Top 10 Portnoy-era songs, and a bonus question

[bosk1]

Choose your top 10 Portnoy-era songs.  I only used album tracks, plus A Change of Seasons.  If you want to discuss other songs, feel free.  But the poll is what it is.  I ultimately went with listing ITPOE as one song, as it was written vs. two songs as they choose to divide it on the album.  Judgement call.

BONUS QUESTION:  If you participated in the "Top 10 Mangini Era Songs" thread as well, which list is your favorite and why?  Which songs, if any, made it more difficult to choose?

[Setlist Scotty]

Have to think carefully about this one before I answer. But aren't you missing a few songs? While I doubt they'd get many votes, shouldn't To Live Forever, Don't Look Past Me, Raw Dog and the FII outtakes be included, too? Maybe even the Majesty demos?

[bosk1]

I only used album tracks, plus A Change of Seasons. 

[pg1067]

I didn't give it a massive amount of thought, but:

Met1
LTL
Scarred
ACOS
Fatal Tragedy
Home
Blind Faith
SDOIT
Stream of Consciousness
8VM

I prefer this list for a very simple reason.  With the MM list, there were nine songs that made it fairly easily, but I had to struggle to think of a tenth song, which was Beneath the Surface, and every song on this list is better than BTS.  With this list, I had to struggle to narrow it to ten.  I very easily could have included Take the Time, Voices, Beyond This Life, Finally Free, Misunderstood, ITNOG, Panic Attack, and a few others (all of which are also better than BTS).

[bosk1]

With the MM list, there were nine songs that made it fairly easily, but I had to struggle to think of a tenth song, which was Beneath the Surface, and every song on this list is better than BTS. 

I didn't have that problem, but I get it.  For me, I struggled to narrow it to ONLY 10 for both lists.  And while this list of choices definitely has more "honorable mentions" that could have made a top 10 list than the MM one, I still come back to both lists being really strong. 

[Revenge319]

1. A Change of Seasons
2. Octavarium
3. The Count of Tuscany
4. The Best of Times
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
6. Voices
7. Finally Free
8. Blind Faith
9. A Nightmare to Remember
10. Trial of Tears

I'd say my Portnoy-era list is better, because it has eight of my Top 10 Dream Theater songs whereas my Mangini-era list only contains two (Illumination Theory and Breaking All Illusions).

[Mladen]

Metropolis--Pt. I
Learning To Live
Scarred
A Change of Seasons
Beyond This Life
The Dance of Eternity
The Great Debate
Disappear
Octavarium
The Ministry of Lost Souls

As much as I like the Mangini era, my top 10 songs overall are all from the first nine albums.

[emtee]

Very hard!

[Buddyhunter1]

In no particular order:

Learning To Live
Trial Of Tears
The Glass Prison
Blind Faith
Endless Sacrifice
Honor Thy Father
These Walls
Panic Attack
Octavarium
In The Presence Of Enemies

No songs from the Mangini era would break into my overall top ten for the band. Bridges In The Sky, Breaking All Illusions and Fall Into The Light would come the closest, but I'm not even sure if all of those would make it into my top twenty.

[krands85]

1. Learning to Live
2. Metropolis
3. Octavarium
4. In the Name of God
5. Take the Time
6. In the Presence of Enemies
7. A Change of Seasons
8. The Count of Tuscany
9. Endless Sacrifice
10. Trial of Tears

I'd say my Portnoy-era list is better, because it has eight of my Top 10 Dream Theater songs whereas my Mangini-era list only contains two (Illumination Theory and Breaking All Illusions).

Exactly the same for me. My lowest ranked song overall in the Portnoy list is #13, but on the Mangini list it's not even in the top 25.

[darkshade]

Under a Glass Moon
Learning To Live
Caught in a Web
Scarred
A Change Of Seasons
Fatal Tragedy
The Glass Prison
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Octavarium
The Count of Tuscany

These are all some of my favorite DT songs ever. With the Mangini era, maybe half of my top 10 is songs I really like, the others are ones that I think are fine but nothing crazy, but none are as good as anything on the above list and perhaps a top 20 as well.

[lovethedrake]

Not in any order mine were:

Learning to Live
Change of Seasons
SDOIT
Fatal Tragedy
Take the Time
Trial of Tears
Overture 1928
Spirit Carries on
Glass Prison
Metropolis

I will go do the Mangini thread now.  But my answer will be an easy one.

