You know what I meant.
The point is that I felt they were done in a very un-subtle way in the title track that I don't think is very engaging. It is cool that The Answer theme is repeated in a few different subtle ways that don't feel like carbon copies, because that allows it to do its job without having such diminishing returns.
I love a good noticeable reprise/theme in a prog album, but if it's done as many times as the brother theme in TA, it does start to feel a bit tedious, & I'd rather have it be done is a less obvious way.
I hear ya. For as much as I like Brother Can You Hear Me, just having that as a standalone song for the Brother Theme, is a bit too much. But even at that, It holds a significance to the overall story. It's where Ahrys sits with Gabriel and they show their brotherhood as Gabriel fights with his music as his weapon, Ahrys' stands beside him alongside his brother.
All I am saying and going with I am saying, is that each song has it's significance to the story. And to me, I don't mind it. It's also one reason why I really want this expanded into a full musical play, it could also expand and make these themes more intricate than what they are. Like how the Lion "Reworks" the arrangements of the original songs, while still keeping them close enough to the original from the Disney Film. My disappointment with the musical is how they didn't incorporate Be Prepared, but I understand why they didn't include that part in the play.
It's actually kind of funny actually, because The Astonishing could have been way, way better executed and done. Mainly Lyrically, and a bit story wise. And yet, I've heard people describe Dream Theater the same way, "Dream Theater could've been the best band ever, if they would've implemented better vocals and lyrics", I think the way the vocals were on Images and Words alongside the Lyrics are why it's considered their best and a reason for it being highly received (this is disregarding them hitting the scene at the right moment and time with Pull Me Under), Pull Me Under actually has that, The Vocals and The Lyrics. SFAM has the same thing as well, The Vocals and The Lyrics are executed and done extremely well, and I think giving the lyric duties to each member whom wanted to do lyrics was a great decision. It would've been neat if JP would've asked the others to do this with a character, like each one gets a character to write their lyrics for. OR a song again like they did with SFAM.
But, in the end, I really enjoy that JP decided to go with this alone and trusting in the band to take the task at hand. It being a straight up Dream Theater album is one thing I like about this album as well. That it is a Dream Theater Album. I will keep repeating this, but I do hope one day, it will be done in a way that we all agree could make it just that much more better.