The Mike Portnoy Appreciation/Discussion Thread (merged)

[Cool Chris]

I know about half those songs just by name alone (though I am sure I know all of them). Songs I've heard plenty of times on classic rock radio, and that I don't really have a desire to hear again, by the original artist or a cover band.

[KevShmev]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvoqtNeQ5uQ&feature=emb_logo

wow. That was pretty bad.

Hope others dig it, but this is a hard pass for me.

Agreed. Music was great, vocals were awful.

[Stadler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvoqtNeQ5uQ&feature=emb_logo

wow. That was pretty bad.

Hope others dig it, but this is a hard pass for me.

I'm with you.  I made it to 0:41 seconds and I'm out.   If I want a cover, I'll go listen to the REM version. 

[gmillerdrake]

Side Note. My oldest son turns 14 on May 2nd. He's a HUGE MP fan.....has seen him play with SOA and met him when TNMB came to town. I did the 'cameo' request with MP for him to record a video for my sons Birthday. Turned out pretty cool. I can't wait to see my sons reaction in a couple weeks.

[cramx3]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvoqtNeQ5uQ&feature=emb_logo

wow. That was pretty bad.

Hope others dig it, but this is a hard pass for me.

Agreed. Music was great, vocals were awful.

uh wtf is this?  yea these vocals are not for me at all... I do think it's a bit more interesting that they are doing their own take on the songs so it's not an exact cover but at the same time, this just seems.... bad.

[HOF]

I found that song somewhat entertaining. I wouldn’t listen to it regularly or anything though. The video was kind of fun. Is that Butthead on vocals?

[TAC]

I know why Overkill has never really hooked me.

[Nachtmerrie]

What a waste of MP's talent.
I hope he's enjoying his projects but as a fan I feel pretty sad knowing that this is the same guy that brought us all those fantastic albums.

[faizoff]

lol at the vocal comments, Bobby Blitz is a bit of an acquired taste I guess. He's been singing thrash metal for eons in one of the oldest and one of my favorite thrash bands 'Overkill'
The vocal processing is kinda weird on that song. Not a bad cover though, I kinda like it.

[Ben_Jamin]

lol at the vocal comments, Bobby Blitz is a bit of an acquired taste I guess. He's been singing thrash metal for eons in one of the oldest and one of my favorite thrash bands 'Overkill'
The vocal processing is kinda weird on that song. Not a bad cover though, I kinda like it.

I like Blitz in Overkill. Here it sounds weird. Its not that bad though.

Overall, it's an ok cover, it's got energy. I can see why they wanted to record those covers together.

[MarkFitDT]

my god, the vocals are dreadful.

[pg1067]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvoqtNeQ5uQ&feature=emb_logo

wow. That was pretty bad.

Hope others dig it, but this is a hard pass for me.

Same here.  I only know about half the songs by name, and Toys is the only one that I could truly say that I like.  If someone on the Enterprise went onto the holodeck and told it to create a generic 2010s cover of Toys in the Attic, this is exactly what it would spit out.  The vocals were not good, but I've heard worse.  I turned if off about 5 seconds into the gratuitous, generic shredder solo.

[Adami]

The only song on that list I like is Saturday Night Special (I'm a Skynyrd fan) but after that, I think I'll stick to the original.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Lol I actually thought that was kinda fun to listen too. 

[Cool Chris]

The only song on that list I like is Saturday Night Special (I'm a Skynyrd fan) but after that, I think I'll stick to the original.

That is a great song, and also the only song I like as well.

[cramx3]

The only song on that list I like is Saturday Night Special (I'm a Skynyrd fan) but after that, I think I'll stick to the original.

That was the one song on this that stood out to me as well, however, after that single, I don't know.  I do like the metal/punkish vibe I'm getting and I understand Bobby is not some new voice, but it's a reason why thrash is so hit or miss for me and it's because those types of vocals often just don't sound good to my ears.  I'm not hopeful I'd enjoy anything on this album.

[DTA]

This might be the worst thing I've ever heard. Psychosane sounds like Bohemian Rhapsody compared to this abortion. Quality control is officially dead and cremated in MP-land

[MinistroRaven]

This might be the worst thing I've ever heard. Psychosane sounds like Bohemian Rhapsody compared to this abortion. Quality control is officially dead and cremated in MP-land

I LOL'ed reading your comment because it's truly funny.

Having said that, I like the song, it's not something I will listen regularly, but I like it.

[KevShmev]

And to think that Portnoy once had a problem with JLB's vocals...and is now doing an album with a guy who sounds like a caricature of a South Park character.

[The Walrus]

No exaggeration, I think that is the worst song I've ever heard MP play on.

This might be the worst thing I've ever heard. Psychosane sounds like Bohemian Rhapsody compared to this abortion. Quality control is officially dead and cremated in MP-land

Or this. Yeah.

[HOF]

As pure metal stuff goes, I’d rather listen to something intentionally silly like this than something unintentionally silly (like about 95% of metal music is, including a lot of DT’s music ).

[goo-goo]

This might be the worst thing I've ever heard. Psychosane sounds like Bohemian Rhapsody compared to this abortion. Quality control is officially dead and cremated in MP-land

 

Couldn't watch, just couldn't. Borderline embarrassing in my opinion. Not sure what to think. I like thrash metal but this is just a big WTF. The talent in this new band is there for new and original material. Still don't understand this lineup.

