- " The Astonishing " - One Year -- er, SEVEN YEARS On.

[hunnus2000]

Listened to a lot of it last night for the first time in ages, and still love it. MM is sneaky fantastic on this.

Yeah - I've posted before about how how MM subtly shines on this album He balances his parts with the story telling  and this is the album that got his drum tones right. 

[kevinpwrs]

I've listened to it one time and that was back when it came out. Five years already? Wow! We saw the tour so I guess I heard it then also. It just didnt grab me. Just like this new release. Some of it is alright, but DT just doesn't seem to (at least to me) rock like they use to. I rarely find myself reaching for a DT cd to listen to anymore. Still 4 of the best musicians on the planet though and that will bring me to a show near me for sure.

[Ben_Jamin]

Peter Orullian just posted his newest Breaking Absolutes episode and it's a good one...

When Dream Theater wrote their epic double CD concept album, I got the chance to embellish its story and write a full novel to do so. Here I've gone into an epic deep dive of: how I got the job working with John Petrucci and writing the novel; a discussion of the art and design and map and other conceptual visuals; the relating of certain scenes only in the book, which give helpful context for the record experience; and a full album track-by-track listen in which I share insights to the music and story, as well as helpful context to layer on added meaning to the album. This is a long show, meant for hardcore DT fans, musicians who may want to see a blueprint for how to put together an expansive and immersive concept album, or those just interested in how I approached the task of breathing life into a world at such scale.

Dream Theater's The Astonishing - Full breakdown, including novelization, Breaking Absolutes Ep. 45

It's 7 hours and 15 min. long 

Listening now and it's interesting and I am loving the discussion.

[TAC]

Peter Orullian just posted his newest Breaking Absolutes episode and it's a good one...

When Dream Theater wrote their epic double CD concept album, I got the chance to embellish its story and write a full novel to do so. Here I've gone into an epic deep dive of: how I got the job working with John Petrucci and writing the novel; a discussion of the art and design and map and other conceptual visuals; the relating of certain scenes only in the book, which give helpful context for the record experience; and a full album track-by-track listen in which I share insights to the music and story, as well as helpful context to layer on added meaning to the album. This is a long show, meant for hardcore DT fans, musicians who may want to see a blueprint for how to put together an expansive and immersive concept album, or those just interested in how I approached the task of breathing life into a world at such scale.

Dream Theater's The Astonishing - Full breakdown, including novelization, Breaking Absolutes Ep. 45

It's 7 hours and 15 min. long 

Listening now and it's interesting and I am loving the discussion.

Good. Update us on the bulletpoints.

[geeeemo]

Peter Orullian just posted his newest Breaking Absolutes episode and it's a good one...

When Dream Theater wrote their epic double CD concept album, I got the chance to embellish its story and write a full novel to do so. Here I've gone into an epic deep dive of: how I got the job working with John Petrucci and writing the novel; a discussion of the art and design and map and other conceptual visuals; the relating of certain scenes only in the book, which give helpful context for the record experience; and a full album track-by-track listen in which I share insights to the music and story, as well as helpful context to layer on added meaning to the album. This is a long show, meant for hardcore DT fans, musicians who may want to see a blueprint for how to put together an expansive and immersive concept album, or those just interested in how I approached the task of breathing life into a world at such scale.

Dream Theater's The Astonishing - Full breakdown, including novelization, Breaking Absolutes Ep. 45

It's 7 hours and 15 min. long 

Listening now and it's interesting and I am loving the discussion.

Me too. Peter is the most interesting guy to listen to. It's good to hear the way things were thought out and talked about.
I think I might do an hour each day. 7 hours, that would be rough!

[Ben_Jamin]

Peter Orullian just posted his newest Breaking Absolutes episode and it's a good one...

When Dream Theater wrote their epic double CD concept album, I got the chance to embellish its story and write a full novel to do so. Here I've gone into an epic deep dive of: how I got the job working with John Petrucci and writing the novel; a discussion of the art and design and map and other conceptual visuals; the relating of certain scenes only in the book, which give helpful context for the record experience; and a full album track-by-track listen in which I share insights to the music and story, as well as helpful context to layer on added meaning to the album. This is a long show, meant for hardcore DT fans, musicians who may want to see a blueprint for how to put together an expansive and immersive concept album, or those just interested in how I approached the task of breathing life into a world at such scale.

