Author Topic: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread  (Read 140783 times)

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Online TAC

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1925 on: January 01, 2022, 09:14:48 AM »
My initial listens of this album were not overly positive, but it has been a big time slower grower.  I am a pretty big fan now.

Had track 3 and the end of the epic both been better, I think this could have been a second tier DT album for me, but it doesn't quite make it. 

Answering the Call, Sleeping Giant, Transcending Time and Awaken the Master are all great.  I listen to all of these pretty often now.

The Alien is very good.

The first 3/4 of the epic is mostly great, but then the last 1/4 is merely good.  Not exactly the most satisfying ending considering the song's length and its build-up.

Invisible Monster isn't as boring as I thought it was at first, but it's solid at best (and features some poor lyrics).


Kev, this album took a number of listens to break down. It comes off as quite thick at first. That's great. I was expecting a thick, technical album this time around.

DT is one of those band that I don't put the new album down without breaking it down first. The whole album is quite satisfying, and there are all kinds of things going on. Jordan is sneaky awesome on this. These are some of his best solos too.

I had The Alien ranked #26 on my Topp 100. ;D

I agree with you on the title track. It's really excellent for the most part. Even though the chill mid section is oh so predictable at this point, on its own, it is amazing. That final vocal part is such a huge let down. This song simply doesn't have a climax, that epic moment. I actually like the outro, but it would've been better had it not have been introduced by such a dud of a vocal line. What a poor choice. And WTF is with the transition between the last vocal line and the outro? It's clearly pasted together, but it sounds like whoever was incharge of that was asleep at the button for a second.

Sleeping Giant and Awaken The Master are so freaking good it's ridiculous.




Oh, and I would say this. This has to be the worst vocal production on any Dream Theater album. It sounds so layered and processed. James sounded so great just two albums ago on The Astonishing. Even on the s/t, he's pretty clear. On this, he's sounds like he's singing through a barrier.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline KevShmev

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1926 on: January 01, 2022, 11:39:29 AM »
Tim,

I totally agree about Jordan. From a collective album standpoint, this might be one of his best performances on a DT record. His choice of tones and sounds are totally on point.  The atmosphere on this record is killer, and a large part of that has to do with the keyboard sounds and playing. 

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1927 on: January 01, 2022, 11:45:39 AM »
Tim,

I totally agree about Jordan. From a collective album standpoint, this might be one of his best performances on a DT record. His choice of tones and sounds are totally on point.  The atmosphere on this record is killer, and a large part of that has to do with the keyboard sounds and playing.

That's what I love most about this album. I was getting a bit, sort of tired I guess of his usual sounds and patches.
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Offline Trav86

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1928 on: January 01, 2022, 01:47:03 PM »
I’m still really liking this album. I did another ranking and I would probably put it around 10. Considering their body of work and where they’re at in their career, that’s pretty good.

Scenes From a Memory
Images and Words
Awake
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Train of Thought
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Distance Over Time
Octavarium
Falling Into Infinity
A View From the Top of the World
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
The Astonishing
Systematic Chaos
Dream Theater
When Dream and Day Unite
Can't we find the minds
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Offline Architeuthis

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1929 on: January 01, 2022, 03:41:09 PM »
My initial listens of this album were not overly positive, but it has been a big time slower grower.  I am a pretty big fan now.

Had track 3 and the end of the epic both been better, I think this could have been a second tier DT album for me, but it doesn't quite make it. 

Answering the Call, Sleeping Giant, Transcending Time and Awaken the Master are all great.  I listen to all of these pretty often now.

The Alien is very good.

The first 3/4 of the epic is mostly great, but then the last 1/4 is merely good.  Not exactly the most satisfying ending considering the song's length and its build-up.

Invisible Monster isn't as boring as I thought it was at first, but it's solid at best (and features some poor lyrics).


Oh, and I would say this. This has to be the worst vocal production on any Dream Theater album. It sounds so layered and processed. James sounded so great just two albums ago on The Astonishing. Even on the s/t, he's pretty clear. On this, he's sounds like he's singing through a barrier.
???    Interesting,  I find the vocals to sound quite stellar on this album!
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1930 on: January 01, 2022, 07:25:32 PM »
   Interesting,  I find the vocals to sound quite stellar on this album!

