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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: KevShmev on July 20, 2021, 08:51:26 PM
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Okay, the flip side now.
Pick your four least favorites.
I will go with:
When Dream and Day Unite (as much as I like it, Charlie's vocals and the mix are why I ding it)
Systematic Chaos (has some really good songs, but has a few of their lowest lows ever)
Black Clouds and Silver Linings (good record, with five of the six songs being very good, but feels like the album itself has no personality)
Dream Theater (consistent record, but probably has the lowest highs of any of their records, and whoever decided to make Mangini's drums sound like that should be punched)
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FII
6 D's
8V
DT12
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WDaDU - This has some fantastic songs, but the production and Charlie's vocals knock it way down. The live versions of these songs are far stronger.
ADToE - This album just feels lazy to me and the songwriting of Mike Portnoy feels missed
DT12 - Worst sounding DT album since WDaDU. There are some good songs here, but some feel phoned in.
D/T - Snoozefest for the most part, especially after the fairly adventurous The Astonishing. And (unpopular opinion time) yes, The Astonishing is the best of the post-MP albums.....so far...
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WDaDU. Just hadn't found their rhythm quite yet, and no JLB.
I & W. .. I know. I just like the others better
DT. I really don't care for TLG or TEI. IT is a top song, but I just don't listen that often other than that.
TOT. These last 2 were hard to pick. There really aren't any I don't like except WDaDU.
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I went with WDADU, Octavarium and SC.
Not that any of them is really that bad, but overall they have the weaker songs (despite some hits such as Trial of Tears and the last track of Octavarium)
The fourth one could be any among TOT, FII, TOT, ADTOE, DT12, but I can't be pressed to decide so I'll be only voting on three.
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Two are super easy. SC and BCSL. Probably the only two DT albums I just plain do not like and never revisit.
WDADU takes a third spot strictly for the piss-poor production. It’s an otherwise very enjoyable album.
And I’m afraid I’m going to have to go with The Astonishing for the 4th slot. I was this album’s biggest defender when it came out. I really loved chutzpah of the project. And I even loved the story. In fact, the story was big enough to go 3-discs. But alas, too many of the ideas feel unfinished, and for as many tracks as there are, there’s only a small handful of songs that stand on their own. There was no DT album I WANTED to love more than this one, and for a time I sung the praises of its scope and initiative. But it just didn’t have the staying power to actually hook me. But I’m glad they did it, and I will continue to revisit it from time to time.
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Only voting on the ones I own (up through SC):
WDADU
Train of Thought
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
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The Astonishing (dead last, I can't put into words why I dislike this one so much. It just doesn't do anything for me at all, and a boring story)
BCSL (nothing wrong with it, there's just not much there to grab me)
SC (a little better than BCSL, some more good moments overall)
WDADU (I kind of really like some of the songs there, but the production and Charlie brings it down)
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WDADU
8V
BC&SL
DT12
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Octavarium
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Systematic Chaos
DT12
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I’ve given up on the whole album ranking thing. They have so many albums that are pretty much equal in my mind that it’s easier to just group them.
Perfect:
Images and Words
Awake
Scenes From a Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Great:
Train of Thought
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater
Distance Over Time
Not So Great:
When Dream and Day Unite
Falling Into Infinity
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
The Astonishing
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WDaDU
FII
SC
DT12
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Least favourite first:
When Dream and Day Unite - As has been mentioned countless times before, the lack of JLB and the production are the main issue here. If they'd re-recorded it in the early 90s, it'd probably be at least 4 spots higher in my list.
Black Clouds and Silver Linings - When even I think songs need trimming down, there's definitely a problem :lol TCOT is great, and ANTR is pretty good, but even that could have been a bit shorter. I found TSF to be a let down; AROP feels kind of uninspired, plus is far too long; Wither is only OK and TBOT is one of my least favourite DT songs. I think if they had shortened some of the tracks and used the time saved to add 1 or 2 good tracks, it would have been a better album.
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Please don't hurt me. I really want to love this, but I've just never seen in it what most others do. There's nothing I really dislike on it and I can't even think of ways to make it better, but TGP is the only great song for me.
Falling Into Infinity - A great sounding record, with some really good tracks - especially TOT and LITS, but it also has 3 of my least favourite DT songs. There was a thread a while back about reconfiguring the album and I think if you got rid of YNM, BMS and JLMB and replaced them with an extended version of To Live Forever and maybe Speak to Me, we'd have a middle of the pack album, rather than one in the bottom 4. TLF was written well before FII of course, but it'd be cool to have it on an official studio album.
I still listen to many of the songs from all these albums and 3 of the albums as a whole. WDADU is the only one I almost never listen to in its studio album form.
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WDADU
SC
BC&SL
DT12
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FII
TOT
OV
SC
Yeah that’s a low point for me from 2003-2008.
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When Dream And Day Unite
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
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BETTER-->| Systematic Chaos >Dream Theater >Distance over Time >The Astonishing | <-- WORSE
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Black Clouds…
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
The Astonishing
In that order.
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11. Dream Theater
12. Train of Thought
13. Falling Into Infinity
14. When Dream and Day Unite
Half of the self-titled album is really great, but the other half is just okay in comparison.
If it weren't for Honor Thy Father, Train of Thought would probably be in my Top 5 Dream Theater albums.
And then FII and WDADU both fall into the category of "good, but outclassed". They both have some amazing songs on there, though.
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The bottom 4 are as easy to list as the top 4.
The Astonishing is at the very bottom. No matter how many times I've tried, it won't click. There are some moments that stand out (there's a song that sounds very Dixie Dregs-ish, but I can't ever remember what the song is), but SO MUCH of the album sounds so very much the same that it's a chore to listen to.
Systematic Chaos was at the bottom until TA was released. SC features DT's all-time worst song (Redemption), and it's "epic" has never clicked with me. I LOVE Constant Motion, and TDEN is ok, but everything else is just meh.
Falling into Infinity comes next. Several good songs (YNM, HY, HK, AL and TOT), but none of those are great. LITS had potential but is ruined by the chorus.
The last spot was between WDADU and BC&SL. WDADU has a couple duds, but most of it is really good. The best stuff on BC&SL (Wither and TCOT) is better than the best stuff on WDADU, but large chunks of BC&SL (ANTR, AROP and TBOT) are no better than meh. BC&SL gets the vote.
