. The triggered snare on I&W is perfectly fine and nobody worried for a loooong time.
Well, maybe. But I think that most people didn't worry because most of their built-in fanbase had spent the last decade or so listening to '80s music, which had all kinds of strange production issues and experiments. It isn't an ideal sound and never was. But, yeah, most probably didn't fixate on it too much at the time.
. Had Kevin Moore not left the band, SDV would have never made anybody's top or bottom list.
I'm not so sure about this either. Yeah, it may have polarized a lot of people after the fact, as headline events of this sort often do. But there are plenty that absolutely loved or hated it right off the bat independently of any of that. The fact that it is so "different" for DT lends itself to that. I know for me, when I picked up the album, I had no idea of any of the drama. And yet, the song instantly became bottom of the list for me. Through the years, I have seen enough similar comments from both sides that I know there plenty whose opinions weren't formed or drastically altered by the Moore departure drama.
. I am convinced there was never a food poisoning accident, or at least a vocal chords compromising one.
Not going to beat this into the ground because I think it has been addressed. Debating its impact is probably fair enough. Saying there "was never" any such incident seems a little silly.
. DT was totally behind FII's change of musical direction, new looks and all. It is retro-actively narrated and widely considered as terrible troubled times only because the attempt at commercial success failed.
That's an interesting take, but isn't really accurate. But I think there is a grain of truth that often gets overlooked. I can't speak to the "looks" aspect. But as far as the album itself, I think most band-members not named Portnoy are and always were fairly okay with the direction the songs themselves took. But with varying degrees, I don't think they were happy with the extent of the outside interference. Some, like JP, eventually embraced it and tried to work hard within the parameters given. Mike bit his lip and went along grudgingly. But I think they were ultimately relatively happy with the final product in terms of the songs, as evidenced by the fact that the album has usually been fairly well represented on tours and most of the songs are pretty well regarded by the band members.
. The Home-TDOE sequence is keeping SFAM from being their best album. Dump HOME's boring sin noises section and a couple of reduntant choruses, fill the hole with TDOE's most interesting four minutes, make a single song of it and call it Metropolis pt2.
Okay, mixed reaction to this one. As to the bolded: No. The awesomeness of Six Degrees, from start to finish, is what is keeping SFAM from being their best album. Otherwise, SFAM is glorious and is a close second for me. That isn't to say it is without flaws. It isn't. But the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts for me, so any missteps or shortcomings are easily forgivable and can be overlooked. That said, I agree with you about Home. It was a top 5 DT song for me for the longest time. And while I still love it, it has fallen because of that section. The instrumental section just overstays its welcome a bit, and the sound effects you refer to are so unnecessary as to be a distraction that takes away more than they add.
TDOE is something different altogether. After so long, I don't find it to have much relistenability. That said, it is a great musical interlude for reasons that others have said, and it not only plays a role in the album itself, but is a fun showcase of prog instrumental insanity.
. The 12 steps suite should have stayed a Glass Prison business. The following entries I could live without and I believe have compromised the following 4 albums.
I get it. And I disagree. It did become somewhat of an albatross. But it produced some really terrific music as well. And it was so much fun for a few album cycles having fans speculate about the next entry. My take on the follow-up entries:
-TDS: The instrumental insanity at the end unfortunately overstayed its welcome and took the song too far off track. If the song clocked in around 9 minutes or so, it would be one of their best. The last 2 1/2 minutes were unnecessary and, unfortunately, detracted from what could have been a top DT song.
-TROAE: Pretty much flawless. It is pretty "concise," at least for DT, and that is one of its advantages.
-Repentence: Fantastic idea for a song. Fantastic execution. But...it is not something I ever really want to listen to. From a purely artistic perspective, the second half of the song is nothing less than brilliant. But it isn't something I enjoy listening to at all after the first few times.
-TSF: Great closer. Could have been amazing, but just missed the mark. Some of the callbacks and reprises are incredibly clever and well done. Others feel VERY on the nose, like the TROAE bridge reprise. The reprises are a great idea and were totally necessary, but the sheer number of them and ratio to original content ultimately detracted from the song.
. Octavarium should have been an EP taylored on the ACOS model. One side live show with the best of the Metallica/Deep Purple/Iron Maiden/Pink Floyd homages, one side with the amazing Octavarium studio song.
Blasphemy. Despite having a couple of really weak tracks, the album as a whole is really cool and a fantastic concept. I would sorely miss at least 4 of those track if I could somehow simultaneously live in both parallel universes where the album was and was not done in its entirety.
. SC is 100% better ten years after its release.
Well, I liked it from the get-go, so... But I get the sentiment and somewhat agree with it. It is a very good album, and one that I regularly revisit to this day (albeit with some of the "chaff" removed). I have said before and will say again that I find it VERY similar to I&W in terms of being VERY inconsistent and simultaneously having some of DT's best material mixed in with some of their worst. But overall, really good album that I enjoy immensely.
. BC&SL told me DT were finished. It's not an album. it's two generic singles, a suite ending obligation, and three among their most beautiful musical ideas turned into three bloated and rushed songs. It felt they had to come out with something and they had to fill a template, no matter esthetic identity and cooking time.
I'm kind of on board with the general sentiment. But I would not state it nearly so strongly because I really like a lot of that album. It has slipped to being close to the bottom of the pile, but still: 90% or so of ANTR, TSF, and TCOT are fantastic (interesting that the three songs I love most on this album all feel like about 80-90% good material, with parts that I really wish were just not there). And AROP is a perfectly fine, although somewhat "DT-by-numbers" (I hate this phrase with a passion, but I find this to be one of the rare instances of it being perfectly fitting) single. It'll never make my tops list, but is a fine listen in the context of the album. But again, I don't disagree with the general sentiment of this post at all.
. The split saved the band.
Quite possibly. But I think you may have overstated it a tad. Had they not split, I think we would have still gotten some really great music through the years. And who knows how it ultimately would have turned out? But I don't think the general feeling most of us have that it would not have been nearly as good is wrong.
. Mike Mangini's unforgivable sin for a great chunk of DT fans is not being a "look at me" drummer and not being the loudest in the mix.
You know, I never really had much of a problem with anything he has done. Yeah, there are times when I catch myself missing Portnoy's drumming. I just do. And he had really learned how to record drums well and make sure they were VERY forward in the mix. I miss that at times too. But I have never felt like anything related to Mangini, whether it be things inside or outside his control, were in any way inferior.
. TA is the only DT album since I&W I wouldn't change a thing on.
I can't speak for you, but there are definitely things I would change. Those mainly related to Act 2 and/or the balance of the story. I think that if any album would have benefited from outside collaboration, this is it. And that simply from the standpoint of finding someone who would not have interfered with the overall creative visions, but with sufficient stage pedigree to mold it into something where Act 2 felt a bit more substantial. And someone who would have pointed out that, despite the vast majority of Act 1 being so well done and so critical to the story, the story would have benefitted from a bit more of making us feel like the war itself was much more real and the threat of the NOMACs was much more menacing. And someone who would have unabashedly told John and Jordan that that stock crying track was so laughably bad that it should be deleted and subjected to a bon fire. All that said, I love the album. I really do. Just an incredible musical and creative accomplishment.
. Next album is going to reconcile the fandom's two polarized factions.
Well...let's just say that that prediction is made almost every album release cycle.
Bad shellfish can't melt steel vocal chords
I wasn't aware that pork was a shellfish. A great number of gentiles are understandably confused.
Topic: Your Controversial Opinions on DT (Read 985980 times)
