Dave's Top 50 (number 1 - DT's greatest achievement)

[Evermind]

I considered SDOIT as one song, but if I didn't, maybe one or two pieces would be in my top50, though non of them in top20.

[Outcrier]

It's that impressive-looking 42-minute playing time that leads many people to think it's a masterpiece.

I don't agree with this... for me, this happens with some of their long songs but not this one.

[jakepriest]

SDOIT as a whole is for me a pretty bad song.

I only appreciate About To Crash + Reprise and Losing Time.

[Dave_Manchester]

Commencing the top 20:

Number 20 - In The Presence of Enemies Part 1 (Systematic Chaos, 2007)

A stunning opening 30 seconds. I wish they'd explored that guitar riff more fully throughout the song. As it is, it happens...and then is discarded (reprised a little a couple of minutes later, admittedly), onto another idea. Thankfully the new ideas are almost as brilliant. When Systematic Chaos came out I was relieved that they'd gone back to a more metal edge (at that time, Train of Thought was my favourite album, and I was a bit disappointed with Octavarium).  Although this album gets a comparatively lot of abuse, I still say it has their best opening track. The unison at the end is superb. The highlight of a very unusual album (and one I have a lot of affection for).

Number 19 - As I Am (Train of Thought, 2003)

Note to all mediocre guitarists who ever tour with JP - please criticise his playing. Because if this is the result, keep 'em coming. Other than the incredible solo, this is a very straight-forward song for DT, but it does announce well the nature of the album to follow. Great feedback in the intro, great riff, and I actually love the understated chorus, kind of a weary blow-off: "Yeah, you really think you can tell me how to play guitar? Well check this out..." A shout-out to Portnoy for his work following the solo.

Number 18 - Overture 1928 (Scenes From A Memory, 1999)

And so begins the greatest prog metal album ever written (minus Regression of course). The ingenuity of this track (and the album which follows) is staggering. Firstly, the reference to Metropolis in the opening riff. Then how it sets out the themes to be developed (brilliantly developed) over the next hour or so. Petrucci's first solo entry (anyone who has ever seen this song live can't have failed to get chills down the spine when he plays that first note). Rudess announces himself on the DT scene with some nice atmospherics. A very classy piece of music. 

Number 17 - Voices (Awake, 1994)

For the opening awkward riff, the grinding keys which play under it, the driving bass-line which supports it, and the ending solo, this makes the top 20. I don't love Awake as much as many here apparently do, but I do agree it's the album which most showcases their variety, their subtle textures, and the first time they really hit the peak of exploring new ground in progressive metal. The song has all of that in less than 10 minutes. One highlight of many - Portnoy's pounding drum beat as the keys signal the "I'm lying here in bed" part.

Number 16 - Space Dye Vest (Awake, 1994)

I know that many flat-out don't like this tune. Others consider it the most beautiful piece of music ever written. I just think it's a beautifully simple melody, a perfectly composed song which (in line with most of Awake, see above) knows when to sit back, when to come crashing down. The highlight is Portnoy's entry and the steady build-up it signals. A good way for Moore to bid farewell to his DT days, and it keeps the tradition of every member who has left DT leaving on a great song (Dominici - Only A Matter of Time, Moore - this song, Derek - Trial of Tears, Portnoy - Count of Tuscany).   

[Crow]

As I Am has an awesome main riff and Petrucci's solo is pretty damn good but the rest kind of loses me and the chorus is dull. Can't really compain about any of this picks though, wouldn't put most of these this high but eh! SDV is always nice to see in top 20's though.

[Evermind]

As I Am is kinda too high. Overture 1928 feels right though, so no complaints from me.

[Ruba]

I dislike As I Am. Other four songs are great, and Space-Dye Vest is too low.

[Dave_Manchester]

Coming up to the top 10:

Number 15: The Spirit Carries On (Scenes From A Memory, 1999)

One of the many things which make this such a wonderful song for me (and it's most audible in the Score version) is what Petrucci is playing beneath the "If I die tomorrow I'll be alright..." part. Everything else about it, such as the famous solo, I can't add to what's already been written by others during these lists. It's wonderful. But there are little details in this track which really come out live, and I think that's why JP often chooses to do improvisational solos before it - there's a lot of scope for exploring that opening chord progression by Rudess. Great use of the choir too. 

