Let's figure out Dream Theater.

There are many musicians whose styles may be legitimately compared to making love to their instruments. I'm reasonable certain that no member of Dream Theater fits this category.

they fingerbang their instruments

There are many ways to make love, oilyrags.

I'm not counting all that ridiculous "chili trombone" "rusty sanchez" stuff.

From WFMU: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/08/you-better-not-.html

I think he signs off with the word "n00b"

Lord. (I was compelled to post a comment linking to the review of the Rock Discipline DVD on here.)

Kind of embarrassing to revive a Dream Theater for the second time but here goes.

This is DREAM THEATER:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Jordan_Rudess_%28H.I.%29.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/John_Myung2_%28H.I.%29.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/James_LaBrie_%28H.I.%29.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Mike_Portnoy.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/John_Petrucci_%28H.I.%29.jpg

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This was the turning-the-clock-around album for Dream Theater. Mike Portnoy said that this album nearly killed Dream Theater because the record company wanted them to make a commercial album. I despise it when a record company tells you what to do, but Dream Theater compromised. Part of it you would expect to hear on Images and Words or Awake, and some you would go "HUH?"

1.New Millenium-Very techno-ish intro. This is not a great album-opener, but it's a great song. 4.5/5

2.You Not Me-This is the very commercial "huh?" song. Although it tried to be mainstream, I still liked it. Very short solo, however. 4/5

3.Peruvian Skies-The classics begin. This is a very nice soothing ballad turns rocker song. Intresting lyrics about someone named Vanessa. I think it's about child rebellion. Very good instrumental part. 5/5

4.Hollow Years-One of the best Dream Theater songs recorded. This is a regular pop ballad with Spanish influences. It may sound like every other pop ballad, but at least this one has a solo, and good lyrics. Very nice. 5/5

5.Burning My Soul-Did Dream Theater write that? NO WAY! This is an ultra heavy song. It's like Dream Theater taking a stab at Metallica, and they succeed. Great riff. Also, one of the best solos from Derek Sherenian. It sounds like a guitar! I guess the record swines wanted it to be a single. To the record industry: WAKE UP! No offense or anything to the fans, but do you realize who was popular in 1997? HANSON! Do you really think Burning My Soul would get anywhere? Nope, it sounds good! Can't let that happen! See my point? 5/5

6.Hell's Kitchen-It's ok, they could've done better than this. This sounds like a instrumental climax that should've been left in a 14-minute song. Actually, it was the instrumental part in Burning my Soul, but I guess that they let it out so that Burning My Soul could try to be a single. 3.5/5

7.Lines In The Sand-Pure Dream Theater. This is another 12 minute masterpiece. It has a great intro, probably one of the longest for Dream Theater, and the singer from King's X is in it (I forgot his name). Not a great instrumental part, but it still rocks! 4.5/5

8.Take Away My Pain-Great ballad. The guitar has a Police-vibe to it. Good lyrics. Also, a very soothing chorus. I like the bass in this one. No one gives John Myung credit. He's probably one of the greatest bassisits out there. 4.5/5

9.Just Let Me Breathe-A little dissapointing, but good lyrics. 3/5

10.Anna Lee-Nice ballad about child abuse. Very good piano line. 4.5/5

11.Trail of Tears-The geatest epic on this. Let's do this part by part:

I-It's Raining-Very nice intro, and a good jazz like verse. Intresting lyrics about wasted years. I like the chorus. It's got a good hook to it. 5/5

II-Deep In Heaven-Great solos by John and Derek. John's is more crazy, Derek's is more planned. Very nice. 5/5

III-The Wasteland-Great ending. Where is this Wasteland, might I add? Good guitar riff from John. The ending is very soothing, and it's a great ending to a great album. 5/5

YESSSSS

Well, we obviously know that John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy are incredible musicians. John Petrucci's guitar work here is, IMO, his most tasteful, and easily his least flashy, but possibly his best. John Myung is a talented and humble bass player. On "New Millenium" he uses a Chapman Stick, which shows how diverse and talented he is. Mike's drumming definitely did not stand out here as much as previous albums, or as much as later albums, but it's still obviouse that he's an incredible drummer. James LaBrie has an amazing voice, not much else can be said on that. So, what about the new keyboardist, Derek Sherinian? Well, he's pretty good. Not quite the songwriter Kevin was, and not quite the technical player Jordan is, but hey, if he was hired by Dream Theater, don't you think he must be good? Well, he is.

this shit a fuckin goldmine

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/ZachRScott/JAMESLABRIE.gif

Where IS this wasteland??!

