Parasomnia Timeline Thread

[Mladen]

I've never thought there was anything particular to dislike about Out of reach. Sure, it's not their best ballad, but it's still very good. I don't hear anything terrible or offensive in it.

[Trav]

I've never thought there was anything particular to dislike about Out of reach. Sure, it's not their best ballad, but it's still very good. I don't hear anything terrible or offensive in it.

This. I can understand it not being someone's favorite song. I don't, however, understand why someone can't see how anyone else would like it. Why is it THAT bad??

[Jamesman42]

The song shows great restraint as well.

[TAC]

POW is awesome!

[SeRoX]

Out Of Reach is one of the song that similar to Kevin Moore sound which I like. Especially this haunting vibe.

[Zydar]

POW is awesome!

Power Windows?

[crystalstars17]

Funny, I think Out of Reach is one of their best ballads ever and that JLB did an awesome job with the lyrics and the studio recording.

I agree 💯 It's got a certain energy, as slow songs go. I love it, it's on my live bucket list.

[Wim Kruithof]

POW is awesome!

Again agree completely.

I'm starting to consider waving a Tim-flag or tattooing Tim allover me.

[devieira73]

I agree 💯 It's got a certain energy, as slow songs go. I love it, it's on my live bucket list.

I loved it on first listen and, as a bonus, it has a really cool drum pattern on it, kind of reminescent JLB's Smashed.

[hefdaddy42]

I don't understand what would make one better than the other.

Nothing.

You can analyze things to death, but at the end of the day, people like what they like and dislike what they dislike, and since it's all subjective, there isn't really any rational reason a lot of the time.  Sometimes there are things you can point to that separate a song or an artist, but that very thing can be what infuriates other people about that same song or artist.

It is what it is.

[BlackInk]

I can point to one thing I don't like specifically about OoR (even while still admitting the main piano line is nice). I don't know enough music theory to know what it's called, but it's the specific chord thing at 0:50, 1:32, 2:27, 2:41, and 3:19. I really think that chord change is so corny. That thing was all over TA as well, and is part of why that album feels so uninspired to me.

Of course I know that this is too just a personal opinion without rational justification, but that that is something I point to that actually bothers me. Not a very big thing, but still.

[nick_z]

Like, what makes someone like Wait For Sleep more than Far From Heaven? or Out of Reach? or Chosen? or vice versa...

Well, if we are going into specific examples, for me Wait for Sleep has an incredibly memorable main piano theme and fantastic vocal melodies...Far From Heaven I feel was a similar attempt at an "intro" piece to an epic and, while pleasant, it's way less memorable and kinda "there" (musically speaking). To my ears, at least 

Oh, and I'm in the "I like Out of Reach" camp. Real nice guitar/piano interplay.

[Dream Team]

Wait for Sleep also has better vocals and lyrics.

[Stadler]

Sorry to re-spark the war, but I really like Out Of Reach except for the primary criticism I have of the Mangini era. 

[TAC]

I'm starting to consider waving a Tim-flag or tattooing Tim allover me.

A flag will do. 

[gzarruk]

Sorry to re-spark the war, but I really like Out Of Reach except for the primary criticism I have of the Mangini era.

The bass drum?

[Stadler]

The bass drum?

Yup.  I get it, we're a prog metal band known for our musicianship, but the song is a step back and yet the drums don't relent.

[gborland]

That is also the problem with Chosen.

It starts out as a really nice ballad, and then these Heavy Metal Drums come in and explode all over everything and completely ruin it.

[pg1067]

I really dig OOR.  I don't care for what's being played when the drums first come in (not the sound, but what he actually played), but for the rest of the song, they really fit the build of the song.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

I can point to one thing I don't like specifically about OoR (even while still admitting the main piano line is nice). I don't know enough music theory to know what it's called, but it's the specific chord thing at 0:50, 1:32, 2:27, 2:41, and 3:19. I really think that chord change is so corny. That thing was all over TA as well, and is part of why that album feels so uninspired to me.

Of course I know that this is too just a personal opinion without rational justification, but that that is something I point to that actually bothers me. Not a very big thing, but still.

What I think your time stamps refers to is an extremely common harmonic move. The song is in a minor key and this is the VI to the VII (or IV to V in the relative major key) with a couple extra notes in there called 'suspensions.' At its core, it is one of the most common chord changes in Western music in a ton of DT songs including on I&W. The suspensions give it a sound that is more Proggy...it's a sound all over Rush's music too. And probably everyone else's.

[BlackInk]

Yeah, it's probably just because it's so common that I think it sounds so corny and uninspired. Obviously this is just a taste-thing, but if I found myself writing a section that naturally led to that, I would just immediately scrap the entire section or rewrite it to specifically avoid that change. It sort of flew under the radar for me for a long time in DT's music, until TA, where it was everywhere and gave me the feeling that the songs all sound the same, and relied on the same old tricks. Now I can't not hear it whenever they do it.

[Trav]

Yup.  I get it, we're a prog metal band known for our musicianship, but the song is a step back and yet the drums don't relent.

This has always been my gripe with "Along for the Ride" 

[Lonk]

Yup.  I get it, we're a prog metal band known for our musicianship, but the song is a step back and yet the drums don't relent.

Maybe MM was the masked drummer, all along

https://youtu.be/-UYgORr5Qhg?feature=shared&t=54

[Stadler]

Maybe MM was the masked drummer, all along

https://youtu.be/-UYgORr5Qhg?feature=shared&t=54

Was that off Distance over Time, or the self-titled? 

[Lonk]

Was that off Distance over Time, or the self-titled? 

One of those bonus song that never made it to DoT 

[DoctorAction]

I agree 💯 It's got a certain energy, as slow songs go. I love it, it's on my live bucket list.

I love it too

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

I'm a bit late to some of the ballad talk, but just wanted to throw my hat in the ring for Beneath the Surface. What a beautiful song. It might actually be my favorite song from the MM era (though my favorite ballad of theirs remains Solitary Shell - though I can see an argument for that not really being a ballad I suppose)

[Jamesman42]

I love Beneath the Surface.

I wouldn't classify SS as a ballad at all.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

I love Beneath the Surface.

I wouldn't classify SS as a ballad at all.

Yeah, on second thought probably not really a ballad at all. That being said that song means a lot to me. Very few songs I find more identifiable

[Jamesman42]

Same, I feel like it hits too close to home.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Same, I feel like it hits too close to home.

<3

[OpenYourEyes311]

Same, I feel like it hits too close to home.

That's how I feel about Out of Reach.

[MirrorMask]

I'm a bit late to some of the ballad talk, but just wanted to throw my hat in the ring for Beneath the Surface. What a beautiful song.

Fantastic song 

[BlackInk]

Yeah BtS and SS are both hitting-close-to-home songs for me too.

[pg1067]

I love Beneath the Surface.

I wouldn't classify SS as a ballad at all.

Agree on both counts (for a second, I thought someone was suggesting Sacrificed Sons was a ballad!).  I'd rank BTS as the second best MM-era ballad, just behind Along for the Ride.