Official DT Top 50 Thread Mark II (bss4life15 up now - starting page 79)

[Jaffa]

This. This song need infinitesimally (did I spell that right?) more love than it receives.

Yes, you spelled it right.  But, for the record, it means immeasurably small, so you just said LFAGA needs just a tiny bit more love than it receives. 

Shit. I meant infinitely, not infinitesimally, though I think you guessed that...

I did.  But in context I found it pretty amusing, so I decided to point it out. 

[TheGreatPretender]

The fact that anyone would consider Dance of Eternity controversial is actually a pretty huge surprise to me. But alright!

[theseoafs]

Yep, that's a very controversial pick. A lot of people think it's just random instrumental wankery.

I'm not one of those people. I think it's a pretty cool jam. Still, I wouldn't let it anywhere near my top 10.

[Mladen]

Great pick, really. Quite a surprise.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Who would have that many songs from one album so high? 

[BlackInk]

Nice and interesting choice. Not often you see that one this high up.

[TheGreatPretender]

Not often you see that one this high up.

That's a damn shame.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, controversial picks are fun to see, as opposed to all of us having the same favorite songs and whatnot. 

Having said that, I agree that the musicianship in The Dance of Eternity is unmatched, but along with it sounding completely out of place on Scenes, my beef with it is that it isn't melodic enough.  Even if you look at the other super technical parts of Scenes (the second half of Fatal Tragedy, the instrumental section of Beyond This Life, etc.), the melodies are still pretty strong, but that is not the case in TDOE, which more or less comes across to me as "we have a new member, so we need a song to flex our muscles and really show off."  Like I have said before, the great thing about DT is that they often combine their technical playing with good melodies, but The Dance of Eternity is one of those instances where they went overboard with the technical playing and sort of forgot about the melody.  In other words, the balance was lost.  I do like the first half of it a lot, but the last three minutes has that "Okay, when it this gonna be over" feeling.

[Elite]

Yep, that's a very controversial pick. A lot of people think it's just random instrumental wankery.

As do I. I really appreciate the craft and musicianship in creating a song like that, let alone play it, but that only came to me after playing it myself in my band. So really, I kind of hate The Dance of Eternity as a song and therefore it wouldn't make my top 50 at all, though it's very, very much fun to play.

[hefdaddy42]

02: Scene 7: Dance Of Eternity/One Last Time

To me, the thing more controversial than having TDOE this high is leaving the two songs grouped together.  They have NOTHING to do with each other and have NOTHING in common. 

[TheGreatPretender]

02: Scene 7: Dance Of Eternity/One Last Time

To me, the thing more controversial than having TDOE this high is leaving the two songs grouped together.  They have NOTHING to do with each other and have NOTHING in common.

They're designated as part of the same scene and Dance flows right into One Last Time. Without One Last Time, Dance of Eternity doesn't have a proper conclusion. It just stops.

[KevShmev]

Okay, but The Mirror flows right into Lie, and those also have nothing to do with one another (lyrically, and despite the Mirror reprise at the end of Lie).  The Mirror also doesn't have a proper conclusion on its own.  Just saying.

[BlobVanDam]

Okay, but The Mirror flows right into Lie, and those also have nothing to do with one another (lyrically, and despite the Mirror reprise at the end of Lie).  The Mirror also doesn't have a proper conclusion on its own.  Just saying.

And also in both cases, The Mirror and TDOE have been played live with their own conclusion, so they're not dependant on the songs they sort of flow into at all. (And similarly, Lie and One Last Time have both been played alone with their own intros, without the need for a leading song)

[TheGreatPretender]

Okay, but The Mirror flows right into Lie, and those also have nothing to do with one another (lyrically, and despite the Mirror reprise at the end of Lie).  The Mirror also doesn't have a proper conclusion on its own.  Just saying.

And yet, whenever I listen to The Mirror, I always listen to Lie right after. In fact, I spliced them together and that's how I have it on my MP3 player.
I'd say One Last Time can stand alone by itself just like Lie can stand alone by itself. But listening to The Mirror or Dance by themselves (the studio versions anyway), they don't have outros. They flow right into the next song, so without that next song they just abruptly stop.

And in any case, the point is moot. When it comes to SFAM, I count it by scenes, not by tracks or by how it flows. Which is why Regression didn't make my list, because it's a separate scene of its own. If I were to consider how it flows into the next track, I would've included it into my Overture 1928/Strange Deja-Vu listing.

And third, like I said, even if you get rid of One Last Time, The Dance Of Eternity would still stand as #2 for me. So it doesn't matter.

[senecadawg2]

Very interesting. I love DOE and One Last Time is one of my favorite short DT songs ever.

[TheGreatPretender]

Ah, what a wonderful list it's been. But alas, it has come to an end. So here's the grand finale:

01: Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper
Considering that this song hasn't showed up in the previous 49 spots, it was the only possible choice. A lot of people consider it one of Dream Theater's best songs and there's very little I can say about it that hasn't already been said. Yes, it encompasses all the best qualities of Dream Theater, soaring vocals, great musicianship, long instrumental sections, heavy riffs and majestic melodies. We all know that. But truth be told, the one thing that really pushes this song to #1 for me is the sheer fact that it's Part 1 to Scenes From a Memory. I heard Scenes from a Memory first and it is my favorite album of all time. So, with Metropolis, to hear all those little themes that had been referenced and expanded on in Scenes From A Memory, that's what truly makes this song special for me. So in effect, if there was no Scenes From a Memory, this song probably wouldn't be #1 for me. That being said, if this song didn't reference Scenes from a Memory in itself, and if Scenes just came about out of nothing, then Dance of Eternity would probably be my #1. They're kind of symbiotic to me. But yes, Metropolis Pt. 1 gets the #1 spot.
But hey, if that's not controversial enough for you guys, then let me just say that I really wish they remastered this song the same way they remastered the I&W songs on the Greatest Hit compilation.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Nice 

[Jaffa]

Metropolis is amazing, and it fully deserves a top spot.  Not my personal #1, but I can understand why it would be #1.  Truly fantastic piece of music. 

