The Petrucci Pandemic Trilogy - Your Favorites? Also, make a compilation!

[The Letter M]

So John Petrucci has recorded THREE albums over the last year and a half in the DTHQ studio, beginning with his long-awaited 2nd solo album, recorded at the beginning of the pandemic back in March-May of 2020. Then he reconvened with LTE later that year to do LTE3, and finally the new DT album.

JP has been very busy over the last 18 months, and I've been recently listening to all three albums in the order they were released, to REALLY get a grasp of how JP's playing has developed in recent years, and there's a LOT of great stuff for guitar/JP fans to get into. Of these three albums, which has been your favorite? The new JP solo, the new LTE, or the new DT? What have been some of your favorite tracks from these three albums? And if you could make a compilation of the best JP songs among them, which songs would you include?

From Terminal Velocity, I really like the opening title track, as well as "Happy Song" and the album closer, they would all definitely make my compilation. From LTE3, "Beating The Odds" and "Key To The Imagination" are some of my favorites, as well as "Rhapsody In Blue". And from the new DT, the title track stands out, but also "Awaken The Master"!

-Marc.

[Kotowboy]

I hope it brings in some extra $$$ for him 

[Elite]

My compilation would probably consist of 7 tracks from the Dream Theater album. I still haven’t heard Terminal Velocity and I found the LTE album to be boring.

[Kotowboy]

Same. I've heard Portnoys five fills enough over the years.

[TheCountOfNYC]

1: The Alien
2: Answering the Call
3: Beating the Odds
4: Invisible Monster
5: Sleeping Giant
6: Awaken the Master
7: Transcending Time
8: A View From the Top of the World

I think Transcending Time and Awaken the Master should have been switched on the album proper, as TT would have worked better as a breather before the epic. Also, Beating the Odds is one of my favorite LTE songs, and with me wanting to keep all of AVFtTotW intact, there was only room for one song from the other two JP pandemic albums, so BtO wins out over the rest.

[The Letter M]

My compilation would probably consist of 7 tracks from the Dream Theater album. I still haven’t heard Terminal Velocity and I found the LTE album to be boring.

Terminal Velocity is great, definitely one of my favorite albums of 2020. The playing on it is pretty impeccable and the songs are all a joy to listen to, especially if you love Petrucci's playing.

Same. I've heard Portnoys five fills enough over the years.

Hyperbole alert!  I've also read/heard this exaggerated claim enough over the years. I guess folks still feel the need to bash on his playing to have some sense of validation or satisfaction. *shrug*

-Marc.

[Kram]

Best album?  A View, easily - but I would say his "best playing" is on Terminal Velocity.  But that's to be expected as his solo records are a showcase for his playing abilities.

[Kotowboy]

Hyperbole alert!  I've also read/heard this exaggerated claim enough over the years. I guess folks still feel the need to bash on his playing to have some sense of validation or satisfaction. *shrug*

-Marc.

LOL !!!!!OR ITS ACTUALLY MY OWN OPINION LMAO !!!!!!!!

[Awaken]

Great thread - Petrucci has absolutely been keeping busy during the past 20+ months.  I'm a massive fan of Terminal Velocity, I enjoy pretty much all of the songs.  I was not a big fan of LTE3 - there wasn't much to come back to (for me).  It had nothing to do with Portnoy, in fact I thought he did a monster job on TV and I think it was beneficial for JP to work with 'another drummer' (albeit a familiar one  )

Tracklist (didn't worry about keeping it at CD length, if it's a double - it's a double)
Answering the Call
The Oddfather
Sleeping Giant
Gemini
Awaken the Master
Happy Song
A View from the Top of the World
Temple of Circadia

[The Letter M]

Hyperbole alert!  I've also read/heard this exaggerated claim enough over the years. I guess folks still feel the need to bash on his playing to have some sense of validation or satisfaction. *shrug*

-Marc.

LOL !!!!!OR ITS ACTUALLY MY OWN OPINION LMAO !!!!!!!!

Except saying it's your opinion doesn't automatically make it a fact or even correct. That would be like if I said "JOHN PETRUCCI HAS NO BEARD" and claimed it was true because it's my "opinion" when in fact John actually has a beard. Hyperbolic claims aren't facts no matter how much you believe in them, but you keep doing you Kotow. 

Like I said, I'll never understand how folks can continue to bash MP for his playing. Yes, he doesn't practice like most hardcore drummers, and he hasn't really learned anything new over the years, but to believe that he literally only does "five fills" all the time is pretty petty. If you don't like his drumming, that's fine, but you don't have to demean him/his playing to the point of incorrectly stating his skill level. For awhile, Neil Peart had a similar bag of tricks as well, but you don't see Rush fans bashing Neil for his playing.

