Official Distance Over Time discussion thread

[Peter Mc]

100% agree with all of this. I didn’t bother with the album or any shows since Sambora left. I don’t blame JBJ for kicking him out as he unfortunately always looks wasted whenever I see him interviewed or footage of him playing live. That wouldn’t fly in the smooth running juggernaut that is Bon Jovi and rightly so. Hope he can overcome his problems and get back to making good music either solo or with the band as they are not the same without him.

[MinistroRaven]

New edition:
https://dream-theater.lnk.to/DistanceOverTimeCDBlu-ray

Milking the cow much?

[Dublagent66]

I'm about to toss Room 137 in the trash with Enigma Machine. It seems to be the only song from this album that pops up on shuffle, and I was never that big on it to begin with. Same with Three Days. HAUH. HAUH. HAUH.

I'll take Room 137 over the other two songs any day.

[Madman Shepherd]

I'm about to toss Room 137 in the trash with Enigma Machine. It seems to be the only song from this album that pops up on shuffle, and I was never that big on it to begin with. Same with Three Days. HAUH. HAUH. HAUH.

I'll take Room 137 over the other two songs any day.

I'll take Room 137 AND Enigma Machine and you guys can fight over Three Days which I can only assume is on The Astonishing.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Honestly, I think R137 is bar none the worst song of the Mangini albums. Might be down there with the likes of PoW and ARoP. The few times I've come back to revisit the album, it's the one song I just can't stomach and feel composed to just skip entirely.

[fadetoblackdude7]

I don’t think it’s THAT bad, although it is my least favorite off the album. It’s definitely a rocker you can bang your head to, and the lyrics are interesting. But overall it doesn’t do much for me.

[RaiseTheKnife]

Just popping in to defend Room 137.  Reminds me of the bridge in Dogman by Kings X.  Both great tracks.

[Cool Chris]

Easily my least favorite track on the album. I am happy MM was able to write some lyrics he feels good about and is proud of, but man this song is near the bottom of my DT rankings.

[Dublagent66]

I'm about to toss Room 137 in the trash with Enigma Machine. It seems to be the only song from this album that pops up on shuffle, and I was never that big on it to begin with. Same with Three Days. HAUH. HAUH. HAUH.

I'll take Room 137 over the other two songs any day.

I'll take Room 137 AND Enigma Machine and you guys can fight over Three Days which I can only assume is on The Astonishing.

Yes, it is on TA.  You haven't heard it?  Not much there to fight over. 

[Chino]

Room 137 is a chore to get through, IMO   

It's weird, there are plenty of great moments in the song. Some parts of the track are some of the best moments on the album, but the song as a whole does absolutely nothing for me.

[pg1067]

Honestly, I think R137 is bar none the worst song of the Mangini albums. Might be down there with the likes of PoW and ARoP. The few times I've come back to revisit the album, it's the one song I just can't stomach and feel composed to just skip entirely.

Might be my least favorite MM era song (exempting TA, which I'm still not overly familiar with), but that only demonstrates how strong ADTOE, DT12 and DOT are because I don't dislike R137.

[Dublagent66]

Room 137 is a chore to get through, IMO   

It's weird, there are plenty of great moments in the song. Some parts of the track are some of the best moments on the album, but the song as a whole does absolutely nothing for me.

That's funny cause I feel exactly the same way about TA.

[Peter Mc]

Room 137 is not my favourite on the album but I don’t find it a chore, there’s nothing on the new album that I skip. Also would say it’s far from the worst song of the Mangini era. BMUBMD would probably take that title for me along with a few songs on TA (I enjoy TA a lot overall but there are moments I’m not keen on).

[DoctorAction]

Omg. Love R137. Great lyrical background, really interesting rhythmically with the whole chunky swing thing. Great solo and backing. And the rearranged half verse near the end is a perfect example of what DT do best, imo.

[pg1067]

Omg. Love R137. Great lyrical background, really interesting rhythmically with the whole chunky swing thing.

What is the lyrical background?

R137 immediately reminded me of Marilyn Manson's song The Beautiful People (which isn't really a good or a bad thing).

[Max Kuehnau]

Omg. Love R137. Great lyrical background, really interesting rhythmically with the whole chunky swing thing.

What is the lyrical background?

R137 immediately reminded me of Marilyn Manson's song The Beautiful People (which isn't really a good or a bad thing).

