Official DT Top 50 Thread Mark II (bss4life15 up now - starting page 79)

[Elite]

The Mirror is one of DT's most interesting songs but I never got into it.

OTBOA is absolutely incredible and that spot might actually be too low.

OTBOA is indeed one of the better songs DT have put out in the last 10 years.

[Scorpion]

41. THE MIRROR

40. ON THE BACKS OF ANGELS

Good ones, wasteland. Both around were I would rank them.

Damn, this is gonna take forever... I think I'll have to bequeath my turn of ranking to someone else in my will, if this speed continues...

[Mind Trail]

For all we know the #1 song can be "Metropolis pt. 3"... We're impatient. 

[Ħ]

Wasteland is really building up the suspense with this one.

[Ben_Jamin]

It's starting to bug me a bit because it's killing the thread, a bit. Why don't you post 5 to speed things up if it's going at this rate.

[BlobVanDam]

There should really be some kind of timeframe put on these, like an automatic forfeit period.

[Jaffa]

When it is my turn, I vow to post five a day until I'm either down to my top ten (at which time I will post two a day) or booed off stage (which might happen on the first day). 

[Ben_Jamin]

There should really be some kind of timeframe put on these, like an automatic forfeit period.

Exactly, I'm amazed some haven't dropped out yet,only one.

[Elite]

There should really be some kind of timeframe put on these, like an automatic forfeit period.

Exactly, I'm amazed some haven't dropped out yet,only one.

Kind of funny. When I just joined I signed up for this list, my turn still hasn't come.

[Ben_Jamin]

There should really be some kind of timeframe put on these, like an automatic forfeit period.

Exactly, I'm amazed some haven't dropped out yet,only one.

Kind of funny. When I just joined I signed up for this list, my turn still hasn't come.

I think it's almost been a year since I asked to be on the list. Can't wait my turn though I don't want to revise for DT12

[wasteland]

39. FAR FROM HEAVEN

Here's the third song from the latest album to be featured on my top 50 list. Just like with OTBOA, I got to listen to this song before buying the album (just a day before, though!). I was with a friend of mine, driving home at night. At first, as it often happens, I was not blown away by the song. I was expecting something more catcht, à la Wait For Sleep, but it didn't happen, and as I was struggling to wait and not to listen to the leaked material, I didn't give the song a second spin right away. Fast forward a good 20 hours. I'm still in my car, but I'm quietly watching the Bay of Cagliari from a high cliff with the CD in my hand. By the time the song was over I immediately realized how shallow I had been in my first judgement, as I had completely looked over the huge emotional depth of the song, from the wisely restrained piano work to the background strings, never out of place, never stealing the limelight yet always up there with the ivory keys laying a silky texture to the lyrics, the real treat of the song. James LaBrie pen has rarely, if ever, failed the fans (yes, I like the lyrics in POW), and this is for sure not one of those times, It is yet another set of lyrics dealing with a heartbreaking struggle within a person's soul, a macro-theme shared with Vacant and Disappear. As always, James manages to convey at the very best the excruciating pain of being trapped in a tunnel with no light at the end, a state of mind and soul this time due to the child, from whose perspective the lyrics are told, not being able to meet the expectations, the wishes of his/her family. I've never really been through such a horrible condition, and yet I can easily relate to how a wretch could such a child feel: feeling like a stranger inside a shell  others have shaped to fit their will and aims, like a cube struggling to fit in a sphere, a pawn performing the script of his own life. The song exudes these strong, albeit terrible, emotions, and to be able to reach this goal make in itself this song an accomplishment, regardless of everything else. And yet, the "everything else" is worth being praised as well, as I have already done before. If I had to choose the best bit of the song, it would be the little piano solo near the end of the song, a theme that would later be reprise in a much more grandiose fashion later in the album, which shines here of the light of a simple and naked beauty. Had I to make a top 10 ADTOE moments, those few seconds would rank very, very close to the top. To summarize, Far From Heaven is not my favourite song off A Dramatic Turn Of Events, and by a long shot, but is a sincere and simple song that only dares to speak to one's heart. And it doesn't fail.

38. ABOUT TO CRASH (REPRISE)

This is probably one of the songs I come to listen the least often, as it comes near the ending of a long suite that I almost never feel the need to listen to in its entirety (it hasn't happened in a year or so) and is not a common song in the live environment, where it is has never been played as a stand-alone piece, but always together with Solitary Shell and Losing Time/GF, to recreate the last section of SDOIT. Of the three I mentioned ATC(R) is the only one making to this top 50, and also the second-to-last song coming from the second disc you will get to see discussed here. I have no real reason to place this song higher than the first About To Crash, and you could swap the two song without me cringing. Yet, I found myself enjoying a tiny bit more the faster pace of a walk approaching the end that is so instrumental in the Reprise then the slow build up to a beautiful conclusion in the first part. But this is an opinion that vary with days, so you may thing the two songs as roughly equals to my perverse mind. The real highlight of the song is the beautiful lead solo at the 2:35 mark that, along with the uplifting instrumental section following right after seems to lead the unknowing listener to the darker section more towards the ending. As I said commenting the main song, this could be yet another way to convey on a more subtle level the psychic instability of the main character. So, an uplifting piece that is always pleasant to listen (the few times it comes out of its dusty lair!). Unfortunately, there are about 39/37 better song in the DT catalougue!

