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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: Ħ on July 21, 2011, 03:29:40 AM

Title: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Ħ on July 21, 2011, 03:29:40 AM
So I just listened to a live version of Forsaken, and man the song blew my mind like it never did on the album.  I listened to the studio version right after, and it was great.  So it got me to thinking that a lot of songs might be disliked or even forgotten about due to placing in the album, or being swallowed up by being on a great album.  What are some songs you think are like this?

Here's some I can think of:
- Forsaken
- These Walls
- The Ministry of Lost Souls
- Surrounded
- Goodnight Kiss (yes, I know it's a "movement" but still I think it's one of DT's best moments)
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: olliemedsy on July 21, 2011, 03:32:18 AM
dark eternal night ruins the whole flow of SC imo
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: jsem on July 21, 2011, 03:51:19 AM
All songs on 8vm. They're not that memorable to me, because all you remember after the album is the epic title track.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Ħ on July 21, 2011, 03:52:39 AM
Er, I specifically meant songs that are good but get swallowed up.  Not songs that are swallowed up and are bad anyway.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: The Silent Cody on July 21, 2011, 04:08:07 AM
Voices and Scarred for me... Even Awake is my favourite album, these two tracks always been somewhere far. It doesn't mean that I think they are shitty, they are awesome :)
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: MasterShakezula on July 21, 2011, 04:14:29 AM
Well on FII, I'd say Hollow Years and Take Away My Pain, while among DT's finest soft numbers, aren't given too much help by being proceeded by major fan favorites Peruvian Skies and Lines in the Sand.  Plus, almost any album's contents are goingto feel like a mere warm-up if it's topped off with Trail of Tears.

Also, The Silent Man, though among my top 3 from A, could easily get lost amongst being sandwiched between Voices and The Mirror.  Same for Lifting Spookies off a Myung, in relation to TSA and Scanned.

Then, The Answer Lies Within/I Walk to U2 have to deal with being great softer rockers on the same album as Octovarium.  Same with Sacrificed Sons being perhaps DT's best 10+ but below 18 minute song since The Great Debate.  But since it's right before Eigthalbum, so well, yeah.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Jirpo on July 21, 2011, 04:18:45 AM
I agree with Forsaken and The Answer Lies Within.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Tomislav95 on July 21, 2011, 05:19:53 AM
Surrounded is great but it is surrounded( ;D ) by other great and more appreciated songs
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Chrissalix on July 21, 2011, 05:22:22 AM
I agree with Forsaken and The Answer Lies Within.

I wouldn't say those are lost, they just suck the momentum the openers before them (both really good) started. Both 8vm and SC would sound better with These Walls and Constant Motion coming straight after the respective opening tracks. TDEN kills any momentum SC had left too.

The Best of Times is a little lost for me. It's rammed in the middle of a 13 minute heavy clipshow and the best 19 minutes Dt has done for 5 years or so. Never a place for a 12 minute memorial service.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Zukuduku on July 21, 2011, 05:23:30 AM
Through My Words is one piece that I have rarely noticed when listening to SFAM. Usually you are still recovering from the amazing ending of Strange Déjà Vu and at the same time preparing for the Final Tragedy.

But when you listen to Through My Words in isolation, it is actually quite a beautiful song with a nice chord progression and piano playing.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: JediKnight1969 on July 21, 2011, 06:27:47 AM
"Take away my pain".

(unforgivable).
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Jamesman42 on July 21, 2011, 06:33:49 AM
Surrounded
Scarred
Anna Lee
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: TheGreatPretender on July 21, 2011, 07:51:09 AM
It's definitely different for everyone.
For me it were:

Under A Glass Moon
Scarred
Blind Faith
The Great Debate

I used to tune those songs out pretty much. But I learned to enjoy them a lot. Especially Under A Glass Moon.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: reo73 on July 21, 2011, 08:14:11 AM
One on every album (Not including WDADU)