The only song I would even consider for top 10 DT songs during Mangini era is "At Wit's End" but it wouldn't make the list.

Still love the band now and loved Astonishing and Distance Over Time but the era from I&W through SDOIT has all of my top 10 and probably top 15 songs.

[pg1067]

With the MM list, there were nine songs that made it fairly easily, but I had to struggle to think of a tenth song, which was Beneath the Surface, and every song on this list is better than BTS. 

I didn't have that problem, but I get it.  For me, I struggled to narrow it to ONLY 10 for both lists.  And while this list of choices definitely has more "honorable mentions" that could have made a top 10 list than the MM one, I still come back to both lists being really strong.

Very strong, yes, but...

No songs from the Mangini era would break into my overall top ten for the band.

My MM list was

Bridges
Outcry
Illusions
Beneath the Surface
Looking Glass
Along for the Ride
Illumination
Barstool
Out of Reach
S2N

While that is, indeed, a very strong list, none of those songs would beat out any of the ten on the MP era list.

And let's be fair and acknowledge that the MM era only includes four albums (or, for me, only three that had songs in the running), whereas the MP era has ten albums plus ACOS.

[MirrorMask]

A too vast selection of awesome songs to have a proper and definite top 10.

For sure I can pinpoint my favorite DT songs ever, Metropolis, Voices and A Change of Seasons, then I have rounded it up with Take the Time, The Mirror, Scarred, Strange Deja Vu, Home, Finally Free and Octavarium.

Obviously half of the other songs could be contenders as well.

So far scrolling through the votes we can notice:

- No love for the debut album

- An almost uninterrupted string of at least one choice for songs from Images and Words and Awake

- A gap in Falling Into Infinity territory

- Another basically consecutive streak of choices for Scenes and Six Degrees

- Not much else from that point on with the obvious exception of the song Octavarium.

As I reply The Count of Tuscany has six votes, which makes it the most voted songs since Finally Free if we exclude the two mammoth tracks of Six Degrees and Octavarium.

So, basically, people are favoring the four classic albums in their entirety (Images, Awake, Scenes and Six Degrees) and love the longest songs that came after.

[54_diplomats]

1. Learning to Live
2. A Change of Seasons
3. Scarred
4. Metropolis
5. The Glass Prison
6. Lines in the Sand
7. The Killing Hand
8. Trial of Tears
9. The Mirror
10. 6:00

Way harder to compose this list than the MM-era ones. These are probably my top 10 DT songs overall so I'd easily pick this over the other list. The only song on the other list that would come close to my top 10 would be Breaking all Illusions but I'd put several other Portnoy-era songs over that as well. Half of my list comprises of Kevin Moore era songs which is my favorite one to listen to.

[Peter Mc]

Top ten are

Another Day
Take The Time
Surrounded
Metropolis pt. I
Learning To Live
SDV
A Change Of Seasons
Trial Of Tears
The Sprit Carries On
Finally Free

In answer to the bonus question, there’s no comparison for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the Mangini era albums, including The Astonishing, but those albums are not on the same level as the Images to Scenes period imo, which I consider to be the classic period of the band.  That’s not anything to do with Mangini’s drumming, I just feel they’ve stagnated a little in the songwriting stakes.  They’re still putting out high quality stuff but not quite the magic of the early years for me. Still some really good songs on the Mangini list though.

One thing I will say on the whole stagnating thing though is that Petrucci’s recent solo album has given me hope that the magic is still in there.  I thought that was fantastic and featured his best playing for many years. I honestly wasn’t sure he still had that insane level of playing in him.

[TAC]

I voted..chronologically:

The Killing Hand
Learning To Live
Take The Time
Scarred
Space Dye Vest
A Change Of Seasons
Lines In The Sand
Endless Sacrifice
Octavarium
The Count Of Tuscany

Chronological..

Breaking All Illusions
Lost Not Forgotten
Outcry
Surrender To Reason
The Enemy Inside
The Gift Of Music
Ravenskill
The X Aspect
Fall Into The Light
At Wits End

Comparing the lists, only Breaking All Illusions cracks the Top 10 from the Mangini Era.

