Your greatest DT compilation

[JLa]

Pick your favorite DT songs (studio albums) and create your greatest DT compilation. One disc only, max. 80 minutes of music.

Go!

My attempt:
1: The Glass Prison
2: Erotomania
3: These Walls
4: Learning to Live
5: Home
6: Behind the Veil
7: Scarred
8: Space-Dye Vest

Total runtime 77 minutes

[jakepriest]

1. In The Presence of Enemies Pt. 1
2. Breaking All Illusions
3. The Glass Prison
4. Home
5. The Mirror
6. In The Name Of God
7. Scarred / Learning to Live

80:40 with Learning to Live
80:11 with Scarred

Except for BAI and LTL there are all pretty rocking heavy songs.

[CharlesPL]

1.Trial Of Tears
2.Metropolis Pt.1
3.Octavarium
4.A Change Of Seasons

Disc 2:
1.SDOIT
2.Surrounded
3.IT
4.Learning To Live

Done.

[robwebster]

1. Blind Faith
2. Caught in a Web
3. Surrounded
4. Don't Look Past Me
5. Through My Words /
6. Fatal Tragedy
7. The Dark Eternal Night
8. The Root of All Evil
9. Misunderstood
10. Beneath the Surface
11. The Bigger Picture

There we go, something like that. 75 minutes. That's not my top ten, my top ten would half-spend the disc with Octavarium and Illumination Theory alone, but every single one of those songs is something I'd consider an A-tier track, and it shows off a lot of different types of "essential" Dream Theater.

Also, I suspect Fatal Tragedy into The Dark Eternal Night would be kind of a brilliant double-header.

"Remember that death is not the end, but only a transition."

DANANURR. DANANANANANANANANANANANANANURR. DANANANA-WHOOOOP!

[GentlemanofDread]

And now I'm going to quietly make a playlist with Rob's picks. Interesting picks there, good sir!

[Zyzzyva17]

1. False Awakening Suite
2. The Enemy Inside
3. Blind Faith
4. Peruvian Skies
5. Take The Time
6. Vacant
7. Stream of Consciousness
8. The Spirit Carries On
9. Octavarium

Total time - 79:53

[Phoenix87x]

I&W

[Tomislav95]

1. Metropolis pt.1
2. Overture 1928
3. Strange Deja-Vu
4. Trial of Tears
5. Surrounded
6. Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
7. The Spirit Carries On
8. Breaking All Illusions
9. Wait for Sleep
10. Learning to Live
11. Easter Egg

78:37

It's not very diverse album and I think many of you couldn't listen to album with all those songs (surrounded, LSOAD?), it's maybe not enough heavy to showcase all DT can offer. But I'm more in softer and proggy music mood these days

[The Holy Tune]

1. The Enemy Inside
2. Afterlife
3. Scarred
4. Trial of Tears
5. Hell's Kitchen
6. Misunderstood
7. Octavarium
8. The Dance of Eternity

I think it makes something below 80 minutes. Would be glad if anyone corrects that. I'd so love to include other things from other albums, but this makes my list of a CD which could be 80 minutes of beautiful music. And I think the music would float well in this order too!

[Ben_Jamin]

1. Wait For Sleep
2. About to Crash
3. The Bigger Picture
4. Scarred
5. Misunderstood
6. Prophets of War
7. About to Crash (Reprise)
8. The Enemy Inside
9. The Shattered Fortress
10. Finally Free

Its about 78 min. These are not all my favorites but I like compilations like this to flow.

[Tom Bombadil]

1. 6:00
2. To Life Forever
3. Innocence Faded
4. Voices
5. Surrounded
6. The Mirror
7. Trial of Tears
8. Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
9. Don't Look Past Me
10. Scarred
11. Space-Dye-Vest

82 minutes, but I couldn't bring myself to cut one of these.

[As I Am]

Only 3 of these songs would be in my top 10, but I think this makes a decent 80M comp DT cd!
  1. YTSE JAM 5:46
  2. Metropolis, Pt. 1 9:32
  3. Voices 9:53
  4. Peruvian Skies 6:43
  5. The Spirit Carries On 6:38
  6. Solitary Shell 5:47
  7. Endless Sacrifice 11:24
  8. Panic Attack 8:13
  9. Constant Motion 6:55
10. A Rite of Passage 8:36
Total Time 79:27

[wolfking]

1.Trial Of Tears
2.Metropolis Pt.1
3.Octavarium
4.A Change Of Seasons

Disc 2:
1.SDOIT
2.Surrounded
3.IT
4.Learning To Live

Done.