I thought he was saying his beef was with the production of the vocals, not the vocals themselves. Tim can clarify, but that is how I took it.

Personally, I think James does a great job on this album because you can tell the vocal melodies were written to bring out his strengths and to reflect the current state of his voice.  He has obviously lost quite a bit, but can still sing really well when given the right stuff and when not trying to overdo it (which is usually his big flaw live, IMO). 

Online TAC

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1931 on: January 01, 2022, 07:28:02 PM »
Like I said, the vocals sound like they were recorded in a tunnel or something. The layering of the vocals makes it sound so canned. Just let James sing. Clearly.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Online Ben_Jamin

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1932 on: January 01, 2022, 08:25:50 PM »
Like I said, the vocals sound like they were recorded in a tunnel or something. The layering of the vocals makes it sound so canned. Just let James sing. Clearly.

I like the way they're produced. Jimmy T did an excellent job at them and made them fit the meaning of the song, so to speak.
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Offline SeRoX

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1933 on: January 01, 2022, 08:46:39 PM »
Like I said, the vocals sound like they were recorded in a tunnel or something. The layering of the vocals makes it sound so canned. Just let James sing. Clearly.

View has great vocal production. James sounds live, clean and young. Less prosssed under weird effects, less forced and less layered. And compared to DoT, to me, View is an ear candy.
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Offline CrimsonSunrise

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1934 on: January 02, 2022, 04:04:01 AM »
Initially I found this album kind of mediocre, for lack of a better word.  Now though, with every new listen it is creeping up the DT catalogue for me.  I will say as of now it's my favorite album out of the last 4.

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1935 on: January 02, 2022, 05:51:46 AM »
This has become my most listened-to DT album in a long time. It's gotten multiple plays weekly since its release and I just can't seem to stop wanting to hear it.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1936 on: January 02, 2022, 06:45:21 AM »
Like I said, the vocals sound like they were recorded in a tunnel or something. The layering of the vocals makes it sound so canned. Just let James sing. Clearly.

View has great vocal production. James sounds live, clean and young. Less prosssed under weird effects, less forced and less layered. And compared to DoT, to me, View is an ear candy.

Both albums used effects at times (feels like The Alien has a lot of them, but I cannot recall off the top of my head what other songs do), and I am sure it was done both for effect and to possibly mask some of the aging JLB's voice has done, but in neither case does it really bother me.  I think his live struggles in recent years are more than obvious, but he still brings it in the studio, and that is what the matters the most to me.  :tup :tup

Offline Kram

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1937 on: January 02, 2022, 11:55:10 AM »
Like I said, the vocals sound like they were recorded in a tunnel or something. The layering of the vocals makes it sound so canned. Just let James sing. Clearly.

View has great vocal production. James sounds live, clean and young. Less prosssed under weird effects, less forced and less layered. And compared to DoT, to me, View is an ear candy.
I agree 100%.  I think both James performance, and the vocal production are excellent on The View.

Online TAC

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1938 on: January 02, 2022, 01:04:42 PM »
Like I said, the vocals sound like they were recorded in a tunnel or something. The layering of the vocals makes it sound so canned. Just let James sing. Clearly.

View has great vocal production. James sounds live, clean and young. Less prosssed under weird effects, less forced and less layered. And compared to DoT, to me, View is an ear candy.
I agree 100%.  I think both James performance, and the vocal production are excellent on The View.

Wow. My copy must be defective, I guess.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Glasser

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1939 on: January 02, 2022, 01:44:09 PM »
This has become my most listened-to DT album in a long time. It's gotten multiple plays weekly since its release and I just can't seem to stop wanting to hear it.


I agree 100%!. it’s still getting better with each listen.

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1940 on: January 02, 2022, 01:46:55 PM »
This has become my most listened-to DT album in a long time. It's gotten multiple plays weekly since its release and I just can't seem to stop wanting to hear it.


I agree 100%!. it’s still getting better with each listen.

YUP!
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Glasser

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1941 on: January 02, 2022, 01:58:46 PM »
New DT!!!!