[ReaperKK]

This might be the worst thing I've ever heard. Psychosane sounds like Bohemian Rhapsody compared to this abortion. Quality control is officially dead and cremated in MP-land

 

Couldn't watch, just couldn't. Borderline embarrassing in my opinion. Not sure what to think. I like thrash metal but this is just a big WTF. The talent in this new band is there for new and original material. Still don't understand this lineup.

It was really really bad. I listened to it again because I couldn't believe how bad it was.

[DragonAttack]

at the end of the 'Toys' video (yes, I somehow managed to watch and listen to it all), it says 'to be continued.....'

And I ask myself, 'Why?'

[Ben_Jamin]

at the end of the 'Toys' video (yes, I somehow managed to watch and listen to it all), it says 'to be continued.....'

And I ask myself, 'Why?'

I asked myself the same question.

Although, good job on the video guys at Jib-Jab.

[Metro]

I’ve come to the conclusion that MP is the Adam Sandler of Metal. His best work is behind him, and all he wants to do nowadays is just projects for fun with his friends with maybe an occasional uncut gem every now and then.

[gmillerdrake]

I’ve come to the conclusion that MP is the Adam Sandler of Metal. His best work is behind him, and all he wants to do nowadays is just projects for fun with his friends with maybe an occasional uncut gem every now and then.

I've come to the conclusion that I have a really hard time getting in to any of MP's projects that don't involve Neal Morse. Neal knows how to utilize MP's ability. All the other projects just simply don't. In DT MP had JP to keep him grounded and to capture his ability.......Neal does the same for him. In all the other one's MP is largely unchallenged and I think that's a detriment to him. On top of the fact that IMO the talent in TNMB (& DT for that matter) far outweighs the talent in his other projects.

[Metro]

I agree 100%.

As for this new cover, I never cared for Aerosmith, and this cover certainly hasn’t changed that. I don’t mind Bobby Blitz in Overkill, but his voice is not suited to sing other people’s songs. I think this album is gonna be a train wreck.

[HOF]

I’ve come to the conclusion that MP is the Adam Sandler of Metal. His best work is behind him, and all he wants to do nowadays is just projects for fun with his friends with maybe an occasional uncut gem every now and then.

I've come to the conclusion that I have a really hard time getting in to any of MP's projects that don't involve Neal Morse. Neal knows how to utilize MP's ability. All the other projects just simply don't. In DT MP had JP to keep him grounded and to capture his ability.......Neal does the same for him. In all the other one's MP is largely unchallenged and I think that's a detriment to him. On top of the fact that IMO the talent in TNMB (& DT for that matter) far outweighs the talent in his other projects.

I don’t think it’s a matter of MP not being utilized in his various projects. He’s just the drummer and he does his thing pretty much no matter what. His projects rise and fall on the strength of the collaborators IMO, and right now for me it’s basically Richie Kotzen and to an extent the guys in FC who are the only collaborators who seem to have anything interesting to offer. Richie is a strong writer. Casey seems to have some songwriting strengths too, though I don’t love everything FC does.

I’ve almost given up on Neal Morse TBH. He hasn’t made a prog album that I’ve enjoyed outside of FC since Testimony. I just can’t get into NMB or most of his solo stuff. Maybe TA still has some magic up its sleeve though.

One thing that seems to separate TWD and FC from his other projects is those songs seem to have been a little bit more crafted rather than just putting a bunch of guys in a room for a week or two and putting down whatever you come up with on tape and calling it an album. Mike loves going to that well because it worked for LTE and the first two Transatlantic albums, but I don’t think it’s really worked too well outside of those albums.

[Stadler]

So, I'm not a noob to the Portnoy train, and I've followed most (almost all) the treks off the beaten paths.  Listened to the interviews on Trunk and Used Bin, stuff like that, followed the "Q&A's" he used to do pretty regularly, etc. etc.   

But I've found a question that I'm sure had to have been asked at some point, but I can't recall (nor find) the answer.   

The Cheers theme song, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" was co-written by Gary Portnoy, from Long Island, born 1956 (he also performed on and sang the song).   He was already an established writer, having written songs in the '80's for Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell, and Air Supply. He's also since put out several solo albums.

Any relation?   

[HOF]

I came across that guy recently, and feel like I looked into it and saw somewhere they are not related. Might have found this thread.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=29649.0

Edit: actually, I bet it was this MP tweet that brought Gary Portnoy to my attention.

https://twitter.com/mikeportnoy/status/571714073202724864?s=21

[Cool Chris]

From that Answers.com link:

Is Mike Portnoy a satanist?
No, Mike Portnoy is Jewish.

[ytserush]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvoqtNeQ5uQ&feature=emb_logo

Better than I expected. I like the cover better than the song (vocals too), but I'm no fan of Aerosmith and not a fan of the other songs either.

Would I buy it? No. It does seem like they are having some fun with it, but if it wasn't for Mike being involved with this I wouldn't have bothered with this in the first place.

[The Letter M]

Did anyone else see his post yesterday about him recording drums for *something* on his old John Bonham-style kit from the Octavarium/Hammer Of The Gods days?

He says it's not for the new Neal Morse solo prog album, and he's already tracked the drums for Transatlantic (unless they're doing a bonus disc last minute). I wonder what it could be...

-Marc.

[ytserush]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvoqtNeQ5uQ&feature=emb_logo

wow. That was pretty bad.

Hope others dig it, but this is a hard pass for me.

I'm with you.  I made it to 0:41 seconds and I'm out.   If I want a cover, I'll go listen to the REM version.

REM version? Yikes.