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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: RodrigoAltaf on October 26, 2019, 05:47:22 AM
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20 yeas ago, Dream Theater released the career defining Scenes from a Memory. I shared my thoughts about the album on Sonic Perspectives. I hope you guys enjoy my article: https://www.sonicperspectives.com/features/dream-theater-scenes-from-a-memory-turns-20/?fbclid=IwAR2ktqcizhncgSy-eWp0sPuCtnZa4KylNdmasSz9UbmpbfS9WtPpiCTfzn0
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Happy birthday to the best album in existence!!! :metal
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Happy birthday to this awesome album. I usually rank it as #2 in their discography, only second to I&W.
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Happy birthday to this awesome album. I usually rank it as #2 in their discography, only second to I&W.
Same here...but I have been rediscovering it lately, and paying more attention to the details in the story, and it could well surpass I&W soon in my ranking. This is a work of art!!!!
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Happy birthday to this awesome album. I usually rank it as #2 in their discography, only second to I&W.
Same here...but I have been rediscovering it lately, and paying more attention to the details in the story, and it could well surpass I&W soon in my ranking. This is a work of art!!!!
a work of art that is very flawed (James only having an estimated 10-30% of his range and power, Portnoy being Portnoy, JP not being at his current level and many other factors), I see why people love it though (hell, even I! (seriously!) did when it came out, I remember it as if it were yesterday, boy was I easily impressionable back in the day) and to Jordan's eternal credit, it turned out to be the way we know it today.
I even remember being overwhelmed by that massive D that Jordan plays starting off Overture 1928. The album was on heavy rotation when I was 9. Met2 was the first full album cycle that happened after I became a fan. (and the first DT tour I attended in 2000, Porcupine Tree opened for DT)
Met2 has always been the album to turn other people on to DT for me (my closest friend as an example, still his alltime favourite DT album to this day), did the trick very well.
All things considered, happy anniversary Met2
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"Flawed"...LOL!!!!!!
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"Flawed"...LOL!!!!!!
I liked your article on it though, seriously, forgot to mention that. And like you mentioned above, I wouldn't be too surprised if Met2 were to take the spot as your personal favourite over time, it had been my personal favourite until MM joined. (which was 11 years)
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Incredible album, one of my two favorite DT records, and probably one of my 10 all-time favorites. Pure greatness from start to finish, and all five members were at the top of their game on this one. :tup :tup
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Incredible album, one of my two favorite DT records, and probably one of my 10 all-time favorites. Pure greatness from start to finish, and all five members were at the top of their game on this one. :tup :tup
cool cover art too I think (the face being a collage of all the characters, genius)
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I am watching DEAD AGAIN now, and after that I will play the album in its entirety. My favorite record by the band!
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Happy birthday to this awesome album. I usually rank it as #2 in their discography, only second to I&W.
Same here...but I have been rediscovering it lately, and paying more attention to the details in the story, and it could well surpass I&W soon in my ranking. This is a work of art!!!!
a work of art that is very flawed (James only having an estimated 10-30% of his range and power, Portnoy being Portnoy, JP not being at his current level and many other factors)
:rollin
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Happy birthday to this awesome album. I usually rank it as #2 in their discography, only second to I&W.
Same here...but I have been rediscovering it lately, and paying more attention to the details in the story, and it could well surpass I&W soon in my ranking. This is a work of art!!!!
a work of art that is very flawed (James only having an estimated 10-30% of his range and power, Portnoy being Portnoy, JP not being at his current level and many other factors)
:rollin
at least it made you laugh, I can live with that rather well
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Just heard it again, it's an absolute masterpiece like it was 20 years ago.
I'll never forget how back in the day, without a proper internet access (yes young boys and girls, there was a thing such as "not having yet a personal access to the web"), all I knew was that "the new Dream Theater album" was coming out this day, and nothing more. I entered the store knowing only that somehow somewhere there was the new DT album, whatever it was.
Imagine my reaction at seeing the title on the cover.