(This thread was all worth it for Aaron's demolition of that Petrucci DVD.)

amazon review threads Ned, pretty sure you can just pick any album and go to town

^ James LaBrie action figure ^

OK. OK. It's over.

unitard

'nice ballad about child abuse' sounds so wrong

My 18-year-old cousin linked me the 23-minute "A Change of Seasons". I imagine that this what people who hate prog hear when they hear Yes or Rush?

OK, this guitar solo after the 17:30 mark is pretty good so far. There have been some decent sections but I don't see how they fit together.

(which is emphatically not how I feel about "Close to the Edge" or "Xanadu")

although I could see how someone might feel that way about Ruins or Naked City, whom I also like. So I'm not sure why this turns me off so much.

wow did we seriously not do the Dream Theater drummer auditions on this thread?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L609JsPFmmI

oh man, I watched all of that one night a couple years ago to avoid packing

ended up having to scramble last minute like a madman but that would've happened anyway and at least I got to watch the spirit carries on

after the 17:30 mark

Yep.

you're gonna have to pay me in bitcoins to watch that fyi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VApk-vvhp8

In which our heroes, former DT drummer Mike Portnoy, Mr. Big's Paul Gilbert, Neal Morse and Mike Bissonette play the Beatles, with fewer strings on their guitars and 1/6 of his Portnoy's usual drum set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlwMmFZV1XE

Vox ain't bad at least!

Loved the glimpse, in the audition video, of the band's bandanna roadie.
To think that if I'd only practiced a bit harder, all this might have been mine.

That dude's guitar lesson actually seemed pretty chill. I mean, I hate his playing, but he seems like he would be a really good teacher.

Petrucci is a really, really nice guy. All of them are (that I've met - I've never had any interactions with Mike Portnoy, though I heard he was kind of a prick; my dealings have been with Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, Mike Mangini and John Myung).

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/55ee1d0ebc933b3e1e320fd05d06b544.png

i love those wiki charts

One time in high school, I was in a music store and they were playing something really bitchin, and I walked up to the counter and saw Dream Theater's Images and Words on the 'Now Playing' stand, and so I bought it and took it out to the car and popped it in the cassette deck and realized very quickly that Dream Theater's Images and Words was most assuredly not the album that was 'Now Playing'.

lol! did you go back and figure out what it actually was?

No, this was at a point when my family lived forever away from stuff and before I was driving on my own, and going into town was like a once-a-month thing. I kept listening just to be sure, but by the time my error was confirmed there was no turning back. I tried to pretend that I liked it for a long time.

This was just after I'd discovered the first Pearl Jam album (pre-MTV) in the same way, so I thought I was really onto something.

Damn. The olden days of music-buying were such a gamble.

This band plays too well too much.

their songs are absolute garbage

It's like virtuoso garbage, as if they know how garbage they are but are so good at what they do that they've tried to figure out tricker or more technical ways to be garbage. It's almost academic.

and yet when you add it all up, they've made so many more thousands of people ecstatically happy than most of us ever will

Yeah, can't hate on that. Some people watch car commercials for the music.

no i mean hate on it

but them's the facts

That's why popularity is the worst gauge of quality.

new double album coming in January

these guys are far from my favorite prog-metal stuff but it's weird to me how hard people hate on them. they're like the designate hate-recipients

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdPn1mCmqoE

Just got a good lol from that thread title. Of course nabisco was responsible (missin u boo).

I'm pretty sure I told the story in some other thread where I heard an awesome album playing in a music store when I was maybe a freshman in high school and saw a copy of Images And Words in the 'Now Playing' display on the counter and bought the album straight away and discovered fairly quickly that it was most decidedly not the album that was 'Then Playing' and, because I only had the resources to buy maybe one album a month back then, I gave it multiple listens and really did try for a long time to like it but it just didn't take.