Just listened to Sugar Mice. It was fine. The guy's got a nice voice. I always meant to get into Marillion back when they opened for Rush, but I think the generally low quality of Rush's opening bands may have discouraged me. As far as TSCO goes, it's my lowest ranked of the "real" songs on SFAM (i.e., excluding Regression and Through My Words).
It’s just important to understanding that Surrounded ‘07 is not necessarily “nonsense”. It’s very similar to what DT did with Peruvian Skies (infusing elements of Have a Cigar and Enter Sandman)
Not sure whom you're quoting here, but I've never heard Peruvian Skies live and I don't know what Have a Cigar is (and I generally think Sandman sucks).
The live version from Once in a Livetime contains a brief nod to Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd (you’ve seriously never heard that???) and ends by morphing that ending heavy riff into Enter Sandman.
Personally, I like that version better than the studio version, and that track is one of the few saving graces on an otherwise very underwhelming live album.
I think OIALT is a well below average album, and I don't like Peruvian Skies. I listened to OIALT after I bought it, so I'm sure I've heard this, but probably not within the last two decades. I would certainly have recognized Sandman, but it's not something that would have stuck with me. As far as Floyd, I don't like them either. I quickly checked their albums starting with Dark Side, and I can identify no more than six songs that I for sure know. Have a Cigar is not one of them.
I'm generally a BIG fan of "inspiration corner". There's enough unique in the Dream Theater catalogue, and I'm a big enough music fan, so that when there are references and allusions in the music, I dig that. The live "Surrounded" from CiM is perfect for that; DT? Marillion? Pink Floyd? WINNER! (I've long thought the "Marillion/Genesis" connection wasn't actually as strong as the "Marillion/Pink Floyd" connection).
This album is the flip side of that. I love love love Iron Maiden, and dig Metallica, but the other, heavier metal influences on Dream Theater - Opeth, et al - are lost on me. They do nothing for me, frankly, and this is the album that most (imo) reflects that. I like the album when I listen to it, but it's not an album that I go back to often, since there are others that are so much better (this is not in that middle pack that can be interchanged).
I hear what you're saying. I don't mind the intro to Surrounded '07, but the whole Daddy took a raincheck can go fuck itself. OK, that's a bit strong.
Huh?
Also, I don't get the love for "Surrounded '07." They basically took a near perfect, concise song and turned it into a pointlessly extended wankfest with some weird lyrics at the end.
Yeah, I don't understand this; "weird lyrics"? They are quoting probably the second-most famous song from the Fish-era of Marillion. The solo is intriguing too, since they started with the Pink Floyd song "Mother", and the "weird lyrics" only serve to highlight that the solo in Sugar Mice is very clearly an homage to "Mother". I love how DT was able to tie all that together in one nice little package. That's very much my favorite song from that entire set.
"Daddy took a raincheck"? Yeah...weird. What the heck does that have to do with "tonight I'll still be lying there surrounded in all the light"? Not sure what "fish-era" means (did they write songs about fish?), but I couldn't have named a single Marillion song before this discussion started, and a Marillion song that I'd never heard of paying homage to a Floyd song that I barely know (just the guy screaming "mother") is of no significance to me. In any event, and regardless of how many other bands they were quoting/paying homage to, I think all the extended wankery in Surrounded '07 ruins a great song.
Anyway...
05. A Dramatic Turn of Events
...
Number 1 finishes: 1
Last place finishes: 0
Average finish: 7.1
My rankings:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Octavarium
6. Train of Thought
7. Dream Theater
8.
A Dramatic Turn of Events9. When Dream and Day Unite
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Distance over Time
12. Falling Into Infinity
13. A View from the Top of the World
14. Systematic Chaos
15. The Astonishing
This was a great rebound in the wake of two really subpar albums. Bridges, Outcry and BAI are among the band's very best songs. OTBOA is quite strong, and BTS is really good ballad. Unfortunately, the rest of the album suffers in comparison. LNF isn't nearly on the same level as the other three longer songs. BMUBMD is solid live, but I really don't care to listen to it much, and TITL and FFH are both just meh. All in all, an overall solid album.
By the way, while I immediately noticed the structural similarities between BAI and Learning to Live, and while I can see some similarity between OTBOA and PMU, I've never really noticed the other purported similarities (and I've never read what's-his-name's dissertation on the subject.