To me, if lyrics mean one thing to one person, and a different thing to someone else, then that is meaning isn't actually there. You're writing lyrics that rely on the listener putting their own meaning onto it.
This, I have to disagree with. Sometimes a lyricist (or writer in general) can have a very specific meaning they are putting into the song, but can consciously choose to be vague about that meaning so that a listener (or reader) can get whatever meaning they want from it. The best example of this, for me, is riddles. When you create a riddle, you have a specific answer in mind - but that doesn't mean that another person can't come up with a different solution to the riddle, an answer they personally like better.
True, sometimes vague lyrics are just gibberish, and anyone getting meaning from them is finding something that wasn't really intended to be there. But sometimes vague lyrics are riddles to be deciphered, and maybe you stumble upon the artist's intention or maybe you find your own interpretation that is just as valid to you.
This is not to say that vague lyrics are superior. I do, personally, tend to find them more fun. Just because I can stare at a song like Under a Glass Moon for eight hours trying to figure out what the hell it means. Sure, whatever I come up with will probably be wrong, since the lyrics might not have any concrete meaning at all, but I still enjoy trying to puzzle it out. Whereas with straightforward lyrics, there usually isn't as much to think about. Which doesn't mean they're bad, it just means they have fewer layers for me to enjoy.
Then again, it's also possible to find your own meaning in songs with straightforward lyrics. Wither is a song that is quite obviously about the difficulty of the writing process, and I don't dispute that, but it also has other more personal meaning for me. And while the meaning I get from it was almost certainly not intentional, I still connect with the song more because of that imagined meaning, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
I guess my point is that to me, lyrics can be good or bad regardless of whether they are vague or straightforward.
Anyway. As for the ADTOE vs BC&SL debate, I find the whole debate pretty amusing. Some people say ADTOE is a 'return to form' while others say it is 'stale' or 'DT-paint-by-numbers.' What neither side seems to realize is that both sides are basically saying the same thing: ADTOE is a return to a more classic Dream Theater style, with nothing particularly new or groundbreaking. Some people think that's boring because they enjoy listening to DT explore new styles. Some people think it's great because they love classic DT. But at the end of the day, I don't think anyone can really dispute that with ADTOE, DT returned more to their comfort zone, whether you consider that a bad thing or a good one.
For me, it doesn't really matter. I think ADTOE is a great album, regardless of how it compares to classic or newer albums. OTBOA certainly isn't anything new for DT, but I still think it's a great song.
As for BC&SL (hey, I'm finally getting to the actual point of the topic!), I think it is a good-but-not-great album. I don't actually have any problem with ANTR - okay, maybe the Day After Day section is a little weak, but I don't mind it, and it doesn't take anything away from the song for me. As a metalhead, if anything, ANTR is
closer to my usual tastes than most Dream Theater music. A Rite of Passage is a fun and catchy song, but not particularly exciting. One of those songs that I enjoy whenever I listen to it, but that I rarely actually listen to anymore. Wither is a song I love despite, or maybe even because of, its relative simplicity. The Count of Tuscany is amazing. I'm not fond of the lyrics, but I'm able to zone out and not pay attention to the lyrics. Unlike most people, I
do love the vocal melodies, including the chorus. And it is instrumentally gorgeous. Definitely my favorite song on the album.
The Shattered Fortress is... okay. I guess it was a decent way to wrap up the suite. I don't really have any problem with it, I suppose. But I look at it as basically a patchwork quilt of sections and melodies from the rest of the suite. And while those melodies are awesome, they're also recycled. I've heard them before, and the way they are combined isn't particularly exciting or interesting to me. It is sort of like listening to a patchy summary of the rest of the suite, with a couple cool new things added. I would say it's the one song on the album where I can understand what people mean when they say it feels like the band is 'tired' or 'in a rut'. I can kind of imagine the band sitting in the studio going, "Oh, yeah, we have to finish the suite. Mike, any ideas? No? Okay, let's just throw some stuff together." Not that that's what actually happened, of course, but I do feel that the song is a somewhat stale finale for the saga.
The Best of Times... Okay. This is relevant to the recent debate. I agree with Blob that Mike Portnoy had no obligation to make this song's lyrics more open and relatable - he was writing a song for himself, for catharsis and expression, and that's great. I have no problem with that. But it does have the side effect of making me feel like an outsider when I listen to the song. It is the emotional equivalent of an inside joke - I'm sure it's hilarious, and you're entitled to tell it, but I just don't get it. So, while I don't begrudge MP for writing the lyrics he did, the lyrics do take away from my enjoyment of the song. Instrumentally it's a very nice piece of music.
I honestly think BC&SL's biggest problem is the length of its songs. Not that length is boring or anything - it's just that if you happen to dislike one song, you probably dislike a significant chunk of the album. Like, for me, I get a little tired of The Shattered Fortress and sometimes The Best of Times - that's one third of the album right there. Factor in A Rite of Passage, which is a song that I enjoy but often skip, and I'm left with just three songs on the album I consistently enjoy. That's simply a low percentage, when it comes to DT albums for me. Compare it with an album like I&W, where I adore every song, or an album like Octavarium, where I don't love every song but do love the vast majority of the music, and BC&SL simply floats toward the bottom of my rankings.
So in a nutshell, I think it is a good album that just happens to be one of DT's weakest because of a few weak links in the chain.
(...Kudos to anyone who made it through this entire post.)