Number 14: Misunderstood (Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, 2002)

To lend my 2 cents to the debate of the outro, I dislike it, and if it didn't exist, this would be a top 5 song. I won't say more about the outro. I respect that many feel it adds to the atmosphere, but I skip to the next track when it begins. Up to that point however, it's such a unique piece of music, so different to anything else they've done. The only song I can really compare it to in terms of structure and feel is Space Dye Vest. The mournful strings (actual cello?) and the sinister guitar notes create an uneasy, exhilarating soundworld. The "Playing a lion being led to a cage" part is one of their finest moments.

Number 13: Fatal Tragedy (Scenes From A Memory, 1999)

I used to love this song much more, when I first got into the band and was staggered at what they were capable of playing on their instruments (I'm talking obviously of the last 3 minutes or so). Over time I realised this was par for the course for them. But the ending is still a brilliant moment, and listening to how they composed it on the 'Making of Scenes From A Memory' bootleg is a great insight into how they put this stuff together, how they work with ideas. A neglected highlight - the riff Petrucci plays under Jordan's solo.

Number 12: Breaking All Illusions (A Dramatic Turn Of Events, 2011)

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. The reprise of Far From Heaven at the end is among my top 3 DT moments. But that aside - Jordan's 1974-era Genesis-style keyboard intro following the opening guitar riff; the melodies of the choruses; the guitar solo; the epic feel of the song...in fact it feels much more epic than songs almost twice its length.  As a huge fan of Genesis, I'd say this is their most satisfyingly proggy track.

Number 11: Finally Free (Scenes From A Memory, 1999)

The same (finger-picked) chords which opened the album usher this track in. From there we shift to a spooky organ melody, before moving onto a lovely piano section. Then the band comes crashing in. Gun shots and screams appear. Gorgeous guitar solo takes us back to the beginning of the journey we began an hour before. And then Portnoy gives his 2nd best performance on the outro. It's safe to say this one song has pretty much everything. To be honest I find the actual melody of the outro a bit underwhelming, but that's a minor quibble because I'm usually focusing on the (incredible) drums. Two further points - 1) I love the guitar solo JP put over the outro on the Making Of disc (up until it gets a bit silly I mean), and 2) the coda they put at the end of this song on Live Scenes From New York is my favourite live moment by the band.     

[Crow]

Everyone currently doing their lists put Finally Free near the top 10 but not quite, haha.
I've said my piece on four of the five songs here and can't complain about a single one of them being this high though I wouldn't personally place them all in the same spots myself but it's a smaaaall difference really.

[Evermind]

TSCO and FF are just in the right place. If you feel Misunderstood deserves its place despite the intro, I won't argue. Fatal Tragedy is a bit too high though.

[jakepriest]

I used to like Fatal Tragedy a lot more when I was first listening to SFAM. Wouldn't rank it in top 50 now.

[Tom Bombadil]

Only one I don't like here is Fatal Tragedy. Everything else is solid.

[Dave_Manchester]

Into the top 10 we go...

Number 10: Beneath The Surface (A Dramatic Turn of Events, 2011)

Their most beautiful chorus. In fact, one of the most beautiful choruses ever written, and those guitar patterns Petrucci plays beneath it are what set him apart from other shredders. I don't know of any other super-technical player who can also write such purely melodic and beautiful parts. "And I disappear into the darkness" is such a wonderful chord sequence. Jordan's strange-sounding solo was a bit of a surprise at first, but after many many listens seems to fit the music perfectly. Labrie reigns in his occasional habit of massively overdoing the emotion on ballads. A gorgeous song, reminds me a bit of Hourglass from LTE 2. And this, incidentally, is the 2nd song (after Hollow Years Live) which women seem to love.

