Your Controversial Opinions on DT

[DebraKadabra]

I'm down with:

The Greatest Hits cover art is crap, in my opinion.  Yes, I know it was meant to be a joke.  But DT is a classy band and deserved to put out a classy greatest hits album.  Not an album with a sarcastic title and an illustration of a bird shitting.

Repentance is actually too short.

The Test That Stumped Them All is one of the best parts from SDOIT.

And add War Inside My Head to that - those two live were just amazingly killer.

Sometimes songs seem to be drug out just to fill an album up --alot of BC&SL
I am glad Mangini is in DT instead of MP.

As I Am is an awesome song.

I don't see what's so great about A Change of Seasons and I would listen to Octavarium the song over it any day.

Here's another one of my own:
The only DT song I literally cannot listen to is Sacrificed Sons.  That's not because I hate it - it's a good enough song.  It's the subject matter that makes it so difficult to listen to.

[Dacling]

- I enjoy Charlie Dominici's vocals and prefer the original album to WDADRU, although that DVD is still pretty cool.

The problem with WDADRU is that Labrie wasn't at the top of his game. Some songs are better with Labrie in my opinion and some songs are better with Dominici. The Killing Hand, A Fortune in Lies, Only A Matter of Time are superior with Labrie while Status Seeker is better with Dominici and Afterlife is a Tie. Both are great and I wouldn't be able to say for Light Fuse and Get Away and The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun because I hardly ever listen to them.

[IdoSC]

I can easily side with the OP on many of the statements there. I have a whole bunch of "controversial" DT opinions, but I think the one that sticks out the most, and the one that made my Top 50 list seem like a troll, is the fact that I actually like Your Majesty. Mostly the instrumental, mind you, because the live version with James LaBrie is right up there with LaBrie's worst performances ever, and...y'know...Chris Collins is Chris Collins. But I love the instrumental ver. to death, and I think that it could be a fantastic song if recorded in studio with JLB/done live on a good day with JLB.

[Trial of Thought]

- ADTOE is DT's worst album except for BAI and BTS
- Kevin > Derek > Jordan
- ITPOE Pt.1 is too short
- You Not Me is better than You Or Me
- SDOIT is not a good song except for Solitary Shell and Losing Time/Grand Finale
- LSFNY's version of The Mirror is better than the Album version
- CD is better than CC

[IdoSC]

- CD is better than CC

I don't think that one's so controversial...

Also, I kind of agree about YNM. While I don't care for either of them and both are extremely cheesy, something about the vocal dynamics in the chorus of YNM appeals to me more than YOM. And honestly, between those two versions of such a redundant song, that's a perfectly legit excuse for me to prefer one over the other in my opinion.

[iamtheeviltwin]

Metropolis is one of the weaker tracks on I&W.

Haven't wandered through the whole thread, but I agree wholeheartedly with this(and have taken some heat for expressing it before).

[Ryzee]

Here's a few off the top of my head:


Derek was their best keyboard player

Falling Into Infinity is one of their best albums

Train of Thought is their lamest album

Panic Attack is a good song

The Count of Tuscany is one of their best songs

The instrumental/jam section in Beyond This Life is the best part of Scenes From a Memory, and one of the best DT moments period

ADTOE is cool and all, but there's just something missing without MP that I can't quite put my finger on

[mike099]

I agree that the drum parts are not as forcefull with MM or ADTOE.

Just listened to SFAM all of the way thru and I cannot figure out how this record did not get nominated  for a grammy when it came out.  Fantastic recording. 

[wasteland]

- The Way It Used To Be is a great song!

[PROGdrummer]

The instrumental/jam section in Beyond This Life is the best part of Scenes From a Memory, and one of the best DT moments period

I can agree with this statement

[jonnybaxy]

The instrumental/jam section in Beyond This Life is the best part of Scenes From a Memory, and one of the best DT moments period

I can agree with this statement

Except the stupid horn keyboard sound right? If so then I'll agree

[wasteland]

- The Extended Zappa Jam (2004) is better than the rest of Beyond This Life. Way better.

- Score would have benefitted by the absence of SDOIT in the setlist.

- Once In A Lifetime is a treasure of a Live Album!

[Ryzee]

The instrumental/jam section in Beyond This Life is the best part of Scenes From a Memory, and one of the best DT moments period

I can agree with this statement

Except the stupid horn keyboard sound right? If so then I'll agree

No, that's awesome.  Although admittedly I pay more attention to the groove underneath at that part.  Love that riff that JP & JM play under that solo.

