Your Controversial Opinions on DT

[pg1067]

Pull Me Under is one of my favorite DT songs. There...I said it!

Haha only on this forum is that controversial.

There's a reason Pull Me Under put them on the map; it's just a damn good song. Even my friends who either hate or, at best, are indifferent towards DT like "Pull Me Under".

I'll admit but I'm over the song, but it got my attention and made me a fan.

This, for sure.

Hearing PMU on the radio in 1992 was sort of a holy grail moment.  Queensryche got close but then backed away pretty significantly with Empire (which, for me, was a disappointment after O:M).

Fates Warning came the closest to a perfect blend of prog and metal, but they also backed away a bit with Parallels (even though I always have loved that album).

But PMU made me think, "wait.  Good metal isn't dead, and there's someone brand new doing it!"  And then I got the album and heard that there were other songs that took things to another level.  It was incredible.

PMU is still a great song.  It only gets looked down on a bit because they've done stuff that's even better.

[LCArenas]

At Wit's End is a top 15 DT song for me (Probably 15th, but still). This may be because the album is really new an-oh wait it's over one year old and I still love it. I like it even more than when I heard it for the first time. What a tune.

[geeeemo]

Not controversial to me! I love it as well!

[DTA]

I'm just not hearing what everyone else is hearing with At Wit's End. It's a good song, but I'm seeing it make top 10/20 lists and wondering what I'm missing. It'd probably rank around the middle of DOT for me.

[pg1067]

At Wit's End is a top 15 DT song for me (Probably 15th, but still). This may be because the album is really new an-oh wait it's over one year old and I still love it. I like it even more than when I heard it for the first time. What a tune.

Given what I've read here in the year-plus since the album was released, I don't think this is a particularly controversial opinion.

I'm just not hearing what everyone else is hearing with At Wit's End. It's a good song, but I'm seeing it make top 10/20 lists and wondering what I'm missing. It'd probably rank around the middle of DOT for me.

Same with me.  So many folks seem to make a big deal about it.  I think it's fine, but there's nothing that really elevates it into a top-anything for me.

[Northern Lion]

For me At Wits End has a few things going for it.  1.  I think it's very interesting musically and vocally.  There's a lot to it, which I like.  2.  The lyrics are some of Labrie's best in my view.  3. Labrie's vocals combined with JP's solo, is emotionally powerful.  All that comes together to make a really awesome song.  At least for me it does.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Agree on all the above points. Plus, I think it has a pretty unique song structure for DT, in that they don't come back to rehash an earlier section of the song at any point. It's multi-phased and no phase overstays its welcome IMO. Also, that "coda" is rather lovely, I just wish maybe other parts of the song were more fleshed out to make it more impactful.

That being said, I don't know if I'd put it in my top 20 of DT songs. It is certainly very solid throughout, but to me it is missing just a little something to really propel to greatness.

[Northern Lion]

Agree on all the above points. Plus, I think it has a pretty unique song structure for DT, in that they don't come back to rehash an earlier section of the song at any point. It's multi-phased and no phase overstays its welcome IMO. Also, that "coda" is rather lovely, I just wish maybe other parts of the song were more fleshed out to make it more impactful.

That being said, I don't know if I'd put it in my top 20 of DT songs. It is certainly very solid throughout, but to me it is missing just a little something to really propel to greatness.

Yeah, I see that.  It's not in my top 10 either and maybe not even in my top 15 or 20, but since DT has so many songs and so many albums, that is still a high ranking.

[Volante99]

At Wits End (and Barstool Warrior) are the two best songs DT have written since ADTOE, and subsequently, the only two songs I really revisit from D/T.

AWE's only flaws are some awkward drumming from Mangini, especially during the "Maculate..." section and the fade out/fade in. If I put my "producer hat" on I would have just let Petrucci go wild for the final two minutes of the song, or put the song at the end of the album with the fade.

[Trav86]

At this point I would really like to see them do an acoustic/chilled out album. The way they did the intimate shows in '98. But with older songs, newer songs, and maybe mix in b-side tracks like Speak To Me. Studio or live.

[MirrorMask]

At this point I would really like to see them do an acoustic/chilled out album. The way they did the intimate shows in '98. But with older songs, newer songs, and maybe mix in b-side tracks like Speak To Me. Studio or live.

That would be a nice idea for a bonus disc for the next regular album. A companion CD with, say, 2-3 new acoustic tracks, a couple of covers and another couple of acoustic versions of songs from the new album.

[Cool Chris]

I am cool with the idea of the acoustic set/alternate versions.

But no more cover songs. Ever.

[gzarruk]

But no more cover songs. Ever.

This X100000.

[Trav86]

Yeah, no covers. Please.

[Setlist Scotty]

I'm totally game for covers, as long as they aren't carbon copies of the originals (which, unfortunately, most DT covers are), and that they would be bonus material, like what they did for BCaSL.

[TAC]

I'm totally game for covers, as long as they aren't carbon copies of the originals (which, unfortunately, most DT covers are), and that they would be bonus material, like what they did for BCaSL.

Right. Those covers were amazing.
Except for the pointless Lark Aspics (whaterever) and I wish To Tame A Land was actually recorded in the BC&SL sessions. At least I wished they'd have redone the vocals.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I'm totally game for covers, as long as they aren't carbon copies of the originals (which, unfortunately, most DT covers are), and that they would be bonus material, like what they did for BCaSL.

Right. Those covers were amazing.
Except for the pointless Lark Aspics (whaterever) and I wish To Tame A Land was actually recorded in the BC&SL sessions. At least I wished they'd have redone the vocals.

