Sorry, I've fallen down on the job again. This last week was a little crazy. Here's four songs today, diving into the top 20. And, I decided on a momentary impulse to start an album ranking, with my least favorite DT album. I can already hear people injuring themselves trying to type their angry replies to my choice, probably in all caps.
20. Beyond This LifeAll that we learn this time
Is carried beyond this life
Images:This is one of those songs that epitomizes many of the major aspects of the Dream Theater sound, in my opinion, and it does so incredibly well. It also helps that this is probably, next to The Spirit Carries On, the song on
Scenes From a Memory that is best able to stand on its own.
The intro is killer, especially when Mike comes in with those double bass drums. The first vocal sections were a little off-putting on first listen because of the effects and keyboards stuff, but I’ve come to appreciate them with time.
The first unison (?) is a great moment and I love the way it goes into the verses that follow. James sounds great on this part trying his hand at a something a little out of his typical style in a way that I can’t really phrase too well (I’m referring to the “Oh yeah-ee yeah!”). I actually think the chorus, the first one, is the lowlight of the song, but it works well in the context of the whole thing by transitioning well into the second chorus, which is a lot better, and doesn’t drag the song down significantly anyway.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I listen to Beyond This Life for the instrumental section. This is just a perfect instance of Dream Theater doing a fun and slightly chaotic instrumental section that a) doesn’t stray too far from the mood of the rest of the song and b) isn’t just solo solo unison solo. To expand on the first, I feel like this is one of the parts of this album, along with parts of The Dance of Eternity (ragtime) that really make an effort to remind the listener of the 1920s. As for the Budokan extended version: It is a lot of fun to listen to in the context of Budokan, and it makes the entrance of the keyboard solo that much more exciting because of the anticipation, but I tend to go for the studio version most of the time because when I go to this, I’m looking for a stellar 12-13 minute track and if I’m looking for a track of the length of the Budokan one, I’ll reach for [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS].
And as for the other controversy of the instrumental section: Lay off the horn section. No, it doesn’t really sound like actual horns (I didn’t even realize that it was supposed to be those until I saw people mention it). But it’s an awesome section by Jordan, so who cares if the patch sounds like what it’s “supposed to” sound like.
Words:The lyrics on this song are, I think, among the weaker ones on the album. But, they are not ever embarrassingly or noticeably weak and they do communicate the song’s message. Plus there are those iconic opening lines. Still, there’s nothing that stands out here as being stellar.
19. The Glass PrisonThe glass prison which once held me is gone
A long-lost fortress
Images:This song is one that always disappoints me a little. When I think about the song without listening to it, I always feel like it should be top ten material, but every time I actually listen, one part or another disappoints me a little. Still, 19 is a good place for it.
This is the best intro ever made involving static.
Okay, this is the only intro I know of involving static. But it’s still a beast of an intro. It starts with the bells and then that slow guitar playing that riff. The full band entrance rocks hard and lets you know that this is no
Images and Words and that this is not even an
Awake—this is an entirely different monster. This is the beginning of the Twelve Step Suite. This is The Glass Prison.
This song is just chalk full of delicious heavy metal riffs from John and great drumming from Mike the whole way. Before this song, I thought that wah was what Kirk Hammett did to replace technicality (kidding I like Metallica). The arpeggio (? I’m referring to 2:30) part is killer as well.
It’s superbly interesting that Mike Portnoy sings the first line. It’s like they were not at all afraid to usher in the new era of co-lead vocals on some songs. I fully support the gesture, and Mike performs quite well on this song. This of course is not to take anything away from James, who just sings his heart out. There are a lot more effects on James than we’re used to, but they’re all tastefully used to make his voice blend well with what the instruments are playing.
The best part in this song is 5:53 and you can’t argue with me on this. That. Goddamn. Riff. And it leads us so well into that tradeoff section, one that I dearly love. Mike and James play off each other so well to deliver the emotion of this part. And it’s just a catchy section, particularly the chorus that James sings.
The solo section is good but not spectacular. It does serve as a good buildup for what I’m really waiting for, James’s last section, where he gets a chance to shine without effects and for what I think is the only time in Dream Theater’s career, to sing on the outro of a song. This is simply iconic, one of the great James LaBrie vocal sections.
The one complaint I do have is that I’m not in love with John’s guitar tone on this song. It sometimes feels like it’s not heavy enough for the music. If his guitar sounded more like it does on
Train of Thought, it might put this song over the edge.
Words:The lyrics to this song are some of Mike Portnoy’s very best. I love the way he describes the first three of the Twelve Steps and the imagery he employs to get there. Particularly the “glass prison” image with the double meaning of the word “glass."
18. Under a Glass MoonLiquid shadows crawl, silver teardrops fall
The bride subsides to her survival
Images:The intro and opening instrumental section, leading up to the vocal part, are truly brilliant and among the most beautiful sections of DT music. In fact, this whole song is among their most beautiful. James simply impresses throughout the whole thing, on all verses and especially the chorus (you know the part). The part where he says sturvival is a highlight. It actually is, and the following section too, though not because of the sturvival thing. Portnoy also stands out with an excellent performance on this track. And of course, I can’t say enough about the solo section done by Kevin and especially John. That solo is iconic and lives up to the hype. When Myung does that bass riff right before the solo, it’s just time for one of the top ten guitar solos that Petrucci has ever played.