And I’m afraid I’m going to have to go with The Astonishing for the 4th slot. I was this album’s biggest defender when it came out. I really loved chutzpah of the project. And I even loved the story. In fact, the story was big enough to go 3-discs. But alas, too many of the ideas feel unfinished, and for as many tracks as there are, there’s only a small handful of songs that stand on their own. There was no DT album I WANTED to love more than this one, and for a time I sung the praises of its scope and initiative. But it just didn’t have the staying power to actually hook me. But I’m glad they did it, and I will continue to revisit it from time to time.
I share a lot of these sentiments. Some folks think they shouldn't have tried this, and I disagree. I admire the attempt and the effort. The story seems a bit derivative, but no real problem there. Few songs stand out on their own. I WISH I loved this album, but no....
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According to my analytical way of rating albums, my four lowest rated albums are FII, SC, ADToE and TA.
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When Dream and Day Unite - can't get used to the sound or the singer
Awake - I just don't particularly like any of the songs
Falling into Infinity - some good tunes, good sound, but not a lot of songs that click with me. Contains their absolutely worst song, BMS
Dream Theater - I can't stand the mix, and most of the songs are too similar to Rush in a bad way (I don't particularly like Rush)
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Easy. Distance Over Time, The Astonishing, DT12, and BCSL.
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Easy. Distance Over Time, The Astonishing, DT12, and BCSL.
This, except Train of Thought instead of The Astonishing.
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Good: Falling into Infinity / Systematic Chaos / The Astonishing / Distance over Time
Great: When Dream and Day Unite / Images & Words / Awake / Scenes from a Memory / Octavarium
Brilliant: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence / a Dramatic Turn of Events / Dream Theater
Perfect: Train of Thought & Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Falling into Infinity is so hard for me to dig because you have to work yourself throught two of DT's worse song in there history, New Millenium and You not Me, to get to the better part of the album. Somehow it's my least favorite of all, maybe also because of the cover without there logo. Hells Kitchen and Lines in the Sand are beautiful, but it's hard to get there.
And The Astonishing is a very good idea, real nice concept but I truly believe it would be so much more meaningful if a woman would sing the parts of the princess. I read the book which helped me 'in', but still, I do believe it is not as brilliant as the others. I miss the metal-aspect and an epic on it.
Distance over Time would probably age very will and rise in my ranking after a couple of years...
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When Dream and Day Unite
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Dream Theater
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WDaDU
DoT
DT12
The Astonishing
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BCSL is awesome and a million times better than ADTOE. No wonder I'm not friends with any of you. :xbones
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WDADU is an easy pick. Not because the music's bad or anything but Charlie was never really my jam, and the songs just aren't as strong as most of their others
Systematic Chaos. Despite loving most of ITPOE and having fun with TDEN, most of this album a wash for me. Every now and again I listen to the whole thing for the novelty. but it doesn't do much for me.
Dream Theater. I think this album has a bad mix and a lot of the tracks feel pretty by-the-numbers to me. Sometimes I'll throw on the epic for all of the fun riffs but there's not much here that engages me.
The Astonishing. I actually don't hate this album, but the story is sub-par and 2 discs is a big commitment for a concept album that's just "mostly okay." If anything, I love that there are some really short tracks on here that go a lot of places. I'd love if DT were to incorporate that aspect more into future albums.
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The problem with WDADU for me is, I think all of the songs are good. I really like all of them. It’s a decent album. But, every album they made after it was better. It’s at the bottom by default.
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Octavarium (but I love the title-track)
Train of Thought
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (I strongly hate four songs on the album... which has 6 songs)
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I'm a little surprised how many people have Octavarium in the bottom 4. Weird... :dunno:
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I'm a little surprised how many people have Octavarium in the bottom 4. Weird... :dunno:
It was in my bottom 4 for a while, so I get it. My order is ever-changing (aside from the top 4 which is pretty much set in stone), and I'd now put 8V in the 8-10 range, but I get why others put it in the bottom 4. I know the album overall is far too derivative for some. DT has always worn their influences on their sleeves, but that is the one album where it feels like they went a bit too far with them, from the Muse riff in Never Enough to the countless borrowed things in the title track to them channeling Diary of a Madman at the end of Sacrificed Sons, etc. I enjoy the album from start to finish, and the title track, despite all of the borrowing, is still a killer song (a 10/10), but to me it's an album full of 6's and 7's prior to the 10 (title track).
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I'm a little surprised how many people have Octavarium in the bottom 4. Weird... :dunno:
It was in my bottom 4 for a while, so I get it. My order is ever-changing (aside from the top 4 which is pretty much set in stone), and I'd now put 8V in the 8-10 range, but I get why others put it in the bottom 4. I know the album overall is far too derivative for some. DT has always worn their influences on their sleeves, but that is the one album where it feels like they went a bit too far with them, from the Muse riff in Never Enough to the countless borrowed things in the title track to them channeling Diary of a Madman at the end of Sacrificed Sons, etc. I enjoy the album from start to finish, and the title track, despite all of the borrowing, is still a killer song (a 10/10), but to me it's an album full of 6's and 7's prior to the 10 (title track).
Sacrificed Sons is an 8 at least.
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Astonishing
DoT
DT12
SC
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Yeah, for me, the bottom 4 take little to no thought.
When Dream and Day Unite—I've given this a spin every few years since the mid '90s...it's interesting in a 'oh, so that's where they come from' sort of way, but it's nothing I actively seek out.
Black Clouds & Silver Linings—This album is the second biggest dissappointment for me as a fan. To me, this is the sound of a 'tired' band.
The Astonishing—I've already written volumes on why this record just doesn't work (for me), so I'm not going to pile on. There's a good 45-minutes of music in there, but, well...
Honestly, that's it. Every other record does it for me in one way or another. If I had to pick, I'd probably say DT12 from the standpoint that I don't revisit it very often, but even without the benefit of a classic track, I enjoy it every time I listen to it.
Kudos to John and the boys—I can't think of another band that has been able to provide me with 11 solid albums of material. In a lot of ways, their development as a band has paralleled my development as a man/fan/listener, and they really are the soundtrack to my adulthood.
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WD&DU
The Astonishing
SC
Awake
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BETTER-->| Systematic Chaos >Dream Theater >Distance over Time >The Astonishing | <-- WORSE
This is my exact ranking for bottom 4.
Systematic Chaos- DT is on autopilot here. Seems somewhat by the numbers, dispassionate. The album just feels like burnout. Consistent and “listenable” is probably the highest praise I can give it.
