The Instrumental Version of BC&SL Is Much Better Than The Original.

[ACID_FOX]

Especially TCOT. I hate to sound too snobby, but the lyrics on BC&SL make it practically unlistenable for me, it's painful. However the album works suprisingly well as an instrumental, and I love the way the keyboard is more in the spotlight than on the original. There's literally dozens of little things I had no idea JR was playing on the original.

Discuss.

[Kyo]

I can definitely see why you'd say that. It's bound to happen with music that's so dense (not just backing for the vocalist) while the lyrics are more of an afterthought than an integral part of the song from the start.

[Jamesman42]

Are you talking about the instrumental tracks where the solos are also removed?

[RandalGraves]

While I dislike a lot of the lyrics on Black Clouds, the vocal melodies help to make the song.  I found AROP particularly boring on an instrumental run.

[wjc]

Conincidentally I just listened to it. It has some nice moments where you hear stuff that was previously buried under vocals. It was less cringey than normal BCSL but I don't know if it's necessarily *better*. Different maybe.

[purpleplanet10]

i like the lyrics on most of the songs. TCOT is ok.. kinda cheesie.. but i think that was part os the play. i do like the instrumental versions, and since my wife got me the Collocters version of the album for christams lat year, i have since made the full version of the instrumental album WITH the solos in them. now its sound like a full instrumental version

[ElliottTamer]

I'm actually one of the few people who really like BC&SL (according to my statistics from the DT album ranking topic, no one put it in the 1st position and I'm one of the few who put it in 2nd). So I naturally prefer the original version than the instrumentals.

[Hal Incandenza]

While I dislike a lot of the lyrics on Black Clouds, the vocal melodies help to make the song.  I found AROP particularly boring on an instrumental run.

Agree 100%.

[gabeh1018]

i understand the lyrics are cheesey in tCoT, but I love that damn chorus in the song!

It's pure awesomeness when driving in the car with the windows down singing like a frantic idiot!

[Infinite Cactus]

I disagree, but more power to you friend.

[TheGreatPretender]

i understand the lyrics are cheesey in tCoT, but I love that damn chorus in the song!

It's pure awesomeness when driving in the car with the windows down singing like a frantic idiot!

Well, plus it's a true story isn't it? Regardless of how lyrics come off, they told the story well, and it's actually an interesting story.

[italianoman]

Yeah...I remember the first few times I heard TCOT and couldn't stand the god-awful lyrics but after listening to the song a zillion times in my car that summer, everything about it grew on me, bad rhymes and all. One song that I can't stand without the vocals, believe it or not, is ANTR...gotta have the beautiful melodies and it's worth the price of Mike's angry chant later in the song.

[Zook]

Yeah...I remember the first few times I heard TCOT and couldn't stand the god-awful lyrics but after listening to the song a zillion times in my car that summer, everything about it grew on me, bad rhymes and all. One song that I can't stand without the vocals, believe it or not, is ANTR...gotta have the beautiful melodies and it's worth the price of Mike's angry chant later in the song.

I'm still trying to figure out a good way of editing that part out.

[TheGreatPretender]

Am I the only one who actually enjoyed that little rap? 

[i am fabio]

Before I used to be on any forums or converse with other DT fans i always wondered why the eff is his voice on any album ever? It ruins every song it's in. I'm still wondering that but now know that I wasnt alone in thinking that.

As for the lyrics in Count I love them. Me and my buddies just sang took it as a fun song telling the story of a count and love it for what it is. Best of Times lyrics on the other hand...... .....so bad

[Bolsters]

I find the instrumental versions far too boring. The songs weren't written to be instrumentals, so once you take the vocals out it's obvious that something is missing. Even if the lyrics are grating at times, the presence of a voice adds to the overall sound of the songs. Then they take the leads/solos out aswell for some odd reason, I didn't get that.

[TheGreatPretender]

I find the instrumental versions far too boring. The songs weren't written to be instrumentals, so once you take the vocals out it's obvious that something is missing. Even if the lyrics are grating at times, the presence of a voice adds to the overall sound of the songs. Then they take the leads/solos out aswell for some odd reason, I didn't get that.

Maybe so that people could play the solos while listening to the instrumentals? I have no idea, but that's what I figured. I sure as hell enjoy singing to them.

[ariich]

Hell no. It's an amazing album that becomes quite bland if you take out the vocals and the solos.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Am I the only one who actually enjoyed that little rap? 

I like it. 

[hefdaddy42]

I find the instrumental versions far too boring. The songs weren't written to be instrumentals, so once you take the vocals out it's obvious that something is missing. Even if the lyrics are grating at times, the presence of a voice adds to the overall sound of the songs.

This.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

I find the instrumental versions far too boring. The songs weren't written to be instrumentals, so once you take the vocals out it's obvious that something is missing. Even if the lyrics are grating at times, the presence of a voice adds to the overall sound of the songs.

This.

+ 1

[The Silent Cody]

I find the instrumental versions far too boring. The songs weren't written to be instrumentals, so once you take the vocals out it's obvious that something is missing. Even if the lyrics are grating at times, the presence of a voice adds to the overall sound of the songs.

This.

+ 1

+1
Even, I'm just listening to Train Of Thought instrumental demos, and it sounds so raw, I like it, Honor Thy Father is a killer here 

[?]

I haven't really listened to the instrumental disc, maybe once or twice. However, it made me realise how Jordan's keys in the TCOT chorus have been buried.

[Elaitch]

Considering that parts of songs are cut out (for example the epic moodsetting thunder-and-rain effect in ANTR, as well as the fade-in in The Shattered Fortress), and that solo tracks is removed in addition to the vocals, I very much disagree. But yeah, some of the lyrics aren't that good. They suffer from being either a tad too personal (The Best of Times, no offense to MP but it probably sounds cheesy to an outside listener who doesn't know the background to it), a little too staggered (ANTR) or a little too plain (Wither). The Count of Tuscany at least has lyrics with a coherent story that you can actually follow along to in your head, with your own imagery. And as Bolsters said, they aren't made to be instrumentals.

[rumborak]

I started exactly the same thread a few months after BCSL came out. I completely agree, and I thought it showed how DT writes songs, i.e. without the singer. So, the instrumental stuff gets adjusted to be perfectly meshing with each other, but then the vocals gets put on top. The "day after day, night after night" was the most extreme outcome of this serialization, where they were seemingly unwilling to change the background music, even though they realized that the vocals/lyrics didn't work at all with the music.
Yes, the lack of solos is annoying, but if you had the instrumentals with the solos, I think quite a few tracks would be clear winners in the instrumental versions.

rumborak

[ACID_FOX]

I prefer the lack of solos, like in TSF instead of Jordan's infamous solo you just get that rockin' riff that plays underneath.

[TheGreatPretender]

I prefer the lack of solos, like in TSF instead of Jordan's infamous solo you just get that rockin' riff that plays underneath.

The guitar solos on TSF were awesome though.

[ACID_FOX]

I prefer the lack of solos, like in TSF instead of Jordan's infamous solo you just get that rockin' riff that plays underneath.

The guitar solos on TSF were awesome though.

Meh, JP's solos haven't done much for me since the one in Octavarium, but I can see why people would disagree, for sure.

[TheGreatPretender]

Meh, JP's solos haven't done much for me since the one in Octavarium, but I can see why people would disagree, for sure.

But hearing so many riffs, with no solos... I don't even wanna say it's boring, it just seems sort of, empty.

[rumborak]

It definitely sounds empty, because you hear that the backing tracks take a step back in order to leave space for the solo.

rumborak