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The Mike Portnoy Appreciation/Discussion Thread (merged)

Started by Perpetual Change, December 13, 2010, 04:48:35 AM

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The Walrus

Ya'll are killing me with the Neal Morse love but none for the Dogs. "Regret" is better than literally anything I've ever heard from Neal!

Stadler

And "regret" is all I'm filled with when I put on TWD and I could have put on TNMB instead.   :) 

The Walrus

Quote from: Stadler on June 03, 2019, 09:09:20 AM
And "regret" is all I'm filled with when I put on TWD and I could have put on TNMB instead.   :)

Touché. :)

bosk1


cramx3

I only care about SOA and TWD, TWD were AWESOME this past tour so seeing that they are committed to making new music, even if we dont know when, is positive.  SOA 2nd album is becoming pretty anticipated by me.  I didn't love the first album but the live show was so damn good that I kind of got sucked into being a SOA fan and look to see if they can improve because they have the talent and ability to make something really good.

The rest of his bands are of no interest to me. 

El Barto

TWD/TA
NMB

SOA

FC
MA

It's all about the music. WD and TA are both sounds I like. NMB is hit/miss. SOA is more hiss than mit, but the potential is certainly there. FC just never clicked with me. A little too sappy for my taste. I don't even know WTF MA is, honestly.


edit:
Quote from: TAC on May 31, 2019, 12:16:59 PM
We should all pitch in a dollar and have MP send DTF a greeting!
This idea shouldn't have been abandoned so quickly.

bosk1

Quote from: El Barto on June 03, 2019, 09:22:07 AM
Quote from: TAC on May 31, 2019, 12:16:59 PM
We should all pitch in a dollar and have MP send DTF a greeting!
This idea shouldn't have been abandoned so quickly.
Agreed.  :biggrin:

cramx3

Quote from: bosk1 on June 03, 2019, 09:26:29 AM
Quote from: El Barto on June 03, 2019, 09:22:07 AM
Quote from: TAC on May 31, 2019, 12:16:59 PM
We should all pitch in a dollar and have MP send DTF a greeting!
This idea shouldn't have been abandoned so quickly.
Agreed.  :biggrin:

I actually didnt even see this, but yes, I'd pitch in.  Considering what he told me in person about here I'd be interested to see his reaction when he sees we paid for him to say something  :lol

KevShmev


SwedishGoose

Quote from: cramx3 on June 03, 2019, 11:02:37 AM
Quote from: bosk1 on June 03, 2019, 09:26:29 AM
Quote from: El Barto on June 03, 2019, 09:22:07 AM
Quote from: TAC on May 31, 2019, 12:16:59 PM
We should all pitch in a dollar and have MP send DTF a greeting!
This idea shouldn't have been abandoned so quickly.
Agreed.  :biggrin:

I actually didnt even see this, but yes, I'd pitch in.  Considering what he told me in person about here I'd be interested to see his reaction when he sees we paid for him to say something  :lol

I'm in..... love the idea

SwedishGoose

My take on the bands

The Neal Morse Band
Some of the best music around these days both in studio and live.

Transatlantic
Love them but don't listen that much nowadays.... would probabl change if a new one was released

Flying Colors
Eagerly awIting the third album and would love to see them live. With only four shows in europe chances are slim though.

The Winery Dogs
Kinda like the first one when I hear it but have little interest in them.

Sons of Apollo
First album did nothing for me will give the second a chance but my expectations are low.

Metal Alliegiance
Not my cup of tea

The Letter M

I'll pitch in my thoughts on the Six Bands Of Portnoy Separation:

-Flying Colors: Third Degree has been nearly 2 years in the making, I think, so I'm hoping they took their time to craft some well written songs, and the more the merrier. I wouldn't mind a mix of the best parts of FC and SN to give TD the best of both!

-Transatlantic: I'm probably the most excited for this as I've been pretty hopeful and vocal about wanting the band to reconvene. I think they feel like they have just one more album in them, and I think it will be better than Kaleidoscope (though personally, I really enjoyed Kaleidoscope, but it's still my fourth favorite TA album).

