I still give TA a listen at least once a month. I still think it's DT's best album.
Completely agree! I gave FII a spin the other day and I found it hard to get through and I really like the songs. I don't think people understand or appreciate what it takes to write an Opera.
Hold on a second...are you suggesting that those of us who don't think highly of TA lack an understanding and appreciation of the effort they put into writing and producing it? Can't one have an appreciation and understanding but not enjoy it? I thoroughly understand the effort that JP and JR undoubtedly put into writing TA and that the band put into producing it. But I don't enjoy it. It's as simple as that.
Yeah - pretty much.
Sorry, but that's just beyond absurd.
But I don't mean that in a denigrating way. I actually grew up in a period where musicals and operas were the theme of the day. Did you?
I'll be happy to answer that question if you explain what you mean by "grew up in a period where musicals and operas were the theme of the day." I assume you grew up sometime in the last 50 or so years and aren't a time traveler who grew up in the early 1800s. Right?
For example, with Hamilton, we've actually seen a renaissance in operatic activity but with rap music.
Uh huh...and Hamilton won the 2016 Tony Award for best musical. It was followed in 2017 by Dear Evan Hansen. I've seen both. I think Hamilton is phenomenally overrated, and I thought Dear Evan Hansen was just meh. But, in any event, before Hamilton, we had stuff like Kinky Boots, The Book of Mormon, Billy Elliot, Jersey Boys, Spamalot, The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. Some of those I like, some I LOVE, and some I don't care for. But I understand and appreciate the effort that went into all of them. But you're saying that's impossible because, if you understand and appreciate the effort that went into something, you MUST like it???
TA has some exceptional moments that make this the very definition of what it means to be Dream Theater.
As someone who's been a Dream Theater fan since 1992, I feel pretty confident I know "what it means to be Dream Theater." The Astonishing is certainly something that one might expect from DT and, while I agree that it "has
some exceptional moments" (but not
many), I ultimately don't enjoy it all that much. Much like Dear Evan Hansen, it's just kinda meh. And just like DEH, I fully understand and appreciate the effort that went into writing and producing TA.
Frankly, if you have an appreciation for something, you're enjoying it at SOME level. It's as complicated as that.
I completely disagree.