DT12- JP on a big Rush kick. The heart is there but it’s marred by poor production, a bit too much cheese (Enemy Inside, Along for the Ride), and an epic misfire that is Illumination Theory. LaBrie starting to show signs of a limited capacity in the studio.
Distance/Time - Too loud, bombastic production, but not enough meat to the songs. Some of the worst DT material ever (Room 137, Viper King, Pale Blue Dot) with only a couple choice cuts. Myung and Mangini play their asses off but it’s not enough to save an extremely overrated album
Astonishing- 20 minutes of inspired music with easily the best production/sound of the Mangini Era (which it doesn’t get enough credit for) rendered unlistenable by almost 2 hours of bloat. A for effort, noble attempt at something new, but probably needed someone in the room with Petrucci to tell him “no”.
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and an epic misfire that is Illumination Theory.
I honestly can't believe how you can label 'misfire' at Illumination Theory. To me, it is one of there better epics. The middle part is a blessing I can't ever hear enough.
Some of the worst DT material ever (Room 137, Viper King, Pale Blue Dot)
Pale Blue Dot is next to Barstool Warrior and At Wits End the best track on the album, I would say. But since I've been on this forum the conclusion constantly comes to mind that Dream Theater fans love there band for so many different reasons. Which of course, is a wonderful thing.
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For IT the orchestral section and the Petrucci solo section (with some great playing by Mangini) afterwards are the only standout moments for me. That’s maybe 3 minutes of a +20 minute song. It’s their worst epic in my opinion.
Pale Blue Dot isn’t offensively bad, but it’s just boring to me. I’ve listened to it 20-30 times and I honestly can’t even remember any of it beyond the “God Creators…” chorus.
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WDADU
FII
DT12
TA
The first two are a bit of a no-brainer for me, and I seem to follow the crowd on that one. Looking at the results, I'm surprised so many folks would take The Astonishing over SC and BC&SL, but I guess some folks have just either warmed up to The Astonishing over the years, or just really disliked SC and/or BC&SL more. Personally, I quite enjoy those albums and would take them over the two lesser Mangini-era albums.
-Marc.
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WDADU
FII
DT12
TA
The first two are a bit of a no-brainer for me, and I seem to follow the crowd on that one. Looking at the results, I'm surprised so many folks would take The Astonishing over SC and BC&SL, but I guess some folks have just either warmed up to The Astonishing over the years, or just really disliked SC and/or BC&SL more. Personally, I quite enjoy those albums and would take them over the two lesser Mangini-era albums.
-Marc.
BC&SL and SC sound so DT-by-numbers that it’s impossible for me to rank them any higher than just “listenable” (I rank 8VM in between them with the epic being the only song that really feels better than average) with SC being my favorite of the three by a pretty wide margin. Black Clouds is so beyond bloated with each song besides Wither and possibly TCoT being way longer than necessary. The drums sound so horribly loud and the MP vocal section in Nightmare is the absolute peak of DT awfulness. There’s good moments in each song but they’re surrounded by so much repetition and pointless shit that I wonder if they realized the album was too short by their standards and padded the songs just to make it longer. Everything they’ve done since (besides Illumination Theory which is a hot mess) has been pretty above average quality with The Astonishing being a career highlight (to me at least).
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-WDADU. Easily my least favorite. It has some great songs (The Killing Hand, Afterlife, Only a Matter of Time...), but I learned to love all those songs I just mentioned because I heard them being sung by JLB in later live shows. Charlie just isn't James. And the mixing was awful, too.
-Systematic Chaos/BC&SL, Black Clouds being noticeably worse than SC. SC is actually pretty great but it has some awful lows, and BCSL sounds really uninspired to me. It seems that the recording and writing methods had become really formulaic at that point. Still some bangers here and there like The Count of Tuscany if you try not to hear the lyrics :lol
-DT12. Also really uninspiring. It has its great moments, but it doesn't do much to set itself apart from their latest albums. And the mixing too, man. Come on!
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I don't think there is a band somewere out there who's fanbase has so many variety in opinions then Dream Theater. Metallica for example, I think almost every fan they have wil put Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning at the top of there list. But Dream Theater has so many aspects and there's so much to discover in each track, that they're loved for so many different opinions. My favorite albums (Black Clouds and Train of Thought) are many times others least favorites... my least favorites (Falling into Infinity and the Astonishing) are others favorites.
But what I do not understand is the dislike on Dominici. To me, he was brilliant on the first album and I love When Dream and Day unite. The intro of the Killing Hand still is one of the best intro's they ever made.
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11 WDADU - some great songs but poor Production and Charlie's voice is ok but nothing more.
12 FII - some great songs - HK, LITS,HY & TOT, some v poor - BMS, TAMP, JLMB & YNM.
13 BCSL - love TCOT and ANTR even though the solo section drags on too long imo and enough has been said about the cookie monster vocals. The rest is really poor.
14 SC - DT by numbers. I cant remember the last time i listened to any of this album barring ITPOE 1 and 2.
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BC&SL: Just no from me. Love the Count, like the beautiful agony section of ANTR, that’s about it. This was the one I felt Portnoy was just in cruise control, it felt overall uninspired and I almost never listen to it bar TCOT.
WDADU: Pretty much mirror many others here. Actually really like it, just can’t quite get past the production and Charlie. In a perfect world, would love a studio version of this with James one day…
8V: Just never got the love for it as much as many. The nuggets are cool and I do really enjoy the title track (maybe not quite as much as some though). After that, SS is fine, but the rest is just again something I rarely revisit. Felt again that many songs were just mailing it in. This could have been an EP like Change of Seasons and probably would have been one of the best things they had ever done..
SC: I actually rather like this album, it at least feels inspired in the sense it has some nice direction, and I like many of the songs. Repentance is a big no, otherwise I like it, and find it fun and pretty inoffensive overall. Lands in this spot purely as I like the others more, but could flip-flop with TA, which is about on par, just different highs and lows.
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When Dream and Day Unite. I can't really get past how wrong Charlie sounds here. Not bad, just wrong for the music, which is what the other guys said was not his fault, just a problem that needed correcting for them to go forward. Some good songwriting moments, but not much meat on the bone for me, despite the youthful exuberance,
Falling into Infinity. I&W and Awake were my two favorite albums, and I couldn't comprehend how they could release a dud such as this. I admit now that this came out at a horrible time in my life. There hasn't been since an album I wanted to like more. My life was shit, but surely a new DT album could help me through, right? RIGHT?! Nope. I cannot say how much of that experience helped shape my negative opinion of this album. I just never liked it, outside of ToT and HY's Budokan resurgence, this album does nothing for me.