Dream Theater's The Astonishing - Full breakdown, including novelization, Breaking Absolutes Ep. 45

It's 7 hours and 15 min. long 

Listening now and it's interesting and I am loving the discussion.

Me too. Peter is the most interesting guy to listen to. It's good to hear the way things were thought out and talked about.
I think I might do an hour each day. 7 hours, that would be rough!

I'm an hour in and he is discussing the map and how he integrated certain areas into the story.

[AVFTTOTW]

Just listening to some parts of The Astonishing at the moment and one thing I will say is that; it is like if elements of SDOIT were combined with Ayreon, except with one singer.
Even though fans initially expected something like SFAM, the album is nothing much like it, although it has a few moments reminiscent of SFAM (such as the part in "The Walking Shadow" which sounds like Fatal Tragedy).


edit;

The Walking Shadow is an awesome track, the ending bit (before the stabbing) sounds like they'd been listening to Mr Bungle.


edit;

The ending portion of the album feels like a completely over-extended finale, but not of the good kind (such as Finally Free).
Hymn of a Thousand Voices is a great closer, even Power Down would go well after it as a fade out.
But instead they try to end the whole thing with two freaking ballads (Our New World and Astonishing), after the finale of Hymn of a Thousand Voices. It is such a bloated ending.


edit;

As I've always heard it with that melody in the titletrack:

"Brother, can you hear me? Many bow and cry Known across the desert I am the one who will not die" 

[hefdaddy42]

I think it's great that he is doing that, but I'm not listening to a 7 hour presentation by anyone.

[gzarruk]

I think it's great that he is doing that, but I'm not listening to a 7 hour presentation by anyone.

My first thought when I saw this was "did he ever pause the recording to go pee or something?"

[bosk1]

7 hours is rough.  But it's good commute listening.  Listened to about 45 minutes on the way in to work, and it is some really good stuff.  Main takeaway:  Peter and JP had TONS of discussion and bouncing ideas back and forth.  It is incredible what went into this.  Makes me love the album that much more.  ...although, that being said, I think it would have been even better if Peter were involved earlier when JP was initially writing the lyrics and music.

[Kotowboy]

7 hours is rough.  But it's good commute listening.  Listened to about 45 minutes on the way in to work, and it is some really good stuff.  Main takeaway:  Peter and JP had TONS of discussion and bouncing ideas back and forth.  It is incredible what went into this.  Makes me love the album that much more.  ...although, that being said, I think it would have been even better if Peter were involved earlier when JP was initially writing the lyrics and music.

but it has piano and not enough metal so SUX

[Trav86]

7 hours is rough.  But it's good commute listening.  Listened to about 45 minutes on the way in to work, and it is some really good stuff.  Main takeaway:  Peter and JP had TONS of discussion and bouncing ideas back and forth.  It is incredible what went into this.  Makes me love the album that much more.  ...although, that being said, I think it would have been even better if Peter were involved earlier when JP was initially writing the lyrics and music.

but it has piano and not enough metal so SUX

Ironically enough, you say this more than anyone.

[NoFred]

Not sure when I’ll listen, but a 7 hour work from the book author is pure gold, what a cool thing to have.

[Ben_Jamin]

https://youtu.be/wmm6Rz9uKkM?t=4598

I time-stamped it to where he starts to go through the entire album and give his thoughts. They're very great thoughts and ones I also share at some parts. If anything, this is the part that should be of interest to some people.

[Awaken]

relistening to this one again today - what fantastic songwriting on this album.  It's a shame it got the reception it did, I would absolutely love to be able to throw in a blue-ray of this show.  One of the best DT performances I have seen.

[geeeemo]

relistening to this one again today - what fantastic songwriting on this album.  It's a shame it got the reception it did, I would absolutely love to be able to throw in a blue-ray of this show.  One of the best DT performances I have seen.

This.  The hook was set in early 2016, but seeing this show reeled me in!

[Architeuthis]

Yep, definitely one of my favorite DT experiences.   The live show was above and beyond awesome! 💯

[ytserush]

Peter Orullian just posted his newest Breaking Absolutes episode and it's a good one...