Imagine my reaction at listening to the album for the first time, my first new album as I had become a fan only months earlier.
I'll never forget the mix of the total and complete surprise of the title with the sheer and godly awesomeness of it. I'll always call SFAM my favorite album ever, even though today is basically the first time I've heard it this year.
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Just heard it again, it's an absolute masterpiece like it was 20 years ago.
I'll never forget how back in the day, without a proper internet access (yes young boys and girls, there was a thing such as "not having yet a personal access to the web"), all I knew was that "the new Dream Theater album" was coming out this day, and nothing more. I entered the store knowing only that somehow somewhere there was the new DT album, whatever it was.
Imagine my reaction at seeing the title on the cover.
Imagine my reaction at listening to the album for the first time, my first new album as I had become a fan only months earlier.
I'll never forget the mix of the total and complete surprise of the title with the sheer and godly awesomeness of it. I'll always call SFAM my favorite album ever, even though today is basically the first time I've heard it this year.
yes, that actually was the case 20 years ago, I've been there too :D
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Amazing album. Simply one of the best progressive albums ever.
The only flaw in my mind are the dated Spice Girls drums in Through Her Eyes.
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Amazing album. Simply one of the best progressive albums ever.
The only flaw in my mind are the dated Spice Girls drums in Through Her Eyes.
never heard anyone call it THAT before :D
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Amazing album. Simply one of the best progressive albums ever.
The only flaw in my mind are the dated Spice Girls drums in Through Her Eyes.
This. Actually, I wouldn't have needed any percussion in this song. Piano, guitar and vocals would have been enough on this one.
Apart from that: monumental piece of art. A true masterpiece, equally important to the genre as Selling England, Relayer and the Crimson King.
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It took me awhile to get into since it was different than FII ( :omg: well I was young and didn’t have a critical ear in any way) but the live release sold me on it (now that album is a great set list) I now put the run of music from Scenes 1-4 as peak DT.
Seeing it live this year was also awesome! Hope they release the shows they’re recording next year.
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I remember when I first bought and listened to SFaM. I was taking the bus home and when it ended, I was simply blown away and I almost forgot to get off at my stop. I also remember how shocked I was when the gun shots fired. It was simply awesome. I think this album will always be in my top 3.
Thanks you Dream Theater for giving us such a great gift of music!
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I discovered DT in 2009, so 10 years after the album came out. Fatal Tragedy and Home were among the first DT songs I really got into.
Just coming to the end of an anniversary-evening spin now.
Something I don't understand though...I've read in some accounts about how, pre-album, little was known about its storyline, or that it even was a Metropolis sequel. Surely someone must have cottoned on to the title being Scenes From A Memory.
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SFAM was the album that introduced me to DT around 10 years ago and haven’t looked back ever since. I was AMAZED with the band and it’s all because of this gem :metal
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Something I don't understand though...I've read in some accounts about how, pre-album, little was known about its storyline, or that it even was a Metropolis sequel. Surely someone must have cottoned on to the title being Scenes From A Memory.
I remember they enforced a "veil of secrecy" and tried to keep it under wraps as much as possible, and the radio edit of Home was severly cut to remove all the musical and lyrical references to Metropolis pt. 1. Sure in the last days someone must have known, but as you can tell from my personal experience the internet wasn't as widespread as it was today so at least with me they managed to pull it off. I assume that for those with already an internet connection, a week or 10 days before they must have known.
In this day such a stunt would be hard to pull off (even if Avenged Sevenfold tried to keep the release of their latest album as hidden as possible).
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Something I don't understand though...I've read in some accounts about how, pre-album, little was known about its storyline, or that it even was a Metropolis sequel. Surely someone must have cottoned on to the title being Scenes From A Memory.
I remember they enforced a "veil of secrecy" and tried to keep it under wraps as much as possible, and the radio edit of Home was severly cut to remove all the musical and lyrical references to Metropolis pt. 1.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Exactly this. This was the first album where the band didn't reveal anything about it prior to its release, which they have followed since that time. With FII, we'd get regular reports about songs they've completed, their length and even the style that they were in the old Images and Words fanzine.
