Rank 'Em: Images & Words and A Dramatic Turn Of Events, song by song

[bosk1]

Bound to be controversial?  Yes.  Too early because we've only had ADTOE a little over two weeks?  Probably.  But I haven't be able to think over the last few days about how well the new songs stack up against the classics.  And let's face it--I&W is considered DT's "classic" album.  And while the band were on fire back in the I&W days, it's amazing what a band can do when they catch "lightning in a bottle" yet again and are able to combine (1) truly going back to their roots and capturing what hooked a lot of fans in the first place, and (2) another 20 years of experience, maturity, and perspective.  There's something almost "venerable" about some of those classic songs that makes them almost sacred.  And yet, to me, these new songs beat out quite a few of the classics and come VERY close to toppling even the best off their pedestals. 

My ranking:
1.  Metropolis
2.  Learning to Live
3.  Outcry
4.  Bridges in the Sky
5.  Beneath the Surface
6.  Pull Me Under
7.  Build Me Up, Break Me Down
8.  Breaking All Illusions
9.  Lost Not Forgotten
10.  Wait For Sleep
11.  On the Backs of Angels
12.  This is the Life
13.  Under a Glass Moon
14.  Take the Time
15.  Surrounded
16.  Far From Heaven
17.  Another Day

To me, this was really hard in some places.  Some were so close I almost had to flip a coin.  But it is interesting to me that while I&W songs dominate the top 2 spots, after that most of the ADTOE songs are up closer to the top.

[Hal Incandenza]

You have Take the Time in red.  It should be in blue.

[bosk1]

Oops.  Thanks.  I knew something didn't look right.

[wasteland]

Neat idea to visually compare the two albums 

1. Learning To Live
2. Metropolis Pt.1
3. Breaking All Illusions
4. Bridges In The Sky
5. Take The Time
6. Beneath The Surface
7. Outcry
8. Under A Glass Moon
9. Another Day
10. This Is The Life
11. Surrounded
12. Far From Heaven
13. On The Backs Of Angels
14. Lost Not Forgotten
15. Pull Me Under
16. Wait For Sleep
17. Build Me Up, Break Me Down

Overall, I like Images' songs a tiny bit better than ADTOE's. This pretty much reflects my album ranking at the moment, being IAW and ADTOE respectively my #1 and #3 Dream Theater album.

Side note: Some songs are so close that maybe I should have tied them. Namely, Bridges In The Sky / Take The Time and This Is The Life / Surrounded

[TAC]

1. Learning To Live
2. Take The Time
3. Metropolis
4. Breaking All Illusions
5. Outcry
6. Surrounded
7. Beneath The Surface
8. Under A Glass Moon
9. Bridges In The Sky
10. Lost Not Forgotten
11. Far From Heaven
12. Another Day
13. Wait For Sleep
14. This Is The Life
15. On The Backs Of Angels
16. Pull Me Under
17. Build Me Up, Break Me Down

[Dynia]

Great idea!

1. Learning to Live
2. Breaking All Illusions
3. Bridges in the Sky
4. Metropolis
5. Lost Not Forgotten
6. Under a Glass Moon
7. Far From Heaven
8. Outcry
9.Pull Me Under
10. This is the Life
11. Wait for Sleep
12. On the Backs of Angels
13. Beneath the Surface
14. Take The Time
15. Another Day
16. Surrounded
17. Build Me Up, Break Me Down

Very hard for me to rank them as well... Don't get me wrong, i still like BMU, BMD really much, but there are 16 better songs on those albums.

[namgalsipsclar]

Take the Time
Surrounded
Metropolis
Learning to Live
Another Day
Breaking All Illusions
Bridges in the Sky
Pull Me Under
Far From Heaven
Lost Not Forgotten
Beneath the Surface
This Is The Life
Under A Glass Moon
On the Backs of Angels
Wait For Sleep
Outcry
Build Me Up, Break Me Down

ADTOE is great and all, but very little can stand up to the might of Images and Words

[Hal Incandenza]

1.  Learning to Live
2.  Metropolis
3.  Breaking All Illusions
4.  Beneath the Surface
5.  Take the Time
6.  Pull Me Under
7.  Wait for Sleep
8.  This is the Life
9.  Bridges in the Sky
10.  On the Backs of Angels
11.  Build Me Up Break Me Down
12.  Under a Glass Moon
13.  Far From Heaven
14.  Outcry
15.  Surrounded
16.  Lost Not Forgotten
17.  Another Day

Well, looks like a pretty solid win for I&W with me.  5 of the top 7.  Still.  I am loving this album, and it's still settling for me.

