Digital_Man]

Now, how about telling us what you really think.

Anyway, I would be curious to hear your take on their live albums.

[Digital_Man]

[1997 Falling Into Infinity - The hidden gem I like to call this one. Unfortunately Sherinian's only release with the band. Of all the keyboardists, he really captured the fine balance between presence and minimalism.]

Not true actually. He was also on "a change of seasons" and "Once in a LIVEtime."

[Just Eric]

[1997 Falling Into Infinity - The hidden gem I like to call this one. Unfortunately Sherinian's only release with the band. Of all the keyboardists, he really captured the fine balance between presence and minimalism.]

Not true actually. He was also on "a change of seasons" and "Once in a LIVEtime."

Thanks for the correction! I actually like Change of Seasons, particularly the medley. Aside from a handful of the bootlegs, I only have the four disc Live at Budokan, which I enjoy. I love the bootlegs mostly for the cover songs/albums/medleys. In general I'm not much of a live album person and prefer studio versions almost exclusively. I have seen DT at least 5 times and think they are a great live band - seasoned musicians.

[SteveSly]

I am still a fan and find something to like in all of their albums. I would agree that there is a bit of “sameness” to a lot of their stuff these days, but they have had one hell of a career. “Scenes From A Memory” remains my favorite.

[jlneudorf]

Over Christmas I am going to spin the last few as it has been a while.
I agree about the wankery but they have also crafted some nice melodies to soften the more self indulgent moments. I also tend to like wankery so....

[jlneudorf]

Quite like the new track posted in the other thread. Looking forward to their next bombastic opus.

[Steve983]

Update from Jordan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5em7y7IRGA

[Dan Marsh]

Pre-sale tickets on sale for US tour.

Radio City ticket obtained!

[Prognosticator]

Long live wankery !!!!! DT rules....anyone know that Radio City presale code ??

[ThomasKDye]

2002 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - I thought this would be my last DT album as the songs and success are mixed. Instead of a full length concept we get a mini concept song in The Glass Prison. This song is probably the most cohesive aspect of the album. Continuing the theme from SFAM if not a bit of a step back.

The title suite is very good, and is much more song-oriented.

2003 Train of Thought - DT's perfect marriage between Prog and Metal with a dash more crunch than earlier materiel. The material on ToT is close to a 180 degree turn from SDOIT and prior material. Not only that, it's fun, super fun and energetic. I had high hopes after this release

Wow. I totally thought this was their most boring album. Just one ten-minute metal song after another. If you want that, fine, but then to call the more nuanced "Octavarium" wanking for wanking's sake is disingenuous.

2005 Octavarium - And those high hopes were dashed with Octavarium. Sadly this album is SDOIT take 1.5 and what I consider the beginning of their future and current sound, Bleh Metal. No emotion Prog Metal full of wanking for wanking sake.

WOW AGAIN. You listened to the title track and thought "wanking for wanking sake." I mean, NO, it is NOT.

This is an agree-to-disagree situation for sure. I read this and thought, "Did I enter an alternate dimension?"

[Rufus]

The title suite is very good, and is much more song-oriented.



Wow. I totally thought this was their most boring album. Just one ten-minute metal song after another. If you want that, fine, but then to call the more nuanced "Octavarium" wanking for wanking's sake is disingenuous.



WOW AGAIN. You listened to the title track and thought "wanking for wanking sake." I mean, NO, it is NOT.

This is an agree-to-disagree situation for sure. I read this and thought, "Did I enter an alternate dimension?"

If the OT thinks Octovarium is Bleh Metal etc. then he surely is in another dimension. It's everything but!

[Just Eric]

Thomas Dye said:
Wow. I totally thought this was their most boring album. Just one ten-minute metal song after another. If you want that, fine, but then to call the more nuanced "Octavarium" wanking for wanking's sake is disingenuous.

After reading your post I realized that while ToT was right in my wheelhouse for many here it is too big a departure.

Thomas Dye said:
WOW AGAIN. You listened to the title track and thought "wanking for wanking sake." I mean, NO, it is NOT.

This is an agree-to-disagree situation for sure. I read this and thought, "Did I enter an alternate dimension?"

OK, I have to admit that of the latter releases Octavarium is one I can enjoy, but it is far from the first DT I reach for.

I also realize that for me DT can be summed up as a continuing evolution through ToT, the one in my wheelhouse, and instead of continuing that direction they turned left and landed on their current style - completely outside my wheelhouse. Not bad or good, just that I'd have turned right.

