Dream Theater self titled album discussion - [SPOILER FREE DISCUSSION ONLY]

[The Letter M]

Are we really gonna quibble about some of these song titles supposedly sounding pretentious?  I mean, this is the same band that named one of their albums Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.

Besides, if the song titles were too ordinary, then people would bitch about them sounding too vanilla.  It's not like anything on this album immediately sounds as blatantly absurd as The Count of Tuscany.

True! Besides, they could have named it like something a Coheed And Cambria album title would be...throw in a number or two, a colon, a subtitle, parenthesis, maybe an asterisk...then at the very end, just to mess with everyone, throw in "Part 1".

Yeah...

I think the titles are right in the same vein as the band's lat 5 albums. Lots of "The _________" and some interesting ones like "Enigma Machine" (which would've been cooler if they combined it into "Enigmachine" but that's just me) and "Illumination Theory".

If Mike Portnoy had still been in the band, we wouldn't be getting an album with subpar album art and 13-year old inspired song names.

As opposed to what... "Prophets Of War", "In The Presence Of Enemies", "The Dark Eternal Night", "Never Enough", "I Walk Beside You", "A Nightmare To Remember", "The Best Of Times", "Octavarium", "In The Name Of God", etc. etc.

The titles are good, and we can't fully judge their worth until we hear the music and listen to the lyrics. Would "Bridges In The Sky" be taken differently had it kept it's prior name of "The Shaman's Trance"?

-Marc.

[Kotowboy]

Meh - I still prefer the original album cover.

Me too

[Whatsername]

There's really only a few titles over the past decade that I'm not fond of, usually because of being too generic or too awkward:

Build Me Up, Break Me Down
This is the Life
The Best of Times
Constant Motion
The Answer Lies Within
I Walk Beside You
Panic Attack

I think the only one of the new ones that sounds a little awkward is False Awakening Suite. The "Suite" should have been dropped, or something.

See I find The Best of Times, Constant Motion, and The Answer Lies Within to be nice titles. I agree with you about the others. And I'll probably get used to calling it False Awakening Suite but first impressions are it's a tad awkward to say.

[ZirconBlue]

Well, in all fairness the ACOS cover looked nothing like any work by Storm Thorgerson

Also, Storm Thorgerson refused to use existing fonts/logos.  That's why FII and OiaLT don't have the normal DT logo on them.

[Voices]

Based on what JP said about the new album being self-titled, I wasn't expecting anything different from the actual artwork. It's very clear and simple, like: "we are Dream Theater and that's enough". I have in mind that this art may represent exactly what they meant to show musically speaking...something direct, concise, and new.
That artwork, also reminds me of that "new ground" JP talked about...I'm saying this again: my expectations are very high, Dream Theater never dissapointed me.

[Zook]

Maybe this art is the slip case, and there will be different art underneath.

[Zydar]

Maybe this art is the slip case, and there will be different art underneath.

Beneath the surface?

[hefdaddy42]

I think the artwork for WDADU was done by someone they grabbed hanging outside the studio.

[Zook]

I think the artwork for WDADU was done by someone they grabbed hanging outside the studio.

I imagine it isn't one of his fondest memories.

"Hey dad, tell us about the time you were dragged into a recording studio and threatened with a branding iron."

[JayOctavarium]

I LOVE the concept of the cover... but not crazy about the execution... especially after Blob had to go pointing all that out

Also, I do like Blob's version but not sure if I like it better...

[Chino]

Why does the Earth get cut through the middle? 

[Zydar]

Welcome to the last 17 pages.

[Zook]

Why does the Earth get cut through the middle? 

Because right below that point was the word SAMPLE.

[snapple]

hah, Zook. You made a funny.

[Zook]

Oh yeah, you don't like me. It's cause I'm black isn't it?

[snapple]

Oh yeah, you don't like me. It's cause I'm black isn't it?

We don't take kindly to you 'round these parts.

[Zook]

Well I agreed to use a coloreds only sub forum, but you haven't created it yet.

[Aythesryche]

Would be neat if that album cover flaw caused a delay with the albums release day.

[sueño]

Maybe this art is the slip case, and there will be different art underneath.

Beneath the surface?

[CodyWanKenobi]

I hope they call the tour the 'Dream Theatour'. That would be such a win.

That was actually my idea:

Dream Theater will be tourning in support of Dream Theater. Groovy.

"Dream Theatour"

Awww I didn't see that! hahaha. Damn.

[PROGdrummer]

Would be neat if that album cover flaw caused a delay with the albums release day.

leave

[GasparXR]

Would be neat if that album cover flaw caused a delay with the albums release day.

And then we would complain about the delay that we caused ourselves.

[JayOctavarium]

Would be neat if that album cover flaw caused a delay with the albums release day.

And then we would complain about the delay that we caused ourselves.

That would be amazing devastating

[atmyne]

has anyone/should someone inform RR/DT about the cover? e.g. messaging the RR people on twitter about the line through the cover? maybe they can pass that on to whoever it concerns(?). I know it's only the cover but it might be worth drawing to their attention.

