DT in the studio again!

[Zydar]

Anna Lee is fantastic.

Yes.

[GasparXR]

Anna Lee is fantastic.

Yes.

Yes.

[zepp-head]

Anna Lee is great.  If I remember right, Portnoy said it was too tied to Derek to continue playing live, like SDV was to Kevin.  Whether the current members feel that way, who knows.

[?]

At least JP pointed out that it wasn't completely written by Derek in the 5YIALT commentary, but I don't know whether the current members care about that song nowadays, or at least enough to play it live.

[Sketchy]

Anna Lee is fantastic.

Yes.

Yes.

This. I love that song.

[Marion Crane]

If I saw DT play Anna Lee live, that would be my bathroom break song, even if I didn't have to pee

[TheGreatPretender]

I don't mind Anna Lee, but I kinda wish it had been cut from the album to make room for Speak To Me.

[JayOctavarium]

I don't mind Anna Lee, but I kinda wish it had been cut from the album to make room for Speak To Me.

You know... I'd be okay with this!

[BlobVanDam]

Anna Lee is much better than Speak To Me. I can't say I like any of the cut songs from FII all that much. The only one I'd say is ok is RTK, and even that is pretty average.

And I'd like to hear Anna Lee live.

[chknptpie]

Meh...

[Scorpion]

Anna Lee Speak to Me is great, but they should have cut New Millenium and re-arranged the track order instead of cutting Anna Lee, if they wanted to change anything at all. FII is pretty darn perfect as it is, anyway.

[ResultsMayVary]

Anna Lee is average, at best.

[wasteland]

It's an OK song, but I overlook it a lot. When I feel like listening to some DT ballads I usually put on something else...

[YouMakeMeSick]

Sorry, wrong post. Carry on.

[GasparXR]

Sorry, wrong post. Carry on.

It took me a while to realize you were talking about To Live Forever. xD

[Mladen]

It's an OK song, but I overlook it a lot. When I feel like listening to some DT ballads I usually put on something else...

Pretty much anything else. It never did anything for me. If they were to bust out one of their more obscure ballads on the next tour, and I mean obscure in terms of the number of live performances over the years, they better go with Space-dye vest.

[wasteland]

Well, that's a given for me 

[jonnybaxy]

If I saw DT play WAnna Pee live, that would be my bathroom break song, even if I didn't have to pee

Fix'd

[YouMakeMeSick]

Sorry, wrong post. Carry on.

It took me a while to realize you were talking about To Live Forever. xD

Yeah, I signed in while on the TLF thread and ended up here for some reason, haha.

[JediKnight1969]

On 2000 one of my best friends got married and used Anna Lee as the wedding song. Didn't expect that. It was a nice surprise.

[Lucien]

I already miss the Q and A's.

[dparrott]

I don't love Anna Lee, but I don't hate it.  Jordan can add some leads to it, spice it up like they did Surrounded, it would be a lot better.

DT are so unpredictable live, I would never walk away during a song for fear I would miss something unique.

[RaiseTheKnife]

Parts of Hell's Kitchen have been played, but the song itself has not been.  You Not Me, Anna Lee and Take Away My Pain have all not been played, IIRC. That is 4/11, which = nearly half of FII.

I don't consider 36% to be "nearly half".  I'd call it "more than a third", maybe.   

-You Not Me:  Let's face it, the amount of people who actually like this song, both inside and outside the band, is relatively small.  There isn't really any kind of serious demand for this song.

I'm championing a live rendition of the demo version You Or Me.  I mentioned this to Portnoy at a M&G on the Progressive Nation tour, especially since his FII Official Bootleg liner notes talk about bringing it back. So that attempt didn't work out for me.  I really am the small faction wanting to build a groundswell for this song.   

[Yazman]

I like You Not Me. I think it's a cool song. I don't get the hate, really.

Also, I can vouch for Hollow Years being played. I was at the Black Clouds & Silver Linings tour in 2009 in Brisbane, Australia and they played Hollow Years. And actually, it was the strength & beauty of that performance that got me listening to not only Hollow Years a lot, but FII as a whole.

[Zydar]

I like You Not Me. I think it's a cool song. I don't get the hate, really.

So this.