37. SPACE DYE VEST

Here we go. A very good song? Yeah. The best DT song? Not by the longest show. The most emotional DT song? No, and you will see why. A song for all seasons? Maybe in the Ice Age... 
Well, this song is for many reasons a one of its own kind piece, and I'm not going to tell you why as you already know. This song has been thoroughly discussed, disserted, bashed, praised and whatever else in the last 17 years that I'm not going to add anything to the great debate, and instead I will say some words about how I have so far fared with it. At the beginning of my "career" as a DT fan I used to keep a strongly biased opinion about this song: as a Jordan Rudess fan, I would (and to a lesser extent still do) find the aura of love and reverence for a long departed member quite annoying. How could he have been so good that everything he had touched was posthumously turned into gold by a crowd of adoring and nostalgic fans? Committing the exact mistake I scolded, I took a unjustified dislike of the song.
As the time passed, however, it became increasingly clear to my how foolish I had been, and gave the song a good number of second chances. I found myself to like the song a fair deal, and as of today I consider it the second best KM work in DT (do you know exactly how many songs are mostly Kevin's with regard of music and lyrics? I daresay three). As a live listener, I wished for a long time to witness or simply listen to an en vivo rendition of this song, a wish that passed from "forbidden dream" to reality in less than five second (the time it takes to refresh a DTF page) when Rich Wilson dropped the bomb a few days before the still fondly remembered solo concert by JR and Tarrytown. Seconds later, I was certain of two things: that JR would have given the song a personal twist (and rightfully so, in my opinion), and that a fairly big shitstorm would have ensued as a result of Certainty#1. Thanks to tjsomething I got to listen and to watch the performance, and even included the audio on a ipod playlist for a while. I was not moved to tears (didn't expect to) by the song and the way it was performed, and I can see where those people labelling the performance as lacking in terms of feeling and emotion come from , but I need to disagree, and quite strongly, on that matter. Space Dye Vest is an excellent song in that it is a 7 minutes long key to a precise set of feelings coming directly from KM. Another artist willing to pay a tribute to his songwriting effort  may need to polish the key, or add and remove a few little things to fit his own lock and reach a psychological state similar to Kevin's at the time the song was born. There is of course a limit to the freedom one could afford (you can open every lock firing a bullet at it), but I feel that this limit was not reached that night. All in all, this song is a beautiful piece of music and heart, meaningful, rich and simple at the same time. It's beauty is probably dimmed by the whole KM thing that gave the song the curse of polarizing the fan base. Who knows what could have been the general perception of this song if everybody could just listen and judge without thinking to the real life events that followed this songs. Probably, we'll never know.

[Nekov]

About to Crash and Space Dye Vest are both great songs. I would put them higher in the ranking.

Guys, it seems that if we complain Wasteland will post faster, let's keep it up

[wasteland]

About to Crash and Space Dye Vest are both great songs. I would put them higher in the ranking.

Guys, it seems that if we complain Wasteland will post faster, let's keep it up

You found my weakness, sir. But, again, sorry for the wait, I had a few things up... Just for information, it took about two hours to write the previous post, I am quite slow, you know... 

[Ħ]

How bout for upcoming top 50 sharers....you have your write-ups done before you even start.

[wasteland]

I planned to, but you know how things go...

[Nekov]

I was just joking. I understand that people have more important stuff to do than posting rankings in the forum 

[Elite]

Space-Dye Vest is WAY too low.

/complain.

[BlobVanDam]

Space-Dye Vest is WAY too high.

/complain.

FTFY

[?]

Space-Dye Vest is WAY too low.

/complain.

[hefdaddy42]

Space-Dye Vest is WAY too low.

/complain.

I don't think it even made my Top 50.

[Riceball]

Space-Dye Vest is WAY too low.

/complain.

It didn't even make my Top 50.

[Ħ]

10 days later...

[wasteland]

I'm going to write something tonight.

