Better choice for "the music of my trip" I&W or SFAM?

[ori.elias5]

It's me again. the weird guy who's been a fan for the past 2 years and heard the whole catalog but I&W and SFAM.

Why is that you ask? because i wanted to save the best for last to spread my DT experience as long as i can.
 so....now i am traveling for a month and i thought there wont be a better time then now to hear one of these 2 so called masterpieces.

Music and vacations always walked hand to hand for me so it reminds me of the best times  so i ask you:

Which one would you suggest me  to be the album of my trip? what is more appropriate for a road trip?

Thx, RICO.

[Implode]

I&W easily. It gives you context for the other one. 

[425]

Honestly, both are great choices. The thing is, though, with SFAM a being a concept album, it might make more sense to you if you listen to it for the first time when you can read the lyrics. There are times when it's confusing as to which character is speaking (because James sings the parts for four different characters) and what's going on. For that reason, IAW might be the better choice for your road trip if you're going to be driving while you listen to the album.

[cramx3]

If you are continuing the "save the best for last" then you should listen to SFAM, but then again there is this

I&W easily. It gives you context for the other one. 

so I say put both albums behind your back, shufle them in your hands so you dont know which is in which hand and then take whichever is in your right hand.... that's how I bought my first IM album in Best Buy.  They only had Fear of the Dark and TNotB and luckily my right hand had TNotB.  I may not have gotten into IM if I bought Fear of the Dark that day.

[JediKnight1969]

This is just too weird for me...

[fischermasamune]

I wouldn't recommend listening to any of those while driving.

Orderwise, Metropolis Pt II should come after IAW.

[Outcrier]

SFAM is like the sequel to Metropolis so, please listen IAW first.

[TheCountOfNYC]

You should listen to Scenes From a Memory last so my vote goes to Images and Words.

[lucky7]

If you are going for a month, why can't you take both?  My vote goes to Scenes from a Memory. Enjoy your trip!

[ori.elias5]

You convinced me, since SFOA is a concept album and is a sequance to Mertopolis i will probably take images.
thank you all..!

[Cable]

To support the unsupported side!

Or if you want your experience to end like so many stories, the climax ( Home) is quite often before the end of the story. The falling action is not the worst part of the story, but it's not as good as the climax.

With this in mind, clearly SFAM is their best album. And therefore, I&W will give you some great falling action after the pinnacle of SFAM. But nothing will be as great as that one month with their best album, and one of the best prog albums ever (one of top albums ever in my biased opinion). So take that best album as your second to last DT album, as it is not getting better than it!



[minor spoilers]


I&W is great, but not like the immersive experience of SFAM. SFAM will make you want more and more during that month, and even after. Bring those lyrics with you, follow the story if you can. Try to get the story with no help. I&W doesn't have that unifying story, SFAM does! And who cares if Metropolis pt.1 was first! No one ever can tell me what exactly Met Pt1 is about anyway!  Who wants that!? A unified story with unified themes/progressions is the best!

What else does I&W do in comparison? Album stinks, should have been the first album you heard Ori.Elias. A triggered snare because the producer said the drummer cannot sound a snare properly? Even Yngwie Malmsteen said what's this guy doing playing Peart stuff. Malmsteen knows what he is talking about! Then we have a dude singing like Geddy Lee circa 1976. Dude, the 80's are over. Sing grunge style, it's 1992 and Nevermind is awesome.
And a guitarist in love with his vibrato, who cannot decide what technique to use when by a glass moon? Slow down too bro, I cannot hear those notes without wah. Blind Melon told you to stop making squealy sounds, which was wise advice as clearly their career has lasted much longer than yours. Then there is a sad bass player who hasn't learned to live yet, who kept it spooky. Don't know what happened after WDADU to his parts, so I guess he should be sad. Apparently there was the greatest guy ever playing keys on the album, but I don't know why he was writing about waiting for sleep. Maybe they kicked him out after they found he only took 2 lives for one instead of 7.

The band Took The Time too much to make this album. SFAM was written IN STUDIO! AWESOME!
 

[/minor spoilers]

 

[jjrock88]

Images & Words

[BlobVanDam]

If you're listening to both, listen to them in order.

If you're choosing one, definitely SFAM. It's a longer album with more flow, and a much better album experience, DT's best in that regard.

I would also argue you can't go wrong with either.

