The problem with Jordan........

[Orion1967]

It's a matter of taste.
If you like the music full of technical wankery then it's jr.
If you like great songs that may lack alot of the wankery but seem to flow better as a song. Then it's Derek.
If you don't to hear any keyboards then it's Kevin.

Looks like I'm the only one who thought this line was hilarious. Love it.

No, I find it hilarious too.

B.Lee

It made me giggle.   
But then again I like technical wankery... so I guess that shows I am on Team Jordan. 

[Bone_Daddy]

If you don't to hear any keyboards then it's Kevin.

[Bone_Daddy]

I fall into the same category as Jordan from LTE. I was excited to see him come to DT after listening to those albums. For me, he ruled SFaM. And then after that, I noticed that he began to overplay. But this was parallel to the band as a whole. They all started to spread their wings in the wankery section.

So then it comes down to what you prefer as others have stated. I&W, SFaM, and Awake are the albums that I prefer when I comes to DT composition.

[Bill Carson]

I fall into the same category as Jordan from LTE. I was excited to see him come to DT after listening to those albums. For me, he ruled SFaM. And then after that, I noticed that he began to overplay. But this was parallel to the band as a whole. They all started to spread their wings in the wankery section.

So then it comes down to what you prefer as others have stated. I&W, SFaM, and Awake are the albums that I prefer when I comes to DT composition.

Totally agree with that !

[Tomislav95]

He just want to give best of himself and I think he love the way he playing keys.

[YtseBitsySpider]

the observance of Kevin being the silent has been made by numerous people I've shared DT with over the years.....comments like....."I liked those first two albums(Images and Awake) because I couldn't really hear the keyboard...but those other ones seemed like it was ALL I heard."

I'd like to say I left the word "want" out of my post deliberately towards some kind of meme creation......sadly...as PC pointed out...it was just a shitty post.

[Vivace]

What I hear with the Hollow Years piece

yeah...yeah...what a nice piece...yeah yeah
OMGOMGOMG LOOK AT ME!!!!!
yeah...yeah...nice and quiet
YEEEEEARRRRGHH!!!!
holding back no-
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Someone said it best. It's called overloading the tune. The same can be said with his rendition of Space Dye Vest.

[Bone_Daddy]

What I hear with the Hollow Years piece

yeah...yeah...what a nice piece...yeah yeah
OMGOMGOMG LOOK AT ME!!!!!
yeah...yeah...nice and quiet
YEEEEEARRRRGHH!!!!
holding back no-
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Someone said it best. It's called overloading the tune. The same can be said with his rendition of Space Dye Vest.

[Implode]

Someone said it best. It's called overloading the tune. The same can be said with his rendition of Space Dye Vest.

He hardly "overloaded" Space Dye Vest.

But I've came upon a revelation today. Many of Jordan's solo are just...forgettable.  His best works are amazing, but many of the solos in songs like The Shattered Fortress for instance, are just there. There's no tension and release of tension, and it almost sounds just like a bunch of broken chords or trilled notes. I'm pretty sure Kevin Moore's solos are much more memorable. 

That being said, I love all three keyboardists in their better moments, e.g. Kevin in Take The Time, Derek in Trial of Tears, and Jordan in Solitary Shell. Kevin Moore was just more consistent.

[ddtonfire]

[rumborak]

One interesting aspect in all this is also looking at the solo works of each keyboarder. For me, Jordan comes out at the very bottom of that list. And that of course that for my taste, Jordan rather not add much to the music compositionally.

rumborak

[rmp0012002]

As long as Jordan stays within the song structure that JP and MP or whoever wrote he's fine. I think he craves Petrucci's guitar hero status and he tries to match it with his solos but that's not the keyboardists job in DT.  Since SFAM his solos seem to have become repetitive and ramble, not adding anything to the songs.  Maybe it's time for a new keyboardist, every time they brought in a new one it has seemed to freshen things up a bit.

[Remco]

I'm on team Jordan too. His solo's aren't good these day, I'll give you that. And his keyboard playing isn't very creative any more. His solo's since 8V weren't very good (except for the song 8V itself). But he was a very cool creative (sound/playingwise) keyboardist to listen to. Nowadays I get the idea he slides more to the accompanying side. And WHEN he get's the chance to shine. He plays absurdly fast/tasteless solo's. I think this has a lot to do with the new sounds Petrucci/Portnoy were trying to achieve. I think the next album is going to play a KEY (pun intended) role in my opinion on him as a musician. I think every member got more to say on this record then on the previous ones. So I expect JR to do his best.

[jmbeat]

....is that there isn't any!!!

[ariich]

One interesting aspect in all this is also looking at the solo works of each keyboarder. For me, Jordan comes out at the very bottom of that list. And that of course that for my taste, Jordan rather not add much to the music compositionally.

rumborak

I'm the other way round. I like KevMo's Chroma Key stuff, but his other solo stuff is really dull. Whereas I really dig JR's solo stuff, just really fun and enjoyable, particularly Rhythm of Time.

