What is your favorite bass playing performance for an album (not an individual song) in the DT catalogue? With John Myung's outstanding work, I imagine it would be really hard to select just one, so I am allowing up to three options to be selected.
Here are my top three:
1. Scenes from a Memory - this is John Myung at his best. I listened to the full album this morning and I love how he made his presence felt in all the songs. Rhythmic and playful at the same time, it has a lot of signature moments. He had tasty licks in Overture 1928 and Strange Deja Vu. He carried the band in Fatal Tragedy, Beyond This Life, and Home with outstanding rhythmic playing that's full of character, not merely duplicating Petrucci's rhythm guitars. Even the slow songs like The Spirit Carries On, One Last Time and Through Her Eyes are played beautifully with a distinctive voice. I would even go out on a limb that the technically difficult The Dance of Eternity is the second least impressive bass playing in the album (he basically did a lot of duplication of what the other instruments are doing outside his solo), and for me that's just how good the bass playing in SFAM is.
2. Falling into Infinity - this is quite close to what Myung did in Scenes from a Memory. I think Falling into Infinity is a breakthrough for Myung as this, for me, is where he found the balance between being rhythmic and playful. Highlights for me are Trial of Tears (possibly the best bass playing in an individual DT song, with only Octavarium as a close contender), Peruvian Skies (love love love how he played the bass in the stanzas, so full of character), the aggressive rhythm in Burning My Soul , and the use of the chapman stick in New Millennium. Heck, he played amazing bass even in DTF-hated songs You Not Me and Just Let Me Breathe.
3. Dream Theater - this is a different animal for Myung. While my first two choices are examples of the balance between rhythm and playfulness, Myung's bass playing in Dream Theater is a mix of rhythm and aggression. Not playfulness, but in-your-face aggression. The booming Taurus-pedals in TLG, the "duets" with JR (Along for the Ride) and JP (Illumination Theory and TLG), the way he carried the rhythm along with MM in Enigma Machine and Behind the Veil are amazing. And, of course, Surrender to Reason, which is the best bass playing in a DT song in a long while. The aggression in the instrumental section was
.