Great thread - Petrucci has absolutely been keeping busy during the past 20+ months.  I'm a massive fan of Terminal Velocity, I enjoy pretty much all of the songs.  I was not a big fan of LTE3 - there wasn't much to come back to (for me).  It had nothing to do with Portnoy, in fact I thought he did a monster job on TV and I think it was beneficial for JP to work with 'another drummer' (albeit a familiar one  )

Tracklist (didn't worry about keeping it at CD length, if it's a double - it's a double)
Answering the Call
The Oddfather
Sleeping Giant
Gemini
Awaken the Master
Happy Song
A View from the Top of the World
Temple of Circadia

Good choices! I have been enjoying MP on Terminal Velocity a lot lately, and yeah, he sounds great with JP and LaRue again. I had watched a video of JP playing "Happy Song" on the G3 2018 Tour with Mangini and it was interesting hearing how he played those parts and it really seemed like JP controlled the direction of the drum parts because there were a lot of similar parts between that live performance and what MP plays on the album.

-Marc.

[hefdaddy42]

My favorite of the 3 is the DT album, but they are all fantastic.

[gzarruk]

Really enjoyed his solo album when it was released, but I think I've only given it 2 or 3 listens ever since. LTE3 was very fun too, but it sounds like a poor man's instrumental DT album really.

Then, we have AVFTTOTW

[Skeever]

LTE3
DT
JP

In that order.

The first two are pretty close, though.

[Dave_Manchester]

Terminal Velocity. It was my album of the year for 2020 and nothing released since then has surpassed it. It's probably my favourite album of the last 5 years.

[jayvee3]

View easily for me. While there are some good moments on the other albums, full albums with no vocals do my head in after a while and I tend to lose a bit of interest - even with some of my favourite musicians in the world. I liked both instrumental albums enough, but kind of lose interest after a few tracks. Even when listening to View’s instrumental mix, I can’t wait to listen again with the vocals back. I like the fact that what’s being played, also does so to support the vocal melodies. Just feels more coherent to me..

[darkshade]

Same. I've heard Portnoys five fills enough over the years.

Still waiting for a memorable beat or fill from Mangini, though...

/hyperbolic posting.

[The Letter M]

Same. I've heard Portnoys five fills enough over the years.

Still waiting for a memorable beat or fill from Mangini, though...

/hyperbolic posting.

You mean like when he does the two-hi-hat groove that is clearly his hands on two different hi-hats because for some reason he doesn't do 16th note hi-hat patterns for a groove all on one hi-hat like he has some agenda against two-hand patterns on a single hi-hat?

(This is legit a thing I've noticed with Mangini's playing that he often will do fast hi-hat grooves over his left and right hi-hats and never on the same one and it creates a very swooshy/busy sound because the hats are different, so the resulting groove is a bit muddled rather than doing it all on one hi-hat to keep the sound consistent.)

-Marc.

[erciccio]

I was not a great fan of Suspended Animation, while I really liked Terminal Velocity. I think it's a perfect mix of different styles, melody and shredding.
LTE3 has a few nice songs, but it's less consistent overall.
I really don't like JPs work on AVFTTOTW. Unlike Terminal Velocity, it's basically mono-dimensional, with most solos sounding uninspired (yes, I use this word!) to my ears and most of his background work based on chuggas (yes, it is!- see other discussions for detauls)

My song list would be:

Terminal Velocity
Beating the odds
Invisible Monster
The Oddfather
Happy song
Sleeping Giant
The way things fall
Key to the imagination

[Architeuthis]

All three releases are very enjoyable but I went with AVFTTOTW.  Terminal Velocity and LTE3 both have some of JP's best guitar work to date. So by the time he recorded the new DT album, he was very brushed up on his guitar skills and it really shines through on the new DT album. 

As far as the drums go, I like both MM and MP equally as much on these records. Both of them really brought it and it's hard to compare the two.  Definitely two of the greats of our time..

MP deserves a lot of credit for his accomplishments during the pandemic.  New Flying Colors Album, Trans Atlantic, Terminal Velocity, LTE3, and the new NMB, and Winery Dogs albums.. that's pretty incredible if you think about it..   

[Ben_Jamin]

Terminal Velocity, for the tone of JP's guitar alone. It shines on this album and rightfully so being a solo album. LTE 3 has songs that sound too similar to past DT songs and are why I tend to not listen to it much. Although it does have great songs and sounds great. The improvisation tracks actually capture that LTE vibe and tone more so than the composed tracks. If they blended both the improvisation with the composition it would've captured that LTE quality more for me. A View combines both of these albums tones, enhances it, then does more with the tone. But, I prefer his overall playing on Terminal Velocity.

1.Keys to The Imagination
2. Transcending Time
3. Happy Song ​
4. Answering The Call
5. Temple of Circadia
6. View From The Mountaintop
7. Glassy-Eyed Zombies
8. Awaken The Master
9. The Way Things Fall
10. A View From The Top Of The World
11. Ya Mon