Official DT Top 50 Thread (Riceball Up Now - starting Page 66)

[Tomislav95]

I used to hate this song but now it's one of my favourite

[Kosmo]

 

[hefdaddy42]

Trial of Tears is amazing and definitely worthy of Top 10 status.   

[Fran521]

One of the greatast DT song ever, and the best Myung song too 

[Jirpo]

Great choice!

[jsem]

Great top 10 so far

[Mladen]

Good one. 

[BanksD]

Top 3 song for me.

[RG93]

Sorry again everyone, I'm quite busy nowadays.

4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Clocking in at over 40 minutes, Six Degrees is composed of eight sections, each based on a common theme i.e mental disorder. First off is Overture, which is basically a synth-driven orchestral section composed entirely by JR. It basically serves as an intro to different musical themes throughout the song. About To Crash, the next segment, is initially very light-spirited but then becomes darker, ending with a powerful solo from JP. The solo transitions the song into a heavy War Inside My Head. Dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, this section is very warlike in its lyrics and music, indicating the disorder's cause. A sudden cut leads to The Test That Stumped Them All, a crazy and chaotic (but still heavy) section about schizophrenia. "Test" has an instrumental that highlights the chaos sufferers endure, which suddenly halts, the cue for Goodnight Kiss. Emotional performance from LaBrie, tasteful piano from JR and a legendary solo from JP make this section a definite highlight. The next section, pop ballad-like Solitary Shell, features amazing guitar work and piano runs as well as a catchy chorus. An amazing unison at the end leads into About To Crash (Reprise) which is basically a revisit of About to Crash. Finally we have Losing Time which is about disassociative identity disorder (DID) augmented with the Grand Finale which basically teaches us to treat victims of mental disorders with more understanding, then the song fades out.

Whew, what a wall of text! Anyway this is definitely a treat for the ears, as all the musicians here top even themselves (unfortunately JMX is sometimes hard to hear, but does an outstanding job). Plenty of different influences here, ranging from classical to thrash metal. My only complaint: the sum is not greater than its parts, in this case.

[Zydar]

Gotta love Six Degrees! Great to see it so high up

[Jirpo]

Great choice!

[RG93]

3. Metropolis Pt.1 : The Miracle and The Sleeper

The definitive Dream Theater classic, this song showcases what is lacking in the band's later products: consistency. Metropolis is one of the few songs that have an instumental section that is really good, but on par with the rest of the song. Petrucci's lyrics are top-notch like most from this era, however Labrie's vocal melodies improve upon it tenfold. Something very unique about this song is that is possesses both the youthful energy of "When Dream and Day Unite" and the finesse of songs from "Images and Words". This is most evident in the intro and the instrumental, which is godly. Every member bar LaBrie gets a solo moment, and they're all at their peak. JM has a bass solo that blows your mind away  and MP's drum section is very spontaneous. The final verse is the perfect closer to this masterpiece; when JLB sings "Love is the Dance of Eternity!" the song climaxes and then smoothly fades.

[JayOctavarium]

climaxes and then smoothly fades.

thats what she said...




anyways.... METROPOLIS Y U NO NUMBER One?

[Mladen]

Metropolis would be my number one, definitely a song that deserves such a high spot.

[RG93]

Apologies in advance, but I won't be updating for about two days, as I'm going on a trip somewhere.

[ubit]

Apologies in advance, but I won't be updating for about two days, as I'm going on a trip somewhere.

Sounds fishy.  Maybe you don't want anyone knowing where you are because you fear for your life after putting Metropolis Pt. 1 in the number three slot...?

So what two songs are left guys?  LtL and ACOS?

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Apologies in advance, but I won't be updating for about two days, as I'm going on a trip somewhere.

Sounds fishy.  Maybe you don't want anyone knowing where you are because you fear for your life after putting Metropolis Pt. 1 in the number three slot...?

So what two songs are left guys?  LtL and ACOS?

I bet he is going to Tuscany.

[ubit]

^^^^Nice.  I honestly haven't kept track of this thread from the inception - has TCOT been listed already?  I'm curious how highly that song ranks among fans.  I think it is fantastic.  Might be in my top 10.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

^^^^Nice.  I honestly haven't kept track of this thread from the inception - has TCOT been listed already?  I'm curious how highly that song ranks among fans.  I think it is fantastic.  Might be in my top 10.

It's #9 for me

[BanksD]

Definitely top 20 for me.

[Jirpo]

Great choice! My personal favourite.

[RG93]

I'm back!