It's about the life and work of Wolfgang Pauli (an Austrian physicist who specialised in quantum mechanics and electron configuration and who defined the fine structure constant as being 1/137), who was obsessed with the number 137. He died in said room as well.

[pg1067]

Omg. Love R137. Great lyrical background, really interesting rhythmically with the whole chunky swing thing.

What is the lyrical background?

R137 immediately reminded me of Marilyn Manson's song The Beautiful People (which isn't really a good or a bad thing).

It's about the life and work of Wolfgang Pauli (an Austrian physicist who specialised in quantum mechanics and electron configuration and who defined the fine structure constant as being 1/137), who was obsessed with the number 137. He died in said room as well.

Seriously?

[Max Kuehnau]

Omg. Love R137. Great lyrical background, really interesting rhythmically with the whole chunky swing thing.

What is the lyrical background?

R137 immediately reminded me of Marilyn Manson's song The Beautiful People (which isn't really a good or a bad thing).

It's about the life and work of Wolfgang Pauli (an Austrian physicist who specialised in quantum mechanics and electron configuration and who defined the fine structure constant as being 1/137), who was obsessed with the number 137. He died in said room as well.

Seriously?

yes, as far as I can remember. I may not be completely accurate on this, but Mike mentioned the guy and his obsessions and the fine structure constant. (and he wrote the lyrics, remember)

[mikeyd23]

Yeah you are pretty much on point -

https://genius.com/Dream-theater-room-137-lyrics

[bosk1]

Yeah.  I remember JP was really giddy over the song and the lyrics prior to the album coming out.  I really thought it was going to make it into the set list.  (they even sound checked part of it at the show I attended)

[pg1067]

Omg. Love R137. Great lyrical background, really interesting rhythmically with the whole chunky swing thing.

What is the lyrical background?

R137 immediately reminded me of Marilyn Manson's song The Beautiful People (which isn't really a good or a bad thing).

It's about the life and work of Wolfgang Pauli (an Austrian physicist who specialised in quantum mechanics and electron configuration and who defined the fine structure constant as being 1/137), who was obsessed with the number 137. He died in said room as well.

Seriously?

yes, as far as I can remember. I may not be completely accurate on this, but Mike mentioned the guy and his obsessions and the fine structure constant. (and he wrote the lyrics, remember)

Then I learned something new today.  However, I learning that actually diminishes my feelings about the lyrics for some reason.

[DoctorAction]

It must have been unbelievably unsettling ending his days in room 137. Weird AF.

What did you think it was about before, out of interest?

[Max Kuehnau]

It must have been unbelievably unsettling ending his days in room 137. Weird AF.

What did you think it was about before, out of interest?

Me? Or Pg? I actually thought it had to do with The Shining (but then I remembered it was Room 237 in The Shining. Silly me.)

[KevShmev]

Great riff, nice melodies, cool chorus, etc. in Room 137...what's not to like?

I can't say it's one of their best songs, or even one of my favorites from the new album, but I dig it and find it to be a kickass deep cut.

[pg1067]

It must have been unbelievably unsettling ending his days in room 137. Weird AF.

What did you think it was about before, out of interest?

Me? Or Pg? I actually thought it had to do with The Shining (but then I remembered it was Room 237 in The Shining. Silly me.)

I honestly hadn't given it much thought, but I do recall seeing something about The Shining, which I think would have been cooler, so that's probably what I had in the back of my mind.

[Max Kuehnau]

Great riff, nice melodies, cool chorus, etc. in Room 137...what's not to like?

I can't say it's one of their best songs, or even one of my favorites from the new album, but I dig it and find it to be a kickass deep cut.

it's nice you love it. I'll respectfully say I don't (I like the lyrics though), because it seems to simplistic musically speaking. (That being said: I may find out what's interesting about it, and my expectation was that given that Mike was involved with the piece, I expected it to be really technical and complicated. Boy was I wrong.)

[Cool Chris]

It must have been unbelievably unsettling ending his days in room 137. Weird AF.

What did you think it was about before, out of interest?

Me? Or Pg? I actually thought it had to do with The Shining (but then I remembered it was Room 237 in The Shining. Silly me.)

In the book it's 217. In Kubrick's film it's 237. [King nerd mode off]

[gzarruk]

Great riff, nice melodies, cool chorus, etc. in Room 137...what's not to like?