As for knowing about it - actually I did know something about it. I remember going to the first Planet X gig that Derek did in May 1999 at the Baked Potato in LA, and I overheard him comment about how the next DT album was going to be Metropolis pt II expanded into a full length album. Not sure why I never said anything to anybody about that, but I just kept it under my hat, as did whoever DS was talking to.
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As for knowing about it - actually I did know something about it. I remember going to the first Planet X gig that Derek did in May 1999 at the Baked Potato in LA, and I overheard him comment about how the next DT album was going to be Metropolis pt II expanded into a full length album. Not sure why I never said anything to anybody about that, but I just kept it under my hat, as did whoever DS was talking to.
Very interesting! Now I wonder how Derek knew, as I doubt he was regularly in touch with the band after being just fired and replaced by them (and still bitter about it to this day).
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As for knowing about it - actually I did know something about it. I remember going to the first Planet X gig that Derek did in May 1999 at the Baked Potato in LA, and I overheard him comment about how the next DT album was going to be Metropolis pt II expanded into a full length album. Not sure why I never said anything to anybody about that, but I just kept it under my hat, as did whoever DS was talking to.
Very interesting! Now I wonder how Derek knew, as I doubt he was regularly in touch with the band after being just fired and replaced by them (and still bitter about it to this day).
I wouldn't be surprised if they had already been planning to expand the song into a full album before he got the boot. I can't imagine they would've told him after the fact knowing the risk that he might leak the info out of spite.
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As for knowing about it - actually I did know something about it. I remember going to the first Planet X gig that Derek did in May 1999 at the Baked Potato in LA, and I overheard him comment about how the next DT album was going to be Metropolis pt II expanded into a full length album. Not sure why I never said anything to anybody about that, but I just kept it under my hat, as did whoever DS was talking to.
Very interesting! Now I wonder how Derek knew, as I doubt he was regularly in touch with the band after being just fired and replaced by them (and still bitter about it to this day).
He recorded that 20 minute demo which had cues from part I. Maybe they had already decided to do a sequel before they let him go.
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I wouldn't be surprised if they had already been planning to expand the song into a full album before he got the boot. I can't imagine they would've told him after the fact knowing the risk that he might leak the info out of spite.
He recorded that 20 minute demo which had cues from part I. Maybe they had already decided to do a sequel before they let him go.
Makes sense. And iirc, when the original demo was leaked, Mike hinted it was Derek who leaked it, as no one else had the file but both of them. I still think Derek wouldn't have done SFAM justice, his playing on the demo was "ok" at best.
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Regarding the Metropolis II thing, I remember standing in Best Buy to buy the CD and looking at the cover and whatnot and seeing that and thinking, "Wait, what? Cool!" :lol :lol
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Happy birthday to this awesome album. I usually rank it as #2 in their discography, only second to I&W.
Same here...but I have been rediscovering it lately, and paying more attention to the details in the story, and it could well surpass I&W soon in my ranking. This is a work of art!!!!
a work of art that is very flawed (James only having an estimated 10-30% of his range and power, Portnoy being Portnoy, JP not being at his current level and many other factors), I see why people love it though (hell, even I! (seriously!) did when it came out, I remember it as if it were yesterday, boy was I easily impressionable back in the day) and to Jordan's eternal credit, it turned out to be the way we know it today.
I even remember being overwhelmed by that massive D that Jordan plays starting off Overture 1928. The album was on heavy rotation when I was 9. Met2 was the first full album cycle that happened after I became a fan. (and the first DT tour I attended in 2000, Porcupine Tree opened for DT)
Met2 has always been the album to turn other people on to DT for me (my closest friend as an example, still his alltime favourite DT album to this day), did the trick very well.
All things considered, happy anniversary Met2
1. I would say JLB is at more like 65% power. He struggles a bit on the album and his voice sounds thin at certain parts but he also has moments of great power.