When Dream Theater wrote their epic double CD concept album, I got the chance to embellish its story and write a full novel to do so. Here I've gone into an epic deep dive of: how I got the job working with John Petrucci and writing the novel; a discussion of the art and design and map and other conceptual visuals; the relating of certain scenes only in the book, which give helpful context for the record experience; and a full album track-by-track listen in which I share insights to the music and story, as well as helpful context to layer on added meaning to the album. This is a long show, meant for hardcore DT fans, musicians who may want to see a blueprint for how to put together an expansive and immersive concept album, or those just interested in how I approached the task of breathing life into a world at such scale.

Dream Theater's The Astonishing - Full breakdown, including novelization, Breaking Absolutes Ep. 45

It's 7 hours and 15 min. long 

Listening now and it's interesting and I am loving the discussion.

Thanks.  Going to check this out. Very interested in this period.

[jsbru]

Put in The Astonishing for the first time in about a year this weekend while sitting around waiting for the Porcupine Tree show to start.  This album is pure musical genius.  Gets better with age.

My post early in this thread stated I'd rate it my 4th favorite DT album.  I have to move it up to 3 at this point.  I usually don't care whether people like the same music as I do, but for whatever reason, I take the negative reception this album faced personally.  It's not that far removed from Metropolis 2 stylistically--an album that gets an almost universally positive reaction from DT fans.  If anything, the songwriting on this is more concise and melodic, and there's less meandering through aimless hyper-progressive jams, which have their place in DT's repertoire, of course, but I think they have a tendency to overdo them and have them in far too many songs just for the sake of having them, even if it doesn't fit from a songwriting perspective.  This is a stunning and dynamic epic, with multiple layers, traversing multiple styles, but the melodic hooks are simple and easy to digest.  Some specific highlights:

• I think Petrucci's outro solo in A New Beginning is possibly the best of his entire career.  Helps that the underlying chord progression lays a fantastic foundation.
• The much-maligned second act actually finishes very strong.  Losing Fayth through A New World is an incredibly epic and stunning finale, and Hymn of a Thousand Voices is one of the most beautiful snippets of music this band has ever written!
• I think this is Mangini's best album with the band, too.  His style of drumming matches this style of music really well.  There's a couple of fills in here that are absolutely astounding.
• David Campbell's orchestration is something to behold.  It really gives this album sonic depth, even compared to other DT albums/songs that used orchestra.

This is DT at their creative peak, and 100 years from now, will be looked upon as their crowning achievement.  Perhaps an album before its time.  Or maybe after it's time.  Since I really think the peak of rock music composition and listenership occurred during the 70s, when people's attention spans were not chewed up by a constant din of technological stimuli like social media and cell phones.  Perhaps this album belongs in the era of The Who's Tommy, Yes's Tales of Topographic Oceans, Rush's 2112, or Genesis's Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  I think it surpasses all four of those albums though, and stands on its own as one of the best concept albums ever written.  This isn't an album that delivers instantly on first listen.  Like a lot of good prog rock, it has to be digested with patience and discretion.  And once it is, its melodic story really comes to life.

[Dublagent66]

TA is still as inaccessible as ever.  Their creative peak was 20 years ago with SDOIT.  That will never matched.

[Chino]

Still my favorite DT album.

[WilliamMunny]

Put in The Astonishing for the first time in about a year this weekend while sitting around waiting for the Porcupine Tree show to start.  This album is pure musical genius.  Gets better with age.

My post early in this thread stated I'd rate it my 4th favorite DT album.  I have to move it up to 3 at this point.  I usually don't care whether people like the same music as I do, but for whatever reason, I take the negative reception this album faced personally.  It's not that far removed from Metropolis 2 stylistically--an album that gets an almost universally positive reaction from DT fans.  If anything, the songwriting on this is more concise and melodic, and there's less meandering through aimless hyper-progressive jams, which have their place in DT's repertoire, of course, but I think they have a tendency to overdo them and have them in far too many songs just for the sake of having them, even if it doesn't fit from a songwriting perspective.  This is a stunning and dynamic epic, with multiple layers, traversing multiple styles, but the melodic hooks are simple and easy to digest.  Some specific highlights:

• I think Petrucci's outro solo in A New Beginning is possibly the best of his entire career.  Helps that the underlying chord progression lays a fantastic foundation.
• The much-maligned second act actually finishes very strong.  Losing Fayth through A New World is an incredibly epic and stunning finale, and Hymn of a Thousand Voices is one of the most beautiful snippets of music this band has ever written!
• I think this is Mangini's best album with the band, too.  His style of drumming matches this style of music really well.  There's a couple of fills in here that are absolutely astounding.
• David Campbell's orchestration is something to behold.  It really gives this album sonic depth, even compared to other DT albums/songs that used orchestra.

