Raw Dog???

[Kocak]

If Dream Theater should ever go the Ghost route to forbid smartphones at their concerts, and should they play Raw Dog, that should be the song where they actually allow people to take out smartphones off their pouches. Not to take photos or videos, but to chill out checking their phones and do something more interesting while DT play their most random and superfluous instrumental.

I'm all for a global ban on mobile phones during concerts.

[hefdaddy42]

It was included in the soundtrack for the game along with songs from a bunch of other Roadrunner artists. It was never actually played in the game at any point.

This.  It wasn't done for the game itself.  It was a digital-only game soundtrack.  No hard copies exist as far as I know (CD, vinyl, cassette, stone tablet, etc).

If memory serves, I enjoyed all of the other songs on that soundtrack more than Raw Dog, which I would not have predicted beforehand.

[Metro]

This.  It wasn't done for the game itself.  It was a digital-only game soundtrack.  No hard copies exist as far as I know (CD, vinyl, cassette, stone tablet, etc).

According to Discogs, there were some Promo copies of the EP made. Not something widely available to the public though.
https://www.discogs.com/release/3099506-Various-God-Of-War-Blood-Metal

[hefdaddy42]

According to Discogs, there were some Promo copies of the EP made. Not something widely available to the public though.
https://www.discogs.com/release/3099506-Various-God-Of-War-Blood-Metal

Ah.  Well, I just remember you couldn't really buy a physical copy.

[Stadler]

I can't imagine thinking something is going to suck before I even hear it.  Especially with a band that has the track record and history of Dream Theater. Do I love EVERY SINGLE THING?  No, but the enchantments far outweigh the disappointments.

[Stadler]

This.  It wasn't done for the game itself.  It was a digital-only game soundtrack.  No hard copies exist as far as I know (CD, vinyl, cassette, stone tablet, etc).

If memory serves, I enjoyed all of the other songs on that soundtrack more than Raw Dog, which I would not have predicted beforehand.

Raw Dog and the Opeth song are the only songs that I would listen to again. 

[pg1067]

Isn't it also the case that JM didn't play on Raw Dog?

He didn't? I don't remember that.

I recall reading that here at DTF within the last year or so.  However, my memory could easily be faulty, and I'm not going to take the time to try and find it.

[Metro]

He didn't? I don't remember that.


I recall reading that here at DTF within the last year or so.  However, my memory could easily be faulty, and I'm not going to take the time to try and find it.

I think I remember someone saying JM didn't WRITE the bass part. It was written by JR on keys, but it was played by JM on the final recording.

[genome]

I like Raw Dog's intro. There I said it. Rest of it is pretty much nonsense but the intro is cool

[hefdaddy42]

I can't imagine thinking something is going to suck before I even hear it. 

I've heard it.  It sucks.  I didn't want it to suck.  It just did.

[Stadler]

I've heard it.  It sucks.  I didn't want it to suck.  It just did.

I meant live.  I've heard the song itself; not my favorite, not as bad as some say.  But if they played it live, I'd go in with the same expectation I have of any Dream Theater live show: "Let's see what they have in store for us NOW!" 

[Northern Lion]

Personally, I really like Rawdog.  I always play it along with the rest of BCSL when i give that album a spin.

[hefdaddy42]

I meant live.  I've heard the song itself; not my favorite, not as bad as some say.  But if they played it live, I'd go in with the same expectation I have of any Dream Theater live show: "Let's see what they have in store for us NOW!" 

If they played it live, I would endure it.

[TheCountOfNYC]

This. I never thought all that much of Stream Of Consciousness, but it BLEW ME AWAY how awesome it was live.

This was my thoughts on Endless Sacrifice when they played it in 2022. It's among my least favorite songs in their discography but it was absolutely killer live.

[Kram]

He didn't? I don't remember that.


I recall reading that here at DTF within the last year or so.  However, my memory could easily be faulty, and I'm not going to take the time to try and find it.

I remember reading that somewhere as well PG.

