ADTOE Track placement - Would you change it?

[cramx3]

The way it is, is the best, but just to try something different I thought:

On The Backs of Angels
This is The Life
Lost Not Forgotten
Build Me Up, Break Me Down
Beneath The Surface
Bridges in The Sky
Outcry
Far From Heaven
Breaking All Illusions

[YtseCullen]

The way it is, is the best, but just to try something different I thought:

On The Backs of Angels
This is The Life
Lost Not Forgotten
Build Me Up, Break Me Down
Beneath The Surface
Bridges in The Sky
Outcry
Far From Heaven
Breaking All Illusions

Not to bad at all!

after much thought, id probably have to go

On the Backs of Angels
Build Me Up Break Me Down
Lost Not Forgotten
This Is The Life
Outcry
Beneath The Surface
Bridges In The Sky
Far From Heaven
Breaking All Illusions

[tristl]

No, perfect placement

[Jarzombek]

No.

[DebraKadabra]

No, even though I think that BAI should have been the closer (but then I'm not sure where I'd place BtS... ).

[Chrissalix]

1 Bridges In The Sky
2 On The Backs of Angels
3 This is The Life
4 Lost Not Forgotten
5 Outcry
6 Far From Heaven
7 Breaking All Illusions
8 Beneath the Surface

[GalacticGuitarist87]

It is blasphemy to remove a song from a Dream Theater album.

[theseoafs]

It is blasphemy to remove a song from a Dream Theater album.

With exceptions made for You Not Me and Burning My Soul.

I think the track order is perfect as it is, honestly, and no, I wouldn't be foolish enough to omit a song from the record.

[KevShmev]

Early on, I could have seen moving a song here, or moving a song there, but now, no.  Maybe I am just too used to the running order, but I think it is just perfect, and cannot imagine any way they could have made it better.

On the Backs of Angels - has an intro that is great to kick an album off with; and the rest of the song rocks enough for it to be a strong track 1.
BMU, BMD - smacks of it being a single, it works great as track 2; and the cinematic ending is a great lead-in to...
Lost Not Forgotten - away we go now with a song that is pretty metal and somewhat long.
This Is the Life - following the rockingness of the first three songs, it was great to bring it down a bit with a somewhat mellow tune that has both great slower and upbeat parts.
Bridges in the Sky - THE perfect middle of the album track.  'Nuff said.
Outcry - reeks of vintage DT, the craziness of the instrumental section is perfect at this spot of the album; it is like, "Okay, we haven't gotten too crazy yet, so here we go off into no-man's land, just for a bit."
Far from Heaven - After two major rockers, they bring it back down again with a song featuring (mainly) just piano and vocals.  Perfect placement.
Breaking All Illusions - Great follow-up to FFH; has that kind of penultimate feel that makes it being the 2nd to last song very poetic.
Beneath the Surface - A gorgeous and fitting ending; it might have gotten lost among the rockers had it been in the middle of the album and/or the only mellow tune, but as the closer here, it works perfectly. 

[YtseCullen]

Early on, I could have seen moving a song here, or moving a song there, but now, no.  Maybe I am just too used to the running order, but I think it is just perfect, and cannot imagine any way they could have made it better.

On the Backs of Angels - has an intro that is great to kick an album off with; and the rest of the song rocks enough for it to be a strong track 1.
BMU, BMD - smacks of it being a single, it works great as track 2; and the cinematic ending is a great lead-in to...
Lost Not Forgotten - away we go now with a song that is pretty metal and somewhat long.
This Is the Life - following the rockingness of the first three songs, it was great to bring it down a bit with a somewhat mellow tune that has both great slower and upbeat parts.
Bridges in the Sky - THE perfect middle of the album track.  'Nuff said.
Outcry - reeks of vintage DT, the craziness of the instrumental section is perfect at this spot of the album; it is like, "Okay, we haven't gotten too crazy yet, so here we go off into no-man's land, just for a bit."
Far from Heaven - After two major rockers, they bring it back down again with a song featuring (mainly) just piano and vocals.  Perfect placement.
Breaking All Illusions - Great follow-up to FFH; has that kind of penultimate feel that makes it being the 2nd to last song very poetic.
Beneath the Surface - A gorgeous and fitting ending; it might have gotten lost among the rockers had it been in the middle of the album and/or the only mellow tune, but as the closer here, it works perfectly. 

Wow yeah, that really makes a lot of sense! and I totally agree with you, at first I would've switched a song or two around but the more I listen to it, I get used to it and nothing else would fit as well as the actual track order.

[CrimsonE]

I say what the hell.  Start with this powerhouse trio and you can't go wrong:

Far From Heaven
Beneath the Surface
This is the Life.




Seriously, like many others, I'd end with BAI, because DT albums work best when the end on the epic song.  While good in and of itself, BTS doesn't really fit as an album closer. 

[Ben_Jamin]

You know, i noticed this album begins on the backs of angels and slowly descends beneath the surface.

[GasparXR]

You know, i noticed this album begins on the backs of angels and slowly descends beneath the surface.

[Ben_Jamin]

i'll post a more through analysis later as my phone can only type 120 characters. sorry for the double post.

[The Letter M]

I've always loved the track order of this album. For being an album that is a larger collection of songs, it's got a very well-thought out running order. The last few albums have all had 8 or less tracks, and in the case of SDOIT and 8VM, have had their orders picked out based on their ideas/thoughts/concepts on those albums, so they were placed in a specific order.

However, since SC, their track orders have gotten better. I didn't particularly enjoy the track order on SC right away, and thought it was a bit much, with the cool-down track, "Repentance", coming long after 4 fairly heavy tracks/30 minutes of music. BC&SL got a bit better in terms of running order, and I wouldn't change that album's track list for anything and have always enjoyed it's order. When the number of songs for ADTOE was released, I was hoping JP and co. would pick a kick-ass track order and they did a pretty damn good job!

Also, I will agree with everyone that OTBOA is THE PERFECT opener for this album, and BTS is a great cool-down/closer, and when I first heard the album and got to BTS at the end, all I could think of was Porcupine Tree's album Lightbulb Sun, which ends with a soft acoustic number as a cool-down, which came after a 12-minute heavy epic.

And Kev, I completely agree with your synopsis of the track order! Good job!

-Marc.

[SeventhSon]

For reasons unbeknownst to me, my iPod has a different idea of the tracklist for this album.

Bridges in the Sky
Outcry
Far from Heaven
Breaking All Illusions
Beneath the Surface
On the Backs of Angels
Build Me Up, Break Me Down
Lost Not Forgotten
This is the Life

[KevShmev]

Thanks, fellas.  I tried to put it as best I could.  In this day and age, track order and flow is something that gets lost in the mix a lot, but it is a great to see bands like DT still put much effort and thought into it!