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

[Onno]

Man, it's crazy to think how much the band has changed since MP's departure. I remember a time, when these 2-member interviews would usually just contain JP and MP. JP was of course, always one of the main creative and musical forces behind the album, and MP always took that seat as the head honcho, the spokesperson for the album.

Now, James kind of took that over. JP is obviously still the main musical force behind it, but now, JLB is really filling the shoes of the front man. He understands everything about the music and the direction perfectly (not that he never used to, he just never had the opportunity to fully express it, IMO) and is really embracing being the 'front' man of Dream Theater, being the face and the voice of it. Which, I think, is how it should be. He no longer comes off like that guy who flies in from Canada to do the singing. It's much more evident that he's an integral part of the Dream Theater brand.

This exactly. I love that.

[mikeyd23]

Man, it's crazy to think how much the band has changed since MP's departure. I remember a time, when these 2-member interviews would usually just contain JP and MP. JP was of course, always one of the main creative and musical forces behind the album, and MP always took that seat as the head honcho, the spokesperson for the album.

Now, James kind of took that over. JP is obviously still the main musical force behind it, but now, JLB is really filling the shoes of the front man. He understands everything about the music and the direction perfectly (not that he never used to, he just never had the opportunity to fully express it, IMO) and is really embracing being the 'front' man of Dream Theater, being the face and the voice of it. Which, I think, is how it should be. He no longer comes off like that guy who flies in from Canada to do the singing. It's much more evident that he's an integral part of the Dream Theater brand.

Great post! Totally agree with everything you said there...

It just seems to make sense now, watching that interview just made sense to me.  The guitarist who is the main musical force and the front man who has his mind wrapped around the full vision of the album and the band.  Its just very enjoyable to listen to both JP and JLB and they clearly have both settled into their post-MP roles very well.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Man, it's crazy to think how much the band has changed since MP's departure. I remember a time, when these 2-member interviews would usually just contain JP and MP. JP was of course, always one of the main creative and musical forces behind the album, and MP always took that seat as the head honcho, the spokesperson for the album.

Now, James kind of took that over. JP is obviously still the main musical force behind it, but now, JLB is really filling the shoes of the front man. He understands everything about the music and the direction perfectly (not that he never used to, he just never had the opportunity to fully express it, IMO) and is really embracing being the 'front' man of Dream Theater, being the face and the voice of it. Which, I think, is how it should be. He no longer comes off like that guy who flies in from Canada to do the singing. It's much more evident that he's an integral part of the Dream Theater brand.

[Kotowboy]

I wonder what kind of band they would be if MP stayed and Labrie & Myung quit.

[robwebster]

Again - this is a huge part of what digital art is. This is his medium, and very few people in his genre are going to take their own photos of drive-in signs. Only difference between now and ten years ago is that it's ever easier to find this stuff.

Fine to criticise Hugh Syme for the finished product, but I think it's a bit rich that we have this conversation every two years, where people want to hang him for being this kind of digital artist. It's really not news!

I agree.
It's just not practical to set up and take photos for such an array of random elements to compose one image. It's fine if it's for a cover, and it's something that can exist, but when you're putting together surreal scenes like this, it's just too much, and would make it more time consuming and expensive to the point of being impractical for a band like DT to do this every album.

Had you not gone out and searched for the stock image, would it have affected the quality of the final image? Judge the result, not the process. If the most appropriate image of a drive-in sign happens to be one of the first results on Google, then so be it. The real sign happens to use the spelling "theatre". It's not a matter of being easy to fix, it's a matter of whether it was even necessary to change it to begin with.

I respectfully disagree. Either do your job properly or don't bother. Putting together a montage of free images isn't art IMO.

That is his job properly. Whether you think it counts as art or no.

[7StringedBeast]

Did Syme do 8V?

[robwebster]

Yes.

[Kotowboy]

That is his job properly. Whether you think it counts as art or no.

The lead singer of Mansun got kicked out of art college for using a ruler on his drawings !

Who's to say that straight lines aren't art ?!

[7StringedBeast]

Yes.

Interesting.  I think that 8v is DT's best album art that they ever have had.  Yet I find everything else he has done to be pretty bad.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

I don't hate the art, I just think it should have gone with the album cover. The two look like they're from totally different albums.

[Tomislav95]

Watched an interview I'm so pumped about new album and especially first DT show I'll attend

[dparrott]

Mansun  Just listened to them today.

[Daso]

Note to those who have not heard The Enemy Inside and don't want to hear it until the album is released:

Parts of the song are played both at the beginning and at the end of the interview.


Someone should've pointed that out before, but I might prevent some people from listening to those bits.

[GandL]

He no longer comes off like that guy who flies in from Canada to do the singing. It's much more evident that he's an integral part of the Dream Theater brand

This, ....,  I like it. 

[aprilethereal]

I wish they hired the guy who did the TOT artwork once again. That's my absolute favourite.

[TheGreatPretender]

I wish they hired the guy who did the TOT artwork once again. That's my absolute favourite.

As long as it's not printed on cheap, crappy paper.

[BlobVanDam]

I wish they hired the guy who did the TOT artwork once again. That's my absolute favourite.

As long as it's not printed on cheap, crappy paper.

Curse you matte booklet! I demand gloss!

[TheGreatPretender]

Curse you matte booklet! I demand gloss!

Plus the lyrics in ToT were printed crooked. That bugs the hell out of me.

[BlobVanDam]

Curse you matte booklet! I demand gloss!

Plus the lyrics in ToT were printed crooked. That bugs the hell out of me.

DON'T CROSS THE CROOKED PRINTING.

I just checked, and there's no problem on my copy that I notice. If some were printed off crooked though, that sucks!

