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

[BlackInk]

Voices and the Mirror is good. The Count of Tuscany suffers greatly from it's lyrics and vocals and I would have put it more or less where you did.

Forsaken is pretty nice too.

[Tomislav95]

Voices, The Mirror and TCOT are too low IMO

[Ben_Jamin]

Haha now that I think about TCOT "all the finest wines improve with age" is crazy how long those bodies were in the barrels.

[Jaffa]

Warning: Some of these have me trying to use my brain, ('Awwww, bless her, she thinks she has intelligent opinions!')

I think you're being too hard on yourself.  Some of these did seem like intelligent opinions to me.  More intelligent than most of my musical opinions, anyway. 

Anyway, cool batch.  Voices as TCoT are quite low in my opinion, but that just makes me all the more interested in seeing what else appears higher on your list. 

[jonny108]

...and it's also the first Dream Theater song I heard live. Ever.

Was it? I thought it was Under a Glass Moon  Also Voices should be way way higher 

[theseoafs]

Fine songs, except for Forsaken which for my money doesn't belong in any top 50 (especially next to Voices, which I feel is way too low anyway).

[BlobVanDam]

I'd put most of them higher, but they're all great songs. TCOT should definitely be higher!

[Ben_Jamin]

Nice list.

This thread is reminding me to get at it with mine.

[alirocker08]

Voices and the Mirror is good. The Count of Tuscany suffers greatly from it's lyrics and vocals and I would have put it more or less where you did.

Forsaken is pretty nice too.

Glad to see some agreement here

Voices, The Mirror and TCOT are too low IMO

Wait until you see the songs that nudge them out :')

Haha now that I think about TCOT "all the finest wines improve with age" is crazy how long those bodies were in the barrels.

All I think about is downing a glass of wine (classy bird) every Sunday singing that line :')

Also, get on with your list!

I think you're being too hard on yourself.  Some of these did seem like intelligent opinions to me.  More intelligent than most of my musical opinions, anyway. 

Anyway, cool batch.  Voices as TCoT are quite low in my opinion, but that just makes me all the more interested in seeing what else appears higher on your list. 

Women don't have intelligent opinions But thanks!

...and it's also the first Dream Theater song I heard live. Ever.

Was it? I thought it was Under a Glass Moon  Also Voices should be way way higher 

Same difference!

Fine songs, except for Forsaken which for my money doesn't belong in any top 50 (especially next to Voices, which I feel is way too low anyway).

Then I am anticipating your list

I'd put most of them higher, but they're all great songs. TCOT should definitely be higher!

COME AND HAVE A TASTE, A RARE VINTAGE.

[Jaffa]

I think you're being too hard on yourself.  Some of these did seem like intelligent opinions to me.  More intelligent than most of my musical opinions, anyway. 

Anyway, cool batch.  Voices as TCoT are quite low in my opinion, but that just makes me all the more interested in seeing what else appears higher on your list. 

Women don't have intelligent opinions But thanks!

Elves do. 

[hefdaddy42]

MY BRUTHA

[alirocker08]

Here we go with the next batch!

40:  Wither
   'OMG SHE LIKED WITHER OVER THE COUNT OF TUSCANY, HOW CONTROVERSHUL!' No. Hush, hear me out. I like ballads. I like ballads a lot. And this exemplifies what I like in a ballad, wonderful lyrics that I rate much higher than the...poor linguistic choices of The Count of Tuscany, there is a very clear, defined and easy to follow melody that doesn't mess the listener around and is placed perfectly in the album, breaking up the two heavier tracks. Petrucci's, Portnoy's, and Rudess' roles in the song are all equally balanced, which is more than could be said for some of the other songs on the album...But poor old Myung.

   Also, I just heard some strings there, wowwowwowwowwow.

39:  Repentance
   I'm going to go right out there and say it so please don't bawl all over me Portnoy as I know it's a very personal set of songs to you...But this is the only song of the 12 Step Suite that I can hand on my heart say that I enjoy. Maybe it's because I naturally like more melancholy sounding songs, maybe it's because The Shattered Fortress brought nothing new to the table in my eyes. This Dying Soul is good yes but...Meh. None of them really do it for me the way Repentance does. It's soft and breaks up the whole saga nicely, perfectly representing the steps it's portraying in a manner that I don't feel the other members of the suite quite manage to grasp. Plus, it's just a good song, with equally amazing performances from all the band members

38:  In The Presence Of Enemies, Pt. 1
   Uninteresting Fact: For a long time In The Presence of Enemies Pt. 2 was labelled as Pt. 1, so I never knew this song existed for a long time. I blame my phone. It's retarded.