This is DT at their creative peak, and 100 years from now, will be looked upon as their crowning achievement.  Perhaps an album before its time.  Or maybe after it's time.  Since I really think the peak of rock music composition and listenership occurred during the 70s, when people's attention spans were not chewed up by a constant din of technological stimuli like social media and cell phones.  Perhaps this album belongs in the era of The Who's Tommy, Yes's Tales of Topographic Oceans, Rush's 2112, or Genesis's Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  I think it surpasses all four of those albums though, and stands on its own as one of the best concept albums ever written.  This isn't an album that delivers instantly on first listen.  Like a lot of good prog rock, it has to be digested with patience and discretion.  And once it is, its melodic story really comes to life.

Why?

Or, perhaps a better question is, does someone else's opinion change how you feel? If not, why get upset if others disagree with you (for the record, I have the opposite take on this album, but I enjoyed reading your post and it reminded me that I'd been meaning to revisit this album).

[geeeemo]

I love this album and just listened as part of my album ranking. (#5)  I love it more each time. It has So Much great music! More than just soft and beautiful, JP has a ton of great guitar in it.  And if anyone loves James (not sure) listening for just the purpose of hearing him sing is worth it. Managing all the characters - many in a single song a times - is done really well. I can tell who is who in a conversation of characters.

I love how there are different themes to go with different characters and how you hear them woven in and out of the music.  And it really is climactic on the 2nd disc. If one really is following the story, when you get to Losing Faythe, it's heartbreaking. Then Hymn of a Thousand Voices caps off the idea that music is healing and we all play a part!

The whole idea of the album, that listening to too much noise and not enough goodness can corrupt. It's relevant.

[TAC]

Hymn of a Thousand Voices is one of the most beautiful snippets of music this band has ever written!

My Astonishing Abridged ends with Hymn.

[DTwwbwMP]

TA is still as inaccessible as ever. 

I completely disagree. The Astonishing is ABSOLUTELY "accessible"! It is definitely UNLISTENABLE but completely accessible!

[Dream Team]

Great post jsbru.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

Put in The Astonishing for the first time in about a year this weekend while sitting around waiting for the Porcupine Tree show to start.  This album is pure musical genius.  Gets better with age.

My post early in this thread stated I'd rate it my 4th favorite DT album.  I have to move it up to 3 at this point.  I usually don't care whether people like the same music as I do, but for whatever reason, I take the negative reception this album faced personally.  It's not that far removed from Metropolis 2 stylistically--an album that gets an almost universally positive reaction from DT fans.  If anything, the songwriting on this is more concise and melodic, and there's less meandering through aimless hyper-progressive jams, which have their place in DT's repertoire, of course, but I think they have a tendency to overdo them and have them in far too many songs just for the sake of having them, even if it doesn't fit from a songwriting perspective.  This is a stunning and dynamic epic, with multiple layers, traversing multiple styles, but the melodic hooks are simple and easy to digest.  Some specific highlights:

• I think Petrucci's outro solo in A New Beginning is possibly the best of his entire career.  Helps that the underlying chord progression lays a fantastic foundation.
• The much-maligned second act actually finishes very strong.  Losing Fayth through A New World is an incredibly epic and stunning finale, and Hymn of a Thousand Voices is one of the most beautiful snippets of music this band has ever written!
• I think this is Mangini's best album with the band, too.  His style of drumming matches this style of music really well.  There's a couple of fills in here that are absolutely astounding.
• David Campbell's orchestration is something to behold.  It really gives this album sonic depth, even compared to other DT albums/songs that used orchestra.