[robwebster]

I thought the Train of Thought paper was ace! It is a brilliant booklet, with brilliant art, though, yes. I just wonder if it'd be too similar to ToT, a second time.

...Are we discussing the different papers lyric booklets are made out of, here? Yep, okay, just checking.

Yes.

Interesting.  I think that 8v is DT's best album art that they ever have had.  Yet I find everything else he has done to be pretty bad.

I think they've got better covers, but the booklet's about as good as it gets. Then again, Hugh Syme's style really matched it. All the literal puns and visual clues match Octavarium's themes, and the bright vibe of the art is a good fit for the relatively breezy vibe of the album.

[TheGreatPretender]

DON'T CROSS THE CROOKED PRINTING.

I just checked, and there's no problem on my copy that I notice. If some were printed off crooked though, that sucks!

Actually, now that I look at it, my bad, it's not the lyrics (except ITNOG), it's the back of the cover, where all the credits are printed. Mine is really noticeably slanted. Like they cut it at an angle or something.

[BlobVanDam]

I think they've got better covers, but the booklet's about as good as it gets. Then again, Hugh Syme's style really matched it. All the literal puns and visual clues match Octavarium's themes, and the bright vibe of the art is a good fit for the relatively breezy vibe of the album.

I agree. The Octavarium booklet is probably their best. As for album covers, I think the Octavarium cover is really good, and I personally love the SC one. DT12 is one of their better ones too, although I'm still not big on the new Majesty design.
I was not a big fan of the BCASL and ADTOE covers, but again the booklet art was great stuff!

Actually, now that I look at it, my bad, it's not the lyrics (except ITNOG), it's the back of the cover, where all the credits are printed. Mine is really noticeably slanted. Like they cut it at an angle or something.

The back page has an ever so slight slant on mine, but I wouldn't have even noticed it at all had I not been looking for it.

[TheGreatPretender]

The back page has an ever so slight slant on mine, but I wouldn't have even noticed it at all had I not been looking for it.

Well, yeah, it's not upside down or anything, lol. I'd say it's roughly 3 - 4 degrees, but I don't know, it still bugs me.

Also, I think the lyrics for As I Am/Endless Sacrifice are printed too close to the edge. It really seems like there was some cheap cutting equipment used when making the booklets.

[aprilethereal]

I don't mind the TOT paper.

[BlobVanDam]

The back page has an ever so slight slant on mine, but I wouldn't have even noticed it at all had I not been looking for it.

Well, yeah, it's not upside down or anything, lol. I'd say it's roughly 3 - 4 degrees, but I don't know, it still bugs me.

Also, I think the lyrics for As I Am/Endless Sacrifice are printed too close to the edge. It really seems like there was some cheap cutting equipment used when making the booklets.

The closest lyrics to the edge are TDS, and I measured it at 1/8" / 4mm from the edge. All of the other lyrics look to be the same distance. Can you measure it on yours? I'd like to know just how messed up your booklet is!

This is what the back page of my booklet looks like (sorry for the crap quality)
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/BlobVanDam/IMG_0021.jpg

[Zydar]

Dingos ate your camera?

[TheGreatPretender]

The closest lyrics to the edge are TDS, and I measured it at 1/8" / 4mm from the edge. All of the other lyrics look to be the same distance. Can you measure it on yours? I'd like to know just how messed up your booklet is!

This is what the back page of my booklet looks like (sorry for the crap quality)
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/BlobVanDam/IMG_0021.jpg

All right, well, since we're sharing images, here's mine. As you can see, the back of the print is quite crooked. And the lyrics to As I Am and This Dying Soul are right up against the edge, maybe leaving barely 1mm of space. You can also see on As I Am, the edge of the picture from the second last page of the booklet can be seen near the center.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v459/Kovalevskyy/ToT-Booklet.jpg

[BlobVanDam]

Jebus dude, you got one horribly printed booklet! You weren't lying!  The lyrics for TDS look almost cut off.

I won't post pics of my other pages for comparison, but as I said, they're all a solid 4mm from the edge, which yours clearly aren't. I assume mine is how it was intended to be.

[TheGreatPretender]

Yeah, probably... Although if EVERY booklet wasn't a misprint/miscut like that... That would make my booklet more unique... So I'm actually starting to like it, now, haha.

[GasparXR]

Yeah, probably... Although if EVERY booklet wasn't a misprint/miscut like that... That would make my booklet more unique... So I'm actually starting to like it, now, haha.

My booklet has the same weird cutoff for TDS. Thankfully it's not actually cutting off the lyrics, but it looks odd.

[Super Dude]

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.


Wait.

Wait, all of False Awakening is an instrumental?

[DreamerTV]

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.


Wait.

Wait, all of False Awakening is an instrumental?

Yes.

[wolfking]

The closest lyrics to the edge are TDS, and I measured it at 1/8" / 4mm from the edge. All of the other lyrics look to be the same distance. Can you measure it on yours? I'd like to know just how messed up your booklet is!

This is what the back page of my booklet looks like (sorry for the crap quality)
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/BlobVanDam/IMG_0021.jpg

All right, well, since we're sharing images, here's mine. As you can see, the back of the print is quite crooked. And the lyrics to As I Am and This Dying Soul are right up against the edge, maybe leaving barely 1mm of space. You can also see on As I Am, the edge of the picture from the second last page of the booklet can be seen near the center.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v459/Kovalevskyy/ToT-Booklet.jpg

Mine is pretty much like this.  The lyrics to TDS has a little more space at teh edge, but not much.

[Meatrose]

Here's the full version of what I assume to be the booklet artwork for The Bigger Picture. I took it down last time I posted it as I wasn't sure if it was okay to share the snippet images pasted together like this.



Source

[Kotowboy]

Mansun  Just listened to them today.

Attack Of The Grey Lantern.