Surrounded...is a hidden gem sandwiched between a radio hit in TTT and their prog semi-epic Metropolis
Innocence Faded...Great song that doesn't get recognition because the album starts with two heavy tunes and on the backside you got the quirky Erotomania that starts the AMBI Suite.
Anna Lee...Love the feeling of this song but it's heading into ToT so it's hard not to look ahead and skip it at times.
Through My Words/Fatal Tragedy...Kinda a different type of song, sandwiched between two killer intro tunes and killer heavier metal tune.
Disappear...I LOVE this song but for some reason I always seem to not get to it because it's at the end and I don;t want to skip the other tunes.
Vacant...great song but oddball on this album.
These Walls...good radio firendly rock tune but I agree that 8V the song overshadows the whole disc except for maybe Sacrificed Sons and TROAE.
Prophets of War...I like this tune a lot because it has a nice flow and to all the parts but TMOLS is much more epic feeling so it gets downplayed.
A Rite of Passage...I may be one of the few who think this song is great (sans the ongoing noodling instrumental middle part) but this album only seems to be known for ANTR and TCOT.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Mebert78 on July 21, 2011, 09:45:45 AM
I definitely agree with the people who said "Scarred." 
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: TheGreatPretender on July 21, 2011, 09:56:23 AM
Surrounded is great but it is surrounded( ;D ) by other great and more appreciated songs
I always liked Surrounded a lot more than Take The Time.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: DJay32 on July 21, 2011, 10:36:33 AM
As for me, I'd say, by album,

(I need to listen to When Day and Dream Unite a LOT more to form opinions)

"Pull Me Under." I usually just skip to at least "Take the time," but when I got the Greatest Hit collection with the remaster, I actually really listened to this song, and I felt nostalgia. I fell in love again. But this song's right at the start, where you can easily skip it and not have flow ruined later on.

"Under a Glass Moon." In between "Metropolis, pt. 1" and "Wait for Sleep/Learning to Live" is one of the most badass metal songs from the nineties.

"Innocence Faded." I tend to skip the second two songs, or more frequently the first three, of Awake. But after watching Score, I noticed how much I really loved the ending to this song. It's beautiful, and right before "A Mind Beside Itself!"

"Scarred," for reasons I'm sure everyone else empathizes with.

(I need to listen to Falling into Infinity a LOT more to formulate opinions on it.)

"Beyond This Life." Between "Fatal Tragedy" and "Hom--"wait. Uh.. well, between "Fatal Tragedy," and (skipping the song directly after) "Home?" Hard to remember this song. Plus, of all Dream Theater songs, this just feels like it goes on and on. But the Budokan performance was utterly phenomenal, and I play that live version all the time.

"The Dance of Eternity." I mean, it's a beautiful song and all, but when I listen to this album, I go straight from "Home" to "Finally Free." At least, I used to. Now I listen to "The Dance of Eternity," because it is just awesome.

"Blind Faith," when I first got Six Degrees, was just "that song between 'The Glass Prison' and all the other awesome songs." But one day, I realized I didn't really know much about this song, and I realized I was in love with the album but I clearly didn't know this song, so I sat down and listened to it, and I've been a massive fan ever since.

"Disappear" was always just "the interlude" to me. It's the breather between Disc One and Disc Two. But one day, I also sat down and listened to this, and I learned to truly appreciate the beauty of it. I think it was the same day I found out what it was about. Now Six Degrees is a perfect album in my eyes.

"This Dying Soul" was "the song between 'As I Am' and 'Endless Sacrifice'" for a while. It felt like I didn't really "get" it. But when I started to appreciate the Twelve-Step Suite as a whole, when I started counting this song not as one song but as two individual movements that are completely separate musically, I saw the beauty of it. And now this is one of my most-favourite songs of all time.

"The Answer Lies Within" was "the song between 'The Root of All Evil' and 'These Walls'" for a while. But then I heard Jordan Rudess' cover off of Notes on a Dream. I found myself enjoying the melody, singing along, and I genuinely had fun listening to it. Then I listened to the real song again, and I felt such a surge of joy. This song is a classic. ;w;

"Sacrificed Sons" was "that one really slow 9/11 song made four years late, in between 'Never Enough' and 'Octavarium'" for a while. Hell, even up until pretty recently. It was watching Score for a third time that got me to fall in love with the song.

"Repentance" was "that one really slow song in between 'The Dark Eternal Greatest Instrumental Section Ever' and 'Prophets of Really Awesome Song.'" But I think it was around the same time I started appreciating "This Dying Soul," when I started counting the Twelve-Step Suite by their individual movements instead of their tracks, that was when I saw the fucking beauty to this, as well. The ninth movement is still one of my favourite anythings of anything ever.