[ForeverAutumn]

Long live wankery !!!!! DT rules....anyone know that Radio City presale code ??

I don't think you need a code for today's presale. It's right off the DT website (if there are any tickets left). http://www.dreamtheater.net/tour

I don't know about Radio City, but there is a Live Nation pre-sale for Toronto starting at 10:00am on Monday and the password is ASTONISH. It could be the same password throughout the tour, so it's worth a try.

I scored 6th row floors, dead centre, today, for the Toronto show on April 16th. I can't wait!

[mnprogger]

I agree on many levels. I think SDOIT is their last great record. Train of Thought is definitely better than anything they've released since.

I would lean towards saying they have written a lot of great songs/compositions since ToT (or 6 Degrees), but no 1 album seems to really work as well, even putting aside being innovative.

It's been said countless times, but they very likely could benefit from an outside producer again, but odds are it'll never happen. I expect the new Double Concept record The Astonishing to be more or less Dream Theater by the numbers, except for the fact they are making a double/concept album this time which they really have not done since Six Degrees or even SFAM. So I applaud them for at least trying something different. And the idea of the concept with Fantasy themes and characters, may either be feast or famine. I guess as much as I am a lifetime fan and still pay attention to what they do, I don't expect much from it, so if it even ends up mildly entertaining, I won't be too critical.

[Digital_Man]

I wouldn't mind seeing them again. If they played in my area it would probably be either the Tower theater on that new venue in Philly(the name escapes me right now). I only saw them once so far and that was when they opened for Yes in 2004 in Allentown.

[Fracktured]

One of those bands that I'd admire the talent, but can only take them in small doses.

[davis]

What about Grand Magus?

[trespass]

I think Dramatic Turn of Events was pretty good, but then again I never play their studio albums anymore, not even IAW. I just have other stuff I would rather listen to.

Their live shows are still pretty awesome though. Saw them at LA Live and then the Orpheum on their last two tours. Both were excellent shows.

The presale for the Wiltern started today, but I'm on the fence having seen their last two shows. Would rather spend the $ to see Steve Hackett but I pretty much missed the boat on that one. Possibly some s**t seats still available at the Orpheum for Hackett.

But I digress. If you haven't seen DT live in a while go check them out. They mix in plenty of classics at their shows, the older they get, the more classics they play. The MO for most 25+ year old "big name" prog bands these days.

[Progbear]

Not a huge fan of metal and I don’t think it mixes well with prog in general, but I do like their early stuff pretty well. Awake is by far the highlight of their discography. I agree that they get too caught up in technique over songwriting in a lot of their later stuff that I’ve heard. I couldn’t stand Scenes From a Memory; stuff that didn’t suffer from the aforementioned went in cheesy AOR anthem areas I did not like at all (“The Spirit Carries On” was totally cringeworthy). Six Degrees... was an improvement, but then, how could it not be?

[Dean Watson]

We actually play "6 o'clock on a Christmas morning" at 6 AM that very day. Looking forward to it this Friday!

[100423]

We actually play "6 o'clock on a Christmas morning" at 6 AM that very day. Looking forward to it this Friday!

[DoubleDrummer]

seasoned musicians

Now that we are at the end of our year 2015AD, I will suggest this as the understatement of the year.................LOL.

For an insider's look into exactly what was the thinking of the band going into the writing and recording of every album, I suggest you read the bio LIFTING SHADOWS.
The author's style is somewhat redundant, but it does give you a good look into the history of the band and the individuals therein.

[Orcopian]

Scenes from a memory was the last one that I consistently enjoyed, after that each album has some high points but didn't capture my attention fully. I thought the title track of octavarium was excellent.

I'd not listened to DT for a while but by coincidence was listening to disc 3 of live scenes earlier whilst doing some chores. The guitar solo on erotomania is just sensational, maybe one of my favourite solos. There is some great bass playing on learning to live, people often comment about how low John myung is In The mix but on this version he is Loud and clear. I think I will revisit train of thought again based on. Moments here. I haven't bought the most recent live album yet- how does it rate?

I did buy that 360 degree iPad app they did but I don't seem to be able to download most of the tracks which is annoying, anyone else have the same problem? Or maybe it's just my ageing ipad2....

[don_waka]

Agree with you but only to Six Degrees. I actually dropped off of them by listening to ToT.