-The Neal Morse Band: After the upcoming live album and Morsefest 2019, it seems like this will be put on the back-burner for both Mike AND Neal (who will probably do another solo acoustic tour of some sort, or work on another singer-songwriter album, or both). Both of them will be busy with their short-lived FC Tour in the fall, and then probably TA Sessions and that eventual tour, so I feel like NMB will go on a short hiatus, giving Eric probably some more time to promote his own work. I wouldn't mind seeing Randy and/or Bill put something out, too.

-Sons Of Apollo: I only kind of enjoyed the debut album, but I'll be honest, I never gave it too much of a listen. The upcoming live album looks neat and the cover choices seem right up their alley, so I might check it out and get the BD (and if I enjoy it a lot, pick up the CD as well).  Beyond that, I'm not overly excited for their second album quite yet because the first didn't grab me so much, but the second album might do better for me.

-The Winery Dogs: I didn't really get into this band all that much. This kind of 2000's hard rock just hasn't really hooked me, despite featuring one of my favorite drummers of all time. I'm not very excited to hear much more from them, but if they're all happy making that music and touring together, then good for them. As far as Portnoy/Sheehan team-ups go, I prefer SOA over TWD.

-Metal Allegiance: Definitely not my cup of tea. As much as I love progressive metal, the straight-up metal scene hasn't been my bag, so this isn't quite for me. It feels like this was MP's replacement for AMOB, as far as hard and heavy metal/rock goes, and AMOB never really appealed to me, so I never bothered to give this one a chance.

MP sure likes to keep busy, and he couldn't keep 2 or 3 bands busy enough for him to stay busy, even with three of them including Neal Morse (who probably needs breaks himself), so if he wants to keep juggling six bands to fill his time, more power to him. Honestly, it just means than his fans have more of a chance to see him on tour with a band that might appeal to their specific tastes. I'm sure there were (and still are) metal heads who went to DT concerts for the heavy stuff but groaned at the ballads, and other DT fans who loved the complicated, epic proggy stuff but didn't really connect with the straight-up metal influences. Now these MP fans can enjoy those certain styles and genres with specific bands that MP is involved with. For me, that means the NM-bands are the ones I gravitate towards because that's the kind of MP-involved music I love.

-Marc.

TAC

OK...

Flying Colors- I only heard the first album. It had some of the worst vocals I've ever heard. I thought it was brutally boring. I heard Steve Morse was on this, but I think it was only a rumor.

Transatlantic-Nothing bad to say about this, but this kind of prog music is just not my cup of tea.

Neal Morse Band-I am intrigued and respect the heck out of this. At some point, I'll give them an honest listen, and everything I've heard has been OK.

Sons Of Apollo-Yawn. I seriously could not get into their first album. I expect the second one, which I will definitely look forward to, will be much better after many live shows under their belt.

Winery Dogs-I listened to their first album, and thought it just might be one of the most uninteresting rock records. So blah. The recent live footage looks great, but this is a glorified club band.

Metal Allegiance- I'm a metal guy, but I have ZERO interest in this, unless of course if John Bush is singing. A bunch of metal guys doing metal covers. Puleeze.


I actually liked the first A-Mob album.



This is what I feared when MP left. I loved Dream Theater and MP, and all that he did to make things special, was the number one reason.  But he has basically fallen off the map musically for me. I think it sucks.
Quote from: wkiml on June 08, 2012, 09:06:35 AMwould have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Quote from: Buddyhunter1 on April 22, 2023, 05:54:45 PMTAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

bosk1

Quote from: TAC on June 03, 2019, 03:34:59 PMSons Of Apollo-Yawn. I seriously could not get into their first album. I expect the second one, which I will definitely look forward to, will be much better after many live shows under their belt.