Pretty much everything on Black Clouds that wasn't "The Shattered Fortress" or "The Count of Tuscany" was "one of the songs that's not 'The Shattered Fortress' or 'The Count of Tuscany'" until I'd had enough time pass to listen to the album with a sense of nostalgia. "A Nightmare to Remember" is now sixteen brilliant minutes of amazing flow, "A Rite of Passage" is eight minutes of yes yes yes yes yes, "Wither" is the most badass I've ever seen anyone describe writer's block (and the piano cover on the EP adds new layers to the beauty!), and "The Best of Times" is unadulterated beauty. Hell, I also got a newfound appreciation for "The Shattered Fortress" when I did that whole "they're individual movements, not songs" thing.

Pretty much every song I didn't mention except for most of Metropolis, pt. 2 or "The Ministry of Lost Souls?" I always loved them so much. ;w; The aforementioned album and song? Meh. >.>
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: reo73 on July 21, 2011, 01:19:32 PM
Why do people think Scarred is lost in the album?
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: wammabe on July 21, 2011, 02:05:24 PM
Why do people think Scarred is lost in the album?

Scarred is possibly one of the hardest songs for me to digest in Awake. When listening to the entire album, I used to forget that scarred was even there. The song goes to many different places, which makes it harder for some people to identify as a single song while spaced out when listening to the entire album.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: reo73 on July 21, 2011, 02:13:22 PM
Why do people think Scarred is lost in the album?

Scarred is possibly one of the hardest songs for me to digest in Awake. When listening to the entire album, I used to forget that scarred was even there. The song goes to many different places, which makes it harder for some people to identify as a single song while spaced out when listening to the entire album.

I can see that.  It was always one of my favorites from the get go so I always sought it out on the album.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Mebert78 on July 21, 2011, 02:13:37 PM
Why do people think Scarred is lost in the album?

Scarred is possibly one of the hardest songs for me to digest in Awake. When listening to the entire album, I used to forget that scarred was even there. The song goes to many different places, which makes it harder for some people to identify as a single song while spaced out when listening to the entire album.

I agree about the digest thing.  Most of the other songs on Awake easily grab you, but "Scarred" takes time to digest like you said because of the different twists and turns it takes.  Plus, it's buried at track 10.  Personally, it took me years to appreciate "Scarred" so that's why it feels lost to me.  I'm glad I finally found it!
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: hefdaddy42 on July 22, 2011, 07:08:27 AM
Another Day gets lost for me.  When I listen to it on its own, I think it's a really neat song.  But on I&W, it is just 8th out of 8.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Infinite Cactus on July 22, 2011, 09:05:30 AM
TOWHTSTS and LFAGA are in my opinion, perfect examples of this.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Dublagent66 on July 22, 2011, 09:13:57 AM
I'm not as interested in how songs flow from an album standpoint as I am in the flow of the songs themselves.  Unless, it's a concept album and DT only has one of those.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Orbert on July 22, 2011, 11:48:25 AM
In general, the "mellow" songs seem to get a bit overlooked because they're usually shorter and used as breaks between "heavier" songs.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: robwebster on July 22, 2011, 02:31:46 PM
dark eternal night ruins the whole flow of SC imo
Ohhh, definitely not! Dark Eternal Night is the perfect end to side A. Good segue from the metal section to the experimental section. The metal section climaxes with the heaviest song of the side, but it goes by way of an absolutely frantic instrumental interlude.

Incidentally, I've always kind of thought that SC might work quite well with ItPoE parts 1 & 2 as track one, before going into Repentance. Something a bit like...

