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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: Yazman on December 26, 2011, 02:11:18 AM
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I used to think Falling Into Infinity sucked, but the thing that made me click with it was hearing Hollow Years during the BC&SL tour in Brisbane, it was absolutely amazing. I went home and just played HY on repeat over and over for like a week, and then I thought,"Huh. Great song from FII, maybe I'll give the others a try."
So then I just put the album on and did a listen through, and all of a sudden it just hit me. It's a deceptively great album!
Everybody hates on You Not Me for well known reasons, but it's actually a decent track. Peruvian Skies is a bit slow but pretty good, but where the album really shines in my opinion is with Hollow Years, Take Away My Pain, and Trial Of Tears! Especially Trial of Tears, it's fucking brilliant! Also, Burning My Soul has some great riffs, I really like LaBrie's vocal on that track (his angry style, I really like it when he sings that way). Let's not forget Hell's Kitchen, which is just a nice instrumental, with some of that virtuosity we all love about DT. I still haven't really picked up on Lines In The Sand yet, but I know I'm getting there. Just Let Me Breathe is good too.
Yes it's different musically from other DT stuff, but we have a couple of albums like that. It really is a great album. Whereas I used to think it was the worst one, now I really do appreciate it after giving it a real good proper chance and a proper listen through. I don't understand why it gets so much hate.
Also I just want to add that LaBrie's performance on some of these tracks like Hollow Years and Take Away My Pain, both on the studio versions and live, is just fan-fucking-tastic. Also I really get the feeling that there's a hell of a lot of soul in some of these tracks from everybody.
So that's just my opinion of FII, what do y'all think? Hopefully I'll get a few people to reconsider their opinion of what I now consider to be an awesome album.
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My 4th favourite DT album. It is amazing, very underrated.
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It is underrated, except for New Millenium, You Not Me, Hollow Years, Burning My Soul, Take Away My Pain, Just Let Me Breathe and Anna Lee.
Also Lines In the Sand is a tad overrated but I am starting to like it.
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It is underrated, except for New Millenium, You Not Me, Hollow Years, Burning My Soul, Take Away My Pain, Just Let Me Breathe and Anna Lee.
Also Lines In the Sand is a tad overrated but I am starting to like it.
Lines in the Sand is one of my least favourite on the album, it's still good though.
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I will keep banging the drum for the praise of this album . . . and i wont stop until I hear You Or Me (demo) performed live.
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Falling Into Infinity is not extremely underrated.
It is CRIMINALLY underrated. Definitely one of my favourite DT albums, up there with any of the rest. The only truly skippable songs on the album for me are YNM and TAMP. The rest makes for a great listening experience. :tup
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I will keep banging the drum for the praise of this album . . . and i wont stop until I hear You Or Me (demo) performed live.
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GREAT - Peruvian skies, Trial of tears, Burnin' my soul
GOOD - Hollow years, Just let me breathe, New millennium, Lines in the sand
AVERAGE - Hell's kitchen, Take away my pain, Anna Lee
Just plain meh - You not me
Overall still my least favorite DT album. A record with only three great songs just can't compete with some of their albums where every song is great.
In my opinion, anyway. It's just not good enough.
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The Best - LITS, Hells Kitchen, Trial of Tears, Hollow Years.
Very good - NM, PS, BMS, AL, TAMP,
Ok. - You not me
But You or Me goes in the Very good category.
So yeah, overall a great album!
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it is a great album, it just suffers that it cam after Awake/ACOS... and than it came SFAM...
It is agreat album... it would a classic if it had been made by any other band... but DT has sooo much good music, that anything that it is not proggy enough (FII has some very nice proggy passages tho)... also people never realy like DS that much...
Anyway any DT album is amazing... it is just that some of them are ridicolously amazing... so the ones that are "just" amazing suffer....
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Great album, just suffers from a couple of bad songs.
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I always enjoy You Not Me. I know the story behind it and all. But it's still a fun little ditty.
Lines In The Sand is a top 3 DT song for me.
New Millennium is one of the most awesomely oddball songs I've heard.
The trade off solo bit in Just Let Me Breathe genius.