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Offline LKap13

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1944 on: January 02, 2022, 08:44:36 PM »
This has become my most listened-to DT album in a long time. It's gotten multiple plays weekly since its release and I just can't seem to stop wanting to hear it.

Same! Been saying it since early days, this album is incredible. Doesn't get old, stays good

Offline Setlist Scotty

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1945 on: January 03, 2022, 06:28:53 AM »
Initially I found this album kind of mediocre, for lack of a better word.  Now though, with every new listen it is creeping up the DT catalogue for me.  I will say as of now it's my favorite album out of the last 5.
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Online Wim Kruithof

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1946 on: January 04, 2022, 11:15:12 AM »
The album is an absolute piece of art. Each song is exceptional well played and if Invinsible Monster is mostly considered the weakest of them all, they can throw weak on me for many years to come. Even Invinsible Monster is so nice and has plenty rhythm changes, I can't get enough of it. Never a skip, I would say.

Answering the Call and Awaken the Master still can't make up which one is the most gorgious, but together with Transcending Time I enjoy them the most. And then there's also Sleeping Giant, the epic and the Alien... Unbelievable. It might age as my personal favorite album of all times.
Wim pointed out something I don't see mentioned very often...

Offline LKap13

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1947 on: January 04, 2022, 11:59:24 AM »
The album is an absolute piece of art. Each song is exceptional well played and if Invinsible Monster is mostly considered the weakest of them all, they can throw weak on me for many years to come. Even Invinsible Monster is so nice and has plenty rhythm changes, I can't get enough of it. Never a skip, I would say.

Answering the Call and Awaken the Master still can't make up which one is the most gorgious, but together with Transcending Time I enjoy them the most. And then there's also Sleeping Giant, the epic and the Alien... Unbelievable. It might age as my personal favorite album of all times.

*claps hands*

Offline emtee

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1948 on: January 04, 2022, 04:31:40 PM »
Came back to this album after falling into a Mastodon rabbit hole for weeks. Very enjoyable piece of work with the best sonic values in their career. Love every song with one exception....I can't yet make a strong connection with the title track. Parts of it are great but I struggle with the totality. All in all, it's an upper tier album, probably #5 or 6.

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1949 on: January 07, 2022, 06:13:01 AM »
I have yet to get the new album. I always hit up my local music store as much as I can but he was having issues getting stock in, although he did receive the more expensive vinyl versions, he couldn’t get the cd’s.

Then Thanksgiving rolled around, then Christmas, and I completely forgot to check back in with him.

Still have only heard the first couple of songs that were released.
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Offline PetFish

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1950 on: January 09, 2022, 08:28:50 PM »
This is the longest it's ever taken me to get into a DT album but I think I finally get it.


- I think JR is way too low in the mix.

- Transcending Time is *almost* perfect.  I seem to prefer "happy" DT songs.  The middle section sounds very out-of-place for me.  When I hear the outro with the piano and clean guitar I think that's what they should have done in the middle.  Hopefully they'll do an extended outro live that keeps this groove and feel going for a bit.

- For me, Mangini is the star of this album.  How the hell does he memorize all the chaos.  This is probably the most time signature-y and riff-y album they've ever done.

- It's the most "go go go" album they've ever done.  There are barely any breaks.  It just seems to be pedal-to-the-metal the entire time.  It might even be heavier than Train of Thought.


I think it took me so long just cuz of how chaotic and crazy every single song is that I couldn't find anything that pulled me in right away.

Offline Dream Team

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1951 on: January 09, 2022, 09:35:10 PM »
That’s funny, this album does not seem heavy to me at all. Which song is “heavy”?

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1952 on: January 09, 2022, 09:52:06 PM »
That’s funny, this album does not seem heavy to me at all. Which song is “heavy”?

The Alien and Awaken the Master for sure. Segments of Answering the Call and Sleeping Giant as well, I would say.
Wim pointed out something I don't see mentioned very often...

Offline UndercoverMyung

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1953 on: January 09, 2022, 10:00:50 PM »
I agree that the album has an overall "heavy" feel to it. But I dig it.