[ZirconBlue]

I'm championing a live rendition of the demo version You Or Me.  I mentioned this to Portnoy at a M&G on the Progressive Nation tour, especially since his FII Official Bootleg liner notes talk about bringing it back. So that attempt didn't work out for me.  I really am the small faction wanting to build a groundswell for this song.

I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I like You Not Me. I think it's a cool song. I don't get the hate, really.

So this.

Mike Portnoy hated it, so all the fans went like OMG SUCH A CRAPPY SAWNG! As most of FII, which we know wasn't made by Portnoy's standards.

Of course, there are people who legitimately don't like it and that' fine; but I see that song as a standard radio rock-pop tune which isn't necessarily bad.

[Scorpion]

Yeah. It's problem is that it's on a VERY strong album and therefore naturally somewhat falls to the weaker end, but it's still better than New Millennium and Just Let Me Breathe, which are the low points of FII for me, and even the latter is decent. YNM isn't really bad at all, it's just... nothing really exciting.

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

I like You Not Me. I think it's a cool song. I don't get the hate, really.

So this.

Mike Portnoy hated it, so all the fans went like OMG SUCH A CRAPPY SAWNG! As most of FII, which we know wasn't made by Portnoy's standards.

Of course, there are people who legitimately don't like it and that' fine; but I see that song as a standard radio rock-pop tune which isn't necessarily bad.

I didn't dislike You Not Me that much until I heard You Or Me. You Or Me's chorus sounds like something DT would write, and frankly I think it's a ton catchier.

[Mladen]

Mike Portnoy hated it, so all the fans went like OMG SUCH A CRAPPY SAWNG! As most of FII, which we know wasn't made by Portnoy's standards.

Portnoy also expressed his indifference (or maybe even disliking) towards Space-dye vest, yet most of the fans absolutely adore it.

It would be a shame if fans immediately decided they didn't like something if the band didn't like what they did. If that were the case, I'd hate Atom heart mother like some Pink Floyd members. Musicians can be very hard on themselves sometimes...

[DebraKadabra]

If I saw DT play Anna Lee live, that would be my bathroom break song, even if I didn't have to pee

WORD.

[Lucien]

Mike Portnoy hated it, so all the fans went like OMG SUCH A CRAPPY SAWNG! As most of FII, which we know wasn't made by Portnoy's standards.

Portnoy also expressed his indifference (or maybe even disliking) towards Space-dye vest, yet most of the fans absolutely adore it.

It would be a shame if fans immediately decided they didn't like something if the band didn't like what they did. If that were the case, I'd hate Atom heart mother like some Pink Floyd members. Musicians can be very hard on themselves sometimes...

And Rush fans would hate everything Rush did before Permanent Waves.

[KevShmev]

Eh, Neil Peart is the only of the three to not have great love for most of Rush's 1970s material.  And honestly, I think it's because he doesn't look back with fondness on the type of lyrics he wrote in their early days.

[BlobVanDam]

Mike Portnoy hated it, so all the fans went like OMG SUCH A CRAPPY SAWNG! As most of FII, which we know wasn't made by Portnoy's standards.

Portnoy also expressed his indifference (or maybe even disliking) towards Space-dye vest, yet most of the fans absolutely adore it.

It would be a shame if fans immediately decided they didn't like something if the band didn't like what they did. If that were the case, I'd hate Atom heart mother like some Pink Floyd members. Musicians can be very hard on themselves sometimes...

I don't believe anyone is actually impressionable enough to base their opinion on the band's opinion. It's just one of those empty defenses to me. I thought Space Dye Vest was a borefest long before I ever knew MP's feelings on it (I wouldn't agree that most fans adore it anyway).

And I'm pretty sure any dislike for FII (and YNM) also started well before anyone knew MP's feelings on it. To be fair, YNM is an average song at best (and I mean by general standards, not by DT standards). It's not that bad, but at best it's still a bottom DT song, even if MP had said it's the greatest song ever written. And I'm probably one of the biggest FII fans here.

[DebraKadabra]

I don't believe anyone is actually impressionable enough to base their opinion on the band's opinion. It's just one of those empty defenses to me. I thought Space Dye Vest was a borefest long before I ever knew MP's feelings on it (I wouldn't agree that most fans adore it anyway).

Well, I KNOW I've mentioned SDV and MP's dislike of it in the same breath here at DTF but honestly?  It wasn't MP's opinion about it that molded mine.  Like Blob, I formed my opinion about it well before I knew what MP's opinion was.