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

[BlobVanDam]

LTL is ok, but it's easily the weakest on IaW imo.

Now there's a controversial opinion if I ever saw one.

Why? Because I said a song is merely ok instead of worshipping it as my god? Send out the pitchforks, guys!

[TheGreatPretender]

Why? Because I said a song is merely ok instead of worshipping it as my god? Send out the pitchforks, guys!

Err... Well, yeah. Can I use a rake?

[BlobVanDam]

Why? Because I said a song is merely ok instead of worshipping it as my god? Send out the pitchforks, guys!

Err... Well, yeah. Can I use a rake?

Sure, I certainly don't want to exclude anyone on a technicality. As long as it's sorta sharp and rusty, it'll do just dandy.

[Jaffa]

I don't understand how people are continually surprised by Blob not loving LTL.  He's expressed his opinion on the song at least four times in this thread alone.   

[BlobVanDam]

I don't understand how people are continually surprised by Blob not loving LTL.  He's expressed his opinion on the song at least four times in this thread alone.   

Maybe I'm just not shouting loudly enough?

[TheGreatPretender]

Sure, I certainly don't want to exclude anyone on a technicality. As long as it's sorta sharp and rusty, it'll do just dandy.

Actually, I think I'll just set it down, and you can walk into it Sideshow Bob style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EryhQdXTjP8

I don't understand how people are continually surprised by Blob not loving LTL.  He's expressed his opinion on the song at least four times in this thread alone.   

Maybe I'm just not shouting loudly enough?

Or not high enough. Shout your opinion in an F#.

[Scorpion]

Those are two very good songs, though I'd rank both of them lower. I especially liked your write-up on SDV, you really hit the nail on the head with this one. 

[Elite]

3. Surrounded
Yay, another controversial pick! Isn't that nice? Yeah, it is, for Surrounded is about the most underrated song in Dream Theater's whole discography. Let me just say that based purely on marvelous song-writing, there's not a lot that can top this one (though there obviously is according to me, or this could have been on the #1 spot). Surrounded is a beautiful example of a good hard-rocking song interlocked between a musically brilliant intro and outro. Now that I've actually typed that, it kind of looks stupid, as I can't think of any other example of that, let alone a 'brilliant' one. Anyway, we start with a chord progression that must have been thought of by Kevin Moore, with a short piano riff first and then the piano with strings in the background. 'Morning comes too early, night time falls too late', the first words are sung beautifully by James, a voice he never repeated after his glory on Images & Words. We head into a short guitar lead or an interlude for what's to come, as the song slowly transforms slowly into a hard rocking song, but not without touching a riff in an odd meter first. We have a short taste of some sort of chorus and the song returns to a previous. Another verse that slowly gets heavier or more intense, with James's voice rising and the song moves into an utterly brilliant guitar solo, based mostly on the repeating pattern of a delay pedal. The next part is probably my favourite part of the song, the last lines of lyrics to wrap it all up, underscored by some of Petrucci's best rhythmic/melodic guitar lines. The song stops and goes back to the feeling of the intro, repeating the most important line of lyrics 'I know it's easier to walk away than look it in the eye', a line that can mean that much more to you if it's been of an influence for something in your life. It has been for me, and it's only one of the reasons I love this song so much. It's a funny thing. This is the shortest song in my top 10, in fact the first song that's shorter than this one, going back through my top 50 would be Hell's Kitchen at #14 and after that Wait for Sleep at #29, but that doesn't detract from it's awesomeness. In this particular case, Dream Theater really hit the nail on the head, creating a relatively simple, concise song without much difficulty that still remains very listenable. I feel like I haven't commented on the lyrics enough, so I'll just do that now as well. I don't get them to be honest. Aside from the aforementioned obvious ones, most of the lyrics in this song describe weird stuff that supposedly should mean something, but I don't know what. I don't really care either, I can sing them all and that's enough. A wonderful song and unjustfully underappreciated.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Damn good song 

I should probably work on my Top 50 now.

[Elite]

Two more days and you can start

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Okay..#1 is reserved for You Not Me

[Elite]

Stop that lame joke.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Oh, right..




Just Let Me Breathe

[theseoafs]

Great choice. One of DT's best.

[Nekov]

Just saw the last two updates. All of them great songs deserving high spots.

[TheGreatPretender]

I didn't realize that it was under-appreciated. People! Start appreciating it!

[Jaffa]

Surrounded.   

[BlobVanDam]

A very good song, although wouldn't be a top 20 for me. It's a great little song, but DT just happen to have a lot of better songs (imo). But a fine choice.

[TheGreatPretender]

A very good song, although wouldn't be a top 20 for me. It's a great little song, but DT just happen to have a lot of better songs (imo). But a fine choice.