And Petrucci's solo in Trial Of Tears is a face melting classic.
Mid tier in the DT catalog, but still a great album.
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In many ways this album is responsible for changing me from a casual to a diehard fan. I could never get into the prog aspects of the band and really only listened to them for the riffs and vocal melodies of a few albums. After having FII on in the background I heard Take Away My Pain for what was probably the 30th time, but somehow it just clocked. Then I paid attention to Hollow Years and Anna Lee, Trial of Tears and Peruvian Skies...Now I love the whole album minus Lines in the Sand, Just Let Me Breathe, and New Millenium.
I much prefer the album version of Take Away My Pain to the "Kenny G" demo version. I also love You Not Me...I can understand why people don't LOVE the song but I honestly can't figure out why they absolutely hate it. I also don't think You or Me is really any better.
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My second favorite DT album, and first in terms of production. DT would do well to spend that amount of time and effort again on recording techniques, mic placement, filters, and creative use of compression and effects. It's the most "proggy" of all the DT albums in terms of production. If they could match it with the writing of something like ADTOE or SDOIT it would be :metal.
I hated it at first too, but as I've gotten older, it's become my fav next to I&W, maybe even edging it out in a few places. As much as I love JR and what he's brought to the band, I think it was a mis-step to let DS go, not only because he was closer in style to KS but also because he obviously played an influential role in the sound of FII and ACOS. I could certainly stand to hear some more.
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What do I think of Falling Into Infinity: :heart :heart :heart :heart :heart :heart :heart :heart :heart .
I LOVE it.
It's not as good as Awake (well how it can be better than a perfect album?), but it doesn't have any fillers.
Apocalyptic New Millennium, rocking You Not Me, awesome half prog/half Metallica-stylish heavy riffing Peruvian Skies, beautiful and emotional Hollow Years, fucking heavy Burning My Soul, great instrumental Hell's Kitchen, best studio album song ever, Lines in the Sand, grrroovy Just Let Me Breathe, nice ballad Anna Lee and awesome closer Trial of Tears, which has (with Lines in the Sand) best JP solo ever.
Take Away My Pain is slightly meh in studio, but the Once in a LIVEtime-version is good.
Falling into Infinity beats every DT album made after Metropolis pt.2: Scenes from a Memory by miles, because every of them have even one filler.
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The production values on this album are among Dream Theater's best, but there are a few songs on it that I routinely skip.
I put it in the middle of the pack somewhere.
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Oh, and it's the first DT album with great drum sounds (Awake's snare is a bit too thin, but otherwise it has great drum sounds).
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geeze do half the people posting in this thread read what they typed before they post? Ive never seen so many spelling errors and grammatical mistakes on non-youtube comments
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Yeah, it's my 3rd favorite DT album.
I'd put it as:
Amazing: Lines In The Sand, Peruvian Skies, New Millennium, Trial Of Tears, Hell's Kitchen
Great: Take Away My Pain, Hollow Years, Anna Lee
Good: Just Let Me Breathe, Burning My Soul
Okay: You Not Me
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geeze(,) do half the people posting in this thread read what they typed before they post? Ive never seen so many spelling errors and grammatical mistakes on non-youtube comments(.)
Failure to capitalize the first letter of a sentence, missing a comma, missing an apostrophe from a contraction, failure to properly capitalize the name of a company, and missing a period at the end of a sentence.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to revoke your Grammar Nazi license.
As for Falling Into Infinity, my opinion is that about half of the songs are 'great' or better, while the other half of the songs are 'decent' or worse. So it kinda balances out to a good but not outstanding album, for me.
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geeze(,) do half the people posting in this thread read what they typed before they post? Ive never seen so many spelling errors and grammatical mistakes on non-youtube comments(.)
Failure to capitalize the first letter of a sentence, missing a comma, missing an apostrophe from a contraction, failure to properly capitalize the name of a company, and missing a period at the end of a sentence.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to revoke your Grammar Nazi license.
That's a WIN for the Jaffinator.
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I used to hate on it, but I've found the greatness in Falling Into Infinity.
Anyone who dislikes Hell's Kitchen is missing out.