[Setlist Scotty]

If you're choosing one, definitely SFAM. It's a longer album with more flow, and a much better album experience, DT's best in that regard.

This. Plus, it takes you on a musical journey that you can enjoy while you're on your own journey.

[nightmare_cinema]

They're pretty much as good as each other, although SFAM is the best they've done imo. So I'd say go for I&W, then once you've soaked up Metropolis part 1 SFAM will be an even bigger treat, makes more sense than listening to them out of order given how closely the two records are linked.

However, if you're only taking one album with you full stop, I would go for SFAM. I just think it's got more light and shade, more to get your teeth into, it's more absorbing because of the story it tells and I honestly have gotten more listening hours out of that album than I&W I think, even though I love I&W. I can listen to songs from I&W on their own out of context but it feels weird with SFAM not to listen to the whole thing as the songs flow so beautifully into one another.

Either way, you're gonna love it!

[Outcrier]

because i wanted to save the best for last to spread my DT experience as long as i can.

All that just for you ending up hating both IAW and SFAM 

[The Curious Orange]

Yeah, they're both great albums, and both deserve your 100% concentration. I'd suggest, for first listening, sitting at hom ein the dark with a good pair of headphones, or turning your hifi up REAL loud...

[KevShmev]

Like others have said, you can't wrong with either, but the thought that you have to listen to I&W first because Scenes is the sequel is misguided.  This isn't like a movie where if you watch the second, stuff won't make sense because you haven't already seen the first. The connections to Metropolis are pretty superficial anyway.

[TAC]

I considered both on our plane ride home the other day, but being extremely petrified of flying (actually crashing ), I could not bring myself to listen to Learning To Live or Scenes. Superstitious, I guess.
Both great albums and can't go wrong with either.
Usually we drive to on vacations and it gives me my best and most complete listening during the year. A good time to rev up both albums front to back.

[Evermind]

I considered both on our plane ride home the other day, but being extremely petrified of flying (actually crashing ), I could not bring myself to listen to Learning To Live or Scenes. Superstitious, I guess.

So you listened to Panic Attack instead?

[TAC]

 

Right!

Actually Breaking The Fourth Wall headed west and Happy Holiday's '13 minus LTL back east.

[rumborak]

While I can appreciate the "save the best for last" in many aspect of life, for music ... no. I don't think I would listen to many of the bands I listen to if I had to sit through their stinkers first (Kansas, looking at you here).

[BlobVanDam]

While I can appreciate the "save the best for last" in many aspect of life, for music ... no. I don't think I would listen to many of the bands I listen to if I had to sit through their stinkers first (Kansas, looking at you here).

Not to mention you're submitting to other people's opinion before you've had a chance to form your own opinion. I'd rather go in without being coloured by any bias. A chronological progression would make more sense to me.
Plus drawing out the process doesn't gain anything, as you're missing out on time you could have been listening to the albums the whole time! My favourite DT albums still sound as fresh today as they did over a decade ago when I first heard them, so they certainly haven't lost any magic since my first listen.

[rumborak]

When somebody suggests a new band to me, I will usually ask for an album recommendation. I want to hear the band at their best, not their worst.

[BlobVanDam]

When somebody suggests a new band to me, I will usually ask for an album recommendation. I want to hear the band at their best, not their worst.

I'll generally go with which album I think I'll most enjoy personally, based on era, style, general consensus, and a quick check of some songs on Youtube. There are few people I trust to give a music recommendation that's relevant for me.
It's not exactly a scientific process how I select it, but yeah, you want to hear the best first. Then you're more likely to give a chance to and enjoy the less good albums and appreciate what they do have to offer, rather than dismissing a band outright because your first impression isn't as good as it could/should have been.

[Ben_Jamin]

When I find a new band, for some reason I always end up picking up their worst album (according to their fanbase).

I listened to Scenes before Images, so hearing Met.pt1 was interesting to hear the dance references.

[BlobVanDam]

I listened to Scenes before Images, so hearing Met.pt1 was interesting to hear the dance references.

I heard IaW first, but my first listen of SFAM was from LSFNY before I actually knew it was Metropolis pt 2.
I was aware DT had done a Metropolis pt 2 of some kind, but I'd just ripped LSFNY along with a few other albums at the time off someone, and didn't look into it at all, so that was quite an experience.

