Author Topic: Scar's Top 50 Favorite Albums v.No variety, mostly prog  (Read 9242 times)

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Offline TAC

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of the 140 times a Dream Theater album has been mentioned in a top 50, this is the FIRST for FII

aside from The Astonishing which was just released this year, FII was the only DT album to not appear in a top 50 before this

Wow.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline pain of occupation

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I had way over 1000 to choose from for my v3, so I even imposed the rule of a maximum of one album per artist. Even if I hadn't, I guess there would only have been 2 or 3 artists on the list with 2 albums instead of 1.

But it's a nice start I guess, and a good thing to evaluate the music you like, however little or much there is in your collection.

I'd definitely do mine with a one album per artist limit and prefer seeing others do it that way as well...
I think the biggest thing is its just too hard to compare one's third, fourth, fifth, favorite album by one's favorite band to one's favorite albums by other artists that one isn't quite fanboy'ing over.
If that makes sense.
I could maybe try to clarify what i mean by going the subjective/objective route, but I don't think it would help. In fact, it would just draw more ire than my usual posts.

Offline pain of occupation

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holy eff! didn't think I could even kill a Top 50 albums thread; more powerful than I ever realized.

Offline Crow

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Offline Train of Naught

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This has caught my attention since the very beginning but for some reason I never came forward with it: Your thread title suggests that you're still in the process of picking your top 50, is this an improve version of the original top 50 album lists?
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

Offline Scar

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Well, it's going to be pretty hard trying to pick my favorite albums so I'm going to have to put some time into it. All Dream Theater albums are super hard to rank.
"Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live."
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Offline Scar

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Sorry for the major delay folks. I had something to take care of. Let's start.

Number 45: "Selling England By The Pound" by Genesis

Ah, here is Genesis. A really impressive band.

"Selling England by the Pound" is to Genesis as Hamlet is to Shakespeare. It is a timeless masterpiece of musical ability and performance combined with themes of classical literature and poetry. After 42 years some of the techniques do sound dated but it's true brilliance is in the performance. It is an album performed without shame or excuse for it's near perfect execution. It is the pinnacle of this version of Genesis in both creativity, songwriting and musical ability. Never before or after would Genesis work so well together to produce music of this caliber.. It is a brilliant star in the firmament of progressive music.

"Selling England by the Pound" shows Genesis concentrating on its biggest strengths, showing hints of the band it would become a few years down the road. Choosing more contemporary subject matter, such as consumerism in "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight" and its coda "Aisle of Plenty", a gang turf war in "The Battle of Epping Forest", and a depiction of a date in "The Cinema Show", make the album more immediate than its predecessors. Indeed, Genesis hits a peak here.

I love Genesis, but the 45th spot is where this band will be in and I am happy.
"Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live."
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Offline Scar

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Number 44: "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" by King Crimson

"LTIA" still stands as a daring, experimental effort, a step in a bold new direction and, ultimately, the album that saved King Crimson from becoming an anachronism like so many other classic 70's prog bands.

King Crimson has noo cheesy concept albums, no sci-fi escapism, and not too much overblown soloing. In fact, starting with guitarist/mellotron player/leader Robert Fripp’s first from-scratch lineup rebuild in 1973, they turned into an increasingly strange beast, marrying brain-melting heavy rock to European-free-jazz-esque playing disciplines and souping it up with plenty of exotic influences and instruments.

Unfortunately, the following three “vocal numbers” are nowhere near as gorgeous, Book Of Saturday being the best of them. A two-minute pop(!) song about the unfaithful lover you just can’t let go, driven by David Cross’s beautiful violin, complete with two backwards solos and John Wetton’s (another bassist/singer!) sweet voice. Even if it sounds unlikely, it really does work! Wetton tries to sound “dramatic” but miserably fails and has trouble hitting some of the higher notes. The odd, chaotic instrumental interludes are the only redeeming quality. Easy Money is a cool, funky rocker that trips over its own ludicrous lyrics (written by new writing-only member of the band, Richard Palmer-James). A terribly failed attempt at a “satire” of modern commercialism accompanied by “sound effects” to make things even more embarrassing.

But however solid the “songs” may be, the instrumentals are the real meat here. Hence, the two closing tracks are pure gold. The Talking Drum takes a central rhythmic motif and wraps eastern-tinged violin and rumbling guitar around it. The track gets increasingly louder and more tumultuous halts before Larks’ Tongues In Aspic, Part 2, which seems completely unrelated to the first part, but is a jazzoid, repetitive, technical heavy rock, with Fripp’s nasty, angry guitar colliding with a madly screeching violin and clamoring free-form percussion, dissolving into a total chaos.

