Clash of the giants: SFAM vs I&W

[ori.elias5]

Alright folks, so there's enough talking already about the next album. It's not a secret that 2 of the most beloved albums are I&W and SFAM .
It's interesting to see between these two, which is more like able in your opinion and off course you can write down why you chose that way.

I can't judge since these are the only 2 albums I haven't heard yet ( + acos) . Yes, I know . I'm a weird guy.. I'm a fan for a year now and I saved the pinnacle to the end.

Anyway, I'm about to give them a spin soon, in the meantime I'd like to see what your thoughts are.

[CharlesPL]

I&W - My favorite album of all time

[Sycsa]

I&W is fantastic, but there are some fillers (or, I should say, songs that I usually skip) such as Another Day (that cheesy sax solo), Surrounded or Wait for Sleep. Pull Me Under is just OK, the rest is all top 10 material. SFAM intensely grabs me from the beginning and doesn't let go for a second, even though I wouldn't rank many of the individual songs as highly as in I&W's case. A thrill of a ride from beginning to end and the best DT album.

[Outcrier]

I vote SFAM but you can't go wrong with any of these two.

I can't judge since these are the only 2 albums I haven't heard yet ( + acos) . Yes, I know . I'm a weird guy.. I'm a fan for a year now and I saved the pinnacle to the end.

Really? What are your favorites so far?

[Mebert78]

Images and Words for me. I respect Scenes, but some reason I never listen to it.

[adamack]

SFaM for sure. As I always say, it's my favorite album of all time.

I&W is great though.

Let me say that you are incredibly lucky to never have heard SFaM and I&W! Man, how I wish I could go back to a time before I heard these albums so I could experience that feeling all over again.

When I used to smoke weed, I would lay down and listen to SFaM front to back, and it was the most incredible musical experience I've had to this day.

I must also say that you have really great self control to hold off on listening to these albums for so long. As soon as I find out about a band I like, I always find out what their best stuff is and go right to that. Don't know how you were able to abstain, but you're in for some amazing music!

[yeah_93]

Images, by far. Never was a fan of the first half of Metropolis Pt. 2.

[jjrock88]

I&W by far for me.  Top five all time album

[The Letter M]

I can't decide, especially since I don't listen to either album in their original form anymore. For SFAM, I use my personal mix of the David Bottrill mixes, or the Alternate Mixes from The Making of Scenes From A Memory. The mix is over-all a bit more pleasing to my ears and I really like the stuff that Kevin Shirley mixed out from some of the songs. I also like having the "Opening Scene" mixed in with "Regression", especially since it opens with the vinyl record that is, on my version, reprised at the end of the album during the scene with the therapist invading Nicholas' home.

As for IAW, I can't not listen to it without "Don't Look Past Me" and "To Live Forever" somewhere in the mix, especially the former, which is a song I think they should have left on the album. With both songs added to the original album, it becomes a 68-minute monster album. Heck, even throw "Eve" in there too, just so the album has an instrumental (since most of their albums had instrumentals anyway), then it becomes a 73-minute, 11-track epic album that matches anything they've ever done.

There's a LOT of great things on both albums, but if I REALLY had to choose, SFAM by a hair. But if I never had to choose in my life, I'd pick both.

-Marc.

[hefdaddy42]

You're a weird dude.

[BlobVanDam]

SFAM and IaW are my #2/#3 respectively, so I agree you can't really go wrong with either, and given that SFAM is a sequel of sorts to a song from IaW, there's a connection between the two. But SFAM is the better album experience to me.

My vote goes to SFAM, but there's no wrong answer here.

[The Letter M]

You're a weird dude.

Who, me? Thanks! I'll take that as a compliment. I really enjoy playing around with music that I love, and I've made plenty of mix albums in audio-editing programs that create some awesome mixes, so when the Bottrill mixes came out, I pieced it together to make my own version of the album as it was originally mixed for the band, as well as adding a few things from the eventual release version. It's my definitive version of SFAM and I wish I could let you guys hear it, but that'd be illegal and I'd rather not do anything bad....but take my word for it, it's pretty amazing.

-Marc.

[erwinrafael]

Awake.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Scenes From a Memory is one of the most incredible album experiences ever. Images & Words is great, but hearing the full story of Scenes unfold is unrivaled by any of their albums.

[JayOctavarium]

Awake.

THis.



But in all seriousness... I have to go with Scenes. This is the FIRST time I've ever put Scenes over Images.

[bl5150]

I&W by far for me.  Top five all time album

This............I&W by a mile.

[?]

I&W easily - all killer, no filler The concept of Scenes is kind of cheesy at times, and I've never liked BTL or Spirit that much.

[YtseJamittaja]

Images, by far. Never was a fan of Metropolis Pt. 2.

This. I'm not that much into concept albums.

[aprilethereal]

SFAM. I&W doesn't come close in any way.

[Art]

I&W for me.

[hefdaddy42]

You're a weird dude.

Who, me? Thanks! I'll take that as a compliment. I really enjoy playing around with music that I love, and I've made plenty of mix albums in audio-editing programs that create some awesome mixes, so when the Bottrill mixes came out, I pieced it together to make my own version of the album as it was originally mixed for the band, as well as adding a few things from the eventual release version. It's my definitive version of SFAM and I wish I could let you guys hear it, but that'd be illegal and I'd rather not do anything bad....but take my word for it, it's pretty amazing.

