The 'Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (album)' Appreciation Thread

[King Postwhore]

I'll give it a go.

1.  Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2.  The Glass Prison
3.  Blind Faith
4.  The Great Debate
5.  Misunderstood
6.  Disappear






6.  The Great Debate

[Invisible]

One the Big Five(along with I&W, Awake, FII and Scenes), so yes, a lot of respect for this monster. It took me like three years to actually like it, I couldn't even listen to it for a long time, but then my guitar teacher told me to give it another spin, and when I did, I was like where have you been all my life?!?!. Awesome album from start to finish.

My personal ranking changes every day but right now it would be:

1. The Great Debate (yes, it's my favourite right now, deal with it )
2. The title monster
3. Blind Faith
4. Dissapear
5. The Glass Prison
6. Misunderstood

But it could turn completely upside down any day, any time, they are all so perfect.

[Mister Gold]

Been the better part of a decade since I posted in this thread... which I completely forgot I started

Anywho, I figured I should bump it up. Listened to Six Degrees for the first time in awhile (I've been on a Kevin Moore-era phase for a few years) and I was taken aback by how much I still really love this album. It's really hard for me to pick between Six Degrees and Awake as the band's best album.

Also The Glass Prison is still a monster of an album opener. Takes guts for a band to open up with an almost fourteen minute long prog epic, but God it's such a great start to an incredible album. The Six Degrees suite really holds up well too, especially Solitary Shell. The only song that I'm not sure holds up as well as it used to lyrically is The Great Debate, but musically it's solid as hell.

[pg1067]

This album is pretty well permanently entrenched as my #3 DT album.  I usually refer to I&W, SFAM and SDOIT as my top 3, but I can't see SOIT ever passing the other two.  That's primarily because it has two of DT's worst songs ever (TGD and Disappear).

I'm a disc 2 guy.  It blew me away right from the start, so I listened to it constantly and didn't spend much time on disc 1.  It took about 5 years before I really got into Blind Faith and Misunderstood (and, to a lesser extent, TGP).

If they had dumped TGD and Disappear, this could have been a near-perfect single disc album.

[ytserush]

Top 3 album along with When Dream and Day Unite and Octavarium.

It may have even gotten better with age.

[Mister Gold]

Top 3 album along with When Dream and Day Unite and Octavarium.

It may have even gotten better with age.

It's an incredible album for sure. Hard to comprehend that it's getting close to being twenty years old!

[KevShmev]

The only song that I'm not sure holds up as well as it used to lyrically is The Great Debate, but musically it's solid as hell.

I still think The Great Debate could have used a little bit better chorus, and that the meat of the song isn't as great as the intro (which is two of the best minutes of the entire album, IMO), but I wouldn't want to cut it from the album.  The transition and flow from the end of the Misunderstood to that intro in The Great Debate is masterful.

[Mister Gold]

The only song that I'm not sure holds up as well as it used to lyrically is The Great Debate, but musically it's solid as hell.

I still think The Great Debate could have used a little bit better chorus, and that the meat of the song isn't as great as the intro (which is two of the best minutes of the entire album, IMO), but I wouldn't want to cut it from the album.  The transition and flow from the end of the Misunderstood to that intro in The Great Debate is masterful.

Oh don't get me wrong, I still love the song! I guess my point is that it feels like its relevancy's changed a lot overtime?

[Trav]

I agree with all of this, but I'll say that it used to be my favorite on the record, but it no longer is. The intro and that solo/instrumental climax are still a joy to listen to.

[Lax]

This album is my top 1 ex aequo with MPT2 scenes, I can't decide between those two because they are both masterpieces, and very different !

1 six degrees of inner turbulence : Epic intro, a rollercoaster of ups and downs, especially between goodnight kiss and solitary shell which gives me huge chills every time ! There are some weaknesses but the song is super long !

2 the glass prison : DT can't do metal, and then TGP hits and jaws fell to the ground! It's all that I love, fast paced rythms and headbangers that pushes you in the back like a truck

3 blind faith : Probably my favorite of the album, rudess sounds are fantastic, the chorus riff makes me think of type o negative, the bridge with piano is touching me, the solos are so crazy (great unisons) and rock n roll, and then the song fades with subtility as it began...

4 At first, I wasn't fond of this one, but the emotion is real and the chorus is damn efficient after a calm verse and nice buildup

5 the great debate : another ultra proggy one, I like how it starts building up, the prechorus, the heroic chorus, and bridge and solo are HUGE and a feast for the ears. Great unisons.

6 disappear : I like this song, but it's heart ripping, it sounds so sad and the keyboard big sound sounds so twisted, sometimes too much is too much

[KevShmev]

The only song that I'm not sure holds up as well as it used to lyrically is The Great Debate, but musically it's solid as hell.