I can't say it's one of their best songs, or even one of my favorites from the new album, but I dig it and find it to be a kickass deep cut.

it's nice you love it. I'll respectfully say I don't (I like the lyrics though), because it seems to simplistic musically speaking. (That being said: I may find out what's interesting about it, and my expectation was that given that Mike was involved with the piece, I expected it to be really technical and complicated. Boy was I wrong.)

Here's a DRUM! Magazine video where a guy explains some of Mike's drum patterns on the album. I found the R137 one to be harder than it actually sounds, maybe you could check it out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFdA1z72yMA

Also, the song is super cool, like Kev said, it's a great riff, has cool melodies, the solo section is really cool, as is the vocoder-ish section. Plus, it's the song with the most nuggetz (for those who care about that), like the first time the words "137" are sung, for example, James finishes singing "one thirty seven" at 1:37 minutes into the song
But I agree it's not one of the best songs on the album, when you have tracks like PBD, AWE, S2N and FITL

[ThatOneGuy2112]

If anyone likes R137, more power to you. I'll keep my thoughts on it short, but what really kills the song for me is the redundant and wholly uninteresting riff that they stick with for a majority of the track. It never progresses or develops into something more interesting, it just trudges along at a sluggish pace and really test my patience. The overbearing effects used on James' vocals in the latter half really turn me even further off from it; they just drone on and on and is possibly the most repugnant aspect of the song to me.

Again, to those who enjoy the song, don't let me stop you from jamming to it! It's just not my bag.

[Northern Lion]

Room 137 is my least favorite song on the album. But, I don't think it's a bad song at all. I like the main riff and the lyrics and the story behind the lyrics quite a lot. It just isn't as interesting musically as the other songs on the album IMO. If I heard it on the radio I'd totally crank it!

[EPIC Outro]

Room 137 may be my least favorite as well, but I still think it's a fun song that's pretty unique in their recent catalogue. And it's only my least favorite because the other songs on D/T are so good!

[TAC]

It is unique!

[erwinrafael]

Great riff, nice melodies, cool chorus, etc. in Room 137...what's not to like?

I can't say it's one of their best songs, or even one of my favorites from the new album, but I dig it and find it to be a kickass deep cut.

it's nice you love it. I'll respectfully say I don't (I like the lyrics though), because it seems to simplistic musically speaking. (That being said: I may find out what's interesting about it, and my expectation was that given that Mike was involved with the piece, I expected it to be really technical and complicated. Boy was I wrong.)

Here's a DRUM! Magazine video where a guy explains some of Mike's drum patterns on the album. I found the R137 one to be harder than it actually sounds, maybe you could check it out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFdA1z72yMA

Yeah, R137 is one of those Mangini songs that sound simple while listening but when you play it, you go WTF. Like you do a triplet feel for the bass and drums, play it on a 7/4 meter, but the freaking cymbals play half notes on a 4/4. WHY?

And that guitar solo. When it did the fun twist, and JM joined, it really makes me smile.

[Max Kuehnau]

Great riff, nice melodies, cool chorus, etc. in Room 137...what's not to like?

I can't say it's one of their best songs, or even one of my favorites from the new album, but I dig it and find it to be a kickass deep cut.

it's nice you love it. I'll respectfully say I don't (I like the lyrics though), because it seems to simplistic musically speaking. (That being said: I may find out what's interesting about it, and my expectation was that given that Mike was involved with the piece, I expected it to be really technical and complicated. Boy was I wrong.)

Here's a DRUM! Magazine video where a guy explains some of Mike's drum patterns on the album. I found the R137 one to be harder than it actually sounds, maybe you could check it out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFdA1z72yMA

Yeah, R137 is one of those Mangini songs that sound simple while listening but when you play it, you go WTF. Like you do a triplet feel for the bass and drums, play it on a 7/4 meter, but the freaking cymbals play half notes on a 4/4. WHY?

And that guitar solo. When it did the fun twist, and JM joined, it really makes me smile.

I knew that aspect about the 7 over 4 bits yes. (the way Mike joined in as well), I just expected a lot more, that's all.

[faizoff]

On another note I finally listened to the podcast with JP and Eddie Trunk. JP mentioned a riff that JM wrote and they put it in the album. Does anyone know what track that riff is in?