[jonnybaxy]

The instrumental/jam section in Beyond This Life is the best part of Scenes From a Memory, and one of the best DT moments period

I can agree with this statement

Except the stupid horn keyboard sound right? If so then I'll agree

No, that's awesome.  Although admittedly I pay more attention to the groove underneath at that part.  Love that riff that JP & JM play under that solo.

Good rhythm, awful sound

[Dublagent66]

The Ministry of lost souls is my 2nd favorite Dream Theater song.

That might be it. 

It's not my 2nd favorite, but still a damn a good song that most people just don't seem to get.  The instrumental section doesn't fit or something like that.

[Sycsa]

The instrumental/jam section in Beyond This Life is the best part of Scenes From a Memory, and one of the best DT moments period

I can agree with this statement

Except the stupid horn keyboard sound right? If so then I'll agree

No, that's awesome.  Although admittedly I pay more attention to the groove underneath at that part.  Love that riff that JP & JM play under that solo.

Good rhythm, awful sound

Beyond this Life actually features some of my favorite Rudess sounds, including the horns. It's his guitar like distorted lead sound that I find awful(e.g. This Dying Soul, not even the wah-wah can help it, if anything, it makes it even worse and the first part of his Budokan solo is also laughable), because what's the point of having keyboards if you make it sound like a guitar? You can have a heavy lead which sounds like keyboards and Jordan got that right on SFAM.

Oh, and yeah, BTL is top 5 material.

[jonnybaxy]

*insert any SFAM song* is top 5 material.

[MoraWintersoul]

*insert any SFAM song* is top 5 material.

But there's more than 5 of them?

[Onno]

*insert any SFAM song* is top 5 material.

Hmm, that's a bit strange, I thought a top 5 had only 5 songs in it; and SFAM has more than 5 

[Rattlehead]

Only one song is top 5 material on SFAM for me, and that is BTL.

[Zook]

Besides the intro, the keyboard solo is the best part of The Shattered Fortress.

[jonnybaxy]

Just saying that any SFAM song is top 5 worthy bit if you are gunna get all pedantic about it...

*insert any SFAM song* is top 12 material

[Ryzee]

the keyboard solo is the best part of The Shattered Fortress.

I'm Ryzee and I approve this message.

[Lucidity]

the keyboard solo is the best part of The Shattered Fortress.

I'm Ryzee and I approve this message.

Thirded. I love The Shattered Fortress.

[?]

Inspired by the recent posts:
-The horns in BTL sound goddamn awful
-While Scenes is a great album overall, none of the songs from that record would make my top 20

[Fisi]

-A Dramatic Turn of Events is the best album Dream Theater has made so far
-JLB's aggressive vocal style on Awake is a bit annoying
-The Bebot solo in A Rite of Passage is amazing

[lithium112]

-The Bebot solo in A Rite of Passage is amazing

You know, I didn't like it  much on the record but for some reason live it was really awesome!

[Pols Voice]

So it's controversial to like the instrumental section of BTL? It's definitely one of their coolest moments.

[PROGdrummer]

the horn patch Jordan uses in BTL sounds awesome.

[Glass Moonlight]

Mike Portnoy is a bitch

[Zook]

So much for this thread.

[PROGdrummer]

Mike Portnoy is a bitch

[Polis]

train of thought is underrated, SFAM is overrated.

[ThatcrazyKISSfan]

SFAM is good, but overrated.  (concept albums in general seem to be overrated, notable exception The Elder by KISS, vastly underrated)

Awake kind of sucks, and I have a feeling I wouldn’t put “kind of” had they left off SDV.

Falling into Infinity is a great album…so is BC&SL(minus AROP and Wither), those 2 down-grade it to a good album.

Jordan Rudess is too technically proficient for his own good.  Take Beneath the Surface…why does he have to use all those effects?  Just play something simple on the piano….I’ve learned to live with what he does in that song, but uggh. 


Also what was said about KM in the book?  I'd find out for myself, but it costs what 300 bucks or something last I checked....since it's out of print...

[Polis]

things about this thread:
1. so many people say that train of thought sucks that it is no longer a controversial opinion
2. same goes for FII being good
3. why do people hate metropolis, scarred and ADTOE so much?
4. people who don't "get" awake have not listened to it enough or make preconceptions on the outdated sound (stupid snare, stringy keyboards, and terrible mixing overall)
5. Why do people compare octavarium to ACOS? It seems weird that they are different moods, time periods, and ideas yet every single person who has mentioned either of those songs compared it to each other. (PS: they are both amazing songs)