[Dublagent66]

Listen to I&W first then SFAM.   

[425]

When somebody suggests a new band to me, I will usually ask for an album recommendation. I want to hear the band at their best, not their worst.

I usually ask for a recommendation, and then if I like that recommended album and want to get the rest of the band's albums, I go roughly in chronological order (I'll skip ahead if the first album or two are regarded as really different or not that good, and I'll also skip an album elsewhere that is widely regarded as an absolute dud, though if opinion is more split, I'll usually still get it).

[Outcrier]

So, ori.elias5, how would you rank their albums right now?

[ori.elias5]

So, ori.elias5, how would you rank their albums right now?

SDOIT
Awake

Octavarium
FII
BC&SL
TOT
ADTOE

SC
D12
WADADU

The tiers are seperated by the quality. withing each tier there are minor differences.

Oh yeah, I heard I&W finally tonight!!!

It was so awkward for me listening to a new DT material after i digged their other albums and know them by heart.
It was very different then what i thought, but from my experience with that amazing band you can never know untill you give it at least couple of spins, takes time to digest...

[Outcrier]

SDOIT
Awake

My man 

If these are our favorites, you should love IAW and SFAM.

[Rodni Demental]

I&W easily. It gives you context for the other one. 

SFAM is like the sequel to Metropolis so, please listen IAW first.

Really though? I mean, there are the musical connections but you could listen to those in any order and appreciate the references because the order is irrelevant to the music. As for the context of the story, without looking in retrospect can anyone here honestly say that Metropolis gave them any context what-so-ever before going into the story of SFAM? I think not. 

And who cares if Metropolis pt.1 was first! No one ever can tell me what exactly Met Pt1 is about anyway!

Yeah. 

But anyway, I&W is probably a good choice because I think SFAM will be a cooler way to finish your 'DT experience' but that's personal opinion nothing more. I'd argue that SFAM would be better for a trip because it's longer and lets be honest, you'll have plenty of listens to learn the songs and read the lyrics another time in the future to get the full experience. I don't think I'd want to be reading a lyric book on my first listen anyway, focusing on reading would take away from listening to the music for me, definitely if it were my first listen.

While I can appreciate the "save the best for last" in many aspect of life, for music ... no. I don't think I would listen to many of the bands I listen to if I had to sit through their stinkers first (Kansas, looking at you here).

Not to mention you're submitting to other people's opinion before you've had a chance to form your own opinion. I'd rather go in without being coloured by any bias. A chronological progression would make more sense to me.

Yeah, I don't think music has to go in any order. Chronologically can be interesting if you like to consider the overall progression and changes of a certain band from their early years to the present but most of the time chronological order won't match up with a personal taste. I often find myself going in reverse chronological order for some reason, because I find it interesting to get a modern perspective of where they are now, and then see where they came from. I did this with Pink Floyd and Rush actually as I was not too interested in the first albums of these bands anyway and with the conception I had of each band at the time, it actually made sense for me to listen through their albums backwards. 

Oh yeah, I heard I&W finally tonight!!!

It was so awkward for me listening to a new DT material after i digged their other albums and know them by heart.
It was very different then what i thought, but from my experience with that amazing band you can never know untill you give it at least couple of spins, takes time to digest...

Nice! Yeah. I&W didn't sit too well with me at first. But I was saturated in DT music at the time as I was absolutely no where near as patient as you've been with listening through their catalogue. But it grows on you when some of the main motifs and progressions start becoming more familiar.

[hefdaddy42]

Like others have said, you can't wrong with either, but the thought that you have to listen to I&W first because Scenes is the sequel is misguided.  This isn't like a movie where if you watch the second, stuff won't make sense because you haven't already seen the first. The connections to Metropolis are pretty superficial anyway.

The connections are musical, and a HUGE part of the thrill of my first listen to SFAM was hearing the callbacks to Metropolis Pt. 1.

Not from a story point of view, you're right, that's silly.  But I would imagine that being familiar with the music and lyrics of Metropolis Pt. 1 can only enhance those moments in listening to SFAM.

[CDrice]

The connections are musical, and a HUGE part of the thrill of my first listen to SFAM was hearing the callbacks to Metropolis Pt. 1.

On the flip side, if you're like me, you're not going to hear any of the callbacks until you read about them somewhere months later. And then you're going to be like this