Number 9: A Change of Seasons (A Change of Seasons, 1995)

Ah yes, this one. It's difficult not to put this in the top 10, because some of its sections are among the best music they've ever written, notably The Crimson Sunrise, Another World, and The Crimson Sunset. And all the other parts have their moments. I'm always wary of thinking too highly of a song merely because its very long (something I strongly believe many people do). Does this track flow as a single piece? To me, yes, absolutely, far more than Six Degrees or Presence of Enemies or Octavarium. There is nowhere in this song I get the feeling they were actively trying to make it long in order to get an impressive track-length.  This is one of the very few 20+ minute songs in all of music which seem (to me) to make the listener lose himself, it 'disables' time, to be pretentious for a moment. As soon as those opening guitar strings are struck, I don't come out of the spell until silence falls 23 minutes later, nothing jars, nothing seems like it wasn't the natural direction for the music to go. It's a masterpiece by a band who have a hat-full of them.

Number 8: In The Name Of God (Train of Thought, 2002)

Mike Portnoy's finest achievement, throughout all the track but especially the end. The Youtube video of him recording this track has thousands of views and I'm probably responsible for about half of those. Absolute class, and feel, and technicality juxtaposed against taste. Aside from his work, the crashing riff before the final chorus has been written about extensively, and is every bit as brilliant as other people have said. The unison section...meh, to be honest this is my least favourite part of the song. I don't get how anyone can love this while at the same time disdaining the one in Lost Not Forgotten, but that's just me. For the riffs, for the intro, and for the ending...this is top 10 stuff. 

Number 7: Trial of Tears (Falling Into Infinity, 1997)

"I look for a way back home", and that swirling keyboard. Spine-chilling. The highest point of that difficult year recording Falling Into Infinity (oddly enough, while making this list I realised that the album I thought I didn't like all that much is the most represented in the top 50!). This is an exquisite balance of all the things I personally love about the band, the slow, steady, creepy opening, the grinding bass which drives the song along,, an extended JP solo, Labrie on top form, climactic ending. A perfect composition.   

Number 6: Beyond This Life (Scenes From A Memory, 1999)

For a very long time, my favourite DT track, purely for the instrumental break. How many riffs do they cram into these 3 or 4 minutes? The jazzy one preceding the unison section is my favourite. And that unison...simply stunning. This song has the simplest beginning of any DT track (hell even I can play that opening riff), but from there it becomes the maddest 11 minutes I've ever heard in a single song. Petrucci's work is amazing as always. The highlight of their best album, it has every facet of their genius, from spacey mellow parts to insanely complex shredding. One last beautiful, delicious, oft-neglected detail - MP's drumming under the "Standing by her was a man, nervous, shaking, gun in hand" part. Needless to say, the Budokan version is jaw-dropping.

[PwnsomeWin]

Beneath The Surface is an interesting #10 IMO.

[Crow]

Beneath The Surface is an interesting #10 IMO.

He's the second person today to put it there, too
Your ACoS description is worded much better than mine but that's basically how I feel about it as well 
The other three are all good picks, don't rate any of them that highly myself but they're all great songs so can't complain.

[jakepriest]

Number 8: In The Name Of God (Train of Thought, 2002)

The unison section...meh, to be honest this is my least favourite part of the song. I don't get how anyone can love this while at the same time disdaining the one in Lost Not Forgotten

Because the unison in INTOG has actual notes you can make out and actually kind of fits the song.

[RoeDent]

I'm always wary of thinking too highly of a song merely because its very long (something I strongly believe many people do)

It might have something to do with the fact that the long songs are the best. The way they go through different feelings, tempos and dynamics instead of just sticking with one mood turn them into epic symphonies of rock, or movies for your ears.

Also, because I missed it and it frustrates me immensely, I want to make one thing clear: 6DOIT IS ONE SONG. OK? The band says it is one song. So it is one song. I actually think they should have just put it as one track, forcing people to listen as a single piece. Same goes with The Incident, The Whirlwind (yes, all 78 minutes of it) and all songs in that vein.

[jakepriest]

SDOIT is and never will be a song no matter how hard you try to convince me.

[Joshin U]

SDOIT is and never will be a song no matter how hard you try to convince me.