2. JP not being at his current level? Take it from a guitar player; his playing here is phenomenal, every bit as technical and proficient as it is today.
3. Portnoy being Portnoy as in being awesome? :P
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Gonna have to disagree with the people (and I realize this includes people like Scotty who are connected, but mind you I'm going on my own experience FWIW) claiming that nothing about the album was known ahead of time (note: this is a separate notion than the band actually releasing info themselves).
I for one don't recall being surprised at the album's theme when I got it. I don't think I bought it day of, but I'm pretty sure it had long since been established that they'd be releasing an album expanding on Metropolis part 1, especially once Jordan joined the fold. When I bought it, I knew exactly what had been planned, and went into excited to hear how they were following up on things and in what way.
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Happy birthday to this awesome album. I usually rank it as #2 in their discography, only second to I&W.
Same here...but I have been rediscovering it lately, and paying more attention to the details in the story, and it could well surpass I&W soon in my ranking. This is a work of art!!!!
a work of art that is very flawed (James only having an estimated 10-30% of his range and power, Portnoy being Portnoy, JP not being at his current level and many other factors), I see why people love it though (hell, even I! (seriously!) did when it came out, I remember it as if it were yesterday, boy was I easily impressionable back in the day) and to Jordan's eternal credit, it turned out to be the way we know it today.
I even remember being overwhelmed by that massive D that Jordan plays starting off Overture 1928. The album was on heavy rotation when I was 9. Met2 was the first full album cycle that happened after I became a fan. (and the first DT tour I attended in 2000, Porcupine Tree opened for DT)
Met2 has always been the album to turn other people on to DT for me (my closest friend as an example, still his alltime favourite DT album to this day), did the trick very well.
All things considered, happy anniversary Met2
1. I would say JLB is at more like 65% power. He struggles a bit on the album and his voice sounds thin at certain parts but he also has moments of great power.
2. JP not being at his current level? Take it from a guitar player; his playing here is phenomenal, every bit as technical and proficient as it is today.
3. Portnoy being Portnoy as in being awesome? :P
I'll gladly take that from a guitarist. (I'm a drummer, so that was just my observation as compared to the MM era albums. (as was my assessment on James) I like what JP does on Met2 though, in case you were to misunderstand.)
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I was at the Tucson show last night, and they brought out a birthday cake for the official anniversary of Scenes! We all sang happy birthday :lol
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really ? :D
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That's awesome. :)
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One thing I will admit about Met2 is though that I think that album redefined what a concept album can be (as The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway did, as The Wall did, as The Astonishing did)
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This album had just came out when my friends were talking about it and encouraged me to give this band a chance. So in a sense, I can thank this album for getting me into DT, but it would be several more years before I became a hardcore fan. I actually blame SFAM for that as much as I give it credit.
Slightly overrated, still a great album, but not in my DT top 5.
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I was at the Tucson show last night, and they brought out a birthday cake for the official anniversary of Scenes! We all sang happy birthday :lol
Silly question: when did they do it? At the beginning of SFaM? In the middle of the set? At the end of SFaM? Or at some other time?
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I for one don't recall being surprised at the album's theme when I got it. I don't think I bought it day of, but I'm pretty sure it had long since been established that they'd be releasing an album expanding on Metropolis part 1, especially once Jordan joined the fold. When I bought it, I knew exactly what had been planned, and went into excited to hear how they were following up on things and in what way.
Well, it's quite possible that rumors were spreading around by the time it was released. After all, promo CDs were no doubt sent out, and there were probably at least a few people who leaked out the info to others. Plus, I do recall that there had basically been a blackout of some sort on MP's website. I can't remember if the forum had actually been shut down (I think it was) or if there had just been a strict ban on talking about the (then) new album until the release date. I'm sure Weymo can fill in the details.