EDIT: Haven't got round to checking out Derek's solo stuff yet, but I wasn't a huge fan of Planet X.

[hefdaddy42]

Haven't got round to checking out Derek's solo stuff yet, but I wasn't a huge fan of Planet X.

If you didn't care for Planet X, I doubt you would like his solo stuff.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Yup. Everything's very prog-fusion oriented. (Just like Planet X)

[darkshade]

some is more jazzy though, like Blood of the Snake, which has some cool jazzy lines, and some horns too! i personally like Planet X/DS solo, so it's all good to me.

On topic, i think it's more of the fact that JR needs to be up front more in the mix, he seems so drowned out in SC and BC&SL (i think with ToT he didnt know what to do a lot of the time  ) But 6 Degrees and 8V contain some of his best work (and you can hear it too), so here's hoping the next album has lots of cool key sounds, audible, and mixed evenly with the guitars, drums and bass.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

[The Presence of Frenemies]

As somebody who's been a detractor of Rudess' overdone soloing for quite some time, I thought BCSL was actually his most tasteful and restrained performance yet. Other than the awful Bebop thing on AROP, he's either doing tasteful solo work (Really love the keys on ANTR) or excellent accompaniment. Really, if you just took out those eight or so measures of Bebop noodling, I'd have zero complaints about his work on the album.

I do wonder with MP gone if JR's going to go back to all the crazy stuff that a lot of people don't like--if we get more moments like 5:24-5:31 of TRoaE I certainly will not be pleased. But I guess we'll see.

[Bill Carson]

Here's a question....is there anyone out there who got into Dream Theater later on -  i.e. Jordan Rudess era -  that listening to their back catalogue,  prefers Kevin's playing ? I'd imagine not but just checking....

[The Presence of Frenemies]

Here's a question....is there anyone out there who got into Dream Theater later on -  i.e. Jordan Rudess era -  that listening to their back catalogue,  prefers Kevin's playing ? I'd imagine not but just checking....

I'd say this applies to me, at least somewhat. I mean, I got into DT squarely in the Rudess era (2006), but that's largely because I was just 16 at the time and happened to hear of them then, rather than me being inspired by any Rudess era stuff in particular. In fact, the first DT song I ever heard was UaGM--I checked it out because it was like the #98 ranked guitar solo in Rolling Stone or something, and then I immediately got hooked.

I probably do prefer Moore on the whole, although Rudess has his moments. Both have their own unique peculiarities (Rudess' silliness and overplaying, Moore's spacey stuff/samples/etc.) that I think detract from the DT sound when taken to their extremes, but I think Moore's sense of restraint was much more conducive to letting everything else flow smoothly, particularly on the first two DT albums.

[JasonScandopolous]

Here's a question....is there anyone out there who got into Dream Theater later on -  i.e. Jordan Rudess era -  that listening to their back catalogue,  prefers Kevin's playing ? I'd imagine not but just checking....

I don't like some of JR's solos that almost ruin some songs with their ridiculousness (i.e. bebot, not matching the mood of the song at all)... but overall I'd prefer him.  octavarium (the song) and six degrees of inner turbulence (both discs), and SFAM to a lesser extent, are the reasons for this preference; if I only had BC&SL and SC to work off of, I'd prefer kevin I'm sure.

[YtseBitsySpider]

derek's work on platypus was damned good...ice cycles in particular

[?]

Here's a question....is there anyone out there who got into Dream Theater later on -  i.e. Jordan Rudess era -  that listening to their back catalogue,  prefers Kevin's playing ? I'd imagine not but just checking....

I got into DT in '09 (right after BC&SL was released) and I have to say I prefer Kevin, not by far though.

[j]

Here's a question....is there anyone out there who got into Dream Theater later on -  i.e. Jordan Rudess era -  that listening to their back catalogue,  prefers Kevin's playing ? I'd imagine not but just checking....

I don't know if I prefer one keyboardist over the other, but I definitely prefer the DT albums with Moore over the ones with Rudess.  I discovered DT in late '07 or early '08 I think.

Also "In the Presence of Frenemies" is one of the best handles I've seen on here in awhile.

-J

[atmyne]

I personally prefer rudess. The only problem with rudess, particularly in his solo's, he plays way too many notes. I think this is what gives kevin Moore the edge over Rudess in terms of soloing; he was very melodic and it really felt as though he "felt" each note he played. Jordan's best work can be found in 6DOIT (disc 2), and all the keyboard work in that > anything Kevin did during his time as a member of DT.  It's the only DT album (or song) where Jordan doesn't play a billion notes per second, with pitch bends all over the shop, for the solo's... and it's pure magic. SFAM and 8VM are almost in the same ballpark (for the most part), but I can definitely not say the same for TOT, SC or BC&SL (specifically the solo's... Jordan does have some amazing lines throughout these albums, theres no denying that. just sayin'). Hopefully he has taken it easy with the starbucks/redbull and decided to just take it easy on the solo's; but i doubt this will be the case.