   You know, I don't understand all the hate that Systematic Chaos gets as a whole. I mean sure, it suffers from Constant Motion and a lot of the time feels bogged down as if by a Dark Eternal Night, but it does have some real gems as well. In The Presence of Enemies, Pt. 1 is the perfect example of a little gem that is constantly overshadowed by the poor quality of some of the other songs on the album. Instrumentally it's sublime, the transitions between the different sections are perfect. The introduction is, personally, a little too long in proportion to the rest of the song, but I wouldn't call it instrumental wankery, and it doesn't necessarily drag on. It's just...there.

37:  Eve
   I wish more people knew of this song, I really do. Alas, being released on a fan club CD, many seem to forget about this gorgeous instrumental. If I'm honest, I'm not sure how to describe it. Soft, sweet, emotional? Definitely. But I've overused those words a lot and I'm only thirteen songs into my list. Time to crack out the Thesaurus.

   Oh god I forgot about that really quiet bit 2:30 minutes in. It just hit me! And the beautiful thing is that it isn't out of place, it fits perfectly with the rest of the song. The whole ambience (didn't use a thesaurus for that one, look mummy, aren't you proud?) of the piece is relaxing and soothing and oh Jesus I completely forgot about the electric guitar that just came in. You can see how long it's been since I listened to Eve. I've figured out how to describe it though...It's a lyric-less ballad.

36:  Through Her Eyes
   I have five different versions of Through Her Eyes on my iTunes. Bloody hell.

   Anyway, now that's out of the way, onto the actual song. If there is one thing that Scenes From a Memory does right (and lets face it, Scenes From a Memory does a lot of things right) is that the songs are arranged to match the mood and themes within each section of the story. Through Her Eyes? It's about grief, spirituality, and reflection, what better way to open, therefore, than with a chorus and a wonderful soul singer? The melody isn't overly complex, and the song lilts through a basic rhythm effortlessly. They saw no need to change time signatures a gazillion and one times, or run off into a play off between Portnoy and Petrucci. No, they played it safe with this one, and it more than paid off. They were confident enough in the song that they knew they wouldn't have to show off. Beautiful.

[BlobVanDam]

Kinda average set of songs overall for me. ITPOE pt 1 is pretty amazing, and I love Wither, but the rest are eh.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Repentance

[Elite]

ITPOE and Wither are awesome songs and the best on the respective albums imho, nice choice.

[Jaffa]

Interesting choices.  I never quite 'got' Eve.  It's a pretty song, certainly, but it doesn't hit me nearly as hard as it seems to hit some people.  Maybe I just haven't listened to it enough.  Anyway, cool batch.  Nice to see Wither get some well-deserved love.

[Tomislav95]

Eve

[Mladen]

All great songs. 

Voices is a bit lower than I'd place it, but I know that it wouldn't had even been in my top 50 about two years ago.

[hefdaddy42]

Good stuff. 

[senecadawg2]

Through Her Eyes! 

[Mind Trail]

So this means you like Repentance more than The Glass Prison? 

[Jarlaxle]

That's because the Glass Prison is just bad.

[Jaffa]

That's because the Glass Prison is just bad.

You're just bad.

[iamtheeviltwin]

So this means you like Repentance more than The Glass Prison? 

The Glass Prison is probably the third best song in the suite.

Nice choice of Repentance, and I agree with much of the sentiment you expressed about it.  I like to listen to the suite as a complete set of music and Repentance works well as a musical break between the heavier elements of the suite.

Good to see someone else giving some ballad love, DT has some great ones.

[BlobVanDam]

That's because the Glass Prison is just bad.

Your opinions are wrong.

[BlackInk]

In the Presence of Enemies is awesome and I'm glad to see some love for Repentance.

And even though I wouldn't rank Wither that high I understand, I do love me some strings.

[alirocker08]

Happy Sunday everyone, whilst you're enjoying my next set of songs I'll be off panic learning my lines for dress rehearsal, exercising, and doing History questions

35:  Trial Of Tears
   I honestly think that Falling Into Infinity is subject to the same curse as Systematic Chaos; a few bad songs ruin the album for a lot of people. It's far from being unbearable as many people seem to say, and I don't feel it's the bastion of commercialisation and selling out in their career, because overall it is still a very good album.