I love that this song is so beautiful and optimistic and self-indulgent. It’s part of that 1991
Images and Words sound that I love more than any other music (so, yeah, expect to see more of it).
Words:There’s something I love about the style of early John Petrucci. This was a time when he could just grab one or two great images and expand them into other images and create a beautiful set of lyrics. These either exceed Metropolis or get damn close to be my favorites of his early style. So many great images.
17. Take the TimeLife is no more assuring than love
It’s time to take the timeImages:This song is more eccentric and fun than anything else on this album, but it is still in keeping with the tone of it. The intro is very lovely and quickly gets energetic and excellent with the keyboard solo. When I first heard the bass riff that follows, I almost took of my headphones, because seriously, what the hell? But it’s all part of the perfection that is Take the Time. James’s aggressive delivery is great on the first verse, the highlight of which is, of course, “I think it’s time for a chaaaaayyyyaaaaaaaange.” The next verse is just as excellent, particularly John Myung’s playing and James’s “Freely wandering promises.” The chorus might be the weakest part of the song, but it’s this song, so it isn’t at all weak. The John Petrucci verse is just as great as the preceding (Portnoy and Myung) verses, with James continuing to deliver the lyrics brilliantly. Spoiler alert: This trend does not end with the piano part and Kevin Moore verse.
Then there’s the solo section, which is one of the very best (I know I say that a lot, but all of these really are!). The unison is brilliant, and then the riff that follows is one of those “this is so crazy but at the same time brilliant” parts that DT brings just throughout this song. Of course the keyboard solo is stellar as well, one of Kev’s best. And I love the way they race ahead from there to the chorus.
And, again, I just love this song because then it’s not over when you think it’s over. One of the best parts is still yet to come. I love the buildup to James’s last section, and then John’s guitar solo is brilliant.
In general, I just love the optimism of this song, like what I said above about Under a Glass Moon. Yes, expect more
Images to come, and also some additional
Words.
Words:The lyrics don’t really suffer for being penned by four different writers. Sure, the style of them is different, but they really work together as whole in communicating “this is how we got here, and this is what we learned.” I also enjoyed trying to figure out who wrote what and seeing the slightly different take of each band member on life. Yes, it may be true that these are the weakest lyrics on
Images and Words, but come on. It’s freaking
Images and Words.
Album 12. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
I actually decided just right now to do an album ranking when I realized upon listening to The Glass Prison for my writeup that this is my least favorite DT album. It’s also one of just two that I really just don’t listen to all the way through ever, because I don’t enjoy it when I do.
The Glass Prison is great, don’t get me wrong. Blind Faith is a good follow up. Misunderstood… it’s good until the guitar noise and tinkly dissonant keys come in and then things go wrong. Then there’s The Great Debate, which doesn’t really do much for me though I won’t call it bad. Disappear is good, but, like much of the album, come to think of it, sounds weird in terms of production in a way that I don’t really like. The title track is a stellar composition, but is unwieldy to listen to in one setting, particularly after the whole first disc as well.
What is it that puts me off sometimes about
Six Degrees? To my ear, the album tries too hard to be experimental, and too many of the experiments fail. The aforementioned abrasive tinkly keys and guitar noise. The whatever that keyboard sound is in Disappear. The structure of The Great Debate which seems to involve the idea of making a 14-minute song without any sort of a climax. The production is also among my least favorites, with John’s guitar sound being too weak for The Glass Prison, Jordan’s keys often being too tinkly, and just overall weirdness to the sound that I can’t quantify.
Additionally, this is the only Dream Theater album that seems to lack their often unmentioned third dimension. Here’s what I mean by that. When people talk about Dream Theater, they talk about the prog dimension and the metal dimension. Different albums have these dimensions in different degrees. This album is all prog.
Awake places a great emphasis on the metal dimension.
Train of Thought is both of them taken near to the max.
The third dimension of Dream Theater’s music is the pop dimension. Whether or not you’re one of those prog snobs who is repulsed by the application of that word to Dream Theater, the fact remains that they have a pop sensibility. They have catchy choruses, and they often make songs that would be pop songs in another time and should be pop songs in any time (To Live Forever, I Walk Beside You, Beneath the Surface). Even a lot of their longer songs have the pop sensibility in varying degrees. Take the Time is very poppy despite being 8 minutes long, and something like Endless Sacrifice also involves a great deal of that dimension.
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence all but abandons the pop dimension. It has metal and especially prog in spades, but very little pop. About to Crash and Solitary Shell are as close as we get, but it doesn’t make up for 81 more minutes without many pop hooks at all. TGP, BF, Misunderstood and TGD are just slabs of prog and metal and, while great in their own right, do not have any of the pop sensibility that I look for in a DT song. Disappear is short and ballady, but not poppy. Again, this doesn’t take anything away from these as songs, but it explains why I do not love this album as much as I do the other DT albums.
This album is not bad. No album with The Glass Prison, Blind Faith, and the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence suite on it can be considered bad. But it’s my least favorite Dream Theater album because it has abrasive sections, sounds somewhat weird, and lacks any sort of a pop sensibility.
Topic: 425's Top 50 Dream Theater Songs v. Singularities (Read 30201 times)