I wouldn't.  I mean, they are a group of experienced musicians that wrote what they wanted to write.  I would not expect them having toured to really change much about what they will do with the next album.  It's not like this is a group of hungry new musicians that just haven't had much experience yet.  These guys know what they wanted to achieve, and they did it.  If the first one wasn't your cup of tea, what makes you think the follow up will be?

TAC

Well, I'm sure they were very happy with it, but it was a bunch of guys getting together to bang out an album.

I feel like things like soundchecks and extensive touring sheds light on the many aspects of each other's playing that you can't get in a writing and recording session. I feel like that energy has to creep into their writing for the next album.



Bosk, you pick on the one positive thing I said in my post. :lol
Quote from: wkiml on June 08, 2012, 09:06:35 AMwould have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Quote from: Buddyhunter1 on April 22, 2023, 05:54:45 PMTAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

gzarruk

Quote from: bosk1 on June 03, 2019, 03:48:05 PM
Quote from: TAC on June 03, 2019, 03:34:59 PMSons Of Apollo-Yawn. I seriously could not get into their first album. I expect the second one, which I will definitely look forward to, will be much better after many live shows under their belt.

I wouldn't.  I mean, they are a group of experienced musicians that wrote what they wanted to write.  I would not expect them having toured to really change much about what they will do with the next album.  It's not like this is a group of hungry new musicians that just haven't had much experience yet.  These guys know what they wanted to achieve, and they did it.  If the first one wasn't your cup of tea, what makes you think the follow up will be?

Sorry, but I don't think this is entirely accurate. With the exception of GOTS, which was fully written by Derek before their writing sessions, they had like about a week, two at max, to write everything as fast as they could before hitting their dedline for the recording. This was discussed a lot back when the album was being released, but I don't think they had much time to "write what they wanted to write", but rather write what they could write in that short timeframe. Am I assuming that? Sure, but things like the chorus melody on Coming Home being almost note for note the same as the one in Alive, and some abrupt transitions from one section to another on the longer songs don't help their case at all.

Don't get me wrong, the album got much better to me when I removed the tracks that I didn't like (CH, Alive, FW and DA, and OM might be gone soon too) and now I see it as a good "EP" and I still listen to it every once in a while, but there's clear signs that this album could've been a lot better if they actually took time to craft each song and let JSS work more on the vocal melodies.

Hopefully they do things differently on the next record, and I'm actually looking forward to it. As much as I dislike Derek as a person, I think the Sherinian/Portnoy/Thal trio CAN write pretty good music if they pour enough time and passion into it, not just rush a bunch of disjointed tunes and call it an album. My hope is that they lean more towards the proggier side this time and don't release an album with a bunch of songs that sound like Coming Home.

KevShmev

That seems to be a trend with some of his projects for a while now.  Get in the studio, get it over with quickly, and move on, rather than taking the time to craft the songs perfectly.  The exceptions are often the albums with Neal Morse, because Neal is not the kind of guy who is happy with doing a rough draft of a song and saying, "Okay, good enough, let's move on."  I wasn't much of a fan of the SoA album, but it had some cool parts here and there. and I can't help but wonder if I would have liked it more if more care had been taken to craft the songs.  Sure, sometimes that quick approach can result in magic, like the LTE records, but an album like the SoA sounded clunky and undercooked.  It didn't help that I was not a fan of the singer or the vocal melodies (not that either was bad, just kind of there), but sometimes you have to spend a little time on crafting your art.

gzarruk

And even the LTE stuff had some tracks that weren't... good (Three Minute Warning, for example). Mike's quantity over quality approach gives us, the fans, a lot of stuff to listen to, but it doesn't mean it's all good or worth keeping imo.

cramx3

Quote from: bosk1 on June 03, 2019, 03:48:05 PM
Quote from: TAC on June 03, 2019, 03:34:59 PMSons Of Apollo-Yawn. I seriously could not get into their first album. I expect the second one, which I will definitely look forward to, will be much better after many live shows under their belt.