I still think The Great Debate could have used a little bit better chorus, and that the meat of the song isn't as great as the intro (which is two of the best minutes of the entire album, IMO), but I wouldn't want to cut it from the album.  The transition and flow from the end of the Misunderstood to that intro in The Great Debate is masterful.

Oh don't get me wrong, I still love the song! I guess my point is that it feels like its relevancy's changed a lot overtime?

Perhaps, but that kind of stuff usually does not bother me.

[tofee35]

Blind Faith is still my favorite DT song. The build up to "...and still life pushes on, with or without you...". Then the mayhem of the solos leading to Jordan's piano break. Portnoy's tastiest drumming is on display in this one; the Carter Beauford-esque hi hat work, the slight variations from verse to verse and chorus to chorus. Petrucci's tooooooone. Maaan. good stuff. What a song.

-Tof

[lovethedrake]

Top 3 album for me.

SFAM
I&W
SDOIT

Then there is a massive dropoff to album #4.   I still love a ton of the albums after my top 3 and there isn't a DT album I don't at least like in some aspect.  However, these 3 are what I consider to be the "big 3".   All incredible albums.

[Northern Lion]

Count me in the group who still really likes The Great Debate.  And I also really like Disappear.  It's sad and haunting with some stellar lyrics by Labrie.  I like it so much in fact that I found a piano trascription of it so my wife could play it on her piano.

This album is still in my top 3 along with Scenes and The Astonishing(which sometimes flips with ADToE).

[The Letter M]

I just spun this one the other night! It still holds up for me, and I probably still consider it my favorite DT album. This is an album that hits all the high points of what makes a good Dream Theater album - you've got heavy metal, acoustic moments, piano ballads, technical stuff, everything the band were known for up to that point, and all blended together into six pieces that exemplify their talents.

Following the wildly successful SFAM, I'm sure it was difficult for the band, and the fans, to think they could top Scenes, but IMO, they made an album just as good, if not better. Both SDOIT and SFAM always battle for my top spot, but most of the time, SDOIT will win, but really, it's probably a 9.9 vs 9.8 kind of situation.

-Marc.

[Podaar]

I just spun this one the other night! It still holds up for me, and I probably still consider it my favorite DT album. This is an album that hits all the high points of what makes a good Dream Theater album - you've got heavy metal, acoustic moments, piano ballads, technical stuff, everything the band were known for up to that point, and all blended together into six pieces that exemplify their talents.

Following the wildly successful SFAM, I'm sure it was difficult for the band, and the fans, to think they could top Scenes, but IMO, they made an album just as good, if not better. Both SDOIT and SFAM always battle for my top spot, but most of the time, SDOIT will win, but really, it's probably a 9.9 vs 9.8 kind of situation.

-Marc.

This!!

[Ben_Jamin]

Blind Faith is one of the songs I still want to see live and one that is likely they'll play.

I went to lookup my top 50 list from the old thread, to see where I ranked Blind Faith. This is what I said about it...

37. Blind Faith

   JM's bass intro is the perfect intro for this tune. It sets that world feeling they originally wanted this album to head into, then the pantera show inspiration hits. This is one song I wish JLB had really put effort into the vocals. According to LS, if I remember correctly, JLB didn't really show up for SDOIT and it shows. Although it is my favorite album, as the entire session vibe is captured. JM's Bass groove in the instrumental is what I miss from JM. I'm glad, we got something similar with BAI, this is the song they got inspired to write the latter's instrumental.

[pg1067]

37. Blind Faith

   JM's bass intro is the perfect intro for this tune. It sets that world feeling they originally wanted this album to head into, then the pantera show inspiration hits. This is one song I wish JLB had really put effort into the vocals. According to LS, if I remember correctly, JLB didn't really show up for SDOIT and it shows. Although it is my favorite album, as the entire session vibe is captured. JM's Bass groove in the instrumental is what I miss from JM. I'm glad, we got something similar with BAI, this is the song they got inspired to write the latter's instrumental.

[/quote]

I could be wrong, but I believe what LS (assuming you're talking about the Lifting Shadows book) says is that he wasn't really present for the writing process and the recording of the music (i.e., he didn't really show up until it was time to record the vocals).  As a result, SDOIT is the first DT album where the music is credited to the four instrumentalists rather than "Dream Theater."  But I'd say his overall performance on the album was top notch.  Blind Faith isn't a particularly challenging song vocally,** but that's not on James.  He's on fire for Misunderstood and most of the title track.