After these two, it gets a lot harder. And maybe goes by process of elimination.
It isn't I&W, Awake, Scenes, 6D (though I only love maybe half that album), ToT, 8VM, SC, or any of the 4 MM albums. Which leaves:
BC&SL. This album isn't terribly offensive in any way, well... other than ARoP, that part in ANtR, and largely forgettable vocal melodies and lyrics (though lyrics are often the last thing I am critical of). This album is just kinda... there. Rarely do I ever think "hey, I wanna listen to that song from BC&SL!"
So, what's #4?
5 minutes later....
Scenes is great. I never listen to 6D disc 2, but disc 1 is so damn good. ToT, 8VM, and SC have their share of duds, but there is so much on them all I highly enjoy. I rank ADToE among their best. DT12 has fewer highs than other albums but not many lows. I like TA more than many here. And while I don't love DoT, it is still quite good.
I don't know. Proverbial gun to head... DT12. Could be a different answer tomorrow.
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In order from the worst (or least favourite ;)):
The Astonishing: colossal mis-step. Should never have been called a Dream Theater album. Released as a special project featuring a number of guest singers, it may have been slightly more interesting. Visuals for the tour were good, though
DT12: although I've rated The Astonishing as my least favourite, the wooden spoon could well have gone to DT12 since it's a mono-paced, poorly produced snoozefest. And in the Illumination Theory, they wrote their poorest epic by quite some margin
Awake: this one is strange for me since its individual songs are better than the sum of its whole. I wasn't a Dream Theater fan when this album came out (I jumped on the bandwagon after Six Degrees) but if I had been, I do wonder what I'd have made of the stylistic shift
Systematic Chaos: I love Constant Motion and The Dark Eternal Night used to be fun live with MP in the band. And it spawned their best making of documentary, too. But it's loud, far too loud. In the Presence of Enemies should never have been split and Redemption is about six minutes too long. I enjoy the break down in The Ministry of Lost Souls, though. And I'd certainly rate the album as a whole quite a bit higher than Awake. But you asked for four ;D
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Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds & Silvee Linings take the bottom positions for me
When Dream and Day Unite gets as low as it gets on account of the singing and production
Distance Over Time was to me a huge disappointment after the amazing Astonishing.... such an unadventurous album
Hope the next one sees them thinking a bit out of the box again
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Systematic Chaos.
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Oh, this one's easy.
When Dream And Day Unite: It's a rough first album. I got into it about halfway through my collecting DT, and at that point I was already used to James' voice and their post-Scenes sound, so... yeah. I can still appreciate parts of it like The Killing Hand.
Falling Into Infinity: It's a weird one for me. This was one of the last DT albums I heard when I was getting into the band, and it doesn't feel anything at all like the band to me. Felt like they were going for a more approachable 90s sound whilst trying to stay prog-metal and it's just... off to me? Certainly didn't feel like the logical middle point between Awake and Scenes that i thought it was going to be when I bought it.
The Self-Titled Album: I thought I was going to love this album. I was heavily anticipating it. A Dramatic Turn Of Events was one of my favorites by them, so surely the follow-up was going to keep that energy going. But... I have listened to this album at least 4 or 5 times and still can't remember ANYTHING from it except The Enemy Inside (on account of being a single) and the beginning of that song that sounds like a Rush song. It's the first time that ever happened to me with Dream Theater: can't remember what any of the songs sound like from memory, can't remember the track names from memory. I DO remember getting through that first listen and just thinking "this is the album they decided to make self-titled? Really?" It bums me out. I don't want to feel that way about a DT album. I want to like DT albums. I wrote it off as a one-off stumble (to me, just my opinion), but then...
The Astonishing. I only made it through this whole two-hour monster once. Out of 34 tracks, I only liked eight enough to add to my playlist. I can appreciate the effort, the ambition, I'm glad they did what they wanted to work on. I've just never been one for these long "play on a stage" albums that bands sometimes do. Y'know, with "acts" and "scenes" and all that. There's usually too many transition tracks, the albums themselves are long as hell and the stories never interest me enough to feel like the project was warranted. I'd put disliking this one on me. The band was fine. They can pursue whatever they want. It's just not my kind of thing. But that does bring me to...
The Runner-Up - Distance Over Time: So yeah, I'm only putting this down as a fifth one because much like the self-titled, I have a lot of trouble recalling what the songs sounded like or what the track names are. What keeps this out of the bottom four is that I do remember enjoying it the first time around; it's just that nothing from the album really stuck with me.
It makes me wonder if I outgrew the band at some point. I loved A Dramatic Turn of Events. The songs were great and it showed me that despite Portnoy being gone, the band could still put out a kickass album. But I haven't really had that with the three albums since. Was it a fluke? Did my tastes change? I dunno. But it's wild to think that I haven't really enjoyed a DT album in ten years (it's already 2021 omg).
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Nel, I can follow what you’re writing but sometimes - to me at least - there is a proper investment needed to dig yourself through new material. I’ve been appreciating the Astonishing much more since I bought and red the book (althought it would be so much better if a woman like Famke Jansen sung the femaleparts). Best way to adapt to a new album is to give it time.
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I have so much less time, honestly. Way busier with life than I was a decade back, and there's so much more music I listen to. If an album doesn't grab me in the first three or four listens, it tends to just get dragged down under all the other stuff, never to be heard again.
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I have so much less time, honestly. Way busier with life than I was a decade back, and there's so much more music I listen to. If an album doesn't grab me in the first three or four listens, it tends to just get dragged down under all the other stuff, never to be heard again.
Because life can't be all listening to music, I made a choice that's basicly the opposite. About 95% of the music I listen to is Dream Theater, the rest goes to Pink Floyd. This gives me time to truly dig in the band that just seemed to have conquered my heart for most part.
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Nel, I can follow what you’re writing but sometimes - to me at least - there is a proper investment needed to dig yourself through new material. I’ve been appreciating the Astonishing much more since I bought and red the book (althought it would be so much better if a woman like Famke Jansen sung the femaleparts). Best way to adapt to a new album is to give it time.
Famke Janssen sings...in addition to being 6'0" and hot AF?!
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Famke Janssen sings...in addition to being 6'0" and hot AF?!
Are you saying you do not like her voice, neither it would be a privelage to the album?
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Famke Janssen sings...in addition to being 6'0" and hot AF?!
Are you saying you do not like her voice, neither it would be a privelage to the album?
