Images and Words vs Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From a Memory

[TheGreatPretender]

I thought your respond to this thread is sarcasm. 

Not at all. The Dance of Eternity is one of the best pieces of music that DT has ever written, and certainly the best on SFAM.

[SeRoX]

I thought your respond to this thread is sarcasm. 

Not at all. The Dance of Eternity is one of the best pieces of music that DT has ever written, and certainly the best on SFAM.

Well, your opinion is your opinion but you are sooooooooooooo wrong. Probably their worst ins among others. But the tastes differ. 

[TheGreatPretender]

Probably their best ins among others. But the tastes differ. 

There! Tellin' me I'm wrong...

[Android_D]

Images and Words easily. Scenes is somewhere in the middle of my DT album ranks. And TDOE is one of my least favorite DT songs. I usually skip it.

[KevShmev]

Both are phenomenal, but I&W is just a hair better.  Scenes could have been better had they written a better song to follow Home.  The Dance of Eternity simply drags it down just a tad and interrupts the flow as well.

The Dance of Eternity is the best track on the whole album, foo'!

You don't quit your day job.  Seriously.

[TheGreatPretender]

You don't quit your day job.  Seriously.

That retort makes no sense whatsoever. Now, if you were a music critic, I'd say yes, it's about time to quit your day job.

[chrisbDTM]

i dont think TDOE is the best on SFAM, but it is good

You don't quit your day job.  Seriously.

That retort makes no sense whatsoever. Now, if you were a music critic, I'd say yes, it's about time to quit your day job.

i think he means dont quit your day job, to be a music critic instead

[MoraWintersoul]

Now THIS is a deathmatch. Images for me, though.

[Priest of Syrinx]

Soooo close... SFAM by a nose.

[Algo Fonix]

This was a tough one, but I&W.

[CrimsonSunrise]

I&W  by a  landslide.  SFAM is one of my least Fav. DT albums, while I&W flips between #1-2

[DebraKadabra]

Images and Words, no contest.  SFAM is good, but not as high IMO as a lot of other DT fans put it.

[MetropolisWatches]

A tough choice- but I had to go with Images and Words. It's the ultimate DT record that defined the best elements of their sound.

[Kwyjibo]

Very hard one, voted Images & Words because it deflowered me in a sense, but ask me tomorrow, next week, in an hour and I probably would vote Scenes.

And by the way: The Dance Of Eternity is a great showcase of technical musicianship, but it doesn't work as a song and I could do without it. I even think that without it Scenes would be better.

[snapple]

Sweet, 34 people get to get murdered tonight.

[CrimsonSunrise]

Sweet, 34 people get to get murdered tonight.

and 39 get to watch ......

[DebraKadabra]

[Progmetty]

I thought your respond to this thread is sarcasm. 

Not at all. The Dance of Eternity is one of the best pieces of music that DT has ever written, and certainly the best on SFAM.

Agfuckinreed!

[Dublagent66]

Gotta go with I&W.  Without that there would be no SFAM.

[Sycsa]

Going with I&W, it's an absolutely perfect album. BTW, TDOE is great in my opinion, it's the very song that got me into DT in the first place with its versatility and virtuosity and it probably features some of Jordan's best keyboard work ever.

[TheGreatPretender]

Gotta go with I&W.  Without that there would be no SFAM.

For me I&W comes a close second, but that in itself is BECAUSE without it there would be no SFAM. So it's like, if I&W didn't exist, DT wouldn't have released their best album in 1999.

[Fourth Horseman]

The best of I&W is better than the best of SFAM: Metropolis, LTL, TTT, UAGM > TSCO, Fatal Tragedy, Home, TDOE

And the worst of I&W is better than the worst of SFAM: Another Day, Pull me Under >> One Last Time, Through Her Eyes

(The worst songs on those albums are still great though)

[DebraKadabra]

For me I&W comes a close second, but that in itself is BECAUSE without it there would be no SFAM. So it's like, if I&W didn't exist, DT wouldn't have released their best album in 1999.

Good point, but the edge still goes to Images and Words because of this IMO.

[TheGreatPretender]

Good point, but the edge still goes to Images and Words because of this IMO.

Well, Metropolis Pt 1 is number 1. But I still like Dance of Eternity, Fatal Tragedy, Home, The Spirit Carries On and Through Her Eyes better than most of the songs on I&W.

[DebraKadabra]

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[TheGreatPretender]

And even if I do prefer those individual songs, I still say that Scenes From A Memory is greater than the sum of its parts, meaning that when you take the whole thing as a single entity, it's way beyond Images and Words as a single entity.

[nicmos]

Not at all. The Dance of Eternity is one of the wankiest pieces of music that DT has ever written, and certainly the wankfest-iest on SFAM.

Fixed that for you.