[Setlist Scotty]

This. I never thought all that much of Stream Of Consciousness, but it BLEW ME AWAY how awesome it was live.

Exactly. How many people on this very forum repeatedly bashed and complained about TSF, but then when it was played throughout the 2014 tour, their opinions changed for the better? I would expect something similar to happen for RD.

[emtee]

Exactly. How many people on this very forum repeatedly bashed and complained about TSF, but then when it was played throughout the 2014 tour, their opinions changed for the better? I would expect something similar to happen for RD.

Scotty, good to see you post. I was wondering if you were okay.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

I want to see it just because it's something different.

[Setlist Scotty]

Scotty, good to see you post. I was wondering if you were okay.

Thanks emtee - I'm good. Just have had other things that I've been more focused on (nothing bad). 

[Dream Team]

And there was even a seventh track by The Turtlenecks, "Even Gods Cry", which was on the God Of War Trilogy Soundtrack version of Blood & Metal, making the EP just under 37 minutes long, practically an album at that point. For those interested, or that don't know, here's the full track list:
1    Killswitch Engage – My Obsession - 3:45
2    Trivium – Shattering The Skies Above - 4:45
3    Dream Theater –    Raw Dog -    7:34
4    Taking Dawn – This Is Madness - 4:19
5    Opeth – Throat Of Winter - 5:48
6    Mutiny Within – The End - 3:19
7    The Turtlenecks – Even Gods Cry - 7:33

-Marc.

That's the track list? Oh I DEFINITELY agree with Stads that Raw Dog had the best vocals.

[RaiseTheKnife]

I would love Raw Dog to make it to a DT setlist.  The haunting voiced keys are terrific in the intro.

[lightningbolt]

I'd prefer they use those 7+ minutes to play something else.  The novelty factor of it being unplayed doesn't overcome my indifference to the track.  However, if I do see it live, I'll certainly enjoy it on some level 

[Schurftkut]

i forgot it's also way too long

[Setlist Scotty]

Since pg1067 linked this thread and reminded me of it, I thought I would post - as far as I know - the only significant info about RD that was made public. I think it should hopefully clear up some misunderstandings surrounding the song, such as why it is instrumental, if JM was involved, and if it was merely a bunch of unused leftovers from the BCaSL sessions.

This appeared on Decibel Magazine's website (but is no longer there).

Mike Portnoy God of War: Blood & Metal guest blog, Part I

By Mike Portnoy

It's pretty amazing that in our 25-year career, this was the first time we were asked to contribute a song to a soundtrack! Film directors and TV producers take note!

In any case, when we were asked to contribute a song to Roadrunner's God of War 3 soundtrack, the initial reactions of "But we don't have any leftovers from the last album" or "But we are in the middle of a tour" quickly turned to "Hey, this could be cool" and "Hmmm. Why the hell not?"

Dream Theater has been in the traditional 'write, record, tour, write, record, tour' pattern for almost 20 years straight now and there's no question that the days of 'traditional' approaches in this industry are disappearing quickly. Bands can now record and release individual songs – especially via downloads – much like it was it was in the late '50s and early '60s.

Not that I necessarily would want to work that way full-time with DT, as I am very much an 'album-oriented' artist... however, in the case of this soundtrack offer, it seemed to be very doable.

We were in the middle of a world tour when this offer came in, but we decided there would be a nice hole in our schedule right after the Christmas holidays and New Year's so we decided to schedule a few days then to knock it out.

Much to the disappointment of our singer James LaBrie, I decided it would be easiest if we simply wrote an instrumental for the soundtrack. My reasons were two-fold:

1) It would make the process much easier and quicker. We are very used to writing the music first with just the four of us (myself, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and John Myung – and then later on in the process, writing the melodies and lyrics for (or occasionally with) James. To simply write and record an instrumental is something we could very easily bang out in a matter of days. But then to add writing melodies and lyrics, flying James down from Canada to New York and begin recording vocals would add many more days to the project, which was time, and budget, we didn't have.