I don't get this attitude.  If the artists themselves say that their work is one thing, you can't just say, "No it's not, because that's not the way I think it should be!"  You as the listener do not get the final say; you can enjoy different pieces of it more than others, which is an advantage of it being broken up, but it IS one song.  That's not an ongoing argument, it's a fact.

[jakepriest]

I don't get your attitude.

I respect what DT wanted to do with the "song", but if I as a listener don't feel that it's one, why am I obligated to see it this way? Music is after all very subjective and if a song has a whatever number of COMPLETELY different parts, then I will never consider it a song no matter what fanatic tries to rub it into my face.

[Sycsa]

They did put SDOIT as a single track on the Score DVD and CD, but at least they've had the common sense to split it up on the album, since as a song, it's probably the most incohesive one ever recorded (and I've heard all the classic prog 20+ minute epics). I mean, Solitary Shell just flows right into ATC Reprise, right? I certainly won't lose any sleep over someone not willing to view it as a single song.

[Dave_Manchester]

I think there are a whole bunch of threads on here discussing the issue of whether or not Six Degrees is a song, so I won't say more on it here, other than to me (only to me) it doesn't feel like a song, and it's irrelevant to me what members of the band may have said. If tomorrow Roger Waters says: "You know, I've always considered The Wall to be one song", it won't suddenly change my opinion of it, I won't think: "Oh, ok then, it's a song for me too." If I uploaded to Youtube 4 minutes of my farting and told you it's a song, I wouldn't expect you to relate to it as one. It's not black and white, even Schubert and Brahms were not entirely clear on what a 'song' (lieder') actually was. Before heading into the top 5 DT tracks, I'll just say: ultimately it doesn't matter much. I don't feel that track as a song and so haven't treated it as one here; no problem if others do.

Anyway, here are numbers 5, 4 and 3 in the DT canon:

Number 5: Illumination Theory (Dream Theater, 2013)

We're only a few months into this song being unleashed on the world, so I've taken care not to have my opinion of it coloured by the honeymoon period. But a week hasn't gone by when it hasn't been played at least 4 or 5 times, from first drum roll to closing piano notes. And I know many don't like it all that much, but to me it's just wonderful. The only thing I'm not wild about is the vocal melodies at the beginning, but that very minor caveat aside, everything in this song speaks to me. The orchestral break, firstly. It probably helps that my main musical love is 19th century symphonic music, and the melody of what Jordan did here is every bit as beautiful as what Tchaikovsky, Brahms, even Beethoven wrote (nowhere near as musically complex of course, but still very simply beautiful). The layers of the opening. The ending guitar solo (yes, ok, the "You'll never knoooow" wails go on a bit too long), the stunning instrumental section before the epic grand finale. I adore this song and think it's the best thing they've done since...well, since...

Number 4: Outcry (A Dramatic Turn of Events, 2011)

...this track. I know it may look like I'm new to DT and the top 20 has been packed full of their newer songs, but that's not the case, I'm just not that fanatic about their early work (brilliant though it is). I think that, with the odd wobble here and there, they really have got better with time. Outcry is simply everything I love about the band. The melody is self-consciously epic, it's clear they were trying to write the kind of song which would provoke the kind of reaction I have to it. Some have charged it with cheesiness, but I happen to have a taste for cheese. The instrumental section is the best they've ever written, with jaw-dropping musicianship counterpoised against taste and...well, it just fits, for me. It works brilliantly. What always made JP my favourite guitarist in his genre is that his solos (at their best) always seemed to serve the function of naturally taking the song from one place to the next, they were an integral part of the song. This is Petrucci's great gift, no matter how inhumanly technical his parts are, he always serves the music (at his best). At its worst (Rite of Passage, Dark Eternal Night), it just seemed to be a minute or 2 of unprecedented technical virtuosity plonked awkwardly into the middle of a nice song as if to say: "Hey, we may be running out of musical ideas, but nobody can deny we're the undisputed masters of technicality. Keep listening to us for that at least." With Outcry, I don't get this impression. Everything works from beginning to end. A brilliant, brilliant song.