The 30 seconds that start at 4:42 is some of the wankiest bullshit Dream Theater has ever tried to pass off as music.  There's some great stuff in TDOE to be sure, but it's not a coherent composition, and the section I mentioned really drags it down especially.  There's a reason certain scales, chords, progressions, and modulations have survived the test of time, and it's because they are euphonic.  DT just shit all over hundreds of years of wisdom in this piece, and it doesn't work there.

Do I "get" the song?  Yes, they hit me over the head with it.  (I'm looking at you, ragtime...)  I just don't like all of it.

[TheGreatPretender]

I just don't like all of it.

Well, don't force your opinion of this song on others by "fixing" their posts.
The Dance of Eternity is one of the best pieces of music DT has ever written. It's sheer insanity is precisely what makes it awesome.

[Progmetty]

Totally with TheGreatPretender on that one.

[wolfking]

SFAM

[Ruba]

IAW. And Awake is even better.

SFAM - great
IAW - greater
Awake - the greatest.

[nicmos]

Well, don't force your opinion of this song on others by "fixing" their posts.
The Dance of Eternity is one of the best pieces of music DT has ever written. It's sheer insanity is precisely what makes it awesome.

Sorry, if the humor was lost on you.  in an attempt to explain myself, this is a common joke that is played on many internet sites with comment threads.  they will change something about the previous post to their liking and add "FTFY", which stands for "fixed that for you".

but your opinion seems rather rigid.  so I will exercise my right to be just as rigid.  the piece doesn't work.  sections of it are just not good music.  now I can't tell you what makes good music to you any more than you can tell me.  but you should be aware how strongly some DT fans feel about how shitty TDOE is, and it's certainly not because they are ignorant.  I think we all know how varied our tastes in music are, certainly the average person on this forum has such a wide and varied taste that it's not about being ignorant of what makes good music.

I will defend to the last my favorite pieces.  And I'm glad you feel very strongly about it, it's interesting to hear different points of view.

so if you ever see me expressing a strong point of view, know that it's all in good fun and I'm very tolerant of everyone else's opinions.

[KevShmev]

I wouldn't call The Dance of Eternity shitty, but I don't see it being such a technical beast as necessarily a good thing, as it makes it seem more mathematical than anything (since, to me, it is sorely lacking in emotion and melody, which most of their other technical beast of songs have at some point), and to throw it smack dab in the middle of a concept album seemed completely unnecessary, especially since the references to the original Metropolis are superficial at best, so the Metropolis nods in TDOE seem more like, "Let's throw in a few Metropolis references so the sequel idea doesn't seem completely off base."

In short, TDOE is a great demonstration of the technical prowess of the four, but aside from that, it doesn't have a lot of staying power for me.  Had the 9th track on Scenes from a Memory been as great as the other best songs on the album, it might have been my favorite DT record.  But instead, it is third since neither Awake nor I&W, for me, have anything as skippable or melodically uninteresting as The Dance of Eternity.

[TheGreatPretender]

Sorry, if the humor was lost on you.  in an attempt to explain myself, this is a common joke that is played on many internet sites with comment threads.  they will change something about the previous post to their liking and add "FTFY", which stands for "fixed that for you".

Oh, I'm well aware of it. It just one of those memes that kind of annoys me. At least some people have the courtesy to type "FTFM".

I wouldn't call The Dance of Eternity shitty, but I don't see it being such a technical beast as necessarily a good thing, as it makes it seem more mathematical than anything (since, to me, it is sorely lacking in emotion and melody, which most of their other technical beast of songs have at some point), and to throw it smack dab in the middle of a concept album seemed completely unnecessary, especially since the references to the original Metropolis are superficial at best, so the Metropolis nods in TDOE seem more like, "Let's throw in a few Metropolis references so the sequel idea doesn't seem completely off base."

In short, TDOE is a great demonstration of the technical prowess of the four, but aside from that, it doesn't have a lot of staying power for me.  Had the 9th track on Scenes from a Memory been as great as the other best songs on the album, it might have been my favorite DT record.  But instead, it is third since neither Awake nor I&W, for me, have anything as skippable or melodically uninteresting as The Dance of Eternity.

Disagreed. Disagreed. And disagreed.
First of all, I don't see how you can say it's lacking emotion, when I think it's got a very sinister and somewhat playfully sadistic vibe all throughout.
Second, since I heard SFAM before I heard Metropolis, the Metropolis references have nothing to do with me loving this instrumental. In fact, it's quite the other way around. TDOE is one of the many reasons that I think Metropolis itself is so amazing.
And third, well, I just disagree. We all have our tastes. But it still kind of surprises me that people can actually like Erotomania better than The Dance of Eternity.

[Ħ]

I wouldn't go as far to say that TDOE is their best song by any means, but it's a completely new type of DT song, at least at that point in time in DT history. It's is complete instrumental madnes[s in technicality - which had been done before - but it's got no hook. It stands alone as something incredibly unique. It's the "we're DT and you can't touch us" song.