I think her voice is great, but I wasn't aware that she sang. It would be as if you suggested they have Julia Roberts sing. Not that Wikipedia is the be all and end all of anything, but her Wikipedia page doesn't mention anything about her being a singer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famke_Janssen
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I understand, but believe me, in Nightwish her voice is gorgious and it would have raised the Astonishing in my top 5 perhaps…
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I understand, but believe me, in Nightwish her voice is gorgious and it would have raised the Astonishing in my top 5 perhaps…
Oh...FFS.
You mentioned Famke Janssen. Famke Janssen is a 56-year old Dutch actress, probably best known for playing Xenia Onatopp in a mid-90s James Bond movie, Jean Gray in the X-Men movies, and the ex-wife of Liam Neeson's character in the Taken movies.
According to Wikipedia, the singer for the band Nightwish is a 40-year old Dutch woman named Floor Jansen (who, while also apparently being 6'0" isn't nearly as hot as Famke).
Needless to say, Famke Janssen and Floor Jansen are not the same person.
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Oh...FFS.
You mentioned Famke Janssen. Famke Janssen is a 56-year old Dutch actress, probably best known for playing Xenia Onatopp in a mid-90s James Bond movie, Jean Gray in the X-Men movies, and the ex-wife of Liam Neeson's character in the Taken movies.
According to Wikipedia, the singer for the band Nightwish is a 40-year old Dutch woman named Floor Jansen (who, while also apparently being 6'0" isn't nearly as hot as Famke).
Needless to say, Famke Janssen and Floor Jansen are not the same person.
LOL of course I meant Floor, what a stupid mistake by me. Must be the Karmeliet triple. 🤭
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I understand, but believe me, in Nightwish her voice is gorgious and it would have raised the Astonishing in my top 5 perhaps…
Oh...FFS.
You mentioned Famke Janssen. Famke Janssen is a 56-year old Dutch actress, probably best known for playing Xenia Onatopp in a mid-90s James Bond movie, Jean Gray in the X-Men movies, and the ex-wife of Liam Neeson's character in the Taken movies.
According to Wikipedia, the singer for the band Nightwish is a 40-year old Dutch woman named Floor Jansen (who, while also apparently being 6'0" isn't nearly as hot as Famke).
Needless to say, Famke Janssen and Floor Jansen are not the same person.
:rollin :rollin :rollin
I was gonna say, I was pretty sure Famke Janssen wasn't a vocalist. To be fair, Floor and Famke are both five letters and begin with F, sooooo... :lol :facepalm:
-Marc.
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I understand, but believe me, in Nightwish her voice is gorgious and it would have raised the Astonishing in my top 5 perhaps…
Oh...FFS.
You mentioned Famke Janssen. Famke Janssen is a 56-year old Dutch actress, probably best known for playing Xenia Onatopp in a mid-90s James Bond movie, Jean Gray in the X-Men movies, and the ex-wife of Liam Neeson's character in the Taken movies.
According to Wikipedia, the singer for the band Nightwish is a 40-year old Dutch woman named Floor Jansen (who, while also apparently being 6'0" isn't nearly as hot as Famke).
Needless to say, Famke Janssen and Floor Jansen are not the same person.
:rollin :rollin :rollin
I was gonna say, I was pretty sure Famke Janssen wasn't a vocalist. To be fair, Floor and Famke are both five letters and begin with F, sooooo... :lol :facepalm:
-Marc.
I mean...if I had been familiar with Floor Jansen I might have picked up on it earlier. :lol
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Because life can't be all listening to music, I made a choice that's basicly the opposite. About 95% of the music I listen to is Dream Theater, the rest goes to Pink Floyd. This gives me time to truly dig in the band that just seemed to have conquered my heart for most part.
That just sounds so boring for someone like me though. I need variety. There's far too much other music for me just to ignore it all. If I just listened to prog all the time I'd go bonkers. :lol
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My first 3 picks were easy. The 4th was a toss up between SC and BC&SL. I went with...
However, I still like BC&SL quite a bit.
WDADU
DT12
TA
...BC&SL
-
Weakest:
Astonishing:
A lot of potential and some excellent sections, but spread too thin - not good enough of a story and not enough tasty musical ideas to warrant 2+ hours. Don't dislike it, but there's not much here that draws me back these days.
WD&DU
Actually some really interesting and energetic musical ideas. But, as with so many others I can't get behind the vocals (apart from in small doses) and the production does not help either.
DT12
Again, not bad, but nothing really stands out against any of the previous albums. It's a bit uninspired by DT standards. Consistently average. And the production actively hurts the album.
SC
This was a hard one, could have also gone to Octavarium or FII. Just a mixed bag really and some identity crisis going on with several songs sounding like other bands. Love ITPOE, Ministry and TDEN is great fun, especially live. The rest are just ok and Prophets of War is one of their worst.
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SC - There was a distinct change in their sound when they moved to Roadrunner. I know that this has been debated to death, and I'm not looking for that, but I think it's clear that they were attempting to blend into the crowd that they now belonged to. The songs were still progressive, but there was a different kind of heaviness that just never appealed to me. Mind you, the entire album isn't lost with me. As with EVERY Dream Theater album, there are still a couple of gems there for me.
BC&SL - Similar to SC, this is a continuation of a sound that didn't connect well with me - musically and lyrically. In fact, for me, it's their weakest album lyrically. Tons of cheese factor going on here, unfortunately. I don't mind ANTR, and Wither has its moments, but this is by far - in my opinion - their weakest effort in the catalogue.
TOT - Being completely honest, this is only here because we were asked to give four. I really don't mind this album. There is an obvious theme here, and Portnoy even brought up, at the time of the release, that this was their ode to heavy metal, essentially, so it wasn't like the result was some left-field surprise. "In The Name of God" is stellar and still would rank quite high on my list of DT tracks. This album is here only because there are several other albums of theirs that I would choose to listen to over this one on any given day.
TA - Ambitious, respectfully, but too ambitious. The story is flat, ambiguous at times, and simply not interesting enough for me to hang on for 2+ hours. I remember the first time I listened to it all the way through and it was drifting me to sleep. For as much as I want to equate that to just getting old, being in your early thirties is just not old enough for that to be a justifiable excuse. Again, I greatly respect the gang for taking on a project like this - as I can imagine it to be quite the undertaking in general, but it just didn't hit me.
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Famke Janssen sings...in addition to being 6'0" and hot AF?!
Are you saying you do not like her voice, neither it would be a privelage to the album?