[Cool Chris]

Not in to rankings, but doing this very fast:

Learning to Live
Caught in a Web
Innocence Faded
Voices
A Change of Seasons
Finally Free
Disappear
Endless Sacrifice
In the Presence of Enemies
Octavarium
In the Presence of Enemies

This list is my favorite, and it isn't really close, but I cannot determine how much of that to attribute to the nostalgia of DT being my favorite and most listened to band in the 90s, getting me through some pretty tough times. I do not relate to music now as I did then, as I have different, and thankfully less significant, life challenges, and do not rely on music to get me through the day as I did back then.

There is only 1 song over the past 4 albums that is my overall Top 10 (Beneath the Surface) but while this era lacks elite material, I appreciate that it is still solid and enjoyable.

[Ben_Jamin]

This is a great idea...

1. Scarred
2. Finally Free
3. Trial of Tears
4. Learning to Live
5. The Count of Tuscany
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (Thank you for listing it as one song, it made my list way easier, I consider it all one song.)
7. Voices (I consider this one song as well, just because they flow into each other so well, It's their Tenement Funster/Flick of The Wrist/Lily of The Valley. So I chose the main piece to represent the suite.)
8. Stream of Consciousness
9. Surrounded
10. Octavarium

My number 10 spot is actually Don't Look Past Me. I bought the Lifting Shadows First Edition that came with the bonus cd. It had this song on it, I listened and instantly fell in love with it. I never understood why it was never played live, and was elated to find it played live on our stop of the I&W&B tour, and even more astonished they decided to drop it all together, along with To Live Forever.

[Bentower]

Surrounded
Under a Glass Moon
Learning to Live
Voices
Scarred
Space-Dye Vest
A Change of Seasons
Lines in the Sand
Trial of Tears
Fatal Tragedy

DT's music from '92 to '99 is something I'll treasure for the rest of my life, so the MP era is largely where it's at for me. However, I prefer TA and DoT over the albums from 6DoIT to DT12.

[NoFred]

I understand the separation of lists but really, there’s no comparison and I think the difference can be summed up as MP creative tension. I don’t even care who plays, and admit the output got stale in albums 9 and 10, but everything after is lower. Only BAI (naturally since LTL is my #1) makes the top 10 overall.

[MirrorMask]

Other considerations:

- Images and Words and Six Degrees are the only album that got votes for all of their songs.

- SFAM, Awake and Train of Thought have reasonable excuse for missing the all-in: the intro and two soft short acoustic pieces were the only ones who didn't make the cut, ironic how Through My Words managed to get a vote 

[Zydar]

In chronological order:

Another Day
Surrounded
Metropolis
Learning To Live
Strange Deja Vu
The Spirit Carries On
Finally Free
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
In The Name Of God
Sacrificed Sons

Yes, 4 songs from Images And Words.

[Trav86]

Chronologically..

Surrounded
Metropolis
Learning to Live
Voices
The Silent Man
A Change of Seasons
Home
The Spirit Carries On
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
As I Am

Bonus:  I prefer these ten. There’s probably only one song from the “Mangini era” that would crack this top ten, and that is Breaking All Illusions.

[genome]

Learning to Live
The Mirror
Trial of Tears
Spirit Carries On
Finally Free
Glass Prison
6DOIT
Octavarium
Dark Eternal Night
Count of Tuscany

[pg1067]

My number 10 spot is actually Don't Look Past Me. I bought the Lifting Shadows First Edition that came with the bonus cd. It had this song on it, I listened and instantly fell in love with it. I never understood why it was never played live

It was never played live before I&W&B for the same reason that most of the FII reject songs (I'm including DLPM and TLF in this category even though they're from much earlier) were rarely/never played:  Casual fans don't know them, a large percentage of fans don't really like hearing songs live that they're not familiar with (this is especially true once a band builds a large enough catalog that there isn't room in a set for all of the favorites), the songs weren't deemed good enough to make it onto an album, and lots of folks who are familiar with them don't think they're very good.  That's a big part of why DLPM was dropped from the I&W&B tour.  Of course, TLF and Eve were regulars on the I&W tour, so this doesn't apply to those songs at that time.

[hefdaddy42]

In chronological order:

Metropolis Pt. 1
Learning to Live
Lifting Shadows Off A Dream
Scarred
A Change of Seasons
Lines in the Sand
Trial of Tears
The Spirit Carries On
The Glass Prison
Octavarium

I prefer this list over my Mangini list because this is basically my DT Top 10 list.  I admit that nostalgia could be a big factor in that.