[theseoafs]

Great choice.

[Nekov]

As DT themselves said, Metropolis is the quintessential DT song so #1 fits it well.

[senecadawg2]

Metropolis is amazing, and it fully deserves a top spot.  Not my personal #1, but I can understand why it would be #1.  Truly fantastic piece of music.

This +1000000000000000000000000000

[Elite]

Awesome pick.

[senecadawg2]

Your turn, little bitch.

[SeRoX]

This time you don't baffle us with your choice and I'm glad. Nice one, it is such a classic song.

[Scorpion]

Great list and an awesome pick for #1. It wouldn't be my choice, but it's awesome nevertheless. 

[Elite]

Your turn, little bitch.

I know, mister. Coming tonight

[BlobVanDam]

And a highly controversial list ends with the safest possible choice.

Not that there's at all anything wrong with that. Metropolis is a fantastic song, and there's a reason it's one of their most played songs.

[Mladen]

Great, we have the same number one.   

Fun list overall, very original as well. 

[jonny108]

A great list. Really enjoyed reading it!

[TheGreatPretender]

And a highly controversial list ends with the safest possible choice.

Not that there's at all anything wrong with that. Metropolis is a fantastic song, and there's a reason it's one of their most played songs.

Hey, some music just speaks for itself. It's not my fault that I love Metropolis so much that it had to be #1.

[BlackInk]

Don't consider Metropilis to be one of the best Dream Theater songs, to me it way to high as #1.

[Elite]

Well. My turn, it is. My turn to baffle all of you with my stunning choices for my top 50 Dream Theater songs. Almost a year have I waited to finally to one. I believe I even signed up for these forums to be able to do one once. Once, in a time when ADTOE didn't exist yet. Before I have met awesome people online and before these boards showed me to lots of great music. Before I saw Dream Theater live for my 2nd and 3rd time. But now, here it is. 50 songs by the band, selected by me and put in an order of preference. There will be controversy, of that you can be sure, whether it will be by inclusion, exclusion or placement on this list. I will start doing 5 a day, thinking of the write-ups as I go and doing less as we approach the top 10-15. I hope you will enjoy my list, as I have done with others. I waited long enough, so off we go:

50. Vacant
The list before last finished with this and mine starts with it. Amidst the complete madness and chaos that is Train of Thought, this song stands out in a very good way. It is not a secret that I dislike Train of Thought and basically almost every song on that record is the reason why. However, this wonderful gem has been included on the album as a way of dropping the tension and it works beautifully.

49. Outcry
One of the big guns from the new album. The theme is pretty cool, but what really does it here is the music. The huge riff the song starts with is one of my favourites on the new album and the way the song is structured makes it even better. I love how the choruses return in two different keys. Someone on this forum suggested the second chorus being a fourth lower could signify the hopelessness of the struggle. I love that interpretation and it adds to the coolness of the whole song. For some reason the instrumental part has been compared to The Dance of Eternity, something I don't understand. Apart from the technical difficulties the songs have nothing in common. Also, I find the instrumental part in Outcry to be much slicker and better worked out than the whole of the Dance. I'm glad I got to see this song live.

48. Afterlife
To be honest, I don't have a lot to say about this one, but let's put it this way. This songs is really awesome, but on WDADU it suffers from both poor production and bad vocals. Luckily, this song had a more than worthy inclusion on the Score CD/DVD. James rips it there, as do the other band members and it really shows the song's potential. I honestly believe this is an amazing song, only the way it's presented on the album keeps me from placing it higher.

47. The Glass Prison
For some reason The Glass Prison always gets named Dream Theater's best metal song and the best part of the AA Suite. I don't agree on that at all and that is mainly while it's this 'low' on my list. My main problem with this song is that it's too long and throwing in too many riffs and themes during the song. The 'main riff' of the bass opening is really cool and of course those arpeggio's. The remainder of the song - dare I say - drags a bit and that's not for the better. The whole middle part almost bores me into not really listening/paying attention anymore. What potentially could have been an amazing song gets a bit ruined (though not as much as The Shattered Fortress for instance) by an overflow of musical ideas. All in all, I still really like The Glass Prison (it is amazing to play on guitar ), but that's mainly for the intro (say the first 5 minutes) and the outro. I like others better.

46. Scene Seven: II. One Last Time
In my opinion this wonderful piece of music is one of the better songs on Scenes. While I loathe its counterpart, The Dance of Eternity, this song is a beautiful reprise of a lot of earlier themes. From the astounding piano opening (which I believe is some of Rudess' greatest work within Dream Theater), we are propelled into a relatively slow-moving piece, especially after the onslaught of the two tracks prior to this. It reprises some stuff while being a very good track by itself as well. Definitely one of DT's better short songs.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

All 5 are great songs.

[Jaffa]

Well, you're off to an interesting start.  I enjoyed your write-ups, so this should be a fun read! 

All five good songs.  I'm a little sad to hear you don't like Train of Thought apart from Vacant, but fair enough.  It's great to see some love for Afterlife, even though I actually like the WDADU version, myself. 

[SeRoX]

I can't say for Outcry  because it is new piece but I would not place it that low. But it surprises me The Glass Prison, one of their heavy track which is experimental piece, is too low. Deserves higher place for me. None the less, good start. Glad to see Vacant in your 50.