[CodyWanKenobi]

If Mike Portnoy had still been in the band, we wouldn't be getting an album with subpar album art and 13-year old inspired song names.

If Mike Portnoy was still in the band, they'd still be on hiatus for another two years and you wouldn't be getting anything.   

[PROGdrummer]

Do you think the band knows just how worked up we are over that stupid line in the album cover? lol

[Octawakeimages]

I love the DT12 cover.  Just not sure what to think yet about the cutoff.

[emtee]

The line that seperates the light from the dark is called the Terminator Line. Maybe DT played Bezzerwizzer like I did

Fun fact.

[MarkFitDT]

has anyone/should someone inform RR/DT about the cover? e.g. messaging the RR people on twitter about the line through the cover? maybe they can pass that on to whoever it concerns(?). I know it's only the cover but it might be worth drawing to their attention.

That is a very good point - has anyone done this? The cut off is so obvious.

[Setlist Scotty]

The question is if it's noticeable in the print, and i don't think it will be.

Bingo, we have a winner. Most people have their monitors set too brightly. Mine are pretty much calibrated to sRGB and I can still see it a little...

True, but I just downloaded it, converted the image to CMYK in Photoshop using the standard settings and I'm pretty sure that it WILL be *at least* slightly visible in the printed product. It is most obvious in the black channel, which obviously is the darkest of the colors and therefore where it will be the most telling. Not good.

Here's hoping that the guys in DT will read this thread (I'm betting they have, at least in a cursory fashion), seen Blob's first attempt at redoing the cover art and will replace what they have with whatever his final attempt is. I know there's a snowball's chance in hell of that ever happening, but one can hope.

The cover artwork being somewhat sloppy has been something that I e-mailed MP about each time the (Hugh Syme) art was released, since there were flaws in it, but aside from the 8v artwork (which theoretically wasn't the finished piece anyway), he rebuffed my criticisms/suggestions and said that if the other guys in the band had been aware of what I was saying, that they would have been even more offended, despite the fact that my comments were meant to improve what was already there. Not sure why it was such a big deal, since the DT *is* the customer and when specific flaws are pointed out, they have every right to get them corrected. That's the exact reason why I fixed the artwork when doing stuff for the band, specifically the 20th Anniversary Octavarium art (the ball at the end being the wrong angle) and the Black Clouds and Silver Anniversary poster, and by extension, the new Lifting Shadows book cover art (the shadows being incorrect/missing and the perspective of the majesty symbol being way off).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to see what Blob puts together with some more time - I'm sure it will be even better than his first round attempt, which was a definite step up from what is official.

[lyfeternl]

has anyone/should someone inform RR/DT about the cover? e.g. messaging the RR people on twitter about the line through the cover? maybe they can pass that on to whoever it concerns(?). I know it's only the cover but it might be worth drawing to their attention.

That is a very good point - has anyone done this? The cut off is so obvious.

I actually find it sad that people are getting so worked up by this album art issue that they're even considering the need to speak with DT's record label to address this "travesty"... 

Can we not just appreciate the fact that we have some updates to enjoy while we close the gap on September 24?

[sueño]

has anyone/should someone inform RR/DT about the cover? e.g. messaging the RR people on twitter about the line through the cover? maybe they can pass that on to whoever it concerns(?). I know it's only the cover but it might be worth drawing to their attention.

That is a very good point - has anyone done this? The cut off is so obvious.

I actually find it sad that people are getting so worked up by this album art issue that they're even considering the need to speak with DT's record label to address this "travesty"... 

Can we not just appreciate the fact that we have some updates to enjoy while we close the gap on September 24?

It's too fun.  I've never seen anything like it!       

[Setlist Scotty]

There seems to be a general consensus that Hugh isn't very good at album art? Or that he doesn't execute well?

I wouldn't go that far.  I think it's more that a subset of fans who post on an Internet forum don't like his art.

I think it is more accurate to say that he appears less committed on the artwork he has done for DT than for the bigger-named acts for whom he has produced album art.

Yes and no - even some of his art for Rush is a bit poor. I know there's at least 1 or 2 images from Clockwork Angels that looked like they were lowres and were enlarged. And if you look at the tourbook for the last few tours, the design of them pale in comparison to the ones he did from 1994 through 2004. Nevermind the tourbook he did for A Dramatic Tour of Events.

I love Hugh's old artwork, but he definitely has gotten sloppy within the last 5 to 10 years, which really sucks, IMO.

[Whatsername]

I actually find it sad that people are getting so worked up by this album art issue that they're even considering the need to speak with DT's record label to address this "travesty"... 

Can we not just appreciate the fact that we have some updates to enjoy while we close the gap on September 24?

It's too fun.  I've never seen anything like it!       

Pass the popcorn! This is a wonderful distraction from work.

[matte.braso]

nobody noticed it, but in 'Studio ep.1' min. 1.15 we had a preview of the cover on Mangini's pc:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIjhQhm1JvU&feature=player_detailpage#t=75s







I know, it's Yes' Fragile ....