My 2 favorite Mangini-era songs, Illumination Theory and Breaking All Illusions, would do no better than 11 and 12 here, most likely.

[goo-goo]

You missed Raw Dog!

[emtee]

Pretty amazing how many different songs have votes. I think only 19 have zero.

My outlier top 10 was These Walls. One of the most underrated gems in DT's catalog. I always thought it could break through on FM radio but I was wrong.

[Evermind]

My outlier top 10 was These Walls. One of the most underrated gems in DT's catalog. I always thought it could break through on FM radio but I was wrong.

Mine was The Ministry of Lost Souls.

[devieira73]

BONUS QUESTION:  If you participated in the "Top 10 Mangini Era Songs" thread as well, which list is your favorite and why?  Which songs, if any, made it more difficult to choose?

My favorite phase of the band is still the 90's, so... but I think they managed to keep the quality very high through all the albums, sincerely.
Anyway, besides that, it's much more difficult to choose the top 10 DT best songs from 10 albums than from 4!

[kirksnosehair]

I participated in both threads and I'd have to say this list is definitely my preference.  For me, Dream Theater's creative peak was SDOIT. 



01. Lines In The Sand
02. The Spirit Carries On
03. The Count of Tuscany
04. Honor Thy Father
06. The Great Debate
07. Dance of Eternity
08. A Change of Seasons  (this would rank higher if they used a snare drum instead of a paint can when they recorded the drums)
09. The Killing Hand
10. Learning to Live

[Nachtmerrie]

Metropolis
Learning to Live
Scarred
Lines in the Sand
A Change of Seasons
Home
The Glass Prison
Blind Faith
Stream of Consciousness
In the Presence of Enemies

Bonus Question: Portnoy era, no brainer.
Only Mangini song in my top 10 is Breaking All Illusions

[Setlist Scotty]

I only used album tracks, plus A Change of Seasons. 

Oops. 

Not really into ranking all the songs, altho I did it for the MM-era songs, so might as well here. It was definitely very difficult, and there's several others that I could've easily selected, but these are the ones that I went with in chronological order:
Light Fuse and Get Away
Learning to Live
The Mirror
A Change of Seasons
Lines in the Sand
Trial of Tears
Home
The Glass Prison
Disappear
The Count of Tuscany

As for the bonus question, my answer is the MP-era for several reasons. I followed them from the beginning, and I believe that the younger you are, the more impact the music has on you, so the attachment I have for the older material is stronger than the newer stuff with MM. Of course, there's more material to select from (10 albums and 1 EP vs. 4 albums). And I do think that there's a certain X factor that is missing since MP's been gone, since he was heavily involved in the writing/arranging of the albums. That's not to say I don't like the MM-era albums (I do to varying degrees), but in general, I don't think that they resonate with me to the same extent that the MP-era albums do.

[PixelDream]

Learning to Live
Voices
Scarred
A Change of Seasons
The Spirit Carries On
The Glass Prison
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
In the Name of God
Octavarium
The Count of Tuscany

Notes:

- I ended up with one too many, so I had to kill 'Misunderstood'. It's not a regular favorite I think among fans, but it's been a top track for me forever. If I had one more spot, I would choose Another Day.

- Looking at this list, I now realize I really ended up with 10 tracks that mean the world to me.

- Scarred is my number one song by the band, and also my number one track from my number one album of all time. I totally worship this album. I also adore Images & Words, but Awake removes the glossy production and replaces it with a more cinematic mood, rough edges, increased heaviness and a super cool production style. In that respect, SFAM echoes I&W, while 6DOIT is more reminiscent of Awake. Kind of.

- I do like FII and SC, but song-wise the other albums have more to offer.

- SFAM is one of their best for sure, but works best as a whole, that's why there's only The Spirit Carries On. The performance of this song at the Score show solidified this track as the ultimate DT sing-along track for me.

- I still like DT with Mike Mangini (Distance Over Time is super dope) and he's such a cool dude (as is Portnoy), but it does feel a lot different. But that's okay. My heart is in the Portnoy era, but every time I've seen them live with MM it was amazing as always.

- My last concert before corona virus came around was DT, January 11th in Amsterdam, when they played SFAM in its entirety. Totally amazing, and I really wish to see them live again.