I wouldn't.  I mean, they are a group of experienced musicians that wrote what they wanted to write.  I would not expect them having toured to really change much about what they will do with the next album.  It's not like this is a group of hungry new musicians that just haven't had much experience yet.  These guys know what they wanted to achieve, and they did it.  If the first one wasn't your cup of tea, what makes you think the follow up will be?

So a group of people who had never played together before as a band spends a year on the road together and you wouldn't expect them to be able to write a better album this time around?  I don't understand that reasoning at all, although sure if they went in with the same mentality then maybe, but since they already were working on stuff in the winter and not coming back to it for a bit, it seems they already showed they aren't doing the same process.  They also advertised themselves as the best prog metal band out there before they even finished the album and eventually wrote more of a heavy metal album with prog influences.  Maybe they have found their style a bit more too now.  There's a whole lot of questions about them but to think they couldn't change and improve because they have a year of time together is kind of odd to me.

hefdaddy42

I tend to agree with bosky's characterization.  These are all road-hardened, professional musicians.  Yeah, they spent some time together on the road, but if they weren't with each other, they would have just been with other people.  It's a side gig for all of them, and all of those road dates were "just another gig".

I'm sure the second album will be fine, if you liked the first one, but I wouldn't expect any breakthroughs or major changes. 
Quote from: BlobVanDam on December 11, 2014, 08:19:46 PMHef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

TAC

Well, that's just it. The first record screamed "side gig".

Maybe the second album will be worse. I just don't see how that would be possible after spending the last year playing with each other.
Quote from: wkiml on June 08, 2012, 09:06:35 AMwould have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Quote from: Buddyhunter1 on April 22, 2023, 05:54:45 PMTAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

bosk1

I don't think "better" or "worse" are meaningful descriptions.  I just don't see it being vastly different.  And that's fine.  It was a great album.  If you liked the first one, I'm guessing there will be plenty to like with the next one.  If you didn't like it, the next one probably won't be for you either. 

hefdaddy42

Quote from: BlobVanDam on December 11, 2014, 08:19:46 PMHef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

cramx3

Oh I don't expect it to be different, but I'd expect it to be better written.  The first album being written so quickly was clearly shown in the music, IMO.  It sounds like they didn't work out the songs well enough.  I mean, it wasn't bad, but they could have took what they had, worked on it more and improved to make a better album.  I'd expect them to find their groove a bit more on round 2.  I'm sure they are aware of the criticism of the first album too.

KevShmev

Quote from: gzarruk on June 03, 2019, 09:23:27 PM
And even the LTE stuff had some tracks that weren't... good (Three Minute Warning, for example). Mike's quantity over quality approach gives us, the fans, a lot of stuff to listen to, but it doesn't mean it's all good or worth keeping imo.

To be fair, Three Minute Warning was an improvised jam, and there is even a warning on the CD sleeve about it, so not sure that is a fair one to single out.  And I say that as someone who really likes Three Minute Warning for what it is.  That whole first LTE record is flawless, and the second one is nearly flawless as well, IMO.

Madman Shepherd

Looks like I'm in the minority in that I actually like Metal Allegiance but even then, it's not a very big interest.

The only other project I like is SoA and that is very moderately.

I really don't care for Neal's voice and I can't stand Eric Gillette's. I'm a relatively big Steve Morse fan, at least in regards to his work Deep Purple, but even that can't get me too interested in Flying Colors.

Lastly, TWD just never did anything for me.

I'm most inclined to give FC or Trans another chance on a rainy day. My friend copied me some of their stuff (which I would buy if I liked) and there were a few interesting things in there.

TWD and NMB are the only two i give a solid and firm "pass" in regards to ever caring.

Adami

I liked when Metal Allegiance did that video for We Rock.

If they did that, you know, big fun covers with a ton of big names, I'd buy all of it. But original music from those guys is REALLY generic.
www. fanticide.bandcamp . com

ProfessorPeart

Guess I'll play.

Flying Colors - Love the first album. Lukewarm on the second, but Cosmic Symphony is my favorite song from them. Saw them on their last tour and it was amazing.