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It's a great album, one that really took a while to grow for me. The only song I don't really care for on it is Just Let Me Breathe, otherwise I like every one (including the often hated You Not Me). Personal favourites are New Millennium, Hollow Years, Take Away My Pain, and Anna Lee. I don't quite worship Lines In The Sand and Trial Of Tears like most of you do, but they are great songs nonetheless.
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geeze(,) do half the people posting in this thread read what they typed before they post? Ive never seen so many spelling errors and grammatical mistakes on non-youtube comments(.)
Failure to capitalize the first letter of a sentence, missing a comma, missing an apostrophe from a contraction, failure to properly capitalize the name of a company, and missing a period at the end of a sentence.
Thus the irony of my own comment.
Cmon, you nit-picked my comment more than I did the whole thread. At least my comment was legible; some others' comments were a little hard to understand.
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The majority of the album's great, but You Not Me and Burning My soul are some of the worst tracks DT's ever done. Meanwhile, Take Away My Pain and Just Let Me Breathe are pure filler, a disease which few of DT's albums suffer from.
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The highs on this album are among DT's highest highs, but the lows are among DT's lowest lows.
Overall, for me, it is NOT a great album; it is, by definition, average.
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geeze(,) do half the people posting in this thread read what they typed before they post? Ive never seen so many spelling errors and grammatical mistakes on non-youtube comments(.)
Failure to capitalize the first letter of a sentence, missing a comma, missing an apostrophe from a contraction, failure to properly capitalize the name of a company, and missing a period at the end of a sentence.
Thus the irony of my own comment.
Cmon, you nit-picked my comment more than I did the whole thread. At least my comment was legible; some others' comments were a little hard to understand.
Oh, I know. I don't mean to imply that you have particularly bad grammar. Nothing personal, and sorry if I was legitimately offensive. It's just a little internet pet peeve of mine: I think that before someone complains about anyone else's grammar, they should first make sure their own grammar is pretty much perfect. That's the reason I've proofread this message six times before posting it.
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Definitely underrated. I don't really like Burning My Soul and You Not Me but two bad songs don't make a bad album. I think that when people think about FII, they tend to just think of YNM and songs like that, but don't realize how great the rest of the songs are. So yeah, probably my 4th favorite DT album.
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Yazman I agree with everything you said apart from BMS and JLMB- they are poor. And LITS is awesome apart from the Kings X guy shrieking all over it.
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It is underrated as a whole. I don't think it's underrated on this forum though as most people here seem to appreciate it or realise that it's not that bad at all.
Lines In The Sand and Trial Of Tears are great, both in my top 15 DT songs I think, and apart from that it has three or four others I consider pretty good but nothing special, but then it also has a lot that, while I don't dislike them (I even like You Not Me although it is amongst the worst DT songs) they are really in the bottom barrel of all DT songs. No other (Labrie) album has that much weak material, so while the highs are up there with some of DT's best, I find it hard to justify considering any (Labrie) album worse than it overall.
But it's still a great album, and like I said I don't actually consider anything on it really terrible, it's just that there's so much stuff that is just all right.
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It's really underrated, it still has some shitty songs(TAMP and YNM) but the rest of the album goes from good to amazing.
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Trial Of Tears is the #1 song of all time that changed songs forever.
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I really like Hell's Kitchen and Trial Of Tears, but even after listening to it so many times it's still pretty boring otherwise.
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It's my 4th favorite DT album. Pretty great stuff. Lines in the Sand and Trial of Tears are amazing. I don't even have a problem with You Not Me, but Burning My Soul is kinda cruddy.
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The King's X guy (you know, the best rock singer on the damn planet) singing on "Lines In The Sand" is my favorite part of it. I dig the whole album.
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Agreed. Derek is all over this album and without him I don't think it would have been half as good as it is. I prefer this album to almost all JR albums with the exception of now ADToE.
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FII is okay but IMO there's too much filler and not enough standout songs, it's my least favorite DT album excluding Systematic Chaos.
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It's underrated but it's too weak between Awake and Metropolis pt.2. Lines in the Sand and Trial of Tears are terrific but others are just ok.
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Trial of Tears isn't good or great, it is God-tier. I find it much more enjoyable than some other DT songs of similar length.
