Breaking All Illusions appreciation thread

[BeardedGentlemanHistorian]

This one is easily my favorite song from A Dramatic Turn of Events and some of Jordan's finest work. The music and lyrics just click perfectly. Personally, I think this should have the song that the album ended on instead of Beneath The Surface.

Your thoughts?

[Lethean]

I dunno... I love Breaking All Illusions and pretty much agree with everything you just said except:  Beneath the Surface is a beautiful way to close out the album.

[Mark Levinson Jr.]

This one is easily my favorite song from A Dramatic Turn of Events and some of Jordan's finest work. The music and lyrics just click perfectly. Personally, I think this should have the song that the album ended on instead of Beneath The Surface.

Your thoughts?

One of the best written rock songs I've ever heard. From 9:50 on, it's a master class on how to build and release tension. When they finally get back to the vocals around 10:40, it is just so satisfying. I don't think I've ever heard a song come out of the lead and back to the chorus as powerfully as this.

John Myung's timing changes during the first verse are so smooth, I've only heard Geddy Lee do anything that cool. The lyrics are meaningful, and JLB adds the emotional impact he has refined over the years. Only a band with years and years of studio discipline and live chemistry could come up with something like this. And yes I agree.... Jordan is great.

(.... but BTS is still a beautiful closer and I wouldn't change that part)

[pg1067]

What's not to love?  I really love how it harkens back to "Learning to Live" without repeating anything.

[Bertielee]

BAI is fantastic from start to finish! I love everything in it! But as said before me, BTS is such a beautiful closer I wouldn't change anything.

B.Lee

[MirrorMask]

Another worthy note of mention about this song is that it seems to suit very well James' strenghts. At my I&WaB show it was the best performance of the entire evening (not that he wasn't bad overall, but on this song he slayed), and from YouTube clips here and there it seems like he's pretty consistent in nailing the song night after night, with power and clarity all the way through.

Also, the solo section, as long as it is, is adventurous and never "wanky" or bloated, it keeps the mood of the song and doesn't feel like unnecessary doodling. Really, I think we're all preaching to the choir here in praising this fantastic song 

[Zydar]

For me easily their best song since the 6DOIT days.

[krands85]

For me easily their best song since the 6DOIT days.

Best since Octavarium (the song) for me 

[erwinrafael]

My favorite Dream Theater song. When I first heard that majestic intro, I knew it would be something special.

[mikeyd23]

For me easily their best song since the 6DOIT days.

Best since Octavarium (the song) for me 

Ditto. I think it's pretty much THE modern classic DT song.

[lucasembarbosa]

Their best song in MM era. We'll see if they're able to top that in DT14

[axeman90210]

Agreed with much of the other praise. Definitely my favorite MM era song, probably the only one that cracks my all time DT top 10. Just masterful from start to finish.

[Indiscipline]

Incredible song, easily among their best. Obvious comment aside, I love the placing inside the tracklist, closing the "regular" album and leaving BTS as an island, unhinging and conferring way more power to its message.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

This one is easily my favorite song from A Dramatic Turn of Events and some of Jordan's finest work. The music and lyrics just click perfectly. Personally, I think this should have the song that the album ended on instead of Beneath The Surface.

Your thoughts?

For me, Breaking All Illusions is the album ender. I turn it off and do not acknowledge the existence of that bonus track.

[Dublagent66]

I think I started a thread like this back in 2011.  BAI is probably the single best song they've done since SDOIT.  It builds and flows perfectly from start to finish and the ending is absolutely epic.  JP's solo is one of his best all-time.  The BTFW version is even better than the studio.  It definitely should've been the album closer.

[RMGadelha]

Dat solo.

[geeeemo]

I love This Song.  I only love Ocatavarium more because, well, It's Ocatavarium.  Since I am now only about 2.5 years into my DT discovery, it took me a bit to sift through all the music and settle in on what I love, and what I love less.  Because at first, every song was my favorite song .  There is something about this song, and JP's solo.. It leads to this climax, and then you get to stay there.    I have so much emotion when I hear it, but I can't label it!  This and the Budokan version of Hollow Years - the solos by JP - his guitar is just something out of this world. I believe that a new emoticon needs to be created - JP's guitar.   

The live version in BTFW is wonderful, and then Mirror/Lie follows.  Maybe my most favorite section on a live album. I love hearing JLB voice hear, it's live and it sounds great.  I love his live sound - it is real, human.

[425]

I named Breaking All Illusions as my #1 when I did my top 50 thread four years ago, and I still definitely stand by that choice. Every piece of this song is so very well chosen, and it all comes together into a fantastic whole.

From 9:50 on, it's a master class on how to build and release tension. When they finally get back to the vocals around 10:40, it is just so satisfying. I don't think I've ever heard a song come out of the lead and back to the chorus as powerfully as this.

This is one of my favorite parts, too. I love the riff at 9:50, and the build-up is just fantastic. It feels like the chorus just bursts out. The tension just couldn't possibly build anymore and the song just needs to burst into "Searching out..."

The first couple of verses, Petrucci's solo, and the FFH reprise are also spectacular parts of a spectacular song.

[TAC]

Their best song in MM era. 

Yup!

[Lax]

For me easily their best song since the 6DOIT days.