Transatlantic - Love them immensely. Seen them a couple of times live now. Never dissappoint.

Neal Morse Band - NMB has been hit and miss. First album was okay. Similitude didn't grab me but I love The Great Adventure.

Sons Of Apollo - Liked it. Need to see what the second coming brings.

Winery Dogs - Loved the first album. Second didn't grab me at all. Saw them live and they totally bring it.

Metal Allegiance - First record blew me away. I expected little and ended up loving it. The second album garnered the feeling I thought I'd have for the first. Good, but not great.
Quote from: ProfessorPeart on November 14, 2023, 11:17:53 AMbeul ni teh efac = Lube In The Face / That has to be wrong.  :lol / EDIT: Oh, it's Blue! I'm an idiot.
Quote from: Indiscipline on November 14, 2023, 02:26:25 PMPardon the interruption, but I just had to run in and celebrate the majesty of Lube in the Face as highest moment in roulette history.

MinistroRaven

Quote from: bosk1 on June 03, 2019, 09:26:29 AM
Quote from: El Barto on June 03, 2019, 09:22:07 AM
Quote from: TAC on May 31, 2019, 12:16:59 PM
We should all pitch in a dollar and have MP send DTF a greeting!
This idea shouldn't have been abandoned so quickly.
Agreed.  :biggrin:

MP just posted:

"Use the code: DADSDAY for 10% off... "

Now we need to start pitching and get it done.

Madman Shepherd

Quote from: MinistroRaven on June 04, 2019, 03:45:15 PM
Quote from: bosk1 on June 03, 2019, 09:26:29 AM
Quote from: El Barto on June 03, 2019, 09:22:07 AM
Quote from: TAC on May 31, 2019, 12:16:59 PM
We should all pitch in a dollar and have MP send DTF a greeting!
This idea shouldn't have been abandoned so quickly.
Agreed.  :biggrin:

MP just posted:

"Use the code: DADSDAY for 10% off... "

Now we need to start pitching and get it done.

I'll contribute $2.50

MinistroRaven

Quote from: Madman Shepherd on June 04, 2019, 08:06:40 PM
Quote from: MinistroRaven on June 04, 2019, 03:45:15 PM
Quote from: bosk1 on June 03, 2019, 09:26:29 AM
Quote from: El Barto on June 03, 2019, 09:22:07 AM
Quote from: TAC on May 31, 2019, 12:16:59 PM
We should all pitch in a dollar and have MP send DTF a greeting!
This idea shouldn't have been abandoned so quickly.
Agreed.  :biggrin:

MP just posted:

"Use the code: DADSDAY for 10% off... "

Now we need to start pitching and get it done.

I'll contribute $2.50

Me too

Evermind

Count me in. Can someone create a fundraiser or something? :lol
Quote from: Train of Naught on May 28, 2020, 10:57:25 PMThis first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

SwedishGoose


Evermind

I have no idea how, man. I hoped someone would be more well-versed in these kind of things.
Quote from: Train of Naught on May 28, 2020, 10:57:25 PMThis first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Grappler

Quote from: Adami on June 04, 2019, 01:17:45 PM
I liked when Metal Allegiance did that video for We Rock.

If they did that, you know, big fun covers with a ton of big names, I'd buy all of it. But original music from those guys is REALLY generic.

That has been my only complaint.  They get awesome singers, both on the records and live.  I'm sure the live shows are amazing, with that many big-name guests doing really cool covers.

But the songwriting on the albums doesn't challenge any of these singers.  They write songs that are fully geared toward these singers' primary bands.  Max Cavalera?  Let's give him a song that sounds like Soulfly or Sepultura.  Chuck Billy?  He gets a thrash song identical to Testament.  I wish they'd make these singers do something a little different, or have more duets at least.


As for MP's projects, I only enjoy Sons of Apollo and Metal Allegiance.  I haven't ever listened to any of his other bands and don't see myself ever wanting to.