Oops, someone didn't read the OP properly.

Me:

1. The Glass Prison
2. This Dying Soul
3. Blind Faith
4. Learning to Live
5. These Walls
6. The Mirror
7. Illumination Theory

Should be around 80 minutes, but might need a little trimming.  IT wouldn't include the Easter Egg.  You could also cut the intros off a bit from These Walls and Blind Faith.  I would edit it to try and include the Mirror reprise too.

[ZKX-2099]

"Remember that death is not the end, but only a transition."

DANANURR. DANANANANANANANANANANANANANURR. DANANANA-WHOOOOP!

As somebody who makes custom playlists often I can confirm that. Also I read the riff in Jordans voice.

[BlueRoseOrchestra]

1. Lines in the Sand
2. Breaking all Illusions
3. In the Presence of Enemies pt.2
4. The Root of All Evil
5. The Answers Lie within
6. Outcry
7. Blind Faith
8. Finally Free

almost 87 mins. all my fav songs are too long.  well still within the 80 mark.

[Laughingplace56]

One disc version:

1. The Glass Prison
2. Blind Faith
3. Bridges in the Sky (shortened intro)
4. The Dance of Eternity
5. Finally Free (final scene from LSFNY added, outro cut)
6. Wait For Sleep
7. Octavarium

2-Disc version:

Disc 1:
1. The Glass Prison
2. The Enemy Inside
3. Blind Faith
4. Vacant
5. Bridges in the Sky
6. The Spirit Carries On
7. Space Dye Vest
8. Illumination Theory (Easter Egg cut)

Disc 2:
1. The Count of Tuscany
2. As I Am
3. Wait For Sleep
4. Metropolis
5. The Dance of Eternity
6. Finally Free (final scene from LSFNY added, outro cut)
7. Octavarium

I tried balancing both discs out as much as possible but it was really hard 

[tiagodon]

Many will hate this compilation! eheheh But this is a honest one:

1. Erotomania
2. Hell´s Kitchen
3. Overture 1928
4. The Dance of Eternity
5. Stream of Consciousness
6. False Awakening Suite
7. Enigma Machine
8. A Nightmare to Remember
9. Illumination Theory

[hefdaddy42]

1. Metropolis pt.1
2. Overture 1928
3. Strange Deja-Vu
4. Trial of Tears
5. Surrounded
6. Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
7. The Spirit Carries On
8. Breaking All Illusions
9. Wait for Sleep
10. Learning to Live
11. Easter Egg

78:37

It's not very diverse album and I think many of you couldn't listen to album with all those songs (surrounded, LSOAD?), it's maybe not enough heavy to showcase all DT can offer. But I'm more in softer and proggy music mood these days

I would prefer to see at least one metal song (TGP!) in there somewhere, but that's a heck of a list.  Probably may favorite one posted.

[Nefarius]

I tried coming up with a compilation picking one track from each album (except ACOS obviously) while keeping everything in order of albums. The result is quite interesting and even though there are a few odd picks it has a nice flow. If you leave drop Ytse Jam it's just below 80 minutes.

The Ytse Jam
Surrounded
Caught In A Web
You Not Me
Strange Deja Vu
Disappear
Stream Of Consciousness
Panic Attack
Forsaken
Wither
Breaking All Illusions
The Bigger Picture

Greetings...
Nef

[son_ov_hades]

1. A Fortune In Lies
2. Pull Me Under
3. 6:00
4. Home
5. Metropolis
6. The Dance Of Eternity
7. Lines In The Sand
8. The Looking Glass
9. The Silent Man
10. Beneath The Surface
11. Anna Lee

I think that's around 80 minutes, a bit weird but that's just what came to me without thinking much.

[RoeDent]

1. A Change of Seasons - 23:09
2. Erotomania - 6:44
3. Surrounded - 5:29
4. Through My Words - 1:02
5. Fatal Tragedy - 6:49
6. Breaking All Illusions - 12:28
7. Octavarium - 24:00

79:41

Bookends with two epics. Tracks 3-5 segue into each other.

[Eternal Knight]

OK so this is so so tough , here goes
No Octavarium or I.T. basically there wouldn't be any room for anything else.....

1. The Bigger Picture
2. Forsaken
3. Peruvian Skies
4. Solitary Shell
5. Breaking All Illusions

6. Home
7. Spirit Carries On
8. Presence of enemies pt 2
9. Space Dye Vest


I'd buy that.

[tiagodon]

Why people like Space Dye Vest??!! I just don´t understand...