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I've grown to appreciate it more over time, especially ToT and LitS (though they have always been my favourites on the album). But it's still got 3 of the (very few) DT songs I don't really like and most of the other tracks are pretty average for me by their standards. Hell's Kitchen is cool though :coolio Always wondered why they have rarely played that live :huh:
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"Anna Lee" is still my favorite Dream Theater ballad.
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"Anna Lee" is still my favorite Dream Theater ballad.
Anna Lee is the most criminally underrated DT song ever.
FII is my 5th favorite DT album, just below the "big 4" (SDOIT, SFAM, I&W, and Awake).
Trial Of Tears, Anna Lee, New Millennium, Peruvian Skies, and Lines In The Sand are amazing songs imo.
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Definitely a damn fine album. It has some of DT's best songs ever (Trial of Tears, Hell's Kitchen, Lines in the Sand and Peruvian Skies), a bunch of rock solid tunes, and really only one bad song (You Not Me). Even several fairly average songs like Burning My Soul and Just Let Me Breathe have some really cool things going on, even if the chorus in Burning My Soul is boring, and that bridge in JLMB is icky.
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One of the best DT albums. And one of the top 3 sound-wise for me.
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The King's X guy (you know, the best rock singer on the damn planet) singing on "Lines In The Sand" is my favorite part of it. I dig the whole album.
Err, not to these ears.
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Yeah, it's my 3rd favorite DT album.
I'd put it as:
Amazing: Lines In The Sand, Peruvian Skies, New Millennium, Trial Of Tears, Hell's Kitchen
Great: Take Away My Pain, Hollow Years, Anna Lee
Good: Just Let Me Breathe, Burning My Soul
Okay: You Not Me
Ditto for the above....may be my 4th Favourite though....Hell's Kitchen would be in my Top 10 of their catalogue. :smiley:
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Yeah, it's my 3rd favorite DT album.
I'd put it as:
Amazing: Lines In The Sand, Peruvian Skies, New Millennium, Trial Of Tears, Hell's Kitchen
Great: Take Away My Pain, Hollow Years, Anna Lee
Good: Just Let Me Breathe, Burning My Soul
Okay: You Not Me
Ditto for the above....may be my 4th Favourite though....Hell's Kitchen would be in my Top 10 of their catalogue. :smiley:
Lines In The Sand is a top 5 for me. I always put Hell's Kitchen with it though, because it flows well. :tup
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I actually think that, in the DT fanbase at least, that Falling Into Infinity tends to be highly overrated.
I suspect that a lot of people who love this album don't actually love it, they love the album that was supposed to be, the FII demos. I think that over the years, MP's declaration that FII was meant to be something better, coupled with the demos, created the perception that FII was a flawed masterpiece, a few things short of perfect.
It isn't.
I've never gotten the love for New Millennium, I just find it plodding and dull. I actually have ZERO problem with You Not Me, and scandalously enough prefer it to the demo version. Peruvian Skies is nice, although it wears the Pink Floyd meets Metallica influences a bit too much on its sleeves. Hollow Years is okay but lets face it, what we really love is the Budokan version. Burning My Soul is dreadful, and taking Hell's Kitchen out of it was a good move. Lines In The Sand...well, personally I find it just good. Take Away My Pain is average. Just Let Me Breathe is horrible. Anna Lee is a lovely power ballad, and I have zero fault with Trial of Tears. FII is an average album, actually fairly low on my personal DT list. People who proclaim it DT's best album kind of amuse me.
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I don't know that I prefer any of the demo versions. Having learned to take what MP says with a grain of salt, his proclamations haven't impacted me. I just like the music. Liked it since I first heard it.
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If anything, I think the demos are quite overrated.
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I heard FII for the first time in late 2001/early 2002. Didn't like it at first, but came to like it a lot over a period of about a year. I had no idea what Mike Portnoy's opinion of the album was at the time, so it had no influence on me whatsoever. I had heart Burning My Soul on the radio when FII came out, and didn't like it, so I never bothered to pick up the album. After hearing a couple of tracks from it on LSFNY, I picked it up. I was immediately struck by how different it sounded, and didn't care for it. But like I said, it grew on me. I don't think it's underrated at all. It's a very good album, and I a lot of fans recognize it as such. As far as individual tracks:
-New Millenium: I didn't know it existed until after I had heard Caught In A New Millenium on LSFNY. I like the Caught version better, but the album version is still a terrific song. Liked it from day 1.
