Prog Snob's Compulsory Indelible Pragmatic DT Top 50 v. Top 10

[Prog Snob]

Well here it is. I put it off for long enough and with much deep thought and analyzation I have put together a pretty damn good list. There will be plenty of surprises regarding the omission and addition of certain songs that most would/would not expect in a Dream Theater Top 50 list.  Because of my fluctuating tastes, I might even question myself at some point during the list but that is just my caprice shining through. The closer the list gets to the top, however, know that those songs are more immutable than the lower half of the list. I even made a couple of adjustments last night after listening to a few songs again. 

I have most of the write-ups completed, though I am going to review the first few One Last Time before putting them here a bit later.  I will give one spoiler alert.  None of the Majesty demo songs made it on here.      

Just a quick intro regarding my discovery of Dream Theater. I started listening to them back in 1992 when a local college radio station based out of Seton Hall University played Pull Me Under on the airwaves. A few weeks later MTV started playing Pull Me Under on an almost regular basis.  MTV played music videos you say...and good ones?  You lie!  No, I shit you not.  After purchasing Images & Words I listened to it nonstop for weeks.  Even though you can sense the Rush influence, it wasn't as prevalent and at the forefront as it is in some songs now. Surprisingly, they weren't my favorite band immediately.  I still needed to hear more from them.  I was listening to heavier music so Overkill were my favorite band at the time.  It wasn't until 1994, when Awake was released, that I knew this band were the real deal, the genuine article, the bees knees, the cats whiskers...AHEM!   I digress..

So here we are now in 2013 and Dream Theater has released, in my opinion, their finest product since A Dramatic Turn Of Events. I hope everyone enjoys the list and please feel free to give your unabashed and unrelenting critiques.

Stay tuned!   

[Sycsa]

Following

[ReaperKK]

following!

[Podaar]

Bring it!

[jakepriest]

I like following lists and disagreeing with people so... 

[Crow]

I like following lists and disagreeing with people so... 

You've mastered that second one 
And will be following. Let's do this.

[Evermind]

Sure thing, I'll follow this too. 

[King Postwhore]

Johnny.  I'm not following.



















I lied.

[mikemangioy]

following!

[Prog Snob]

50. Status Seeker

I always thought this track should have led off the album.  The upbeat keyboard intro fit well with what Dream Theater represents, as opposed to the short drum intro from A Fortune In Lies.  Because of the poor production of the first CD, I didn't really appreciate this song until I heard it sung by James live. Contrarily, I think Charlie's vocals fit the song better. The melodies are simple yet brilliantly put together.  The solo isn't over the top and complements the rest of the song perfectly. 

The song appears to be about the band's experience early on in the music industry.  They learned the hard way how things are done yet they were unyielding in their passions and kept true to the music they loved.  This section of lyrics sums it all up:

"Nothing is sacred,
You draw the bottom line
With a dollar sign.
Change of opinion,
At the drop of a dime.
Graceless intrusion,
Are you sanctified in your
Judgment of me?
All that I deserve is what you were
Unable to see."



49. The Best Of Times

Losing a family member isn't something one deals with by any set rule or standard. Each person copes in their own manner and frees their mind of that heavy cloud at their own pace.  It was hard enough losing my grandmother a few months back, so much that I am afraid to see my state if one of my parents were to pass on.  That being said, I will never judge someone for their grieving process. 

Moving on...

I love this song!  I will never understand all of the hate it gets.  The intro is beautiful.  I absolutely love JP's guitar intro which follows. Sure it sounds heavily Rush influenced but so what?  The melodies throughout the song are well written. There are thirteen minutes worth of music here and if people want to slight it for the short Rush-inspired part in the beginning that is their prerogative - or maybe people have other reasons for slighting it.  Whatever they may be I will never get it.  Jordan stays mostly low-key in this and he adds a beautiful backdrop for the main melodies. JP's guitar outro is by far my favorite on the CD. Yes, I like it more than TCOT's outro!  I'm sure Mike told John to take special care in contriving this solo and John happily and succinctly obliged. 


48. The Killing Hand

John Petrucci once compared the lyrics in this song to something out of the Twilight Zone.  The lyrics give us a foreshadowing of what JP is capable of when writing. Some of the references might come off as a bit obfuscating but they paint the complete picture of the message which JP was trying to convey. Ironically enough, JP is the killing hand as shown through his YouTube guitar instruction videos.

The music itself comes across as a mix of prog with some power metal style riffs.  Musically speaking, this is my favorite of all the WDADU tracks. I really think the vocals for this song are much better suited for James' voice so I am using one of the live versions as my reference track.  If I went with Charlie's version, I probably would not have included it on the list. No offense to Charlie, as his vocals offer up a different style, but the song needs a more powerful and versatile voice to back up the contrasting musical passages.

[jakepriest]

I wouldn't place any song from WDADU into top 50 but it's nice to see some love for TBOT.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I actually prefer Charlie's version of The Killing Hand.

[Evermind]

None of those made my Top 50.

Nice job. 

[Prog Snob]

I wouldn't place any song from WDADU into top 50 but it's nice to see some love for TBOT.

Just out of curiosity, when did you first get into DT?  I usually find that younger or newer fans have more trouble stomaching WDADU. 

I actually prefer Charlie's version of The Killing Hand.

Any particular reason?   

None of those made my Top 50.

Nice job. 

I know.  I'm sure there will others too.

[425]

The Killing Hand is excellent. I also like The Best of Times and Status Seeker, but neither would be this high for me.

[AngelBack]

Following and I had similar thoughts about the solo on BOT.  I believe JP took it as the utmost importance to craft one of his best solos to pay tribute to his friends father passing.  What an extraordinary honor !!! 

