The Erotomania and other instrumentals appreciation Thread

[hefdaddy42]

EVE

[bosk1]

EVE

It has been a long time since I have banned a mod, but I am not above it.

[Prog Snob]

Let's also not forget about some of the live only instrumentals that the band has done over time! Besides loving the studio instrumentals, I love Bombay Vindaloo, Barfbag and the Gladiator Theme. For me, I'd rank everything as:

01 Bombay Vindaloo
02 The Dance of Eternity
03 Ytse Jam
04 Overture 1928
05 the Gladiator Theme
06 Erotomania
07 Eve
08 Hell's Kitchen
09 Barfbag
10 False Awakening Suite
11 Raw Dog
12 Enigma Machine
13 SDoIT Overture
14 Stream of Consciousness

Yes, I ranked SoC last. It's a good song, as are all of their instrumentals, but to me it's a fairly plain song in comparison to most of their other instrumentals and it goes on for too long. Had there been more to it, or if it were more concise, it would probably rank higher. And while I do think the SDoIT Overture is great, it's a bit too Disney to me.

I know it never received a proper name since it was the intro to Through Her Eyes, but I loved when JP did the Amazing Grace solo.

[V_R11]

Not sure what you mean by "lower tier" and "higher tier" in this context.  Pretty much ALL the DT instrumentals get a lot of love around here (even ones like Eve and Hell's Kitchen that, for the life of me, I do not understand why people adore them, but taste is what it is).

I actually love both of those songs

[chaossystem]

I agree with a lot of what has been said here, but so far, no one is standing up for Enigma Machine. I like that one a lot, too.

[Crow]

Erotomania rules, just that Eve, Stream of Consciousness, and Hell's Kitchen rule more.

[lovethedrake]

1. Overture 1928
2. Erotomania
3. Dance of Eternity
4. Hells Kitchen

5. YTSE Jam
6. SDOIT Overture
7.SOC


8. False Awakening Suite
9.Enigma Machine

[CharlesPL]

Studio :

11. Enigma Machine
10. False Awakening Suite
9. Raw Dog
8. Stream of Consciousness

7. The Ytse Jam
6. Overture
5. Overture 1928
4. The Dance of Eternity

3. Erotomania (2)
2. Eve (3)
1. Hell's Kitchen (probably my 2nd most beloved JP solo on studio albums)

Live :

3. Barfbag
2. Gladiator
1. Bombay

[pcs90]

There are a lot of other live instrumentals too though...several from the IW / Awake period are completely standalone. Some are connected to another song so I assume those don't count but Moon Bubbles, Awake Jam, and several untitled ones from 1993 should if we're counting Barfbag.

Side note...does anyone know why Barfbag is called that? There must be a good story behind that name.

[Rodni Demental]

Might be a shot in the dark here but anyone else reminded of Grandia (think it's the battle theme) everytime they hear Erotomania intro? Takes me back everytime. 

[Pragmaticcircus]

Heres my take:

1 Eve (I can't stress how much I love this piece, also it reminds me a lot of Twin Peaks )
2 Dance Of Eternity (Do I have to say anything?)
3 Erotomania (the chromatism, the dynamics, the reference to Silent Man, its great)
4 Stream Of Consciousness (dun dun dun dun)
5 Hell's Kitchen (The development is genius)
6 Ytse Jam (DT's Yyz)

[Setlist Scotty]

There are a lot of other live instrumentals too though...several from the IW / Awake period are completely standalone. Some are connected to another song so I assume those don't count but Moon Bubbles, Awake Jam, and several untitled ones from 1993 should if we're counting Barfbag.

Absolutely. I just didn't have the time to think about all the others that have happened, and it's kinda hard to label some of them since they never had proper names. Anyway, Awake Jam would probably be in the bottom 1/3, and Moon Bubbles would be last.

Side note...does anyone know why Barfbag is called that? There must be a good story behind that name.

JP wrote the music on a barfbag while he and maybe the band were flying.

[Pragmaticcircus]

I guess their cover of the openings of Alo sprach zarathustra' doesn't count, does it? 

[pcs90]

Absolutely. I just didn't have the time to think about all the others that have happened, and it's kinda hard to label some of them since they never had proper names. Anyway, Awake Jam would probably be in the bottom 1/3, and Moon Bubbles would be last.

Yeah, out of the ones I can remember, my favorites are the instrumentals from the 93 Rhode Island and Paris shows, Barfbag, Gladiator Theme (did they ever play this with real drums instead of a loop?), and Bombay Vindaloo. I also really like Slow Motion and Back Pain but sadly the only recordings I know of for those are pretty low quality.