This is DT at their creative peak, and 100 years from now, will be looked upon as their crowning achievement.  Perhaps an album before its time.  Or maybe after it's time.  Since I really think the peak of rock music composition and listenership occurred during the 70s, when people's attention spans were not chewed up by a constant din of technological stimuli like social media and cell phones.  Perhaps this album belongs in the era of The Who's Tommy, Yes's Tales of Topographic Oceans, Rush's 2112, or Genesis's Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  I think it surpasses all four of those albums though, and stands on its own as one of the best concept albums ever written.  This isn't an album that delivers instantly on first listen.  Like a lot of good prog rock, it has to be digested with patience and discretion.  And once it is, its melodic story really comes to life.

Absolutely no chance of this happening. Also, a ton of work went into TA but the idea isn't novel or newish at all. There isn't anything that breaks the mold on TA and this is kind of a pre-requite in order to be considered before its time.

It's a very ambitious piece of work no doubt. For me it was a horrific listening experience. I don't think most fans agree with me, but I think a lot of people did NOT like it because of the styles it emulated.

[nobloodyname]

It's a very ambitious piece of work no doubt. For me it was a horrific listening experience. I don't think most fans agree with me, but I think a lot of people did NOT like it because of the styles it emulated.

Perhaps outside of this forum, my feeling is the majority of fans would actually agree with you.

I listened to it in full again a couple of days ago. Musically, it's soporific, and the story, being as hackneyed as it is, brings nothing. Story aside (which I accept is an absurd thing to say in the context), if it had been presented as an Ayreon-type piece of work with guest vocalists, it may have been redeemable. And that's not to say James is the issue because he really isn't.

[Stadler]

Put in The Astonishing for the first time in about a year this weekend while sitting around waiting for the Porcupine Tree show to start.  This album is pure musical genius.  Gets better with age.

My post early in this thread stated I'd rate it my 4th favorite DT album.  I have to move it up to 3 at this point.  I usually don't care whether people like the same music as I do, but for whatever reason, I take the negative reception this album faced personally.  It's not that far removed from Metropolis 2 stylistically--an album that gets an almost universally positive reaction from DT fans.  If anything, the songwriting on this is more concise and melodic, and there's less meandering through aimless hyper-progressive jams, which have their place in DT's repertoire, of course, but I think they have a tendency to overdo them and have them in far too many songs just for the sake of having them, even if it doesn't fit from a songwriting perspective.  This is a stunning and dynamic epic, with multiple layers, traversing multiple styles, but the melodic hooks are simple and easy to digest.  Some specific highlights:

• I think Petrucci's outro solo in A New Beginning is possibly the best of his entire career.  Helps that the underlying chord progression lays a fantastic foundation.
• The much-maligned second act actually finishes very strong.  Losing Fayth through A New World is an incredibly epic and stunning finale, and Hymn of a Thousand Voices is one of the most beautiful snippets of music this band has ever written!
• I think this is Mangini's best album with the band, too.  His style of drumming matches this style of music really well.  There's a couple of fills in here that are absolutely astounding.
• David Campbell's orchestration is something to behold.  It really gives this album sonic depth, even compared to other DT albums/songs that used orchestra.

This is DT at their creative peak, and 100 years from now, will be looked upon as their crowning achievement.  Perhaps an album before its time.  Or maybe after it's time.  Since I really think the peak of rock music composition and listenership occurred during the 70s, when people's attention spans were not chewed up by a constant din of technological stimuli like social media and cell phones.  Perhaps this album belongs in the era of The Who's Tommy, Yes's Tales of Topographic Oceans, Rush's 2112, or Genesis's Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  I think it surpasses all four of those albums though, and stands on its own as one of the best concept albums ever written.  This isn't an album that delivers instantly on first listen.  Like a lot of good prog rock, it has to be digested with patience and discretion.  And once it is, its melodic story really comes to life.

Why?

Or, perhaps a better question is, does someone else's opinion change how you feel? If not, why get upset if others disagree with you (for the record, I have the opposite take on this album, but I enjoyed reading your post and it reminded me that I'd been meaning to revisit this album).

That's the part I don't get either.  What does someone else's opinion have to do with what you like?   We need a lot less of that in our world, to be honest. 

I have mixed emotions about The Astonishing.  It's not as if DT forgot how to write or play. It's a stellar accomplishment, on a technical level.  I don't care - at all - about the "styles"; they are a PROGRESSIVE rock band and I expect them to delve and dabble.  I tolerated it when they did the blast beat and growl stuff which I don't care for, so I can tolerate a little Disney now and again.  For me, it was simply the denseness of it; I could not get into the story and still to this day haven't.  That's ok; there are plenty of records from bands I like that I just haven't connected with. 