[Crow]

None of those made my Top 50.

Nice job. 

This.

Status Seeker is the other song on WDADU that I can't imagine anyone but Dominici singing (the first being Afterlife) but the rest he doesn't fit in. TBOT has an awesome outro solo, can't disagree there. One of Petrucci's best. Personally I've just never been able to care for TKH, it's not bad but it doesn't do anything for me.

[Onno]

Following!

[?]

Two WDADU songs in the first update? Nice!

[Podaar]

I read the first update and thought, "Nope."

Then I read your post carefully and listened to each song in turn hoping to see them through your eyes. Still, nope but with less emphasis on the "n" sound. Very well done. I look forward to the next update.

[hefdaddy42]

None of those made my Top 50.

Same here.

[The Stray Seed]

Two WDADU songs in the first update? Nice!

[son_ov_hades]

I'll be following this, as I like the updates so far. But The Killing Hand is way too low imo.

[Prog Snob]

Thanks for the excellent input guys. The next update will either be later tonight or tomorrow morning.

[Ruba]

I love Status Seeker and The Killing Hand. The Best of Times is one of the best songs on BC&SL.

[Prog Snob]

47. Along For The Ride

Imagine you're surrounded by a world of religious fanatics and every ounce of your being is
striving for peace.  When everything seems futile do you just give up or do you hope that
others will see things through your eyes? John Petrucci once again wows us with his religiously
tainted lyrics that always command such a powerful message. The lyrics for this song were
written in response to the Boston Marathon bombing, though the lyrics can undoubtedly be
referenced in any instance of religious fanaticism.

Along For The Ride was the first song I heard from the new CD that got me really excited. TEI
was good but I felt like something was missing with that track.  The opening guitar part
slightly reminds me of Closer to the Heart by Rush.  There is also an awesome return to the
ELP-sounding key solo by Jordan Rudess. Excepting those two instances, this song is all Dream
Theater.  It's that sound of theirs that I love, that musicality that set them above the other
bands in their genre.

46. The Ministry of Lost Souls

One of the more underrated tracks in Dream Theater's catalog.  It took me  a while to get into
it as well but I'm glad I kept pushing myself to give it a few more chances. The song itself
feels like it's slow and dredging itself from one passage to the next which I can imagine is
what turns a lot of people off.  However, halfway through, the song comes to one of my favorite
Dream Theater instrumental passages in their history. This alone makes the song worth the
listen. JP's solo at the end of the passage is clearly one of his best.

45. Vacant

One of the most haunting musical pieces in the Dream Theater catalog, Vacant is masterful from
it's lyrics to Jordan's somber piano melody.  I gained a completely new admiration for this
song after discovering the meaning behind the lyrics. One can only imagine how hard it was for
James to get these lyrics down on paper without pouring more of his heart onto the page. I get
chills everytime I hear this song causing my empathetic nature to switch into high gear. This
is a song that could have probably been listed much higher but I didn't want to completely base
its position on the list on my unstable emotional train wreck of a mind.

44. Lost Not Forgotten

What an awesome fucking song!  The instrumental passage starting at around the two minute mark
is one of their most mind boggling pieces of music I've ever heard. The riffs throughout the
song are fantastic and the story in the lyrics is another one of John Petrucci's brilliant
attempts at telling a thought provoking story. "The greatest story never told." The guitar solo
completely reminds me of Under A Glass Moon.

[AngelBack]

Glad to see TMOLS on your list but I would have placed it MUCH higher.  And LNF is my least fave from ADTOE, not a bad song, but it is, IMO, the least on what I feel a strong album. 

[jakepriest]

I like the instrumental passage in TMOLS a lot but it's still a bit too high for me.

Lost Not Forgotten is imo the worst RR-era song. The entire song is a bad copy of UAGM which is a mediocre song to begin with imo.

[mikemangioy]

ALFTR is awesome, TMOLS is just 
And I kinda like LNF, but it's a bit too technical for me to enjoy it as a song, same as Dance Of Eternity.

[son_ov_hades]

The Ministry Of Lost Souls is a really cool song, one of only two on Systematic Choas. Glad to see it on your list! Also Lost Not Forgotten 

[Evermind]

The guitar solo completely reminds me of Under A Glass Moon.

The whole LNF completely reminds me of Under A Glass Moon, even a bit too much for my liking.

AFTR probably would be ~40ish if I wrote my list right when DT12 came out, but I grew tired of it in these months. I can see why it's there though, a nice song indeed.

[Crow]

Along for the Ride is one of the "just there" songs on DT12 for me, very meh.
TMOLS is underrated yeah though we seem to like it for different reasons 
If you think you should've placed Vacant higher then you probably should have, gut feels on a list like this are the best way to judge placements. I'm fine with where you have it though.
And LNF *is* UAGM. Except worse. The only thing that isn't a complete ripoff of UAGM are the lyrics and the intro piano. Basically everything else is UAGM, except suckier.

[Podaar]

Great update! I'd probably rank Along For The Ride higher and certainly The Ministry of Lost Souls much higher if I were to think about ranking DT songs very much.

Lost Not Forgotten is a strange beast for me. Sometimes it's the greatest thing ever and other times it's just playing in the background. Either way the riff at 2:31 is a gigantic teeth gritter! 

I don't dislike Vacant and appreciate it...yet, if I never heard it again I'd probably not miss it.

[Ruba]

44. Lost Not Forgotten
The guitar solo completely reminds me of Under A Glass Moon.

The whole song completely reminds me of Under a Glass Moon.

AFTR is one of the best tracks on DT12.

[JiM-Xtreme]

44. Lost Not Forgotten
The guitar solo completely reminds me of Under A Glass Moon.

The whole song completely reminds me of Under a Glass Moon.