[Gysten]

1. Learning To Live
2. Metropolis
3. Briges In The Sky
4. Breaking All Illusions
5. Wait For Sleep
6. Beneath The Surface
7. Surrounded
8. Lost Not Forgotten
9. Far From Heaven
10. Take The Time
11. On The Back of Angels
12. Under A Glass Moon
13. Outcry
14. This Is The Life
15. Another Day
16. Pull Me Under
17. Build Me Up, Break Me Down

[reneranucci]

My ranking:
1.  Learning to Live
2.  Metropolis
3.  Pull Me Under
4.  Take the Time
5.  Surrounded
6.  Bridges in the Sky
7.  Another Day
8.  Wait For Sleep
9.  Under a Glass Moon
10.  Breaking All Illusions
11.  Beneath the Surface
12.  On the Backs of Angels
13.  Outcry
14.  Lost Not Forgotten
15.  Far From Heaven
16.  Build Me Up, Break Me Down
17.  This is the Life

No contest between a perfect album and a decent album.

[Mladen]

I think this is gonna be very hard, and it's still easy to change...

1. Metropolis
2. Learning to live
3. Pull me under
4. Bridges in the sky
5. Beneath the surface
6. Under a glass moon
7. Breaking all illusions
8. Take the time
9. Build me up, break me down
10. On the backs of angels
11. Wait for sleep
12. Surrounded
13. Another day
14. Far from heaven
15. Lost not forgotten
16. This is the life
17. Outcry

[Mbarak]

wasteland's color scheme is easier on the eyes.

1. Learning to Live
2. Metropolis pt. 1
3. Breaking All Illusions
4. Under a Glass Moon
5. Lost not Forgotten
6. Outcry
7. Far From Heaven
8. This is the Life
9. Take the Time
10. Bridges in the Sky
11. Wait for Sleep
12. Another Day
13. Surrounded
14. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
15. Beneath the Surface
16. On the Backs of Angels
17. Pull Me Under[/color]

I'm surprised Pull Me Under became last, mainly not because it's a bad song but it's definitely the one played least.

Also the reason Wait for Sleep is so low is that it works best as LtL intro. Not as much by itself.

[Liberation]

I'll make ADTOE green because the dark blue is hard to read on the Beneath The Surface theme.

1. Learning to Live
2. Outcry
3. This Is The Life
4. Wait For Sleep
5. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
6. Bridges in The Sky
7. Pull Me Under
8. Beneath The Surface
9. Breaking All Illusions
10. On The Backs of Angels
11. Far From Heaven
12. Lost Not Forgotten
13. Under a Glass Moon
14. Metropolis
15. Take The Time
16. Surrounded
17. Another Day

Difficult at several points but sorry, I had no doubt which album feels stronger for me.

[Syzzle]

Learning To Live
Metropolis pt. 1
Take The Time
Breaking All Illusions
Bridges In The Sky
Under A Glass Moon
Outcry
This Is The Life
Surrounded
Another Day
Wait For Sleep
Far From Heaven
Lost Not Forgotten
Beneath The Surface
On The Backs Of Angels
Pull Me Under
Build Me Up Break Me Down

[Nekov]

Learning To Live
Metropolis
Breaking all Illusions
Take The Time
Bridges in the Sky
Surrounded
Under a Glass Moon
Another Day
Outcry
Pull me Under
This is the Life
Wait for Sleep
Beneath The Surface
Far From Heaven
On The Back Of Angels
Build Me Up, Break Me Down
Lost not Forgotten

I like the new album, but compared to a masterpiece like I&W it doesn't have a chance.

[tedy]

1.  Metropolis
2.  Learning to live
3.  Take the Time
4.  Breaking All Illusions
5.  Surrounded
6.  Wait for Sleep
7.  Outcry
8.  Bridges in the Sky
9.  Under a Glass Moon
10.  Pull Me Under
11.  Another Day
12.  Lost Not Forgotten
13.  This is the Life
14.  On the Backs of Angels
15.  Far From Heaven
16.  Beneath the Surface
17.  Build Me Up Break Me Down

[Mbarak]

14. Metropolis

Ouch!

[chrisgazpacho]

1 Metropolis
2 Learning To Live
3 Bridges in the Sky
4 Lost Not Forgotten
5 Take The Time
6 Under a Glass Moon
7 Outcry
8 Breaking All Illusions
9 Pull Me Under
10 Surrounded
11 Build Me Up, Break Me Down
12 On The Backs Of Angels
13 This Is The Life
14 Wait For Sleep
15 Far From Heaven
16 Another Day
17 Beneath The Surface

[namgalsipsclar]

7.  Build Me Up, Break Me Down

14.  Take the Time
15.  Surrounded

17.  Another Day

Must.........Not.......Rage.....   

