Resurrecting this, because it's always fun to discuss.
I think I've got one of the weirder tastes in DT albums. I love I & W, followed by ToT and then maybe a tie between BCSL and SFAM. I doubt there are a lot of I & W fans who prefer ToT to awake, but hey, I can't help what I like.
That said, for me, I really find that just about every album (with the exception of FII, which I really don't care for, and WDADU, although the WDADU songs with JLB are great) has like 1-3 songs that really resonate with me, that really comprise what DT I tend to listen to. It goes something like this:
I & W: Learning To Live, Under a Glass Moon (I also enjoy the live versions of Take the Time with the extended guitar solo outro).
Awake: Voices, Lie, Scarred
ACoS
SFAM: Fatal Tragedy, Spirit Carries On (I usually go with the Score version though), Beyond This Life, Home
SDoIT: Glass Prison, and Disc 2 if I've got 45 minutes to kill
ToT: As I Am, In the Name of God
Octavarium: Octavarium, but that's pretty much it
SC: Ministry of Lost Souls, ITPOE
BCSL: ANTR, TBOT, TCOT
It strikes me as interesting how remarkably balanced DT has been that way, at least to my ears. They've gone so many different directions sonically, but never fail to deliver a classic song or two, but haven't ever made an album purely comprised of all-time DT classics, probably because they cover so many different styles on one album that something is bound to work great for almost every DT fan, and something is bound to be a bit less optimal. So every disc, I get about 20-35 minutes of stuff I'll never get tired of, and then 45-60 minutes of songs that I like but don't find particularly mind-blowing. I think the best example is the title track of Octavarium vs. the rest of the album.
For me, songs like Surrounded, SDV, SOC, half of Octavarium, Prophets of War, AROP, etc. seem to get in the way of DT making a bigtime album comprised entirely of classics. I think they tried to make one with BCSL (MP certainly sounded like it with that ridiculous quote about it being like their best songs), but TSF's endless quoting and AROP's rather by-the-numbers approach got in the way. Not to mention that Wither, while nice, isn't exactly ranking very high on most DT fans' lists.
So those are my thoughts--most of you probably disagree, but it's good for discussion, I think. I mean, seriously, who else has I & W and ToT as their top 2 DT albums? I'd be surprised if anyone else on DTF does (and if someone else does, that person is awesome!
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