-You Not Me: I've never liked it. Still don't. You Or Me is slightly better, but I don't like that version either.
-Peruvian Skies: Kind of a slow grower. At first, I didn't love it; didn't hate it. Now, I really like it. Would love to see it live again.
-Hollow Years: I have never liked this song one bit. The extended versions they started playing from the TOT tour onward take it up a notch or two, but even then, I don't like it.
-Burning My Soul: Didn't like it at first. Now, it's okay. It has some really cool parts and some parts I don't care for. But I think it would be a great live tune, and I'm hoping they bring it out sometime.
-Hell's Kitchen: It serves as an okay warm up intro to Lines In The Sand. As a whole, I don't like it one bit. Definitely my least favorite instrumental by DT (although Eve gives it a run for its money).
-Lines In The Sand: Best song on the album.
-Take Away My Pain: Demo version is better, but this is still a great song.
-Just Let Me Breathe: Not great, but very good.
-Anna Lee: Very nice ballad. This song is easy to overlook given the other ballads on the album, but very solid.
-Trial of Tears: Took me a little while to warm up to completely, but I love it. Second best song, closely behind LITS.
The other songs that didn't make the cut, which I didn't hear until years later, are hit and miss. Some very good ones and some that are decent.
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"Trial of Tears," "Lines in the Sand," "Hell's Kitchen" and "New Millennium" aren't good or great, they are God-tier!
and some of the b-sides are really killer as well (even "The Way It Used to Be," or is that "The Way U2 Used to Be?!").
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I was heavily into my DT fandom when FII came out. I still remember listening to it for the first time. First up was New Millenium. It didn't sit well with me. Sounded like a forced and contrived attempt to recreate another Metropolis. Then You Not Me came on, and I thought, "Well, that was quick!" (meaning that they had sold out so early into their career. My new favorite band had just mailed it in).
I ended up liking a few songs, as this album is really only good for 3 songs: Lines, Trial, and Peruvian Skies. That's it, that all I really like on this. It was funny to read the comments from MP on FII later on, as all of what he said was so very clear just by listening to the album, without the benefit of that knowledge.
I will say, however, that while the FII version of Hollow Years wouldn't make my DT Top 50, but the Live At Budokan version makes my DT Top 15!
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I actually think that, in the DT fanbase at least, that Falling Into Infinity tends to be highly overrated.
I suspect that a lot of people who love this album don't actually love it, they love the album that was supposed to be, the FII demos. I think that over the years, MP's declaration that FII was meant to be something better, coupled with the demos, created the perception that FII was a flawed masterpiece, a few things short of perfect.
That generalization isn't at all fair to FII. I think the demos are overrated, and in almost every single case I think the final album version is an improvement over the demo. YOM? Just as bad as YNM. Hell's Kitchen is miles better separate. etc.
I fell in love with the album long before I knew what MP thought about it, or knew anything about the situation with the record company or the demos.
I mean, come on. When was the last time MP's opinion on something affected anyone? :lol
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Well, Hell's Kitchen makes a great addition to the instrumedly. And Lines in the Sand is really good.
That's as much praise as I can give this album, sorry.
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It's not underrated, really. The album as a whole is in my book definitely their weakest, considering they were forced to turn You Or Me (the demo version) into a bastard version of itself and the fiasco of Burning My Soul (which is by far DTs most bland, flat and boring song to date in my opinion. They sound thoroughly uninspired in it). I'm convinced that this album would've been much, much better if they hadn't had the record company watching their every move, which is also a part in why I don't really like the album as a whole.
I do agree though that a few songs on the album is underrated, which is due to the worse songs on the album dragging it down, and thus the good songs with them. These songs are, I think, New Millennium, Lines in the Sand, Hell's Kitchen and to some degree Anna Lee, Take Away My Pain and Peruvian Skies. The rest is bad or meh compared to the rest of their discography.