2. Learning To Live

Another great classic to grace my top 50, this John Myung composition trumps all the other tracks on Images and closes off the album perfectly. Lyrics are deep as usual, but the music behind it is simply magical, beginning with the keyboard intro. However, what really makes the song for me is the famous F5 by JLB and the solo after it. It's awesome not just because it's an F5, but because it's sung with such passion and intensity. There's not a single second of this song I would change, and I often find myself repeating this song after the outro (which is just chill-inducing!). If you need a reason to buy Images, make this song the reason.

[wasteland]

2. Learning To Live

Another great classic to grace my top 50, this John Myung composition trumps all the other tracks on Images and closes off the album perfectly. Lyrics are deep as usual, but the music behind it is simply magical, beginning with the keyboard intro. However, what really makes the song for me is the famous F5 by JLB and the solo after it. It's awesome not just because it's an F5, but because it's sung with such passion and intensity. There's not a single second of this song I would change, and I often find myself repeating this song after the outro (which is just chill-inducing!). If you need a reason to buy Images, make this song the reason.

What else can be said? Perfect summary for a perfect song.

[Jirpo]

Learning to Live is lower for me, but still a great song!

[hefdaddy42]

My favorite.

[Mladen]

Great one, top 10 material for me. 

A Change of seasons is number one? Sorry if I'm spoiling it, I just thought that's what we pretty much do every time, we guess which song is #1. 

[Kosmo]

I'm always disappointed a bit when ACOS or something like that is number one. I mean, it does make sense because it's fantastic but it's so predictable.

[Jirpo]

ACOS is definitely a worthy #1.

[wammabe]

1. You Not Me

A favorite by many Dream Theater fans. One of the only Dream Theater songs in which absolutely no fans complain. Critics bow down when they listen to it and awe in it's awesomeness. It may be less than 5 minutes long, but it's groove won't leave your head for hours to come. The most important aspect of this song is it's incredibly and inspiring chorus, I literally kept fainting until I heard it for the fifth time. This Dream Theater classic is obviously a number 1 for ALL Dream Theater fans.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

^ Yeuuhh!

[Tomislav95]

 

[RG93]

1. You Not Me

A favorite by many Dream Theater fans. One of the only Dream Theater songs in which absolutely no fans complain. Critics bow down when they listen to it and awe in it's awesomeness. It may be less than 5 minutes long, but it's groove won't leave your head for hours to come. The most important aspect of this song is it's incredibly and inspiring chorus, I literally kept fainting until I heard it for the fifth time. This Dream Theater classic is obviously a number 1 for ALL Dream Theater fans.

Nice, I like how it was written in my "style".

Anyway the #1 is coming tomorrow, meanwhile here's something to tide you over:

BONUS READ: Surrounded

So, while I was reviewing my top 10 I realized I had forgotten this gem of a track.   Surrounded lives up to its name, for it is literally surrounded by other great songs on Images. However, it is no stinker as it has a soothing keyboard intro, leading into soft piano and James's mellow, almost angelic voice. After the first verse the guitar comes in, then the song really kicks in. James switches to a more powerful voice, however still keeping the softness of his previous tone e.g "Light to dark, dark to light etc". Lyrics are typical of Images's poetic style (not that being typical=boring) and in this particular case, really chilling. One of my favourite sections is when James screams

"But I will hold this one on high above me still
She whispers words to clear my mind
I once could see but now at last I'm blind"

then the part where the song softens and James sweetly sings

"I know it's easier to walk away than look it in the eye
But I had given all that I could take
And now I've only habits left to break
Tonight I'll still be lying here
Surrounded in all the light"

It's testament to how sometimes, less is more.

EDIT: fixed lyrics typo, stupid lyrics site.

[RG93]

No one responded?

Might as well post the number 1 just to finish off the list.

1. A Change Of Seasons

Yeah, so it was predictable. So what? It's still a great song. Being Dream Theater's first 20 minute+ epic and all, this song really demonstrates what was said by the Tuscan Count "ALL THE FINEST WINES, IMPROVE WITH AGE!" This song was originally written to be part of Images, but got too long and had to be on its own EP. I consider this the most mature song written by Dream Theater, both lyrically an musically. I will not go into detail on each section, but certain parts that I like most are "Carpe Diem" (Labrie's wailing + samples used= chillfest 2011), Another World (just look at Tomislav95's sig ) and The Crimson Sunset (which is epic but not to obviously so a la Razor's Edge). One interesting aspect of the song (EP version) is the keyboards (Moore meets Sherinian). It possesses Moore's subtlety but has Sherinian's groovy keys in some areas. LaBrie is at the top of his game here, as well as Portnoy (the outro ), Petrucci (Another World solo FTW) and Myung (basically everyone). In conclusion, A Change of Seasons is one epic song (in the correct usage of the word).

[JayOctavarium]

[Zydar]

Surrounded!

A Change Of Seasons!