** - It's also not particularly challenging on bass.  How do I know that?  Because I can play it!

[Indiscipline]

IMO, James is fantastic on SDOIT ... when he's given vocal lines playing to his strengths: Misunderstood and Disappear on one side, 4/6 of the title track on the other (and he manages to shine even on the 2 songs designed for a Phil Anselmo kind of vocalist). On the other tracks his voice is either experimented on / penalised in the mix (TGP, BF) or not fully exploited because he's not John Maynard Keynes (TGD).

I'm all for experimentation or inspiration corners (in reasonable doses), but human voice is a bit harder to fock around with than inanimate instruments' tone and phrasing.

[Ben_Jamin]

His vocals don't bother me much, it was just wondering the input he could've put into the vocals had he been there more is all.

SDOIT is my favorite album for a reason, and JLB's vocals are a part of that reason.

[pg1067]

IMO, James is fantastic on SDOIT ... when he's given vocal lines playing to his strengths: Misunderstood and Disappear on one side, 4/6 of the title track on the other (and he manages to shine even on the 2 songs designed for a Phil Anselmo kind of vocalist). On the other tracks his voice is either experimented on / penalised in the mix (TGP, BF) or not fully exploited because he's not John Maynard Keynes (TGD).

I'm sorry, what?!  While Keynes was one of Time magazine's Most Important People of the [20th] Century, why would being an early 20th Century British economist have been of any benefit to JLB?   

[Indiscipline]

 

I swear I meant John Maynard Keenan, and my brain autonomously switched files 

[pg1067]

I swear I meant John Maynard Keenan, and my brain autonomously switched files 

I'll laugh anyway, even though I don't know who that is.   

[Podaar]

I think he actually meant Maynard James Keenan. 

[Indiscipline]

Yes, that one! 

I will quietly exit the thread now

I need a drink.

[Podaar]

 

[Trav]

IMO, James is fantastic on SDOIT ... when he's given vocal lines playing to his strengths: Misunderstood and Disappear on one side, 4/6 of the title track on the other (and he manages to shine even on the 2 songs designed for a Phil Anselmo kind of vocalist). On the other tracks his voice is either experimented on / penalised in the mix (TGP, BF) or not fully exploited because he's not John Maynard Keynes (TGD).

I'm all for experimentation or inspiration corners (in reasonable doses), but human voice is a bit harder to fock around with than inanimate instruments' tone and phrasing.

I agree with this. I don't know if we're on the same page with the title track, but I imagine so. I think the best parts are ATC 1&2, GK and SS. James shines on those, and therefore they work well as a whole unit.

[lovethedrake]

IMO, Six Degrees is James' finest hour. That was his peak vocally.

He started to lose it a little bit on Train of Thought imo.

Part of that(actually most of that)  was just his vocal style changing to a more metal approach and the band thinning out the vocal production to be more metal and modern sounding but his vocals on the album of six degrees and the tour of six degrees were amazing.

Quick run down for me:

Images - brilliant but soft register a little breathy

Awake- some great some a little cringy

Change of seasons- all brilliant

FII - pretty much brilliant but some of the songs ruin it

SFAM- great performance from James but he easily tops it on SDOIT,  though Sfam is my favorite DT album.

Sdoit - perfection

TOT is the first album where I actually got annoyed by some of vocals by James.   For me this continued all the way through ADTOE.  James has returned to form on the the last 3 albums, just without the crazy high register due to age.

[TAC]

I don't know man. I think ToT is that way because that was what was asked of him.


He's practically perfect on SC and BC&SL. Especially the BC&SL cover disc.

[Volante99]

I thought about this for awhile, and I actually agree that SDOIT is James' finest hour.

His voice sounds fuller, stronger here than on FII and SFaM.

Obviously not as technically impressive as I&W and Awake, but I'd argue some of the vocal acrobatics hindered the songs in places rather than helped, especially on Awake.

Basically, SDoIT LaBrie gets to show off his full range without being showy.

I'll also say a BIG part of it is that the vocals are produced very well in SDoIT. Not too dry, but also not drenched in reverb or other effects processing. Mike and JP did a good job helping JLB sound his best on that album.

[lovethedrake]

I don't know man. I think ToT is that way because that was what was asked of him.


He's practically perfect on SC and BC&SL. Especially the BC&SL cover disc.

He does sound great on the cover disc.... I remember being so frustrated by that because it was clear he could still sing but they were using him in a way that I really disliked.   

His mid 2000's run may very well have just been wasted by the band(for my tastes) trying to sound modern and keep up with the times.  I wish they just let James be James.

[hunnus2000]

Quick run down for me:

Images - brilliant but soft register a little breathy

Images - soft register? Really? 

[pg1067]

I think he actually meant Maynard James Keenan. 

Still don't know who that is....

[Indiscipline]

The singer form Tool

*checks for typos or brain farts*

*double checks*

Yeah, Tool it is.

[TAC]

The singer form Tool

*checks for typos or brain farts*

*double checks*