But if you have a look at the news posts from dt.net that are on the Wayback machine, while the album and song titles were made known prior to release, the fact that the whole album was the sequel to Metropolis pt I was not. And as someone else pointed out, the lead single Home was edited to remove all traces of the callbacks to Metropolis. In particular, there was a post about an upcoming online chat with the band that would happen on the day of release that included the following description:
Chat with the band about the mystery behind the new album, outlooks on life and future plans.
https://web.archive.org/web/20000301040826/http://www.dreamtheater.net/archsfam.htm
So yes, in general, news about album #5 being the sequel to Metropolis were not known to the vast majority of the fans. However, you can be sure that there were a handful of fans who did know about it prior to release.
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I was in a bad way in 1998-early 2000s. I lost my connection with music, and was soured on DT a bit specifically with the release of FII. When I got my head back on straight I found out DT had released two albums since FII. I bought both and while I loved the first disc of SDoiT, SFaM connected with me in a special way. I had a roommate at the time so spent the majority of my music listening with headphones on. With Scenes it was often with the lights out, and the booklet in my hands. That might have been the last time I connected with an album on such a level.
I saw these albums had someone new on keys. I did not follow the band at the time and had never heard of the new guy. Whether it was him, or a change in direction, management, whatever... the sour taste of FII was rinsed away.
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So yes, in general, news about album #5 being the sequel to Metropolis were not known to the vast majority of the fans. However, you can be sure that there were a handful of fans who did know about it prior to release.
I don't recall knowing a darn thing about the album before buying it.
FII came out in September 1997. My wife and I had just moved into an apartment, and I distinctly recall listening to the first half or so of the album in our living room with a bunch of unpacked moving boxes. I recall being generally disappointed in the album, and I didn't see the band on the FII tour (although I don't know why that was). By the time the tour ended, we had moved to a different apartment, and I had started law school. SFAM came out a couple months into my second year of law school. I don't recall much about my web activity at that time, but I guess I wasn't paying much attention because of law school and my disappointment with FII. I don't specifically recall how quickly I got SFAM after its release or about my first listen or anything, but I know I was hooked pretty much from the get-go.
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Yeah, I similarly remember hearing a song or two from FII while I was in law school in Southern California. I don't remember which songs, but looking back, I believe one was Burning My Soul, simply because I remember hearing profanity and being kind of disappointed because it just seemed kind of beneath what I perceived to be DT's more "cerebral" lyrics. Anyhow, between that and the other song I heard, I just remember similarly being unimpressed, and didn't buy that album. Then one day in late '99 or early '00, I stopped by the Tower Records in Woodland Hills and was just browsing, not looking for anything in particular. I remember perusing the "D" section, looking to see what they had from Doro, checking the "Dream Theater" tab, and seeing "Metrolpolis pt. II" and doing a: :omg: Bought it. Rushed out to the car and tore of the cellophane wrap. Popped it into the CD player. Listened. Melted.
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Regarding the discussion regarding the subject of the album being kept secret, I remember seeing an interview on youtube from that era where someone (I think it was Portnoy) was asked if the record coming out was going to be an EP follow up to Metropolis Pt 1.
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The fact that SFAM was Metropolis Pt. 2 was absolutely NOT shared publicly by the band before the release date. We knew the song titles and that the name of the album would be Scenes From A Memory. That's pretty much it.
When I went to the record store to get the album, and saw that it said Metropolis Pt. 2, I shat myself.
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We knew the song titles and that the name of the album would be Scenes From A Memory. That's pretty much it.
But weren't the title and a song called "The Dance of Eternity" two big red flags? do you remember if someone noticed those two blatant callbacks to Metropolis pt. 1 and speculated about it?
(and I'm glad I'm not the only one that got the surprise right there in the store and not before!)
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We knew the song titles and that the name of the album would be Scenes From A Memory. That's pretty much it.
But weren't the title and a song called "The Dance of Eternity" two big red flags? do you remember if someone noticed those two blatant callbacks to Metropolis pt. 1 and speculated about it?
(and I'm glad I'm not the only one that got the surprise right there in the store and not before!)
I don't remember anyone speculating about it.
As a matter of fact, I don't think we even got the info that we got very long before the release date.
