Official New Millennium appreciation thread.

[Samsara]

  The music had space, had breath, and it still had the sense of "searching".

Well put. That's exactly why it appeals to me so much.

[HOF]

FII isn't my favorite DT album, but it's not my least favorite either; I much prefer the Director's Cut of that album.  Having said that, in listening to it recently, it brings back good times, and I miss that era very much.  The music had space, had breath, and it still had the sense of "searching".

I know the band hated the process they had to go through to make the album, and the end result was to some extent still botched by the outside powers that be, but I really believe being pushed to work and rework the material for this album was absolutely a positive thing that resulted in some of their strongest material. While it might not be to most DT fans’ or the band’s tastes (it is more to mine than what has followed it), it is the furthest thing from a DT by the numbers type of album and I will always love that about it.

[Samsara]

I know the band hated the process they had to go through to make the album, and the end result was to some extent still botched by the outside powers that be, but I really believe being pushed to work and rework the material for this album was absolutely a positive thing that resulted in some of their strongest material. While it might not be to most DT fans’ or the band’s tastes (it is more to mine than what has followed it), it is the furthest thing from a DT by the numbers type of album and I will always love that about it.

Yes! To be frank, I know DT has always bristled at having a producer or outside ear. But I really think it benefited them on their 90s records. I really do. To-date, I consider I&W, Awake, and FII three of their best albums (with SFAM and Distance Over Time) in the top-5 as well. And part of that reason is that I think the 90s records really captured their technical ability, but also the soulful quality of the band - that fine line between playing and over playing. I think once SFAM hit, and particularly after that, they overplayed, and its the reason why I don't think as highly of them. Still like the 00s output, but not as much. And I think that outside influence, and helping the band hone in their natural tendencies to overplay, helped. Just thinking out loud. Obviously, people love their 2000s output a ton, and they spiked in popularity then, so I'm likely in the minority on this. But you really captured something I agree with

[gzarruk]

I know the band hated the process they had to go through to make the album

Well, not really. Portnoy hated the process, and he was VERY vocal about it, but that doesn't mean all of them hated it:

Rockbook: - Let’s jump back in time a bit. It’s a known fact, that your ex-label had kind of an „influence” on your ’Falling Into Infinity’ album. If there hadn’t been this influence, in what ways would this album have been different?

John Petrucci: - Maybe I could set the records straight: I think that’s a really big misunderstanding. The label didn’t have an influence on the album. We wrote the kind of album we wanted to write. We went in there with Kevin Shirley, a great friend of mine, and we got really experimental with the songs, you know, how we recorded each song. Each song was recorded completely different, which was something that was new for us. Different amps, different drum kits, everything. And Kevin, as a producer – if that’s the influence we’re talking about- did come in, saying: „In that song let’s move this and that”, and he did what producers do. I think it’s a great album, I’m really proud of it. I think that’s a misunderstanding, as to the direction, but I’ve heard people say that before. It’s different.  The first album with Derek, we had a new influence in him as a keyboard player and writer, like I said the way that Kevin produced it was very different, so it kinda stands out in a lot of ways. Even the things that I used, different guitars and things. Very different.

(https://www.rockbook.hu/hirek/john-petrucci-interview-label-didnt-have-influence-falling-infinity-album)

I think once SFAM hit, and particularly after that, they overplayed, and its the reason why I don't think as highly of them. Still like the 00s output, but not as much. And I think that outside influence, and helping the band hone in their natural tendencies to overplay, helped. Just thinking out loud. Obviously, people love their 2000s output a ton, and they spiked in popularity then, so I'm likely in the minority on this. But you really captured something I agree with

I agree for the most part. Like I already said, FII is a bottom tier DT album for me, but you're right about them starting to overplay after SFAM. I still think SDOIT is a masterpiece, but after that you could really feel a change in their albums, and that's when the "let's make long songs because we can" mindset started dominating their music.

[HOF]

I do remember seeing that interview from JP now. Fair enough, I wouldn’t put it past MP to speak for the rest of the band. But the process I’m referring to is also how the label wouldn’t green light the new album for a long time (before they even started working with Shirley), which resulted in them doing demo after demo until the label gave them the go ahead. I think that process along with having input from Shirley during the recording sessions really resulted in a lot of strong material. It’s also very different than the process they have employed for the most part since. I don’t think working with Kevin Shirley was really the source of the band’s frustration during that period (they kept working with him for some time after that in a non-producer capacity).

I do think John would admit he enjoys the freedom of being the producer though, as he and Mike first co-produced on the LTE album right after FII was done and then pretty much never looked back as far as having an outside producer again.  Even after Mike left the band haven’t tried working with an outside producer again.

[gzarruk]

I definitely agree that having an external producer can help them craft a better album, and I actually prefer the final versions of the FII songs over the original arrangements, it's just that, IMO, most of the material wasn't that good to begin with (for DT standards). This album followed IAW and Awake and had pretty much none of the things that made those two as great as they are in terms of songwriting (the performances on FII are top notch as always).