[erciccio]

1. Hell's Kitchen - simple yet beautiful...love the main chord progression.
2. Ytse Jam - the main riff is probably the one I've played more times on the guitar except Enter Sandman...the odd-time-fluent DT trademark
3. Erotomania - I really love the "neoclassical" section and the Petrucci solo in "quintines" (is the word correct in english?)
4. Overture 1928 - Perfect example of overture, with an anticipation of what's to come
5. Stream of Consciousness -  some parts are really  but overall too long and too "Orion-ish"
6. The Dance of Eternity - I love the rag time section, the rest is just a bad copy of the Metropolis pt I instrumental section. Overrated
7. Enigma Machine - Some goods stuff in and there, but below average. Works very well live.
8. False Awakening Suite - what's this stuff?  ...mmm... probably canceled the file from my memory...

[Rodni Demental]

False Awakening is brilliant, it just.. needs expansion and development - far too short. To me, that entire thing is full of wasted; or rather underutilised ideas. At least it's a cool intro for the album though. First listen I thought some of the bits might reoccur in the album in some way whether as a theme or just a reference in a song like the epic or something but this is not the case, at least as far as I can tell. So not like that's based on anything reliable. 

[DragonAttack]

I guess their cover of the openings of Alo sprach zarathustra' doesn't count, does it? 

With the taped 'Psycho' theme, it's one of my five favorite beginnings of any concert.

As to 'Suite'.....it was the perfect length for using as a taped intro for that tour.  When I listen to it now, I hope the new LP's opening track is as good.

As to the others, if one has to rate them, 'Overture 1928' is my favorite, so it gets a 10.  All of the others would be 9.9, except 'Stream', which is simply about 4-5 minutes too long.

[JLa]

Erotomania > Everything else

Erotomania sounds "written", in lack of a better word. This happens, that happens, this part transforms into that part. I love Erotomania, in fact it was the song that got me into DT in the first place (if you leave out Liquid Tension Experiment).

I find their later instrumentals more .. ah, it's hard to describe music with words, and in the end it's a matter of personal preference. But I think they're more structured, like you have part A, then part B and perhaps a part C, then back to part A again. Erotomania is more..unique.

Did that make any sense? Probably not. : But Erotomania rules.

[MHStrawn]

Good discussion; in many ways instrumentals hold a unique position among prog bands and no truly great prog band exists without great instrumentals.  My list:

1.  Overture 1928
2.  Enigma Machine
3.  Dance of Eternity
4.  Bombay Vindaloo
5.  Erotomania
6.  False Awakening Suite
7.  Eve
8.  Hell's Kitchen
9.  Stream of Consciousness

Am pretty sure my #9 constitutes a "controversial" opinion.  Just feels it's WAY too long and like much of that era never quite reaches the heights found in earlier efforts.  Also, I LOVE Enigma Machine; by far the best piece from the Mangini-unit IMO. 

Finally....Instrumedly from Budokhan is probably my all-time favorite.  But the Portnoy / Rudess jam within Beyond This LIfe is also outstanding (wish the band would do MUCH more of those kinds of things in their live shows). 

[MHStrawn]

For the life of me I cannot understand why so many people regard SOC as one of, if not their best, instrumental. It goes on way too long, the solos are mostly just technical for the sake of it (like all the other TOT solos), and it just feels uninspired to me. I've tried several times to get into it (and I love instrumentals) but no luck...I feel like I'm missing something.

My exact feelings regarding SoC.  I consider it easily the least enjoyable of the band's instrumentals.

[bosk1]

Erotomania > Everything else

Erotomania sounds "written", in lack of a better word.

If I'm not mistaken, other than TDOE, it is the only other instrumental that was written over the course of two album cycles, so maybe that's why.  They had more time to sit with the music and figure out what they wanted it to do.

[Prog Snob]

Erotomania > Everything else

Erotomania sounds "written", in lack of a better word.

If I'm not mistaken, other than TDOE, it is the only other instrumental that was written over the course of two album cycles, so maybe that's why.  They had more time to sit with the music and figure out what they wanted it to do.

That's true, considering part of it was an interlude during the original version of Pull Me Under, Oliver's Twist.

[KevShmev]

Erotomania is the best Dream Theater instrumental.   

[seasonsinthesky]

In a way, "Erotomania" is an overture for Awake. Certainly more so than it is for A Mind Beside Itself. I like that about it.

They probably should have opened the record with the suite, imo.

[chaossystem]

I like most of the music that's been named here, but there are two or three that I've never heard, such as Barfbag. Raw Dog doesn't thrill me as much as it seems to do for the majority.

I hate  trying to rank all of them, but if I absolutely HAD to pick a favorite, it would probably be O'28, with SoC  (Budokan version) coming in a close second, followed immediately by  the LSFNY version of TDoE. Then I guess would be Enigma Machine.

And Bosk...why do you hate EVE Ask much??

[bl5150]

Erotomania is the best Dream Theater instrumental.   

My two favourite instrumental sections are on Awake - Erotomania (solo section) and Caught In A Web (outro)