I think her voice is great, but I wasn't aware that she sang. It would be as if you suggested they have Julia Roberts sing. Not that Wikipedia is the be all and end all of anything, but her Wikipedia page doesn't mention anything about her being a singer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famke_Janssen
This is brilliant :lol That's all I wanted to say.
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Scenes from a Memory A++
Images and Words A+-
Awake A+
Train of Thought A
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence A-
Octavarium B++
Falling into Infinity B+
A Dramatic Turn of Events B
Systematic Chaos B-
Black Clouds and Silver Linings B--
When Dream and Day Unite C
Dream Theater C-
Distance over Time C--
The Astonishing F----------------------------------- :facepalm:
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The Astonishing F----------------------------------- :facepalm:
::) ::) ::) ::) ::)
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I don't particularly dislike any of these albums, but I just don't go back to them all too often other than for specific songs.
When Dream and Day Unite
Falling into Infinity
Awake
Systematic Chaos
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1. The Astonishing - I respect what John and Jordan were trying to do, but falls extremely flat for me. Boring story that felt like it's been done before, too much music in 1 release in which most of it is just blah!! There are some decent songs there, think i've listened to this a total of 2 times and that's it. No desire to relisten.
2. Dream Theater - Same as above, I understand the direction they attempted but with shorter, more concise songs, but most are just boring, nothing that really grabs your attention. Feels very bland, which is saying something for a DT release. Illumination Theory is a decent epic but definitely not near their best.
3. Black Clouds and Silver Linings- Like mentioned by others, this feels like a tired band that "phoned" it in. ANTR is way too long, 1st half is good, second half- not so much. TSF and TCoT are decent, but rest of the album is not IMO.
4. When Dream and Day Unite - The obvious - production and Charlie's vocals doesn't fit with the band. Love most of the tracks on this, but prefer to hear the live versions with JLB.
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The Astonishing: 2 hours long, barely any songs I like, would probably fill up nearly every slot in my bottom 10 DT songs. Do not like.
WDADU: Very amateurish compared to what came after, nothing terrible but nothing too good either.
Awake: I just can't get into this one like most people on here can. 6:00 and The Mirror are excellent. Lie and Space Dye Vest are pretty good. The rest is just kinda okay.
SC: It was a tossup between this and FII - both are wildly inconsistent albums with some of the band's best and also some of their worst. But I went with this one because outside of ITPOE, Constant Motion and I guess Repentance there's just nothing else I ever feel the need to return to.
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1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
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1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
I think it’s already set in.
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen SFAM cited as someone's least favorite album...care to elaborate?
-
Falling Into Infinity
A Dramatic Turn Of Events
uhh... I can't think of any others I dislike :lol
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen SFAM cited as someone's least favorite album...care to elaborate?
Yeah, this seems extremely odd to me. Tastes! :dunno:
-
When Dream and Day Unite
Systematic Chaos
A Dramatic Turn of Events
The Astonishing
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
I think you may already have dementia.
-
I get that it's a disagreeable opinion but let's at least hear her out if she wants to elaborate. Hating a well-liked album doesn't necessarily make someone bad or misinformed.
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen SFAM cited as someone's least favorite album...care to elaborate?
I don't see why not. In general, I just really don't enjoy the music, not a single note played makes me think "yeah, this is why I love music, man", in fact, every second is a negative experience for me. It doesn't help the production is rough and amateurish (all over the place vocals volume, guitar tones sounding like brass instruments, muddy bass, the drum kicks sound like someone sampled static), and the performances I find sloppy and boring.
The overall concept (which is pretty much taken from Dead Again -influence mentioned by the band themselves-) I find rather annoying, with the narration having some important plot holes and awkward exposition (like the BTL to TDOE sequence of songs, or Through Her Eyes which is exposition: the song).
For being an important character, Victoria feels like a 'plot convenience' instead of an actual character, which is a pity because she's the only one I care about in the story.
I tried liking the album, I really did, but my experiences are either me giving up in 2 minutes, or listening to it and disliking it even more. Tried listening to the Distant Memories version of it, but it has many problems by itself too.
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen SFAM cited as someone's least favorite album...care to elaborate?
I don't see why not. In general, I just really don't enjoy the music, not a single note played makes me think "yeah, this is why I love music, man", in fact, every second is a negative experience for me. It doesn't help the production is rough and amateurish (all over the place vocals volume, guitar tones sounding like brass instruments, muddy bass, the drum kicks sound like someone sampled static), and the performances I find sloppy and boring.
The overall concept (which is pretty much taken from Dead Again -influence mentioned by the band themselves-) I find rather annoying, with the narration having some important plot holes and awkward exposition (like the BTL to TDOE sequence of songs, or Through Her Eyes which is exposition: the song).
For being an important character, Victoria feels like a 'plot convenience' instead of an actual character, which is a pity because she's the only one I care about in the story.
I tried liking the album, I really did, but my experiences are either me giving up in 2 minutes, or listening to it and disliking it even more. Tried listening to the Distant Memories version of it, but it has many problems by itself too.
Right on.... hey, different strokes. I could say a lot of what you just said about ‘The Astonishing,’ so I get it.
Don’t mind everyone else (dementia is no joke:/), this place can be a bit, um, judgy.... but there’s some pretty amazing convos every now and then that make it worth it.
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen SFAM cited as someone's least favorite album...care to elaborate?
...and the performances I find sloppy and boring.
That's fascinating and not something I ever thought I'd hear in relation to Scenes from a Memory, nor indeed the majority of DT albums (if not all). Is there any performance in particular you could point to as being "sloppy" (maybe a timestamp?) or is it more a feeling you have?
(Having watched a parent die of dementia-related causes, it wasn't a barrel of laughs for either him or the rest of us... but yeah, at least he'll have forgotten the music he disliked. As well as the music he liked but hey :biggrin: Pros and cons!)
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen SFAM cited as someone's least favorite album...care to elaborate?
I don't see why not. In general, I just really don't enjoy the music, not a single note played makes me think "yeah, this is why I love music, man", in fact, every second is a negative experience for me. It doesn't help the production is rough and amateurish (all over the place vocals volume, guitar tones sounding like brass instruments, muddy bass, the drum kicks sound like someone sampled static), and the performances I find sloppy and boring.
The overall concept (which is pretty much taken from Dead Again -influence mentioned by the band themselves-) I find rather annoying, with the narration having some important plot holes and awkward exposition (like the BTL to TDOE sequence of songs, or Through Her Eyes which is exposition: the song).