Number 3: Stream of Consciousness (Train of Thought, 2003)

Those final 4 minutes. My number 1 pick has a better 4 minutes, but not much else in music does. How did they write this album in 3 weeks and still come up with parts like this? Pure white-hot inspiration. Those picked guitar chords before Jordan's Baroque-style solo, and the keyboard chords that play beneath it (another nod to Tony Banks? Only he and Jordan, to my knowledge, have this very keen sense of which chords work BENEATH the music). Petrucci's first solo, where he comes flying in out of nowhere. And the riff, dammit, that riff. One of their finest. Portnoy's taste (I'm an unashamed Portnoy fanboy, I should say; his drumming opens up entire new worlds to me of what drumming is) here is what makes him my favourite drummer. Many a time I listen to this song and focus only on what he is doing. He just has that innate gift, which Keith Moon also had, that natural sense of timing, of what fits and where (probably what makes him such a great arranger). Their greatest instrumental, and my 3rd most beloved piece of music by them. 

[Crow]

These are in the order I'd put them in, but all of them are some degree of too high 
Though I can't deny that Stream of Consciousness is a bloody amazing super fantastic amazing track so I can't complain much about it being here. And I really want to like Outcry more than I do because I really should like it but I just can't stay interested all the way through the song, though a lot of it is really damn good music.

[Evermind]

First part of Outcry is good, then comes the instrumental and it goes on and on and on. And some more time after that. And when the vocals come back I'm all like "wait, is it still that song?" It feels longer than Octavarium, and doesn't work for me at all, sorry.

And SoC in top3 is even more strange than at 12th place for me.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I disagree with all of these.



I am proud of you, my son.

[jakepriest]

Illumination Theory is okay. The middle part kills it, so I'd put it around 50ish.

For me, Ouctry is top 20 material and SoC is top 10 material, so 

Also I cannot agree with Petrucci giving his worst on TDEN and A Rite of Passage. Both of these songs have amazing guitar riffs and solos.

[Outcrier]

I disagree with all of these.

[Dave_Manchester]

Number 2...

The Count of Tuscany (Black Clouds and Silver Linings, 2009)

To be clear, this is actually my favourite Dream Theater song, but I couldn't give it the number 1 spot here because I think there is one other song which is 'better' in the sense of encapsulating every single peak of the group, every strength and moment of ingenuity.

The opening of this song is the best music they've ever written, so original in conception. Listening to the instrumental version gives a better sense of how beautiful Jordan's orchestral sounds are. The guitar begins with a simple-sounding (but actually quite difficult to play - how does Petrucci find these shapes?) melody, a beautiful melody. Portnoy's drums serve the music very well, there's no over-playing here. The mellow, melancholy instrumental break is wonderful (and I actually had the privilege of listening to this through headphones in the narrow alleyways of Florence, Italy - it really works very well, very 'Tuscan' music). The finale, when the 3 piano notes come in, is their finest ending, that rolling melody (like the hills of Tuscany, if you'll allow me the pretension) which leads the song out.

From start to finish, this is a musical masterpiece (the lyrics don't bother me at all). It's fitting that Mike Portnoy bowed out with this (Raw Dog aside). It's also quite an oddity on the album. For me, Black Clouds is their least original, most laboured and bored (not boring) album (still brilliant though). And right at the end, this gets tagged on, the summation of the band's originality and effortless flow of ideas.

Hoping very much they'll play it in the upcoming Evening With shows.   

[Crow]

One of those songs I want to like more than I do but never can. First few minutes and last 5 minutes are all gold though.

[Tom Bombadil]

TCOT is about as close to perfection as it gets. It was #3 on my list so I'm very glad to see it so high. 

[jakepriest]

 

[Evermind]

I love TCOT, and while I love some DT songs even more, TCOT is a decent 2nd place indeed.

[jakepriest]

I actually love Jordan's part in TCOT so much that I combined the keyboard instrumental with the original song to make the keyboards louder. Definitely worth for the chorus. 

[Ruba]

Songs 5-3 are amazing, but I got to disagree with the placement of TCOT. I don't like it that much.

[PwnsomeWin]

#1 - You Not Me About To Crash, calling it.