In conclusion, the instruments are phenomenon and the entire album for me, bleeds King Crimson.
"Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live."
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Offline Big Hath

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two very solid prog albums there
Winger would be better!

. . . and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

Offline Scar

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Indeed they are. :)
"Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live."
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Offline Scar

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Re: Scar's Top 50 Favorite Albums v.No variety, mostly prog
« Reply #45 on: August 02, 2016, 08:09:04 PM »
Number 43: "Watershed" by Opeth

Ah, Opeth. This band here took the longest to grown on me and painfully so. I remember locking myself up at night, trying to get used to the growls and screams. At first, it scared me a lot and I've put Opeth on a break, but I decided to come back to it. Opeth contains my favorite acoustic passages and mysterious, haunting clean vocals and songs. Watershed does well and is in no hurry to blow my mind.

The first catalyst for what Watershed would become was the absence of long time members guitarist Peter Lindgren and drummer Martin Lopez. Both departed the group shortly after the release of Ghost Reveries. With half of the band gone, Mikael Åkerfeldt felt more pressure than ever to impress his new band mates and anxious fans alike. The arrival of his second daughter would further serve to inspire the lyrics and meaning of Watershed. With these life changing events, especially with his family, Åkerfeldt became disillusioned with the state of the world. They also made him reconsider his former girlfriend, who tragically ended her own life while the band was in the studio. Surging emotions and life-altering events and realizations are the centerpieces of Watershed, propelling Opeth to a newfound maturity and evolution rarely seen amid their naturalistic, gothic themes of the occult and medieval.

The tranquil “Coil” precedes the crushingly brutal “Heir Apparent” featuring Åkerfeldt and drummer Lindgren’s girlfriend Nathalie Lorichs hauntingly crooning of loss and regret. These lamentations refer to the sorrow he feels regarding his former girlfriend and her child, further exhibited in “Hessian Peel” and “Hex Omega.”

This album would end an era for Opeth. All albums following that would have absolutely no death growls. And with Peter and Martin gone, this would truly be an end, but a new beginning of an entire new generation of Opeth.
"Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live."
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Online wolfking

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Re: Scar's Top 50 Favorite Albums v.No variety, mostly prog
« Reply #46 on: August 03, 2016, 12:29:40 AM »
I really like Watershed, great album.
Everyone else, except Wolfking is wrong.

Offline twosuitsluke

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Re: Scar's Top 50 Favorite Albums v.No variety, mostly prog
« Reply #47 on: August 03, 2016, 12:44:39 AM »
I love Watershed so much. It's probably my #2 Opeth album and generally seems to be overshadowed, but that is because I feel they have such a good back catalogue  :metal

Can't wait to see what the new album brings. Good work for sticking with it and getting used to the harsh vocals. It opens so many more doors for you and it's a shame to miss out on so much good music. Especially as it is something that I think a lot of people (not all) are able to grow to appreciate.

Offline Scar

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Re: Scar's Top 50 Favorite Albums v.No variety, mostly prog
« Reply #48 on: August 18, 2016, 05:47:10 PM »
Number 42: "Dream Theater" by Dream Theater

Here is their self titled album. I've grown to love it...to a certain extent. Anyways, I love Mangini here because he is allowed to go cahrayzee! The songs are shorter than average and honestly, I really don't care. They still have that huge epic, "Illumination Theory."

Their first track, "False Awakening Suite" is like a cool video game music. Could listen to it for hours.

"The Enemy Inside" is another awesome song. Progressive metal shines in this song and is really fun to listen to.

"The Looking Glass" is a nice, short song drawn from Rush. When I think of "The Looking Glass," I think of it as an angel, compared to "Never Enough."

"Enigma Machine" is full of mind blowing solo's, twists, turns and..........WANKERY.

"The Bigger Picture" is possibly my favorite song in this album. It has an epic Petrucci solo, Jordan's really nice here to, as is James. This songs hits me with feels in many levels.

"Behind the Veil" has possibly one of my favorite solo's by John Petrucci and I love his riffs and the lyrics to this glorious song.

"Surrender to Reason" is a song written by John Myung. "Chorus" is the ONLY thing tha comes to mind for this song here.

"Along For the Ride" is a super sweet ballad. Not at all complicated and hits me in many levels. Though some call this song cheesy, I don't think it is.

"Illumination Theory" is a total monster. Although it doesn't measure up to their other epics, I love this one! Also, I never knew the end was called an easter egg....
"Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live."
-Charles Caleb Colton