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For me it doesn't even feel like a Dream Theater album. There's nothing progressive, metal or even likeable about many of the songs. It would be a great non-DT album, but compared to I&W, Awake and Scenes, it feels like SUCH an outlier.
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FII is in my bottom 3. When it was released I ran home in such anticipation...
After the first few listens I thought to myself "WTF happened?"
So relieved when they released SFAM.
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I love it, and I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! NOOOOOOO!!!
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I don't love all the songs, But I do think it has much better sound/mix then Awake. All the intruments are extremely clear and upfront and John Myungs bass has never sounded better way more pronounced then it is even on the new album. I miss that and hope they continue to let him shine going forward.
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It gets a bad rap mostly because it was the worst Dream Theater album *at that time*...(with the exception of WDADU, of course).
But there's more perspective now that we have SC and BCSL to compare it to.
I always thought it was a *good* album that was simply overshadowed by the rest of their body of work that was very nearly flawless until SC came along.
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I actually think that, in the DT fanbase at least, that Falling Into Infinity tends to be highly overrated.
I suspect that a lot of people who love this album don't actually love it, they love the album that was supposed to be, the FII demos. I think that over the years, MP's declaration that FII was meant to be something better, coupled with the demos, created the perception that FII was a flawed masterpiece, a few things short of perfect.
It isn't.
I've never gotten the love for New Millennium, I just find it plodding and dull. I actually have ZERO problem with You Not Me, and scandalously enough prefer it to the demo version. Peruvian Skies is nice, although it wears the Pink Floyd meets Metallica influences a bit too much on its sleeves. Hollow Years is okay but lets face it, what we really love is the Budokan version. Burning My Soul is dreadful, and taking Hell's Kitchen out of it was a good move. Lines In The Sand...well, personally I find it just good. Take Away My Pain is average. Just Let Me Breathe is horrible. Anna Lee is a lovely power ballad, and I have zero fault with Trial of Tears. FII is an average album, actually fairly low on my personal DT list. People who proclaim it DT's best album kind of amuse me.
I disagree with almost every word of this post.
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Indeed it is. I think it is a very solid CD. And I LOVE You Not Me
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I agree so very much. BMS and YNM are two horrible stains on an otherwise very good record. The "modern rock" feel in particular is great, with Trial of Tears being the obvious exception. Very groovy album overall. Its also their best sounding album ever, with maybe Octavarium or ADTOE coming in second place in that regard.
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Agreed. Derek is all over this album and without him I don't think it would have been half as good as it is. I prefer this album to almost all JR albums with the exception of now ADToE.
I do love the sounds Derek gets from his Keys, 98 was the first year I saw them live and Derek was cool in concert. Check out his solo on Once in a live time. Many sounds that i thought were JP were actually Derek.
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The album has many songs I really dislike and a few true gems. It definitely has a weird "personality", it feels like a quirky DT album, not very representative of their overall style, and that sets it apart from the rest of the albums. To me, it is the album that feels less like DT, along with Awake.
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This album definitely went under-appreciated by me for the LONGEST time (along with Awake), but it wasn't until a couple years ago that it, and the B-Sides from 96-97 recording sessions, really clicked with me. However, I do substitute a couple tracks out for my own personal listening experience:
"You Or Me" (from the Hollow Years single) > "You Not Me"
"Take Away My Pain" (1996 demo) > "Take Away My Pain" (album version)
Other than that, the rest of the tracks, as they were on the album, sounds fantastic and it's been nice that the band has pulled out some of them on tour in the last few years, albeit the original demo versions (LITS and HY), but I'm glad they still played at least one song from that album each tour (so far it seems). I'd really like to hear some of the under-played tracks live on the next tour legs, just to hear them breathe new life in songs that have become underrated.
-Marc.