I think this is one of those records that really drives the point home that "just because I like it/don't like it" doesn't mean "it sucks/it is great".

[Dublagent66]

TA is still as inaccessible as ever. 

I completely disagree. The Astonishing is ABSOLUTELY "accessible"! It is definitely UNLISTENABLE but completely accessible!

Well, those two things kind of intersect for me.  There are a few "listenable" tracks (about 9 the last time I checked), but the album has too many tracks and as a whole, is just too long.  That's what I meant by "inaccessible".

[emtee]

If I have to boil it down to three things that don't enable me to connect with it:

JLB's vocal approach. Maybe necessary for the overall scheme given all the characters but I just don't like it.
Almost every song has a 'grand finale' feel to it. Like they should all be the final song.
The story.


Huge respect though for the effort and time put into it. This is why I go back every six months and try again.

[Ben_Jamin]

Put in The Astonishing for the first time in about a year this weekend while sitting around waiting for the Porcupine Tree show to start.  This album is pure musical genius.  Gets better with age.

My post early in this thread stated I'd rate it my 4th favorite DT album.  I have to move it up to 3 at this point.  I usually don't care whether people like the same music as I do, but for whatever reason, I take the negative reception this album faced personally.  It's not that far removed from Metropolis 2 stylistically--an album that gets an almost universally positive reaction from DT fans.  If anything, the songwriting on this is more concise and melodic, and there's less meandering through aimless hyper-progressive jams, which have their place in DT's repertoire, of course, but I think they have a tendency to overdo them and have them in far too many songs just for the sake of having them, even if it doesn't fit from a songwriting perspective.  This is a stunning and dynamic epic, with multiple layers, traversing multiple styles, but the melodic hooks are simple and easy to digest.  Some specific highlights:

• I think Petrucci's outro solo in A New Beginning is possibly the best of his entire career.  Helps that the underlying chord progression lays a fantastic foundation.
• The much-maligned second act actually finishes very strong.  Losing Fayth through A New World is an incredibly epic and stunning finale, and Hymn of a Thousand Voices is one of the most beautiful snippets of music this band has ever written!
• I think this is Mangini's best album with the band, too.  His style of drumming matches this style of music really well.  There's a couple of fills in here that are absolutely astounding.
• David Campbell's orchestration is something to behold.  It really gives this album sonic depth, even compared to other DT albums/songs that used orchestra.

This is DT at their creative peak, and 100 years from now, will be looked upon as their crowning achievement.  Perhaps an album before its time.  Or maybe after it's time.  Since I really think the peak of rock music composition and listenership occurred during the 70s, when people's attention spans were not chewed up by a constant din of technological stimuli like social media and cell phones.  Perhaps this album belongs in the era of The Who's Tommy, Yes's Tales of Topographic Oceans, Rush's 2112, or Genesis's Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  I think it surpasses all four of those albums though, and stands on its own as one of the best concept albums ever written.  This isn't an album that delivers instantly on first listen.  Like a lot of good prog rock, it has to be digested with patience and discretion.  And once it is, its melodic story really comes to life.

Why?

Or, perhaps a better question is, does someone else's opinion change how you feel? If not, why get upset if others disagree with you (for the record, I have the opposite take on this album, but I enjoyed reading your post and it reminded me that I'd been meaning to revisit this album).

That's the part I don't get either.  What does someone else's opinion have to do with what you like?   We need a lot less of that in our world, to be honest. 

I have mixed emotions about The Astonishing.  It's not as if DT forgot how to write or play. It's a stellar accomplishment, on a technical level.  I don't care - at all - about the "styles"; they are a PROGRESSIVE rock band and I expect them to delve and dabble.  I tolerated it when they did the blast beat and growl stuff which I don't care for, so I can tolerate a little Disney now and again.  For me, it was simply the denseness of it; I could not get into the story and still to this day haven't.  That's ok; there are plenty of records from bands I like that I just haven't connected with. 

I think this is one of those records that really drives the point home that "just because I like it/don't like it" doesn't mean "it sucks/it is great".

It is pretty dense. That is one thing I like about it though, and why I view it as a musical movie. I view Ayreon albums the same exact way. When I listen to Transitus, I imagine I am sitting in front of an old time radio (before the invention of television) listening to the horror story of the night.