[SeRoX]

Space Dye Vest is that high? *sigh*

[wasteland]

36. LIFTING SHADOWS OFF A DREAM

In almost every album there's is one single song that, while not necessarily being the best of the lot, perfectly encompasses the spirit of the album. They're generally mood-oriented, poignant and breathy songs, which very little space for shredding and goofing around (so I guess that rules songs à la The Dance Of Eternity out ). I have always seen Lifting Shadows as one of these songs, since the day (late, I must admit) I came to appreciate Awake as it deserves. Despite this, I've never really fallen in love with this song, and listen to it quite rarely, as it doesn't appear on any audio official release, and it isn't a frequently played song either, so there are not many bootleg of it. However, when the songs comes randomly, there is always a moment where I realize how wrong I am to overlook it: it could be when James sings the haunting line "She can turn a drop of water into an ocean", when JM delivers the best intro of the album with his trusted bass or even when I realize how tasty and delicate is the keyboard theme I've been listening for the previous minutes. There are so many great things in this song that I have had to think quite some time before placing this song on #36 of my list instead of, say, #23/#25. Ultimately, I felt this song doesn't really belongs to a higher position out of pure personal taste, and not for any technical or musical flaw, that incidentally I fail to scope at the moment. This is a great song that could be ranked anywhere from #35 to the very top of the list, according to one's tastes and mood, and would not be unhappy if it was to make a comeback on stage sometime in the near future.

[namgalsipsclar]

Lifting Shadows is probably DT's most underrated song, great pick

[iamtheeviltwin]

I love Lifting Shadows, to me it is the mood lightening break on the otherwise dark and moody album that is Awake.  It also has some of the best "poetic" lyrics in DT's catalog.

[BlackInk]

Never got this particular song, it's okay but unfortunately not more.

[composure77]

So uhh....







What happened to this? lol 

[Pols Voice]

Welcome to the wasteland.

[Elite]

Welcome to the wasteland.

Where you'll find ashes, nothing but ashes.

[BlackInk]

[hefdaddy42]

wasteland is done for now.  PM being sent to Fran521, who is next on the list but with whom I am unfamiliar.  If I don't get a response in a day or so, we will move to the next name on the list.

[hefdaddy42]

Fran521 can't go right now.  Jaffa, you're up.

[Jaffa]

... That happened very quickly.

I believe I vowed to post five a day?  Enjoy.  My hope is that you guys have as much fun reading these as I had writing them.  Or, barring that, my hope is that they are at least vaguely interesting.

Flame-shield activated.



50. Blind Faith
Welp, if I’m gonna get booed off stage, I might as well do it right away, am I right?

I know most people would rank this much higher (and a few people would call for my beheading for ranking it so low), but it’s one of those songs that just never really clicked with me.  It’s perfect on paper – great vocals, well-written lyrics on subject matter I can appreciate and enjoy, a lot of musical experimentation, excellent guitar work… there is, in fact, nothing wrong with this song.  It’s not an issue of me disliking anything about it; it’s just a song that never quite captured my love.  Still, it’s a great song, and it definitely has its bits and pieces of total brilliance. 

49. Forsaken
If you didn’t already hate me for Blind Faith at 50, you probably hate me now.  Oh well, I suppose.

My only quarrel with this song is the clichéd subject matter of the lyrics.  I blame pop culture more than DT for this, but the fact is, I have trouble taking anything about vampires seriously anymore.  Still, aside from the subject matter, I think it’s a great song.  Love the piano intro, and the piano work throughout for that matter.  I think the guitar has a really nice vibe here.  There are some vocal moments I find simply magnificent, both in melody and delivery.  Admittedly, the chorus is a little dull, but that’s made up for by the fact that it’s killer live.  So, overall, I really think this is a very good song, just dragged down quite a lot by the stigma of vampire lyrics. 

48. The Root of All Evil
The first Twelve-Step-Suite song to be featured on my list, TROAE isn’t a song I have very much to say about it.  It contains some of the more memorable melodies of the whole suite.  It serves really well as an opener for its album.  Powerful, powerful music, virtually guaranteed to have you banging your head with the beat.  Basically, it simply rocks. 

47. Space-Dye Vest
It is my opinion that on the entire Awake album, and on this song in particular, the band was just a little too fond of using samples.  I get what the samples are meant to accomplish in this song, but for me it simply doesn’t work.  The samples only distract me from what is otherwise a beautiful song.  So, that’s basically my take on this one: based on lyrics, vocal melodies, the gorgeous piano work, and pure emotion, the song is absolutely brilliant.  It’s a homerun.  But it’s dragged down a lot for me by all the samples. 

46. Never Enough
Continuing with my trend of questionable song choices that began with Forsaken, here’s Never Enough.  I understand why so many people have problems with this song –  I understand those reasons, but love this song despite its faults.  Between Octavarium and Systematic Chaos, there are several songs about which I would say the following: “Say what you want about it, and I can’t really defend it against those attacks, but it’s still a damn fun song to listen to.”  Is it a Muse rip-off?  Sounds that way, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the vocals and melodies.  Are its lyrics at best awkward and at worst downright offensive to the fanbase?  Yeah, but I still enjoy singing along with them.  Bottom line for me is, it’s really catchy, it’s really cool, and musically it’s pretty interesting.  Also, the one thing I think we can all agree on, DAT UNISON.