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Not including any epics since those can take up an entire CD on their own.

1. Another Day
2. Overture 1928
3. Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
4. Blind Faith
5. Stream of Consciousness
6. Home
7. The Bigger Picture
8. Metropolis Pt. 1
9. Breaking All Illusions

78:15

Tried to transition from light/melodic to heavy to the more proggy/epic. Really goes to show that you really need a double album for a DT compilation.

[Ben_Jamin]

I just listened to my playlist and found out it works better rearranged. So I edited my post to reflect the change

[Eternal Knight]

Tiagodon - I don't really know why SDV has a certain appeal to so many people. I think it's just very different and very atmospheric ??
I love the spoken parts, maybe I can relate to the story (although I've never fallen in love with a picture in a magazine....)

[Rodni Demental]

Why people like Space Dye Vest??!! I just don´t understand...

Why? Tell me the reasons why.. Try, still I don't understand.

*echo**(I just don't understand))

[JLa]

I have to say, many of these look far better (IMO) than the official release "Greatest Hit" (etc). Roadrunner should hire us as consultants!

[Nefarius]

Greetings...
Nef

[Setlist Scotty]

Interesting thread, and definitely tough when keeping it to a single CD. However, if I were to do so, going only by what I personally would want on the compilation, then I'd say it would probably be something like this:

In the Presence of Enemies part I
The Mirror (w/ reprise)
Light Fuse and Get Away
Lines in the Sand
Behind the Veil
Disappear
Learning to Live
The Count of Tuscany

According to the playlist I created (using The Mirror from LSFNY), that comes out to a little over 81 minutes, but by cutting away the excess ending of TCoT and a few others, I think you can get it down to 80 minutes.   

[Rodni Demental]

I used to do this all the time.. Wasting CD-Rs with 80 minutes of music (sometimes fitting only 6 or 7 songs) just so I could make a DT playlist to listen to in the car (that wasn't just a normal album CD). Eventually I got a better stereo and could play MP3 CDs so I could put about 3 or 4 albums worth on a CD, great way to compile live albums because they can be up to 3 discs.

So many DT playlist CDs.. I should just go find one of them and post it's listing, because all of them were very carefully thought out and some songs deliberately altered and edited to fit within the 80s minutes. There were a lot of songs that I cut chunks off the start and ending which kills me to do tbh, but it's better than not having the song at all because it's too long.

I know I had edited versions of TCOT, TGD, LNF, SS all of these come to mind very quickly as those songs are begging to be trimmed. You do loose some of the presentation though which you start to miss after hearing a cut version of the song quite a few times.

[Setlist Scotty]

I used to do this all the time.. Wasting CD-Rs with 80 minutes of music (sometimes fitting only 6 or 7 songs) just so I could make a DT playlist to listen to in the car (that wasn't just a normal album CD). Eventually I got a better stereo and could play MP3 CDs so I could put about 3 or 4 albums worth on a CD, great way to compile live albums because they can be up to 3 discs.

I hear ya, altho for me, it was before CD-Rs were the accepted norm, and for me it was more about turning more people on to the band with a sampler. Not too long ago, I had sorted thru a bunch of old stuff and came across an old sampler cassette I had created in 1999 (before SFaM was released) with the following track listing:
Side 1
Pull Me Under
A Fortune in Lies
Ytsejam
Take the Time
Surrounded
Bombay Vindaloo (live)
Lie
To Live Forever '94
Voices

Side 2
Covers Medley (live)
Hollow Years
Burning My Soul
New Millennium
Speak to Me
Lifting Shadows Off a Dream (live)
Peruvian Skies (live)
Another Dimension

[Eternal Knight]

Let's face it, you could randomly generate any number of DT songs into a playlist, and the result would look awesome. THAT's how good they are 


( Except Build Me up, Break Me Down....obviously. )

[Sir Walrus Cauliflower]

Alright, I finally put on e together. I doesn't contain any epics, and I tried to include a good variety of songs from a good variety of albums. No MP2 songs, since I think it's strength is as a whole, and I can't fit any songs that would transition well to something off of another album.

Order:

1. False Awakening Suite
2. Caught In A Web
3. These walls (shaved intro)
4. Take the time
5. Take Away My Pain/Beneath the Surface
6. Breaking All Illusions
7. The Bigger Picture
8. The Silent Man
9. Wait For Sleep
10. Vacant
11. In The Name Of God
12. Losing Time/Grand Finale (cut fadeout)

TAWP and BTS could be interchanged.

Should be about 118 minutes.