I can see how Surrounded would end up at #2 though. It's not so much about musicianship, I'd say, as it is about the mood that it evokes. It's happy without being too cheery. It evokes that sincere, melancholy happiness and leaves a smile in the end. At least for me.

[Scorpion]

Surrounded!

For a very very long time, this was my favourite DT song. It isn't anymore, but I still love to death. A very tasteful and cheery song.

I especially like the Sugar Mice part in the CiM version. It really fits the mood of the song nicely.

[Zydar]

Surrounded.   

[Elite]

Wow! Why did I think it was underrated? 

I can see how Surrounded would end up at #2 though. It's not so much about musicianship, I'd say, as it is about the mood that it evokes. It's happy without being too cheery. It evokes that sincere, melancholy happiness and leaves a smile in the end. At least for me.

It's at #3  , but I agree with all of the above.

[Mladen]

Great song.

Way too high, though. 

[BlackInk]

Not one of their best and would not come near my top 10 at all.

[Elite]

Not one of their best and would not come near my top 10 at all.

I'll pretend I didn't see this 

[TheGreatPretender]

So #1 is obviously A Dance of Eternity, right?

[Scorpion]

So #1 is obviously A Dance of Eternity, right?

Don't know that track, sorry. Is it new?

No seriously, I doubt it. He doesn't strike me to be the dude that's a big fan of instrumental wank-fests.

[TheGreatPretender]

Don't know that track, sorry. Is it new?

No seriously, I doubt it. He doesn't strike me to be the dude that's a big fan of instrumental wank-fests.

Ah shut up, you picky bastage.

But yeah, it was a joke. Unfortunately. DOE is awesome.

[Scorpion]

Oh, don't get me wrong, it's nowhere as bad as some people make it out to be. I have to be in very specific mood for that, true, but I actually quite like it. I just don't think that Elite would like it that much, based on his previous picks.

[Elite]

I don't like The Dance of Eternity at all, no. You see, I can appreciate the difficulty in playing and writing it, and it's funnily enough one of my favourite songs to play on guitar, but I don't like listening to it, because it just doesn't really flow in my opinion. And Tom, you're right, I'm not that much into instrumental wankfests. I love proggy shit, but as soon as it gets too over the top with flashy stuff, I generally lose interested. Good, slow melodic lines > mindless fast soloing, anytime.

[Scorpion]

I don't think that many people would disagree with you there, Richard.

[Elite]

Then why do people like Yngwie Malmsteen exist?

[Scorpion]

No, what I meant that I doubt we'd find many people saying "I prefer shredding and instrumental wankery over soulful melodies." The problem is just that the definitions of both these terms vary.

And Yngwie isn't that bad. He's a bit like DragonForce, tbh. Quite enjoyable in very small doses, but getting boring very quickly.

[Elite]

2. A Change of Seasons
So, is this actually a surprise? 48 places in a top 50 and this song hadn't shown up yet, it was bound to show up somewhere. Yeah, a 'boring' choice, but whatever. I've had my share of weird opinions in my top 50, so the finish isn't going to be that bad. Well, this is Dream Theater's first epic and the first song they wrote that went over 15 minutes and over 20 minutes (that is without counting A Mind Beside Itself as a song). Correct me if I'm wrong, but the foundation for this song had already been made before the band even started writing songs for Awake, dating as far back as their writing process of Images & Words. It could be that's the reason why I like it so much, as it has the same type of feeling of that album and, as you'll all know by now, that's my favourite album ever. Anyway, on to the song. Wrotten Written as a homage to Mike Portnoy's dead mother and as a relic and reminder about growing up, seizing the day and being able to change, just like seasons. Because of the length of the song, I'm not going to do a weird analysis of the song, like I did with most of the other songs in my top 50. Instead, I'll give an overall view of the complete song. Starting out with a guitar intro, done beautifully on a 7-string guitar, the song soon launches into heavy riff mode, with leads from both guitars and keyboards, of which I must say; Derek Sherinian absolutely shines on this song. This is pretty much a foreboding of everything that's to come, as the song alternately changes from soft parts to all out metal-ish parts with very heavy-proggy interludes and transitions in between. The lyrics are amongst Dream Theater's best and most definitely Mike Portnoy's best and the way the have been integrated into the song is absolutely wonderful. The only thing left to say is that the way this song has been put together is almost flawless. Everything fits, everything is right and it all works out to form an epic masterpiece. I realise I said a lot more about songs far less this one's length, but I think within the DT community, you don't really have to explain why you like A Change of Seasons as much. The general consensus shows this is a fan favourite, and rightfully so.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Dumb fuck Bizkit thought it was The Count of Tuscany.