For being an important character, Victoria feels like a 'plot convenience' instead of an actual character, which is a pity because she's the only one I care about in the story.
I tried liking the album, I really did, but my experiences are either me giving up in 2 minutes, or listening to it and disliking it even more. Tried listening to the Distant Memories version of it, but it has many problems by itself too.
Can't agree, but fair play.
-
I'm gobsmacked The Astonishing isn't leading this poll by a country mile. Anyway, I voted that, then WD&DU for no other reason than I don't listen to it that often, then DT12 and by a short whisker BC&SL.
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I'm gobsmacked The Astonishing isn't leading this poll by a country mile. Anyway, I voted that, then WD&DU for no other reason than I don't listen to it that often, then DT12 and by a short whisker BC&SL.
If I could vote for the Astonishing 4 times, I would without question.
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen SFAM cited as someone's least favorite album...care to elaborate?
I don't see why not. In general, I just really don't enjoy the music, not a single note played makes me think "yeah, this is why I love music, man", in fact, every second is a negative experience for me. It doesn't help the production is rough and amateurish (all over the place vocals volume, guitar tones sounding like brass instruments, muddy bass, the drum kicks sound like someone sampled static), and the performances I find sloppy and boring.
The overall concept (which is pretty much taken from Dead Again -influence mentioned by the band themselves-) I find rather annoying, with the narration having some important plot holes and awkward exposition (like the BTL to TDOE sequence of songs, or Through Her Eyes which is exposition: the song).
For being an important character, Victoria feels like a 'plot convenience' instead of an actual character, which is a pity because she's the only one I care about in the story.
I tried liking the album, I really did, but my experiences are either me giving up in 2 minutes, or listening to it and disliking it even more. Tried listening to the Distant Memories version of it, but it has many problems by itself too.
Can't agree, but fair play.
Same, but I have a hard time understanding how someone could feel that way about SFAM and yet still be a fan of DT.
I'm gobsmacked The Astonishing isn't leading this poll by a country mile. Anyway, I voted that, then WD&DU for no other reason than I don't listen to it that often, then DT12 and by a short whisker BC&SL.
If I could vote for the Astonishing 4 times, I would without question.
I don't know that I'd go that far, but I'd have given it two votes if I could have.
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen SFAM cited as someone's least favorite album...care to elaborate?
...and the performances I find sloppy and boring.
That's fascinating and not something I ever thought I'd hear in relation to Scenes from a Memory, nor indeed the majority of DT albums (if not all). Is there any performance in particular you could point to as being "sloppy" (maybe a timestamp?) or is it more a feeling you have?
(Having watched a parent die of dementia-related causes, it wasn't a barrel of laughs for either him or the rest of us... but yeah, at least he'll have forgotten the music he disliked. As well as the music he liked but hey :biggrin: Pros and cons!)
Yeah, that was a pretty dark joke thinking about it; also my grandma has it, and it's really sad (a bit of coping through dark humor one could say...)
As for the sloppy performances, I don't have any timestamp, it's more of a general thing. The first things to come to mind is the drumming, to me it sounds like it's done by inertia, rather than consciously deciding how to hit the drums, where and when (the intro to One Last Time comes to mind, all snare hits sound completely different from the previous ones, very uneven and it doesn't feel intentional).
-
1) Metropolis part 2
2) Scenes From A Memory
3) SFAM
4) Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
When I'm old enough, I hope dementia makes me forget this album ever existed
Wow, I don't think I've ever seen SFAM cited as someone's least favorite album...care to elaborate?
I don't see why not. In general, I just really don't enjoy the music, not a single note played makes me think "yeah, this is why I love music, man", in fact, every second is a negative experience for me. It doesn't help the production is rough and amateurish (all over the place vocals volume, guitar tones sounding like brass instruments, muddy bass, the drum kicks sound like someone sampled static), and the performances I find sloppy and boring.
The overall concept (which is pretty much taken from Dead Again -influence mentioned by the band themselves-) I find rather annoying, with the narration having some important plot holes and awkward exposition (like the BTL to TDOE sequence of songs, or Through Her Eyes which is exposition: the song).
For being an important character, Victoria feels like a 'plot convenience' instead of an actual character, which is a pity because she's the only one I care about in the story.
I tried liking the album, I really did, but my experiences are either me giving up in 2 minutes, or listening to it and disliking it even more. Tried listening to the Distant Memories version of it, but it has many problems by itself too.
SFAM is my second favorite record, but I don't like the story/concept. In fact, every year I feel a little more disgusted, which makes me a little worried for, I don't know, 2041 (if I'm alive.... but the spirit carries on, right? :biggrin:).
In fact, by 2021 I completely hate this part:
"If I die tomorrow
I'd be all right
because I believe
that after we're gone
The spirit carries on"
But apart from that "mere detail", it's a wonderful record :)
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Yeah. They're not my favourite lines, either.
I find the story itself vastly more interesting than The Astonishing's, though. And it bugs me that an adjective was used as a noun for that particular album title although it's obviously not without precedent. (I studied linguistics: self-confessed pedant.) "The astonishing what, exactly?"
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Yeah. They're not my favourite lines, either.
I find the story itself vastly more interesting than The Astonishing's, though. And it bugs me that an adjective was used as a noun for that particular album title although it's obviously not without precedent. (I studied linguistics: self-confessed pedant.) "The astonishing what, exactly?"
It could using astonish as a verb, like The Shining :justjen
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Interesting point. Never thought of that. Still don't like it :biggrin: And it would still be odd. The Shining, though? Yeah, that's cool.
-
I’ve given up on the whole album ranking thing. They have so many albums that are pretty much equal in my mind that it’s easier to just group them.
Perfect:
Images and Words
Awake
Scenes From a Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Great:
Train of Thought
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater
Distance Over Time
Not So Great:
When Dream and Day Unite
Falling Into Infinity
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
The Astonishing
I like this format! I will steal it.
Perfect (or damn near close):
Distance Over Time
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Octavarium
Falling into Infinity
Great:
Scenes from a Memory
The Astonishing
Dream Theater
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Train of Thought
Images and Words
Not So Great: (but honestly still really good):
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
When Dream and Day Unite
Awake
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Of all the albums released I'd have to go with these as my least favorite.
1. When Dream and Day Unite isn't a bad album, but the production on it leaves a lot to be desired. Musically it's amazing, but the production (specifically the volume -- or lack thereof) kills it for me.