Best since Octavarium (the song) for me 

Maybe this plus bridges in the sky! What a show opener it has been

[Max Kuehnau]

I like Dramatic Turn entirely (their best album to date IMHO) and I like Breaking All Illusions as well (although there are some sections in there that my brain can't process, because the technical aspect takes a back seat in these, like Petrucci's solo section, too much emotion and pathos for my brain to handle.) Fitting lyrics as well IMHO. (Yoda would love them so much he would reverse them and use them for himself I'm sure)

[Nekov]

For me easily their best song since the 6DOIT days.

I think I have to agree. Even better than Octavarium which is not an easy thing to accomplish.

[Max Kuehnau]

Their best song in MM era. We'll see if they're able to top that in DT14

IMHO, Mike himself will easily be able to top that. The guy can play anything perfectly, so he will be able to top everything he does. (and I always recognize an evolution  in his playing on any record he is on, even Astonishing in some ways.  Not just with DT, but also with Steve Vai. I can't and I won't mention anything before that, because I didn't analyse it.)

[pg1067]

I like Dramatic Turn entirely (their best album to date IMHO) and I like Breaking All Illusions as well (although there are some sections in there that my brain can't process, because the technical aspect takes a back seat in these, like Petrucci's solo section, too much emotion and pathos for my brain to handle.) Fitting lyrics as well IMHO. (love them Yoda would so much reverse them and use them for himself he would)

ftfy

[Max Kuehnau]

Thank you I do. Hmm. Slightly amused I was. Yees.

[pcs90]

Still one of my favorite DT songs of all time, and a fantastic JP solo.

[Dublagent66]

When I went to the ADTOE tour show here in Mesa AZ on 12/4/11, BAI wasn't even on the setlist.  I don't think the song (at that time) had a lot of traction yet and didn't make it into the earlier setlists of that tour.  I don't think that lasted long.  BAI is probably one of the most 'live" friendly and climactic songs they do.  I love the BTFW version.  Crowd is just going nuts!  Last time I saw it live was in April 2014 during the DT12 tour.

[lucasembarbosa]

The song really deserves a special place in their setlist, and it's been played every tour since its release. BTW during my daily skipping rope routine, I listened to the four releases of the song and really enjoyed the little differences between the performances.

[pg1067]

When I went to the ADTOE tour show here in Mesa AZ on 12/4/11, BAI wasn't even on the setlist.  I don't think the song (at that time) had a lot of traction yet and didn't make it into the earlier setlists of that tour.  I don't think that lasted long.  BAI is probably one of the most 'live" friendly and climactic songs they do.  I love the BTFW version.  Crowd is just going nuts!  Last time I saw it live was in April 2014 during the DT12 tour.

Interesting.  They played BAI both times I saw them on the ADToE tour (9/25/11 in Los Angeles and 12/2/11 in Anaheim), and setlist.fm has it on the set list for the Mesa show on 12/4/11.  The Los Angeles show was the second U.S. show, and they did NOT have it in the set list for the first show the prior night in San Francisco (the set list on setlist.fm for the Los Angeles show says that was BAI's live premiere).  It also doesn't appear to have been in the set list for the European dates in July and August.

[RMGadelha]

I hope they keep playing it in all tours. This is the quintessential MM Era DT song imho.

[Max Kuehnau]

For all I care they should play it anytime they want yes. It's a great piece and that's it. One of their best. And btw, I attended one of the summer concerts of the Along For The Ride tour and they actually played BAI. (and that was a Euro date in Germany.) They played the full 3 hour set as seen on BT4W that day. So it happened. (although maybe not on every Euro date in the summer, I don't know)

[pg1067]

And btw, I attended one of the summer concerts of the Along For The Ride tour and they actually played BAI. (and that was a Euro date in Germany.) They played the full 3 hour set as seen on BT4W that day. So it happened. (although maybe not on every Euro date in the summer, I don't know)

You're right.  BAI was part of the set list for the entirety of the Along for the Ride Tour in 2014.  It was not part of the set list for the European summer festival dates in 2011.  In fact, on the only German date in the summer of 2011 (July 9, 2011 at "Night of the Prog" at St. Goarshausen), the only song they included from ADToE was OtBoA (not too surprising since the album was still two months from being released).

[Dublagent66]

I'm not sure how accurate Setlist.fm is, but they didn't play BAI on 12/4/11.  I remember it well because I was disappointed they didn't.  However, it was worth the wait to see it on the AFTR tour.

[TheCountOfNYC]

I didn't think this song needed an appreciation thread. Considering how well it's done in the DT League and Survivors, as well as polls on the DT side of the forum, I thought it was pretty well known how beloved this song is. However, since the thread exists, I'll put in my two cents.

Breaking All Illusion is a well crafted song that shows how amazing Dream Theater can be when they put more focus on melody and structure instead of on showing off (looking at you ANtR). This song is a masterclass in progressive songwriting and is far and away the best song of the Mangini era. It currently sits at number four in my own personal ranking, and when you consider that Octavarium, The Count of Tuscany, and A Change of Seasons are the songs in front of it, I would say it's in good company. This is the band at their very best, perfectly blending melody, harmony, rhythm, virtuosity, technically, and emotion into a twelve and a half minute masterpiece. Hearing this for the first time told me that they would be perfectly fine without Portnoy, and to this day I get chills whenever I listen to it. I cannot say enough good things about this song. It's the perfect Dream Theater mini-epic, and one of the best songs in their entire discography.

[pg1067]

I didn't think this song needed an appreciation thread. Considering how well it's done in the DT League and Survivors....

Speaking of survivors....