Offline 425

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1954 on: January 09, 2022, 10:06:04 PM »
To me, this album feels nowhere near as heavy as Distance Over Time. Yeah, DOT has a ballad and a quasi-ballad, but songs like Paralyzed,  S2N and R137 are heavier than anything on AVFTTOW, IMO.
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Offline geeeemo

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1955 on: January 09, 2022, 10:45:00 PM »
This is the longest it's ever taken me to get into a DT album but I think I finally get it.


- I think JR is way too low in the mix.

- Transcending Time is *almost* perfect.  I seem to prefer "happy" DT songs.  The middle section sounds very out-of-place for me.  When I hear the outro with the piano and clean guitar I think that's what they should have done in the middle.  Hopefully they'll do an extended outro live that keeps this groove and feel going for a bit.

- For me, Mangini is the star of this album.  How the hell does he memorize all the chaos.  This is probably the most time signature-y and riff-y album they've ever done.

- It's the most "go go go" album they've ever done.  There are barely any breaks.  It just seems to be pedal-to-the-metal the entire time.  It might even be heavier than Train of Thought.


I think it took me so long just cuz of how chaotic and crazy every single song is that I couldn't find anything that pulled me in right away.

I agree with a lot of this. It did sound so chaotic and heavy to me at first. I had a hard time sifting through it all. It feels like a heavy, chuncky album, that is just blasting you most of the time...but uplifting somehow....only DT can do that! :hefdaddy
 Like they got out their pent-up frustrations but didn't take us down a virus-y, melancholy, depressed tradgedy. Even the anxiety song doesn't make me feel down.
I love this album. My only real eh..is the last 2 minutes of A View...

Offline Kram

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1956 on: January 10, 2022, 12:00:37 PM »
This is the longest it's ever taken me to get into a DT album but I think I finally get it.


- I think JR is way too low in the mix.

- Transcending Time is *almost* perfect.  I seem to prefer "happy" DT songs.  The middle section sounds very out-of-place for me.  When I hear the outro with the piano and clean guitar I think that's what they should have done in the middle.  Hopefully they'll do an extended outro live that keeps this groove and feel going for a bit.

- For me, Mangini is the star of this album.  How the hell does he memorize all the chaos.  This is probably the most time signature-y and riff-y album they've ever done.

- It's the most "go go go" album they've ever done.  There are barely any breaks.  It just seems to be pedal-to-the-metal the entire time.  It might even be heavier than Train of Thought.


I think it took me so long just cuz of how chaotic and crazy every single song is that I couldn't find anything that pulled me in right away.

I agree with a lot of this. It did sound so chaotic and heavy to me at first. I had a hard time sifting through it all. It feels like a heavy, chuncky album, that is just blasting you most of the time...but uplifting somehow....only DT can do that! :hefdaddy
 Like they got out their pent-up frustrations but didn't take us down a virus-y, melancholy, depressed tradgedy. Even the anxiety song doesn't make me feel down.
I love this album. My only real eh..is the last 2 minutes of A View...
I agree with most of this as well - good post!

Offline PetFish

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1957 on: January 11, 2022, 07:20:53 PM »
That’s funny, this album does not seem heavy to me at all. Which song is “heavy”?

Maybe "heavy" isn't what I'm meaning and it's more along the lines of there's so few times to breathe.  I'm feeling like there needs to be a ballad to just give me a break from the onslaught.

At the very least there's a lot of low-string chugging and riffing all over this album.

My favourite riff is the intro to Answering the Call.

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Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1958 on: January 12, 2022, 11:42:06 AM »
That’s funny, this album does not seem heavy to me at all. Which song is “heavy”?

Maybe "heavy" isn't what I'm meaning and it's more along the lines of there's so few times to breathe.  I'm feeling like there needs to be a ballad to just give me a break from the onslaught.

At the very least there's a lot of low-string chugging and riffing all over this album.

My favourite riff is the intro to Answering the Call.

And don't forget the 6,745,861 bass drum hits throughout!   (I kid, I kid!)

Re: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread
« Reply #1959 on: January 12, 2022, 11:44:13 AM »
...


- I think JR is way too low in the mix.



...
I'll second this. This album has been praised for its sound (and for a reason), but everytime that hammond organ pops up, I go: Crank it up!
Also, the chugga chugga sections may have been less, say, obvious with the keys more prominent in the mix. This said, it's a minor issue. Still a great sounding, great album.