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Regarding the discussion regarding the subject of the album being kept secret, I remember seeing an interview on youtube from that era where someone (I think it was Portnoy) was asked if the record coming out was going to be an EP follow up to Metropolis Pt 1.
Well, once it was decided that Metropolis pt. II was not going to end up on album #4, there was discussion about doing another EP with it on it, just as they had done with ACoS. This was talked about with some regularity during Touring Into Infinity by MP and the fans. At what point the band decided to go from putting the song on an EP to expanding it into a concept album, I don't know. But for some time, us fans on the Ytsejam mailing list were drooling at the thought of another EP with Metropolis pt. II on it.
But weren't the title and a song called "The Dance of Eternity" two big red flags? do you remember if someone noticed those two blatant callbacks to Metropolis pt. 1 and speculated about it?
Good question. I'm pretty sure there was some discussion about how it was ironic that the band named their new album with the same title that was already used for one of Mike Bahr's bootlegs (and perhaps how TDoE had the same title as a different bootleg), but just as hef said, I don't think that there had really been much discussion or raised eyebrows over the fact that they both were tied to Metropolis pt. I lyrically.
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I got into the band listening to Awake in late ‘99 or early 2000. It was a friend’s copy, so I went to Sam Goody to buy my own copy. They didn’t have Awake in stock, but they had SFAM. I knew it was the newest album (probably from Portnoy ads and such in Modern Drummer). I was obsessed with them after hearing that album. It was my freshman year of high school, and I remember I had a computer class where I could access the internet. I would go on their website and message board every day, getting info on the band and updates. Under a Cyber Moon, anyone?
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We knew the song titles and that the name of the album would be Scenes From A Memory. That's pretty much it.
But weren't the title and a song called "The Dance of Eternity" two big red flags? do you remember if someone noticed those two blatant callbacks to Metropolis pt. 1 and speculated about it?
(and I'm glad I'm not the only one that got the surprise right there in the store and not before!)
I have to admit that the Dance of Eternity title went totally over my head when I saw the song titles prior to the release of Scenes. I was not on the internet grid yet, so I had no clue that a Metropolis Part 2 was ever in the works or talked about, so it just didn't occur to me.
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Just for the heck of it, I took a look at a bunch of the old Ytsejams from the time that the album title and first single were announced. Here's what I saw:
• According to one Jammer, a week before MP announced the album title, he read on Billboard's new release roundup that the title was Metropolis part 2: Scenes From A Memory. However, no one seem to pick on this post or comment further about the possibility that the album as a whole might be a sequel.
• There was lots of talk about the "veil of secrecy" that had been imposed on the list.
• Some schmuck that tried to sell tape copies of the album. A couple others commenting about having heard the album or at least several tracks, but didn't say anything about it being tied to Metropolis pt I.
• One Jammer who ran a Fates Warning message board created a special place just for uncensored discussion of album #5 before it's release. Dunno what all was discussed there, but surely whoever went there read about it being a sequel.
So it seems that anyone who hadn't heard the album at that point (probably most of those on the list) still didn't have a clue that SFaM was Metropolis pt. II.
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What I remember about the buildup to the release date back in the day was that there were bits of the album cover that needed to be jigsawed together (and this was before we knew what happened musically.) The months leading up to TA had me in a flashback to that too btw.
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Just for the heck of it, I took a look at a bunch of the old Ytsejams from the time that the album title and first single were announced. Here's what I saw:
• According to one Jammer, a week before MP announced the album title, he read on Billboard's new release roundup that the title was Metropolis part 2: Scenes From A Memory. However, no one seem to pick on this post or comment further about the possibility that the album as a whole might be a sequel.
• There was lots of talk about the "veil of secrecy" that had been imposed on the list.
• Some schmuck that tried to sell tape copies of the album. A couple others commenting about having heard the album or at least several tracks, but didn't say anything about it being tied to Metropolis pt I.