[RuRoRul]

1. Take The Time
2=. Breaking All Illusions
2=. Learning To Live
4. Metropolis Pt. 1
5. Outcry
6. Bridges In The Sky
7. Under A Glass Moon
8. On The Backs Of Angels
9. Surrounded
10. Wait For Sleep
11. Beneath The Surface
12. Another Day
13. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
14. Pull Me Under
15. Lost Not Forgotten
16. This Is The Life
17. Far From Heaven

[KevShmev]

How the new songs age is still to be determined, but as of now:

1. Learning to Live
2. Metropolis
3. Take the Time
4. Surrounded
5. Bridges in the Sky
6. Another Day
7. This is the Life
8. Breaking All Illusions
9. Beneath the Surface
10. Outcry
11. Wait for Sleep
12. Pull Me Under
13. Under a Glass Moon
14. Lost Not Forgotten
15. Far from Heaven
16. On the Backs of Angels
17. Build Me Up, Break Me Down

[bosk1]

7.  Build Me Up, Break Me Down

14.  Take the Time
15.  Surrounded

17.  Another Day

Must.........Not.......Rage.....   

If someone else's taste in music tempts you to rage, you have serious anger management issues.    Take a valium, sit back, and enjoy the discussion, man.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, it is more LOL-worthy than rage-worthy.

[Jaffa]

This is hard.  I'm not good at ranking a pair of albums this way even under normal circumstances, and especially not with something as new as ADTOE.  But, giving it my best shot...

Take the Time
Metropolis
Learning to Live
Bridges in the Sky
Under a Glass Moon
Beneath the Surface
Breaking All Illusions
On the Backs of Angels
Surrounded
This is the Life
Outcry
Pull Me Under
Wait For Sleep
Far From Heaven
Another Day
Build Me Up, Break Me Down
Lost Not Forgotten

Something like that.

[namgalsipsclar]

7.  Build Me Up, Break Me Down

14.  Take the Time
15.  Surrounded

17.  Another Day

Must.........Not.......Rage.....   

If someone else's taste in music tempts you to rage, you have serious anger management issues.    Take a valium, sit back, and enjoy the discussion, man.

Haha its cool, your taste is still better than pretty much everyone I know

Also, sorry to be a noob but how do you quote two separate posts in a single post?

[Progmetty]

1.  Metropolis
2.  Bridges in the Sky
3.  Breaking All Illusions
4.  Learning to Live
5.  Lost Not Forgotten
6.  Outcry
7.  Under a Glass Moon
8.  Far From Heaven
9.  Build Me Up, Break Me Down
10.  This is the Life
11.  Wait For Sleep
12.  Beneath the Surface
13.  On the Backs of Angels
14.  Pull Me Under
15.  Surrounded
16.  Another Day
17.  Take the Time

[bosk1]

7.  Build Me Up, Break Me Down

14.  Take the Time
15.  Surrounded

17.  Another Day

Must.........Not.......Rage.....   

If someone else's taste in music tempts you to rage, you have serious anger management issues.    Take a valium, sit back, and enjoy the discussion, man.

Haha its cool, your taste is still better than pretty much everyone I know

Also, sorry to be a noob but how do you quote two separate posts in a single post?

www.dreamtheaterforums.org/faq/how-do-I-quote-two-separate-posts

[namgalsipsclar]

7.  Build Me Up, Break Me Down

14.  Take the Time
15.  Surrounded

17.  Another Day

Must.........Not.......Rage.....   

If someone else's taste in music tempts you to rage, you have serious anger management issues.    Take a valium, sit back, and enjoy the discussion, man.

Haha its cool, your taste is still better than pretty much everyone I know

Also, sorry to be a noob but how do you quote two separate posts in a single post?

www.dreamtheaterforums.org/faq/how-do-I-quote-two-separate-posts

Erm that link doesn't work, sorry

[Jaffa]

Also, sorry to be a noob but how do you quote two separate posts in a single post?

When you're on the reply window, you can scroll down and see all the posts in the thread.  Each post will have 'insert quote' in the top right.  That's the simplest way to add multiple quotes.

[namgalsipsclar]

Also, sorry to be a noob but how do you quote two separate posts in a single post?

When you're on the reply window, you can scroll down and see all the posts in the thread.  Each post will have 'insert quote' in the top right.  That's the simplest way to add multiple quotes.

Cheers

[Progmetty]

Yeah, it is more LOL-worthy than rage-worthy.

And this is the spit-worthy way. As long as we're telling him about ways to disagree with someone else's taste 

[bosk1]

Yeah, it is more LOL-worthy than rage-worthy.

www.dreamtheaterforums.org/faq/how-do-I-quote-two-separate-posts

Erm that link doesn't work, sorry

I know.  I was just goofing on you.    What Jaffa said.

[Jaffa]

14.  Take the Time

17.  Take the Time

15. Take The Time

14. Take The Time

[bosk1]

Jaffa, I can't speak for the other guys, but for me, it isn't a case of TTT being a bad song.  It's just that of the 17 to choose from, there are 13 other songs that are so good that I have to rank them higher.  On that whole list, the only song I really don't like is #17.

[Jaffa]

Oh, I understand that.  It's true for me, too - Lost Not Forgotten is at the bottom of my list, but I still think it's a pretty cool song.  I know that when ranking songs, something has to be near the bottom.

But seeing my favorite Dream Theater song low on someone's list still makes me inwardly frown, even if just a little bit.