2) I have been wanting to do a new DT instrumental for years anyway. The DT instrumental is a musical tradition throughout our whole career (1989's 'Ytsejam', 1994's 'Erotomania', 1997's 'Hell's Kitchen', 1999's 'Overture 1928' and 'The Dance of Eternity', etc.) and we hadn't written one since 2003's 'Stream of Consciousness', so the time and situation seemed right to do a new one!

So the goal was set and the window of opportunity was found. We had five days to setup, write, record and mix a new instrumental!

To some people, this may seem impossible, but myself, JP and Jordan were very used to (and are actually quite comfortable) writing in such a whirlwind manner. The three of us wrote and recorded the two Liquid Tension Experiment albums in under 10 days each and even though Dream Theater usually has the liberty, freedom and comfort of moving into a studio for four to six months at a time while doing a new album, the fact of the matter is that me, JP and Jordan usually bang out 12-minute DT epics in the course of a few days each. It's just the way we naturally work together.

On Monday Jan. 4, we moved into Cove City Studios on Long Island, where we recorded the basic tracks for our Train of Thought album in 2003, with our engineer of the last two DT albums Mr. Paul Northfield, as well as two trusty DT crew guys: Jose 'Ho' Baraquio and Matt 'Maddi' Schieferstein. We spent the whole day on Monday getting set up, mic-ed and up and running, and then on Tuesday we began writing.

I brought in CDs of some unused riffs we wrote during the Black Clouds & Silver Linings sessions at the end of 2008 to give us some direction and a bit of a starting point. We ended up using a total of four leftover riffs, which became the setup to the solo section and then the three riffs underneath the solos, but that was enough to inspire us and get the creative juices flowing for a slew of new ideas.

The next thing we knew, by halfway through Wednesday, the song was written and we had this insane instrumental finished that reminded me of Meshuggah meets LTE!

I tracked my drums Wednesday afternoon, JP tracked his guitar Wednesday night and John Myung and Jordan tracked their bass and keyboards on Thursday. Basically, the whole song was essentially written and recorded in only three days. On Friday myself, JP and Paul Northfield banged out the mix and VOILA! Another Dream Theater instrumental is born.

The following week the song was sent to out to Ted Jensen to master, before which we were informed of a slight change that needed to be made. Originally, me and John had filled the entire last couple minutes of the song with samples from the God of War game. It was VERY INTENSE and really added to the orchestration of the song's climax. Unfortunately, one of the soundtrack's 'powers that be' insisted we take them out because of fear of copyright issues with the actor's voices.

Now if this were a DT album, we never would've rolled over and we would've fought to keep 'em on there. However as this wasn't 'our' album, we didn't want to be difficult and we simply removed the samples.

So there ya have it: the conception, pregnancy and birth of 'Raw Dog', which BTW, was a title I came up with the same way I came up with the name 'Ytsejam'. Hint, hint.

[emtee]

Great insight and info. Thanks for posting.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Now I want them to perform this live with the samples back in there , like they did with Eve in '93

[hefdaddy42]

Now I want them to perform this live with the samples back in there , like they did with Eve in '93

Well, Eve is certainly better without the samples.

Of course, I might feel differently about Raw Dog.  After all, I LOVE Eve, and I do not love Raw Dog.

[Stadler]

If it was meant to have the samples, when it was written and recorded, their absence may be part of why that song feels incomplete or disjointed to many. Who knows?

[MidnightSlice]

The KSE song on this collection is nice. Many KSE fans have this as a favorite. Raw Dog has some nice ideas but a bit unfocused. Ehh, it's an instrumental song that is on a game soundtrack. I don't mind hearing it though. Would rather hear other songs live.

[hefdaddy42]

The KSE song on this collection is nice. Many KSE fans have this as a favorite. Raw Dog has some nice ideas but a bit unfocused. Ehh, it's an instrumental song that is on a game soundtrack. I don't mind hearing it though. Would rather hear other songs live.

I thought at the time that most of the other songs on that collection were better than Raw Dog.  Of course, I haven't listened to any of those songs in a lllloooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggg time.