-Marc.

I was referring more to your post on I&W.

[KevShmev]

These are 2a and 2b for me, and which one I love more seems to change every year.  I&W is a phenomenal collection of songs, while SFAM is a brilliant cohesive piece of work.  I usually go with I&W as slightly better, because The Dance of Eternity is the only non-great spot on either record, but it's really difficult to argue against either. 

[King Postwhore]

It's like asking who's my favorite child.

[krands85]

I&W - My favorite album of all time

Same here.

I've always loved Scenes too and it still continues to grow on me a lot. Or maybe it doesn't actually grow that much, it's just that other DT albums fade a little over time, whereas Scenes doesn't. eg. I used to say I preferred Octavarium, but now it lags behind Scenes a little. I feel like the same might happen with ADTOE and eventually Scenes will be my #3 behind I&W and ToT.

It's an incredible album as a whole, but the reason it'll never crack my top 2 is that, individually, none of the songs are among my favourites by the band. In fact, I don't think any of the tracks are in my top 25 DT songs, which makes the fact that it's my #4 DT album quite remarkable!

It's hard tp say what it is that makes I&W my favourite album really. But any album with material as good as Learning to Live, Metropolis and Take the Time is always gonna be up there - those are 3 of my top 5 or 6 DT songs. The rest of the tracks are all brilliant too, there are no weaknesses there. One thing that will never be replicated from the album is the vocals. I don't see them ever putting out a better album, because James' performance is such a big part of what I love about it and he just can't sing like that anymore. I really love KM's keyboard work and his tones too, the lyrics are great and the mix is really well balanced. A lot of people don't like the triggered drums and think the album sounds dated, which it probably does, but I still love the whole sound of the album.

[The Letter M]

You're a weird dude.

Who, me? Thanks! I'll take that as a compliment. I really enjoy playing around with music that I love, and I've made plenty of mix albums in audio-editing programs that create some awesome mixes, so when the Bottrill mixes came out, I pieced it together to make my own version of the album as it was originally mixed for the band, as well as adding a few things from the eventual release version. It's my definitive version of SFAM and I wish I could let you guys hear it, but that'd be illegal and I'd rather not do anything bad....but take my word for it, it's pretty amazing.

-Marc.

I was referring more to your post on I&W.

Ah, ok. Yeah, I dunno. I kind of grew tired of IAW after a while and many years of listens, so in order to keep it fresh in my mind, I came to adding the B-Sides from those sessions to my regular playlists and some CD-r's I made of the album. I just like having the complete IAW-era experience and having those songs make it more complete in my mind. The same goes for the 5 FII B-Sides, which I add to my FII playlist on my iPod.

-Marc.

[mikeyd23]

No wrong choice here. Both albums are fantastic, but today my vote goes to SFAM.

[ori.elias5]

I vote SFAM but you can't go wrong with any of these two.

I can't judge since these are the only 2 albums I haven't heard yet ( + acos) . Yes, I know . I'm a weird guy.. I'm a fan for a year now and I saved the pinnacle to the end.

Really? What are your favorites so far?

My favs are awake and SDOIT although it's hard to choose between the two

[ori.elias5]

SFaM for sure. As I always say, it's my favorite album of all time.

I&W is great though.

Let me say that you are incredibly lucky to never have heard SFaM and I&W! Man, how I wish I could go back to a time before I heard these albums so I could experience that feeling all over again.

When I used to smoke weed, I would lay down and listen to SFaM front to back, and it was the most incredible musical experience I've had to this day.

I must also say that you have really great self control to hold off on listening to these albums for so long. As soon as I find out about a band I like, I always find out what their best stuff is and go right to that. Don't know how you were able to abstain, but you're in for some amazing music!

Lol. It is very tough man. I dig over and over again the other 10 albums I already know and obviously another bands. I'm waiting for the right moment

[Nekov]

SFAM

[ariich]

I&W by such a long way. SFAM isn't really anything special, IMO.

[Outcrier]

My favs are awake and SDOIT although it's hard to choose between the two

You're in for a threat then

[XB0BX]

SFAM isn't even close to I&W. The best song on Scenes would probably be the 6th best song on Images.

[Mosh]

The problem with that argument though is that Scenes is a concept album and it's more about the entire experience rather than the songs. So comparing individual songs to individual songs on I&W (which is song oriented all the way) is a bit unfair. I also find it hard to compare those two albums because of that. But I go I&W all the way. While I get tired of Scenes at times, I&W has never gotten old.

[bl5150]

It's a valid argument (sum is greater than the parts with SFAM) but personally I've never subscribed to it and that's why I generally don't like concept albums.  The only ones I do like (and when I do like 'em I REALLY like 'em) are those rare ones where the songs stand on their own , even without the story.   Operation Mindcrime being a prime example in my case.

When I listen to SFAM (rarely) I feel like the story has been shoehorned into the music whether it really gels or not. Aside from Overture and Fatal Tragedy I'd rather just read the story.

I&W to me is 

[Mosh]

If too many individual songs do stick out on a concept album it kinda throws the album off for me. My favorite concept albums don't put much emphasis on individual songs and it all kinda flows together. I think Scenes had the best balance possible though of doing this but also having a few songs that worked well enough out of context.