I'm absolutely no expert on classic progressive concept albums, as I don't have enough experience in classic prog to be able to say anything about it, so I'll pass, but bosk's post sounds perfectly reasonable.
But I definitely want to explain my worship (my all-time favourite album since I've discovered it) for SFAM, and a few different reasons for it. Actually I also wrote a pretty long post in the "bashing" thread yesterday asking for more details and stuff only to find out 8 posts appeared in the meantime and the thread got locked
First is the concept. I agree that it's not anything revolutionary. I agree the separated storylines are very simple and far from original. But it's the way they use all the time chaos and how it's all illustrated by the music that makes it amazing. It's full of hidden lyrical references everywhere, links between the '28 and '99 characters, and what seems pretty simple turns out to be very complex in reality - I remember it took me around two months to fully understand the whole story, and I know I wasn't the only one. It's not just "here's a normal story" type of concept, it manages to make a pretty simple storyline a really big, interesting concept that takes a lot of listening and thinking in order to be fully appreciated. Also, I really like the characters - Nicholas feels truly real, we're following him and his thoughts and emotions, while the past characters feel distant indeed. It might not be the deepest psychological concept around, but... well.
Second I would like to mention something I see in this thread and what I'd seen lots of times before - "the songs on SFAM are good when listening to the whole album but average when listened separately". I absolutely cannot agree with this in any way. Although actually a single "unit" on the album is a scene rather than a song (as it usually really doesn't work if a scene is made of two tracks and you listen to only one), every of these scenes has something great and unique about them. Regression is one of my favourite, if not favourite, album intro ever. The way it gets the listener into the atmosphere and manages to really work truly relaxing is something unique, I don't know any album working like that (Terry Brown's voice on the album is one of the most amazing things about it). Each and every single one of the others has a purpose on the album AND is a very well-written, strong song in itself. An album that's excellent when listened to in entirety is great - an album made of excellent songs that are even better when listening to the album is even better. And it is SFAM.
You've probably found out already I consider Home my all-time Dream Theater favourite song and one of my favourites overall. Finally Free and Fatal Tragedy are also two amazing songs, with some very remarkable parts and finding the balance perfectly. The only song I can say is weaker in itself is The Dance of Eternity, but it definitely works in context on the album and especially when listening to the whole Scene Seven with One Last Time as part two. I could write more about each song on the album, but now is not the right moment I guess. But if you're interested - no problem.
Third, I was talking about balance a moment ago. And this is the main, most important and key reason why this is my favourite album ever. It contains absolutely everything that I love the most in DT's music in the perfect proportions, and there is also a reason why they're one of my all-time favourite bands. You might have heard this already, but the balance is perfect in
every way:
- dark and light - for example, Home is certainly the former, Through Her Eyes is the latter. Sometimes the two contrast, sometimes complement each other during one song. It's just
real, without an obvious attempt to write an album of this style or the other - it's just a band doing what's natural. And I really feel it when listening, going through a whole variety of different moods, but never feeling the transition is too strong. That's how it is in reality. And how it should be.
- heavy and light - there are some of the heaviest DT moments until 1999 (well, some of the later songs, e.g. The Glass Prison or A Nightmare to Remember and the whole Train of Thought changed things a bit) on the album when it's right, and there are some of the calmest to date. They're using it with perfect finesse and experience on SFAM, and it never feels like some part is unnecessarily "br00tal" or "boring", and also it doesn't happen that something feels out of place - and I'm pretty sensitive about this.
- technical and melodic - right, this is probably the most important. People, even around here, accuse DT of going into "technical wankery" on the latest albums. Whatever the case, it without doubt doesn't happen on SFAM. The only song with a long instrumental part is Beyond This Life, but that's how it supposed to be, and though it takes time to get used to, it has its place there. All the others are composed perfectly into the songs, and truly stand out - every single one of the instrumental sections is really great and shows the skills of the band, but never falls into "overkill". Also, there are many beautiful and emotional moments on the album, but then there's also lots of excellent technical instrumental work giving it a lot of musical depth. It contains both some of the best performances of each band member, and some of the most emotional and atmospheric moments in their discography.
That's it I think, at least what's the most important. This album has, and always will have, a special place in my heart. And I'm certain I'll listen to it even if I seriously change my musical tastes for some reason. It has everything I ever need in music - strength and heaviness, melody and beauty, complexity and technicality, depth and lyrics, and most importantly - ATMOSPHERE. Whenever I return to it and listen for another week or two (I don't think I'll ever approach the original "listening time", which was around two full months), I drown in it completely, forgetting anything else exists.
And that's how it should be.