1. In the Presence of Enemies
2. Repentance
3. Constant Motion
4. The Dark Eternal Night
5. Forsaken
6. Prophets of War
7. The Ministry of Lost Souls

So it sort of climaxes, then builds up momentum again.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: lateralus88 on July 22, 2011, 02:32:52 PM
TOWHTSTS and LFAGA are in my opinion, perfect examples of this.
Agreed 100%. More or less with Light Fuse. Such an underrated song, yet it's one of my all time favourites.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Ben_Jamin on July 22, 2011, 02:47:39 PM
One Last Time, Its after the brutal DoE and before TSCO. Love how it just flows on by like a little interlude/segue.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Ħ on July 22, 2011, 03:02:48 PM
One Last Time, Its after the brutal DoE and before TSCO. Love how it just flows on by like a little interlude/segue.
Defintely agree.  One Last Time is incredible.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: The Silent Cody on August 10, 2011, 06:52:44 PM
One Last Time, Its after the brutal DoE and before TSCO. Love how it just flows on by like a little interlude/segue.
Defintely agree.  One Last Time is incredible.
I agree, but One Last Time is so incredible that it does not get lost for me, but TSCO yes :) TSCO is a track that get lost foe me. (TSCO looks like TESCO market :P )  :lol
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Riceball on August 10, 2011, 07:20:19 PM
1. In the Presence of Enemies
2. Repentance
3. Constant Motion
4. The Dark Eternal Night
5. Forsaken
6. Prophets of War
7. The Ministry of Lost Souls

So it sort of climaxes, then builds up momentum again.
I like that track order, but if we are performing surgery to try to improve SC, I'd remove Repentance all together. Serious song chucked in with a bunch of cheese.

/thread derail.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: wolven74 on August 10, 2011, 08:56:00 PM
Why do people think Scarred is lost in the album?

I agree. Scarred is a killer track. Great song all around. I don't know how it could get lost. It's the longest song on Awake. Very emotional lyrics, a great riff.  :metal

The song for me that I've done a complete 180 on is The Silent Man. It's between Voices and The Mirror. Two heavy, emotionally draining songs. I used to skip it because I didn't want to slow down after Voices. Now I really love the melody and JLB's voice on it is damn near perfect. That track kills me now every time I hear it.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Nic35 on August 10, 2011, 09:31:28 PM
TOWHTSTS and LFAGA are in my opinion, perfect examples of this.
Agreed 100%. More or less with Light Fuse. Such an underrated song, yet it's one of my all time favourites.
(https://masterdev.dyndns.dk/drslog/not_sure_if_serious.jpg)
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: m0hawk on August 10, 2011, 09:31:36 PM
I Walk Beside You. Would have preferred 8VM to look like:

1. The Root of All Evil
2. These Walls
3. I Walk Beside You
4. The Answers Lie Within
5. Panic Attack
6. Never Enough
7. Sacrificed Sons
8. Octavarium

Of course, that would take some time getting used to the 2 "lightest" tracks being placed together. But still, that to me is better than the heavy/light/heavy/light series the first 4 tracks of the album currently has.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: jeebustrain on August 10, 2011, 09:47:51 PM
Why do people think Scarred is lost in the album?

For me, my first copy of Awake was on cassette - Scarred wasn't included. So I'd never even heard it until I got it on CD about 4-5 years later. Even now it kind of throws me when I listen to the album - and it's actually one of my favorite tracks.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: EuropaEndlos on August 10, 2011, 09:55:25 PM
Love the thread, great idea OP!

For me on I&W it's definitely Glass Moon...  I mean that song is in a tough spot...  But it is awesome, I think after I went to see them at Radio City and kept listening to the track when they released Score made me appreciate it more... That bass is awesome.

On Awake it's definitely Lifting Shadows for me... Love Lie, and always waiting for Scarred...  Poor songs right in between em...

FII is much harder...  Really not a fan of "You Not Me" forget Desmond Child...  I actually kind of like Burning My Soul, it's catchy...  And Lines is one of my favorites...  So I'd say Hells Kitchen gets kind of lost... Take Away My Pain maybe too actually, though I think Just Let Me Breathe is kind of a weak track...  Still following up Lines?  Hard task to beat Take Away my Pain!

Scenes, I have to agree with you all on "One Last Time"  Also Through Her Eyes, I mean it's a soft song, but it's not Spirit Carries On, and it's in between Beyond This Life and Home  :omg:

Definitely not a huge Six Degrees and Train of Thought fan...  

Definitely has to be Answer and I Walk Beside You but, I don't know if that's because I'm not the biggest fan of those two songs...  Sacrificed Sons definitely gets lost in between Never Enough and 8VM... Though aside from the awesome instrumental passages dunno how big a fan I am of the rest of SS...  