The Astonishing is interesting the more I think about it. I personally think it would work better branded as a solo venture, or a side project to release it under, rather than under the Dream Theater brand. I think it works best live, and the way the band did it was amazing for the budget they had to put into the production. I am also sure JP has bigger dreams for how he wanted to present it live. This is one reason I would love to see it as an actual broadway or Opera style production. This story calls for that sort of production, it needs the characters on stage to sing and play their emotions through the music.

[red barchetta]

Put in The Astonishing for the first time in about a year this weekend while sitting around waiting for the Porcupine Tree show to start.  This album is pure musical genius.  Gets better with age.

My post early in this thread stated I'd rate it my 4th favorite DT album.  I have to move it up to 3 at this point.  I usually don't care whether people like the same music as I do, but for whatever reason, I take the negative reception this album faced personally.  It's not that far removed from Metropolis 2 stylistically--an album that gets an almost universally positive reaction from DT fans.  If anything, the songwriting on this is more concise and melodic, and there's less meandering through aimless hyper-progressive jams, which have their place in DT's repertoire, of course, but I think they have a tendency to overdo them and have them in far too many songs just for the sake of having them, even if it doesn't fit from a songwriting perspective.  This is a stunning and dynamic epic, with multiple layers, traversing multiple styles, but the melodic hooks are simple and easy to digest.  Some specific highlights:

• I think Petrucci's outro solo in A New Beginning is possibly the best of his entire career.  Helps that the underlying chord progression lays a fantastic foundation.
• The much-maligned second act actually finishes very strong.  Losing Fayth through A New World is an incredibly epic and stunning finale, and Hymn of a Thousand Voices is one of the most beautiful snippets of music this band has ever written!
• I think this is Mangini's best album with the band, too.  His style of drumming matches this style of music really well.  There's a couple of fills in here that are absolutely astounding.
• David Campbell's orchestration is something to behold.  It really gives this album sonic depth, even compared to other DT albums/songs that used orchestra.

This is DT at their creative peak, and 100 years from now, will be looked upon as their crowning achievement.  Perhaps an album before its time.  Or maybe after it's time.  Since I really think the peak of rock music composition and listenership occurred during the 70s, when people's attention spans were not chewed up by a constant din of technological stimuli like social media and cell phones.  Perhaps this album belongs in the era of The Who's Tommy, Yes's Tales of Topographic Oceans, Rush's 2112, or Genesis's Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  I think it surpasses all four of those albums though, and stands on its own as one of the best concept albums ever written.  This isn't an album that delivers instantly on first listen.  Like a lot of good prog rock, it has to be digested with patience and discretion.  And once it is, its melodic story really comes to life.

Absolutely no chance of this happening. Also, a ton of work went into TA but the idea isn't novel or newish at all. There isn't anything that breaks the mold on TA and this is kind of a pre-requite in order to be considered before its time.

It's a very ambitious piece of work no doubt. For me it was a horrific listening experience. I don't think most fans agree with me, but I think a lot of people did NOT like it because of the styles it emulated.

Just true.  I don't think we will hear any songs of that album again live.  From time to time I go back to it and listen and try to dig it.  It does not work for me.  A shorter album might have been more consistent on the quality of the music thus more interesting.  That's the only album from them I don't like. 

[EPIC Outro]

We will definitely hear songs from The Astonishing live in the future. There's no way DT is going to pretend that album doesn't exist.

[cramx3]

We will definitely hear songs from The Astonishing live in the future. There's no way DT is going to pretend that album doesn't exist.

I find it hard to believe the album will be ignored, but they dropped those couple songs early the next tour and NOTHING has come back.  To me, that is Astonishing from DT. 

Also, to me, it's sad.  The album is pretty good for my ears, but being so long and with most of the tracks not being stand outs on their own (usually best to listen to groupings of songs) it's very easy to see why people don't like it.  Even with me liking it, I don't think I've listened for years now.  There's just no reason to go back if you aren't going to listen to the whole thing and that's just very time consuming. 

I'm still just annoyed they didn't let fans take video of this tour.  There's just very limited options to seeing these songs live on youtube now.  The band really needed to either let go of stopping fans or released their own live recording.  It's a shame IMO.