• One Jammer who ran a Fates Warning message board created a special place just for uncensored discussion of album #5 before it's release. Dunno what all was discussed there, but surely whoever went there read about it being a sequel.
So it seems that anyone who hadn't heard the album at that point (probably most of those on the list) still didn't have a clue that SFaM was Metropolis pt. II.
Nice! what a time it must have been, I was already a fan but I still didn't follow actively the various bands, also because I was still without a proper internet access so all I had to go by were bits and pieces here and there (I have a flashback of being with the class at a technological fair, that was happening annually in Milan, and trying to print off the web lyrics for Manowar and Bruce Dickinson songs...), so I missed all the speculation. I had a record store right on the way back home (I could come down the subway, go up, enter immediately in the store which was quite nearby and then come back) so that's where I probably must have seen the release date, if I remember there was just a board with the name of the bands and the release date.
In this day and age you can still surprise people, and the buildup for The Astonishing was quite cool, but keeping basically everyone in the dark about the title of an album and its actual contents was impressive. Of course someone must have known, and the more the release date was approaching, more people were starting to know, but overall the veil of secrecy basically worked just fine. With a little help from the internet being in its relatively young days, but still it worked :hat
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Regarding the discussion regarding the subject of the album being kept secret, I remember seeing an interview on youtube from that era where someone (I think it was Portnoy) was asked if the record coming out was going to be an EP follow up to Metropolis Pt 1.
Well, once it was decided that Metropolis pt. II was not going to end up on album #4, there was discussion about doing another EP with it on it, just as they had done with ACoS. This was talked about with some regularity during Touring Into Infinity by MP and the fans. At what point the band decided to go from putting the song on an EP to expanding it into a concept album, I don't know. But for some time, us fans on the Ytsejam mailing list were drooling at the thought of another EP with Metropolis pt. II on it.
Here: https://youtu.be/qe-0ngV25Fg?t=217
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In this day and age you can still surprise people, and the buildup for The Astonishing was quite cool, but keeping basically everyone in the dark about the title of an album and its actual contents was impressive. Of course someone must have known, and the more the release date was approaching, more people were starting to know, but overall the veil of secrecy basically worked just fine. With a little help from the internet being in its relatively young days, but still it worked :hat
It was pretty par for the course for the 20th Century. As you mentioned, the internet was still in its infancy. Occasionally you'd get the title of an album before the release, but you mostly had to go out of your way to find info (as opposed to now when you have to go out of your way to avoid info).
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Well, once it was decided that Metropolis pt. II was not going to end up on album #4, there was discussion about doing another EP with it on it, just as they had done with ACoS. This was talked about with some regularity during Touring Into Infinity by MP and the fans. At what point the band decided to go from putting the song on an EP to expanding it into a concept album, I don't know.
Here: https://youtu.be/qe-0ngV25Fg?t=217
Probably somewhere between that interview and this one.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBOimOGyB8
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The band had a dedicated Usenet group at the time, right? I frequented those Usenet groups throughout the mid to late 90's (and even into the early 2000's), so between the DT group and rec.music.progressive, pre-release info/speculation would have disseminated that way (again, *separate* from anything officially sanctioned by the band).
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It was pretty par for the course for the 20th Century. [...]you mostly had to go out of your way to find info (as opposed to now when you have to go out of your way to avoid info).
:lol so very true.
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Listened to the album on my way to the store yesterday. Some music makes you want to pick up the pace. SFAM makes me want to start running down the road.
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Oh fuck, that means I'm almost twenty as well. :|
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I wasn't a fan yet (started listening to them a few years later) so I'm enjoying everyone's memories of when it came out. :)
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I was at the Tucson show last night, and they brought out a birthday cake for the official anniversary of Scenes! We all sang happy birthday :lol
I skipped over this earlier....
All they did to mark the date was bring a cake out on stage? I looked at setlist.fm, and it seems nothing was different. I had given some thought to driving or flying out for this show, but I guess I'm glad I didn't since it seems to have been business as usual.