Can't really comment on SC and BC since I haven't gotten into them as much...

Definitely don't forget Perfect Strangers on ACoS "EP"
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Mosh on August 10, 2011, 10:01:52 PM
Images and Words- I totally agree about Under a Glass Moon. It took some time to fully appreciate it.
Awake: A Mind Beside Itself. I'm not a big fan of it, so I tend to skip those 3 tracks, as I like the rest of that album tons more.
Metropolis: Definitely Through Her Eyes and One Last Time.
Octavarium: Again, agreed about Sacrificed Son. I had to listen to it by itself to appreciate it because whenever I put the CD in, I'm ready for the title track at that point. SS is pretty good though.
Systematic Chaos: Repentance ruined the album for me. It bored me to death, and made me take the CD out, not listening to the last tracks for quite some time. I was missing out on some good material.
Black Clouds: Nothing really, I like the 3 normal songs and then 3 epics deal. The first half is inferior to the second half in a huge way and I tend to skip     A Rite of Passage and Wither, but it isn't a flow thing, it's just personal preference.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: BlobVanDam on August 11, 2011, 12:26:10 AM
Why do people think Scarred is lost in the album?

Um because by that point they've given up?  :neverusethis:

dark eternal night ruins the whole flow of SC imo
Ohhh, definitely not! Dark Eternal Night is the perfect end to side A. Good segue from the metal section to the experimental section. The metal section climaxes with the heaviest song of the side, but it goes by way of an absolutely frantic instrumental interlude.

Incidentally, I've always kind of thought that SC might work quite well with ItPoE parts 1 & 2 as track one, before going into Repentance. Something a bit like...

1. In the Presence of Enemies
2. Repentance
3. Constant Motion
4. The Dark Eternal Night
5. Forsaken
6. Prophets of War
7. The Ministry of Lost Souls

So it sort of climaxes, then builds up momentum again.

High five, my friend. o/
I have always had ITPOE as one track at the end of the album, somewhat more typical of a DT album. So the album opens with Forsaken. Maybe Forsaken would get lost on the album if I had the regular track order, but this way the album builds nicely from the opener, to the heavier CM, to the even heavier TDEN, before the breather of Repentance. I don't feel like TDENgets lost at all. To me it's the peak, if anything.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Ħ on August 12, 2011, 12:15:34 AM
The only problem with that is I don't see TMOLS as a good closer at all.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Adami on August 12, 2011, 12:31:56 AM
The only problem with that is I don't see TMOLS as a good closer at all.

Really? I mean, it's not an ideal closer, but I think ITPOE PT. 2 was the worst closer on almost any of their albums.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Elaitch on August 12, 2011, 09:26:42 AM
Some of these songs for me are hard to see as easily "lost" and skippable. For example, Vacant and Through Her Eyes as well as Repentance and Disappear are great examples of breathers and should be appreciated as such. For example, Train of Thought without Vacant would be quite tedious with all the rawking without any contrast.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: perfectchaos180 on August 12, 2011, 09:51:13 AM
My first thought was These Walls, but now I'll just say all of Octavarium...
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Orbert on August 12, 2011, 09:53:03 AM
Some of these songs for me are hard to see as easily "lost" and skippable. For example, Vacant and Through Her Eyes as well as Repentance and Disappear are great examples of breathers and should be appreciated as such. For example, Train of Thought without Vacant would be quite tedious with all the rawking without any contrast.
Very true.  You need the quieter songs as a break from all the hard-hitting stuff, otherwise listening to the album straight through would be exhausting.

On the other hand, a lot of people, when they think of Dream Theater, think first of the heavier songs.  I often put albums on and let them play as background music while gaming or watching TV, mostly for the heavier stuff.  In that sense, the quiet songs tend to slip past me without much notice, which may be more what the original post was getting at.  When actually listening to the album, like in the car, the quiet songs are a nice break and don't go unnoticed.
Title: Re: Songs that get "lost" in an album due to flow and such things
Post by: Ħ on August 12, 2011, 06:59:55 PM
The only problem with that is I don't see TMOLS as a good closer at all.

Really? I mean, it's not an ideal closer, but I think ITPOE PT. 2 was the worst closer on almost any of their albums.
Oh.  I love INPOE pt 2.