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Falling Into Infinity is much, much better than Awake. Just throwing that out there. ;)
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Such diverse opinions. [:D]
One thing I find interesting was just how much SFAM has fallen for me. When it came out I must have played it over 100 times. I was listening to everyday, same with Nine Inch Nails, The Fragile. But today, SFAM just isn't as interesting as their other albums and I know I'm in the minority, I actually prefer FII over SFAM. The reason being Derek 100%. Derek OWNS Falling Into Infinity much the same as Jordan owns A Dramatic Turn of Events. Derek is all over FII and the bag of tricks he used just never gets old. It's the same with Awake when Kevin moved more in a heavy direction with his sound although I bet he did it kicking and screaming. With Derek it was as natural as JP on the guitar. Over time the sound Jordan used on SFAM is also the same on every consecutive album up until ADTOE where I actually think we are now hearing the "real" Jordan and not the "let's put a round peg into a square hole" kinda thing. This has always been my largest complaint with Jordan and now I'm glad to be proven wrong by my initial opinion of him, but also frustrated that it took this long for DT to show this side of Jordan to me.
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I disagree with the OP about FII but it's always cool to know that every DT album has it's fans.
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I don't think it's underrated on this forum at all. And I agree that it's great and enjoyable album.
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i find the writing on fii to be a bit understated for d.t., but most of the music breathes well, and the clarity of the mix makes those types of songs successful i think. i love hearing myung as prominantly as i do on fii and adtoe.
as a pianist, i would have loved to have heard a few more albums with derek. i prefer his style of playing with d.t. over the other kevin and jordan (who are also great, of course).
the one thing i've always taken issue with on the album is petrucci's guitar sound. i like a crisp metal crunch, a la train of thought, and his sound on fii - it's not clear to me - like the mid's are turned way down, or like i'm listening to his parts through a wrapping paper tube or something. wierd, i know. hard to explain. i wonder if it's a gear issue or amp setting issue...
great album though.
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I listened to You Not Me recently...it's not bad.
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I'm giving it a spin in entirety right now.
I like you not me - the solo kicks ass.
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I think many fans were swayed by MP's vocal dislike of the album. I know I was at the time. I believe it was an issue with Kevin Shirley who had a hand in the production, mixing and engineering, and bringing in Desmond Child that got under his skin. John was cool with it.
Any way I am actually surprised the album was not more of a commercial hit.
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It has a couple clunkers (YNM, JLMB), but overall I like it a lot. :metal
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Great album and definitely different from their other albums atmosphere wise.
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I think many fans were swayed by MP's vocal dislike of the album.
Perhaps, but certainly not all.
I'd guess that a certain amount of low rating for the album is likely contextual to its release, it certainly was for me: compared to I&W and Awake it was a noticeable drop-off in quality and a bit of a shock to the system. Yes, there's good material on the album and a couple of classic tracks, but I&W and Awake don't just have "good" material, they have great material practically from start-to-finish.
At the time it put me off bothering to follow DT for a while. SFaM was out for at least a year before I picked it up and only did so because a friend of mine (who also didn't rate FII much) had picked it up on a whim and was waxing lyrical about it.
However, FII now sits at about the middle of DT albums for me and I'm far more fond of it than I am ToT, SC and BC&SL and as such I have a less disparaging view of it than I had at the time.
I guess part of one's dislike for an album that doesn't meet expectations around the time of its release can be attributed to the worry that it represents the future of the band and it's only when it can be viewed in the wider context of the band's career that it's possible to rate it fairly.
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Found this old interview.
JP: Falling Into Infinity was done at Avatar, just like Systematic Chaos. Kevin Shirley recorded that record, produced it, an engineered it, and one of the things I totally remember is that we had all of this Boogie stuff in one room. We actually made a poster out of it. I borrowed cabinets – they sent me cabinets. My goal was to pick the perfect cabinet. I had 4 x12s with ninety-watt speakers, and halfbacks, and all these different things. That’s when I discovered and fell in love with the 4 x 12 Rectifier Traditional cabinet, which is what I’ve used ever since.
MPc: Do you use it with the Celestion Vintage 30s?
JP: Vintage 30s, but on Falling into Infinity we experimented with everything, like the twenty-five watt greenback speakers. I had every Boogie head you could imagine in this room. It was like a guitar store – it was awesome, and we centered on that cabinet and I’ve used that cabinet ever since. I think it sounds really natural, just the way it resonates and everything.