Yeah, I agree that it isn't really "controversial." As you say, a lot of folks here like those songs, myself included. But putting it in a "top 5" ranked against DT's studio albums is definitely a minority opinion. That's a pretty strong take.
But I also think the opinion that they were left off the album "for a reason," and the obvious implication that they are "inferior" to all songs that made the cut is a bit too strong and assumes some things that may or may not actually be true. Getting into obviously subjective territory here, but I think this would probably be close to the consensus if you could ask a lot of people: while perhaps none of those songs feel quite as strong as the ones that have come to be "classics," a good many of them are at least as strong as the less-liked songs from the album, and a lot of people would probably feel that a number of them are right up there with the "middle-of-the-road" FII album tracks as well. I know that would hold true for me. I don't reach for those songs often. But when I do, I enjoy them. And I have to say, I enjoy most of them more than I enjoy some of the songs that made the album. The thing is, if you could throw all the songs from that era into a pot and ask 100 fans to pick whichever ones they liked best to come up with a single album, you would probably get a ton of variation. And if I had to guess, I would think that most versions would be liked about as much as the album we got, give or take a small margin. I know that for me, if I could sub out a few of the album tracks for a few of the extras that didn't make it, FII would be a "better" album, as far as I'm concerned.
At the end of the day, I think it's cool that the fans even got access to these songs. DT doesn't really have a long list of singles with b-sides. But these songs are kind of the equivalent. And seen as such, I think they easily stand up as well as any band's non-album rarities, which is to say that there are some that don't feel album quality, some that feel like they could easily have made the cut if the decision was made on a different day, and the rare gem or two that have become somewhat cult-favorites. And, again, it's pretty cool that we even have these.
At the end of the day, I'm definitely in the minority among DTF dwellers when it comes to the FII rejects. I also think FII is a bottom-four DT album. For my money, as bland as I think it is, I think RTK is the best of the batch, but even at that, I think it's better than only New Millennium (a bottom 5 DT song for me -- and when I say that, I'm only considering actual album tracks) and maybe Peruvian Skies and Just Let Me Breathe. Comparing the rest of the rejects to New Millennium isn't something I really care to do, but that's the level they're on.
As far as why those songs got left off, this is the best, reliable information I know of on the subject: "Rather than looking at which we thought were the weakest, we went for what we knew were the strongest. We knew Lines in the Sand, Trial of Tears, New Millennium, Peruvian Skies and Just Let Me Breathe were the strongest pieces that had to make the record. Initially, the record was only going to have 9 tracks - originally Anna Lee and You Not Me weren't going to be on the record. So those two tracks were going to be leftovers, and then it turned out with all the chopping that Kevin Shirley was doing to the songs, we had a little more room to fit them. So we ended up squeezing those in - those were the two that were backup choices. It was hard - I think Speak to Me is a strong song, and The Way It Used to Be has some really cool parts. And obviously it killed us not to include Metropolis pt.2, but it worked out since we expanded it into what became Scenes From a Memory."
https://mikeportnoy.com/aboutmike/faq/answers/31.aspxIf, in fact, the consensus among the band was that NM, PS and JLMB "were the strongest pieces," then I can only disagree, but I find it interesting all of MP's lyrics are on this list, so I have some doubt that this was a full band consensus. Now...this doesn't tell us why they went with, e.g., Take Away My Pain or Hollow Years instead of, e.g., Speak to Me. However, the comment about AL and YNM being the "backup choices" implies that they thought those songs (along with the other nine songs that make the album) were stronger/better (or whatever word you like) than RTK, WAYN, TWIUTB, CME and STM (I don't know if they gave any real consideration to including DLPM and TLF on FII -- I'm guessing they didn't). For example, the could have left off AL and YNM (combined length of 10:49) in favor of the 11:35 RTK. Did they do that because they viewed AL and YNM better/stronger than RTK (and note that they could be "better" because they were more commercial and wanted that element). Bottom line, whatever the reasons are, there were reasons why the band members thought the songs that made the album should make it over the songs that didn't.
Topic: Your Controversial Opinions on DT (Read 986000 times)