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Well, to be honest, they're already playing the entire album live... what they should have done more on the specific anniversary of the album? playing it twice? :P
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Well, to be honest, they're already playing the entire album live... what they should have done more on the specific anniversary of the album? playing it twice? :P
Give them a surprise (different) ending to the album!
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Deleted- I posted basically the exact same post/question as MirrorMask :P
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Well, to be honest, they're already playing the entire album live... what they should have done more on the specific anniversary of the album? playing it twice? :P
Playing it in reverse order, Nicholas ends up alive :lol
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Well, to be honest, they're already playing the entire album live... what they should have done more on the specific anniversary of the album? playing it twice? :P
Bring out Theresa Thomason for Vocals.
Get a T-shirt cannon and start throwing T-shirt to the crowd.
Instead of a birthday cake, have a bunch of mini cup-cakes with the DT logo on it and give it out to people.
Invite Portnoy (dont hate me) for that show only.
Play Metropolis Pt 1 before the album.
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Well, to be honest, they're already playing the entire album live... what they should have done more on the specific anniversary of the album? playing it twice? :P
Playing it in reverse order, Nicholas ends up alive :lol
Reverse order: Nicholas is dead. The hypnotherapist decides to resurrect him, then proceeds to perform magic spells on Nicholas in an attempt to wipe his memories. But by the end (or beginning), Nicholas still remembers Victoria, even if on a vague level. The end.
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Well, to be honest, they're already playing the entire album live... what they should have done more on the specific anniversary of the album? playing it twice? :P
A fair point and, TBH, this is probably what I was thinking:
Invite Portnoy (dont hate me) for that show only.
even though I think I've said it probably wouldn't be a good idea.
Having Teresa Thomason and/or a choir make an appearance would have been a more realistic possibility. The cupcake thing would've been cool, but only for comedy purposes, because we all know what would end up happening.
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The only thing I wish they were doing differently with SFAM on this tour is going back to playing the "Overture 2000" original ending to the live performance. That was a great way to end the show.
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Well, some ideas, although implausible, are rather nice.
The only thing I wish they were doing differently with SFAM on this tour is going back to playing the "Overture 2000" original ending to the live performance. That was a great way to end the show.
That should be the "official live ending" of the song. It's a bummer they didn't do it back in 2014 and it will be a bummer not to witness it again.
I don't remember the Metropolis 2 demo but I don't think it didn't end that way, but I assume that's how they would have ended it in the end if it would have been a single song.
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I was at the Tucson show last night, and they brought out a birthday cake for the official anniversary of Scenes! We all sang happy birthday :lol
I think a great present would have been for them to give birth to Metropolis Pt.3 :yarr
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Make James throw some SFAM CDs and vinyls like Frisbees into the crowd during the instrumental sections
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Make James throw some SFAM CDs and vinyls like Frisbees into the crowd during the instrumental sections
Don't forget 8-track and reel-to-reel tapes!
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Make James throw some SFAM CDs and vinyls like Frisbees into the crowd during the instrumental sections
Don't forget 8-track and reel-to-reel tapes!
Reel-to-reel tapes RULE!
(and yes, I'm being serious)
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Make James throw some SFAM CDs and vinyls like Frisbees into the crowd during the instrumental sections
Don't forget 8-track and reel-to-reel tapes!
DATs as well
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If I wasn't watching/ listening to Mikes's Third Degree Drumming DVD for the fourth time today (Yeah, I probably should have stopped at three.) I'd pull the fanzine out of the draw that relates to Scenes prior to release and post a few comments from it.
Honestly, I was excited for the album because I knew Derek was gone and Jordan was replacing him. The band as we knew it was so close to being over just before that point though.
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[post deleted]
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I dunno, that reads like fake news to me. Not only due to the awful english, form and punctuation, but also in that it seems like cliched, unimaginative things one can imagine those people might say.
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Yeah, all of the artists on that list that I've heard speak, speak better English than that. :)
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I guess you are right. I made a google research of the cotes above and I couldn't find NONE of them outside that facebook's post, so...