2. The Astonishing. For me, this album was good when it came out. I like a lot of the tunes, but it's true what I've heard people say about it. It's their disney album. It didn't hold up for me over time. The songs now sound a bit generic. Musically, nothing really stands out.
3. Falling Into Infinity is another good album with some great tunes, but it's a departure for them. It's clear they made this at the request of their label at the time. As a result they don't have the same passion behind the songs. I can't say the songs are "generic" but it's clear that if they'd been given their heads, these songs aren't what they would have written.
4. A Change of Seasons. I know I'm likely to get some hate for this, but hear me out. I LOVE the song. It's one of my all time favorite songs DT has ever done. However, I think it should have been released as a single. Maybe it is, but the other songs on it are a wasted listen to me. If they'd released CoS as just the one song, I'd be happy with it. The only flaw the song has in my opinion is that, again the production is lacking. It sounds tinny to me. Lacking in bottom end. Otherwise, it's a damn near perfect song.
-
When Dream And Day Unite - I like it but it's a bit inconsistent.
Black Clouds And Silver Linings - One of the bottom DT albums for me, bloated, bad lyrics with glimpses of greatness.
Dream Theater - Probably the worst sounding DT album after WDADU, while i like many songs on it, but i can't stand the mix
The Astonishing - I enjoy it a lot and i admire the band for trying this, also one of the best performances from James. Just doesn't stack up to the rest of the discography, and has a bit of "fat" that could be trimmed down.
-
I half wanted to take a page out of BeatriceNB's book and be like:
1. The
2. Astonishing
3. TA
4. The Astonishing
I know there are plenty of people who like/revere the album. Unfortunately, I loathe it. I've beat this dead horse silly. So, I'll leave it at that. Nobody cares, anyway.
My other 3 were:
WDADU
DT
SC
-
4. A Change of Seasons. I know I'm likely to get some hate for this, but hear me out. I LOVE the song. It's one of my all time favorite songs DT has ever done. However, I think it should have been released as a single. Maybe it is, but the other songs on it are a wasted listen to me. If they'd released CoS as just the one song, I'd be happy with it. The only flaw the song has in my opinion is that, again the production is lacking. It sounds tinny to me. Lacking in bottom end. Otherwise, it's a damn near perfect song.
It was officially released as an "EP," although it's longer than every Van Halen studio album except VHIII and every Rush studio album until Vapor Trails.
But let me get this straight...other than the production, you're bothered by the fact that you got too much material on the ACOS EP?
-
4. A Change of Seasons. I know I'm likely to get some hate for this, but hear me out. I LOVE the song. It's one of my all time favorite songs DT has ever done. However, I think it should have been released as a single. Maybe it is, but the other songs on it are a wasted listen to me. If they'd released CoS as just the one song, I'd be happy with it. The only flaw the song has in my opinion is that, again the production is lacking. It sounds tinny to me. Lacking in bottom end. Otherwise, it's a damn near perfect song.
It was officially released as an "EP," although it's longer than every Van Halen studio album except VHIII and every Rush studio album until Vapor Trails.
But let me get this straight...other than the production, you're bothered by the fact that you got too much material on the ACOS EP?
I think the other songs on the ep didn't need to be released. The only thing I listen to on that EP is ACOS. I don't need a bunch of live covers. Same thing with BC&SL. That could have been a single cd release in my view. I don't need a whole cd of covers. Not my bag.
-
I don't even hate Sons of Apollo as much as some people hate The Astonishing.
-
4. A Change of Seasons. I know I'm likely to get some hate for this, but hear me out. I LOVE the song. It's one of my all time favorite songs DT has ever done. However, I think it should have been released as a single. Maybe it is, but the other songs on it are a wasted listen to me. If they'd released CoS as just the one song, I'd be happy with it. The only flaw the song has in my opinion is that, again the production is lacking. It sounds tinny to me. Lacking in bottom end. Otherwise, it's a damn near perfect song.
It was officially released as an "EP," although it's longer than every Van Halen studio album except VHIII and every Rush studio album until Vapor Trails.
But let me get this straight...other than the production, you're bothered by the fact that you got too much material on the ACOS EP?
I think the other songs on the ep didn't need to be released. The only thing I listen to on that EP is ACOS. I don't need a bunch of live covers. Same thing with BC&SL. That could have been a single cd release in my view. I don't need a whole cd of covers. Not my bag.
Honestly, "A Change Of Seasons" should have just been released with "To Live Forever", "Don't Look Past Me" and "Eve" as an EP of early B-Sides.
Back when I made CD-r compilations of DT songs, I did exactly that (along with the FII B-Sides), and they all fit onto one disc.
-Marc.
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4. A Change of Seasons. I know I'm likely to get some hate for this, but hear me out. I LOVE the song. It's one of my all time favorite songs DT has ever done. However, I think it should have been released as a single. Maybe it is, but the other songs on it are a wasted listen to me. If they'd released CoS as just the one song, I'd be happy with it. The only flaw the song has in my opinion is that, again the production is lacking. It sounds tinny to me. Lacking in bottom end. Otherwise, it's a damn near perfect song.
It was officially released as an "EP," although it's longer than every Van Halen studio album except VHIII and every Rush studio album until Vapor Trails.
But let me get this straight...other than the production, you're bothered by the fact that you got too much material on the ACOS EP?
I think the other songs on the ep didn't need to be released. The only thing I listen to on that EP is ACOS. I don't need a bunch of live covers. Same thing with BC&SL. That could have been a single cd release in my view. I don't need a whole cd of covers. Not my bag.
That's fine. I don't often listen to the covers, but it doesn't devalue ACOS or BC&SL that they exist on those releases (and, if memory serves me correctly, BC&SL was available without the covers and instrumental mixes -- the latter of which I don't think I've ever listened to).
Honestly, "A Change Of Seasons" should have just been released with "To Live Forever", "Don't Look Past Me" and "Eve" as an EP of early B-Sides.
For me, that would have made ACOS an inferior release to what we actually got.
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Falling Into Infinity, The Astonishing, Octavarium, Black Clouds & Silver Lining are my four least favorites in that order. The first two are albums I don't really like listening to and the last two are all right.
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When Dream & Day Unite
Dream Theater
Distance Over Time
I couldn't decide on a 4th one. I actually find Falling Into Infinity a little more "sympathetic" (if that makes sense) than many other albums by the band that are considered classics or among their best (I think I listen to it more than Awake). Systematic Chaos has a bonus for me because it was the first album that was released when I was a fan.