This or That - DT edition

[geeeemo]

The Alien gets better and better. Pale Blue Dot not so much.
Alien is my vote.

[Lonk]

The Alien

[Mladen]

Oh, man! My favorite songs on both albums respectively going head to head. I think I'll flip the coin and go with Pale blue dot. 

[Nick]

TDEN, although that's close.
Space-Dye Vest, and that's not close.
Pale Blue Dot

[pg1067]

So, for round one we have two songs that have a very similar ending section: The Dark Eternal Night vs S2N

S2N, although it's relatively close.

So, TDEN won this one

For the next one, we go to pretty much the opposite side of the spectrum with a couple sad ballads(?): Space-Dye Vest vs Disappear

Space-Dye Vest.  Not close.  Disappear is sinfully boring.  If they had cut TGD and Disappear and made it a single-disc album, SDOIT would be in serious competition with SFAM for the #1 DT album spot.

Speaking of space, who wants to go there? Round 3: Pale Blue Dot vs The Alien

Not a huge fan of either, but Dot.

[MrMike]

TDEN > S2N (very close though)
SDV > Disappear
PBD > TA

[EPIC Outro]

The Alien.

Pale Blue Dot starts great but has no real ending. It should have built into a big climatic section to end the song like a proper DT epic. Instead it meanders to the finish like A Nightmare to Remember (a song I love, by the way).

[Trav]

The Alien

It's a top DT song for me.

[Cool Chris]

Pale Blue Dot starts great but has no real ending. It should have built into a big climatic section to end the song...

So what you're saying is Pale Blue Dot lacks a proper epic outro?

[Trav]

Pale Blue Dot starts great but has no real ending. It should have built into a big climatic section to end the song...

So what you're saying is Pale Blue Dot lacks a proper epic outro?

I think it's one example of a new way the band is approaching their songwriting. It seems they're trying to avoid the big epic (maybe cheesy could apply) outro on the longer songs. I think just trying not to repeat something they've done so many times before. Breaking All Illusions and A View from the Top of the World are also examples of this.

[EPIC Outro]

Ha ha. I see what you did there!

[Cool Chris]

Glad someone did! Trav86 took me a little too literally. 

[wolfking]

PBD, no contest.

[Architeuthis]

Being that The Alien seems like a part 2 to PBD,  why not just mesh the two together into one epic song.
I don't know which I like better of the two.

[ReaperKK]

Pale Blue Dot, not even close.

[gzarruk]

PBD takes it this time! Now, who's ready for round 4 to start the week?

Today we look at two of the biggest fan-favorite live albums: Live at Budokan vs Score

[ReaperKK]

Budokan, again easy. The orchestra for Score was cool but I much prefer the setlist and the direction of Budokan. I was even at the Score show and still prefer Budokan.

[gzarruk]

I was even at the Score show and still prefer Budokan.

[Mladen]

Score. It's just way too epic.

[Trav]

This is the first one I've struggled with. Today I'll say Score.  For the symphonic version of SDOIT and the epic performance of Octavarium.

[cramx3]

Budokan

Score may be the more epic concert, but Budokan has the better setlist

[pg1067]

PBD takes it this time! Now, who's ready for round 4 to start the week?

Today we look at two of the biggest fan-favorite live albums: Live at Budokan vs Score

Score, easily.

Just to clarify, while I own the Score DVD, I don't own the album.  I believe I have both the Budokan DVD and album, but I didn't get either until long after it was released.  I can't recall ever listening to the album, so my answer is based on the two DVDs, and I don't listen to live albums much anymore.

Also, I prefer Live Scenes to both Score and Budokan.

[Cool Chris]

gzarruk, any way you could post the results after each "round?"

I own both on DVD, never owned the CD version of either, so my comments are based on that. I'll go with Budokan. The cinematography is gorgeous, the set list is solid, the performances are great. Score is great as well, but 6D in its entirety weighs it down too much for me.

[TAC]

gzarruk, any way you could post the results after each "round?"

I own both on DVD, never owned the CD version of either, so my comments are based on that. I'll go with Budokan. The cinematography is gorgeous, the set list is solid, the performances are great. Score is great as well, but 6D in its entirety weighs it down too much for me.

Totally.

[gzarruk]

gzarruk, any way you could post the results after each "round?"

Sure! So far, we have:

1. TDEN 9 - 9 S2N (ended up being a tie )
2. SDV 8 - 12 Disappear
3. PBD 6 - 4 TA
4. Budokan 4 - 3 Score (assuming TAC voted for LAB)

[TheCountOfNYC]

Score gets my vote.

[EPIC Outro]

I was at Score. I can't possibly not vote for it.

And the chronological setlist covering every album has been my favorite kind ever since, and I hope DT does this again for their 40th anniversary.

[gzarruk]

I was at Score. I can't possibly not vote for it.

And the chronological setlist covering every album has been my favorite kind ever since, and I hope DT does this again for their 40th anniversary.

They did it again for their 30th but that tour was way too short to count
IIRC, sone people here didn't like that setlist too much, but I thought it was quite interesting.

[hefdaddy42]

I was at Score. I can't possibly not vote for it.

Same

[billboy73]

On Pale Blue Dot v The Alien, it's very close, but I'll go Pale Blue Dot.

For the live sets, I will go Budokan

[gzarruk]

So, here's the updated...score 

3. PBD 7 - 4 TA
4. Budokan 5 - 6 Score

For round 5 we'll do something that's not DT, but it's still pretty much DT, if you get what I mean.

LTE 1 vs LTE 2

[EPIC Outro]

I still never heard any LTE. Gotta change that soon.

[hefdaddy42]

LTE 2

[pg1067]

The only LTE song I know is Acid Rain.  I absolutely love the song, but my general indifference about instrumental metal has kept me from checking out other songs.

[wolfking]

Budokan

Score may be the more epic concert, but Budokan has the better setlist

Pretty much.

It's hard too as Budokan has TDS yet Score has 8VM.  I think Budokan still just edges though.