Why? The vocals are as good as JLB could've possibly done them back then.

[TAC]

To Tame A Land was recorded previously and not part of the BC&SL sessions. The vocals on the Zebra, Queen, and Rainbow covers are amazing. I wished they would have recorded the To Tame A Land vocals again as those (BC&SL) vocal recordings were 10 times stronger than what DT did on the Maiden tribute.

[hefdaddy42]

The covers disc of BC&SL is better than the actual album itself.

[Northern Lion]

The covers disc of BC&SL is better than the actual album itself.

The covers are good, but I respectfully disagree.  There are some stinkers on BC&SL for sure, but I think the remainder of the songs are still better than the covers.

[hefdaddy42]

The covers disc of BC&SL is better than the actual album itself.

The covers are good, but I respectfully disagree.  There are some stinkers on BC&SL for sure, but I think the remainder of the songs are still better than the covers.

That's why it's controversial 

But seriously, there are only 6 songs on BC$SL, and I only like 2 of them.

[pg1067]

The covers disc of BC&SL is better than the actual album itself.

The covers are good, but I respectfully disagree.  There are some stinkers on BC&SL for sure, but I think the remainder of the songs are still better than the covers.

That's why it's controversial 

But seriously, there are only 6 songs on BC$SL, and I only like 2 of them.

I'm on the fence here.

I like 2 1/2 of the songs on BC&SL:  Wither and TCOT are great, and TSF is ok.  TBOT is a bottom 5 or 10 DT song, and ANTR and AROP are just meh.

On the other hand, the covers CD gives us really good covers of the absolute best Rainbow and Maiden songs ever and a really cool Dixie Dregs instrumental.  The other three songs do little or nothing for me.  Queen is a hits band for me, I'm not a Crimson fan, and I've never heard the Zebra song.

[Northern Lion]

The covers disc of BC&SL is better than the actual album itself.

The covers are good, but I respectfully disagree.  There are some stinkers on BC&SL for sure, but I think the remainder of the songs are still better than the covers.

That's why it's controversial 

But seriously, there are only 6 songs on BC$SL, and I only like 2 of them.

lol!  Well then in your case the covers would be better.  What two songs do you like?  For me, there's only two songs that I don't.  And that's TSF and TBoT.

[gzarruk]

No matter how good or bad the songs are, they're still better than covers. That's why the FII era is one of my least favorites from the band, they played A LOT of pointless covers for no reason, as they already had quite a big catalog.

[KevShmev]

When it comes to live stuff, I thought it was cool when the bands would throw snippets of covers into their own songs, but I generally was not a fan of them playing entire covers (with a few exceptions). DT has more than enough good songs of their own.

[Setlist Scotty]

No matter how good or bad the songs are, they're still better than covers. That's why the FII era is one of my least favorites from the band, they played A LOT of pointless covers for no reason, as they already had quite a big catalog.

You *do* realize that the vast majority of the covers you see listed in the tourography that were performed during Touring Into Infinity were merely spontaneous  teasers lasting less than 30 seconds, right? There were only 8 shows that really had any significant covers performed of note: the Lubbock, TX show, the fan club show in the Netherlands, the OiaL show in Paris and the 5 shows at the end of the year. Otherwise, the worst they would do during a single show is tack on less than 3 minutes of Freebird to the end of TtT along with a few other teasers, PSkies would have the Have a Cigar and Enter Sandman bits, DS would include a part of Platt Opus during his keyboard spot, JP would include less than 2 minutes of Paradigm Shift during his guitar solo, and JP would play the melody from The Force Theme (of Star Wars) briefly before Voices. I'd say that's hardly playing "A LOT of pointless covers".

[Cool Chris]

Once a band releases an album of cover songs that could be considered better than a contemporary album of original songs, it's time for that band to hang it up and call it a career.

[pg1067]

Once a band releases an album of cover songs that could be considered better than a contemporary album of original songs, it's time for that band to hang it up and call it a career.

Or for the drummer to leave the band...   

[Volante99]

Ya'll crazy. I've said it before and I'll say it again- BC&SL is a good album. Huge improvement over SC.

The only "dud" is a Rite of Passage, and even that song is fairly...inoffensive.

I put only ADToE ahead of it in the Mangini era - and (this is probably controversial) on par w/ DoT. Not a great album, fairly pedestrian in places, but also some 1st tier DT moments.

[Indiscipline]

BC&SL is my least favourite DT album, but it features 3 of my favourite DT musical moments: ANTR's beautiful agony, TBOT's solo, TCOT's intro & outro.

[TAC]

TBOT is a Top 12-15 DT track. Easy.

[pg1067]

TBOT is a Top 12-15 Bottom 10 DT track. Easy.

ftfy

Ya'll crazy. I've said it before and I'll say it again- BC&SL is a good album. Huge improvement over SC.

I'll give you improvement, but "huge" is an overstatement.  BC&SL beats out FII, SC and TA for sure.  It might beat out WDADU, but that's highly questionable.

[Revenge319]

TBOT is a Top 12-15 Bottom 10 Top 5 DT track. Easy.

ftfy

ftfy

[Volante99]

Lol people seem split down the middle on TBoT...


I kind of view it as middle of the road. I think its a cool song; it's proggy, the JP solo is worth the price of admission alone, and the subject matter makes it special. Musically, nothing spectacular but I can surely find 10 songs that are worse on the Astonishing alone.

[cramx3]

Ya'll crazy. I've said it before and I'll say it again- BC&SL is a good album. Huge improvement over SC.

I agree with both counts, being a good album and a huge improvement over SC.