   So, Trial of Tears. You hear that? You hear what's been missing from a lot of Dream Theater albums in recent years bar A Dramatic Turn of Events? That's right children, that's called a bass. Considering Myung wrote the song (and he has a wonderful way with words), it's not surprising that he wanted his own instrument to be heard, bless his little cotton socks! There are some real vocal highlights in this song, starting with 'It's raining deep in heaven.', which James nails. The drums aren't mixed too loudly, which is a criticism of some later albums in their catalogue which I sometimes admit, I have to agree with. The transitions between the different sections of the song are, as ever, perfect.

   And I just heard that damn groovy bass jam. I'm a happy girl.

34:  The Answer Lies Within
   I love the opening to this song. Maybe it's because I'm a totally deep and dark teenager with meaningful life experiences, but I love Church bells. I also love classical piano sounds. Vocals? Soft where they need to be, they're not ridiculously overstated in the first section. Then the acoustic guitar comes in, fitting perfectly with the keys that essentially drive the piece. Oh, and fucking violins. I fucking love violins. I do feel that the drums are mixed a tad too loud for my liking, but other than that it's a beautiful and optimistic sounding song. The high notes that James hit have a very vulnerable quality to them, it may be because his voice wasn't still a hundred percent, but it's nice to hear him not blasting out the highs for once. It's a lovely change. As for it's placement in the album in relation to the other songs...I don't know to be honest. Maybe it would have been better between 'Never Enough' and 'Sacrificed Sons'. I mean, there is a lot of (understandable) negativity in those two songs that gets a bit heavy. But who am I to judge?

33:  Innocence Faded
   The only reason why this song doesn't place higher is because, being a hormonal teenage girl, I'm partial to changing my mind a lot. When I love it, I love it, but when I don't, I don't. I'm not sure why I go off it sometimes if I'm honest. I just do.
   Maybe it's the jarring transition between different sections at around 3:09 in. One of the things I like about Dream Theater is their knowledge of how to transition between different sections of different songs. Sometimes, the piece calls for it to be jarring...But Innocence Faded, especially the first section, doesn't seem to have the right mood to it to have a jarring transition, its first half is very gentle and sorrowful...I think that the transition needed to be smoother...And the thing is it's just that one! The rest of the song, the performance, the writing and production is simply sublime.
   
   Yep. It's definitely that transition that led to my love-hate relationship with the song.

32:  Octavarium
   I've braced myself for the hate. Go on, give it.

   I don't know how I'm supposed to defend my decision here, although it is a wonderful song, I just...prefer other songs to it. I can listen to it, sing along to it, head bang in time to it when needs be, I can even imitate the solos when I feel like it, but...I can do that with nearly all of Dream Theater's songs. But I suppose it just doesn't have what I look for in a song personally, and I'm not sure what it is that I do look for. I guess it's an emotional connection that makes or breaks a song for me...And an emotional connection is something I struggle to make with this song, even though I try and have done on occasion...Other songs just hit me deeper.

   If it was going off of the Score Version alone though, this song would definitely be higher up. I have a thing for orchestras. And beards. But that's for another topic.

31:  Lost Not Forgotten
   I like horses. I also like pianos. I also like this song, a lot. Choral effects are a plus, and on the album which we introduce Mangini to the fray, and believe me, I hate to use this term...The drumming is beast. I admit, some sections of that introductory section are good for showing off but not for the actual song (a lot of the introduction could have been cut out and the song would still be as good, the rest of the song has plenty of technical proficiency to go round. So, if we cut out some of that introduction and keep the rest of the song, then I think that this song would be much higher placed on my list.

   And here comes the hate for placing Lost Not Forgotten over Octavarium.

[Ruba]

So this means you like Repentance more than The Glass Prison? 

They're quite tied. Both are 5/5, but The Glass Prison is a little better.

Yes, Lost Not Forgotten is better than Octavarium, though it isn't anything special.

[BlobVanDam]

Octavarium and ToT are criminally low on your list. Fix it. Now. And you accidentally put TALW in there. The other two are fine as is.

[theseoafs]

Octavarium and ToT are criminally low on your list. Fix it. Now. And you accidentally put TALW in there. The other two are fine as is.

[alirocker08]

Octavarium and ToT are criminally low on your list. Fix it. Now. And you accidentally put TALW in there. The other two are fine as is.

Problem officer?

[BlobVanDam]

Octavarium and ToT are criminally low on your list. Fix it. Now. And you accidentally put TALW in there. The other two are fine as is.

Problem officer?

Don't worry, you're lucky that you'll only be tried as a minor, so you'll probably get a month at most.

[BlackInk]

Make that two months for the trial that follows shortly after lead by me.

[alirocker08]

Yeah but I'm a girl, surely that means I'll get a week at most?

[BlackInk]

Yeah but I'm a girl, surely that means I'll get a week at most?