Dream Theater Part 2

And, so, Dream Theater went on and on, becoming more and more ambitious, more and more serious, and, some would say, more and more unbearable (as I said before there are many who HATE this band)......for my money, the next release, the double disc "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" (2002) is pretty good, quite complex in it's concepts (look it up, I'm not going into it all here), quite varied and textured musically, and, at least, the first disc, easilly ranks among their better work......"The Glass Prison" may be my favorite effort.

The following year they would release "Train of Thought", which, (imo) to there credit is a good, more hard rocking, less "Rush-like" effort. I do know that some of the band's hardcore following (and they certainly do have one) dislike this one for just these reasons, but, to me, criticism of AnYONE for being harder rocking AND less like Rush can ONLY be a positive. "This Dying Soul" and "In the Name of God" stand out.

"Octavarium" is up next, NOW we are back towards "Rush-ville"....a tremendously complicated effort musically, maybe too much so, as it kind of falls flat for me......still, there is a lot going on here, some love it, I don't question a bit. "The Root of All Evil" stands as my personal favorite.

The trend toward the ultra-mega seriousness continues on "Systematic Chaos" (not that these boys were exactly the Ramones to begin with).....it's trying to tell some damn grand story, I couldn't begin to explain it if I desired to (I don't). The multi part, multi segmented "In the Presence of Enemies" takes up about half the disc, and if you are a fan of that kind of thing, think Rush's "2112" without the humor (!), this will be for you, I assume......Dream Theater had pretty much lost me by now, as often happens right when they were picking up a much more massive audience.

Because, in 2009, they released the sprawling three disc "Black Clouds and Silver Linings"....I think I've only listened to it once, but it was memorable enough for me that I named it the worst album of 2009, for whatever that is worth. The album (disc 1), itself, wouldn't be as bad as all that, really, were it not for the unlistenable covers collection (disc 2) (shit from Queen? Uh, no....) and the THIRD disc which features (not making this up) INSTRUMENTAL VERSIONS OF THE SONGS ON DISC 1.......someone probably thinks this is a good idea. I have not met him yet.


" A Dramatic Turn of Events" is notable for the departure of drummer/primary songwriter  founding memeber Mike Portnoy, replaced by Mike Mangini. Actually, perhaps due to being shot in the arm by the shake-up, I kind of like it a bit......complex as ever, deliberately progressive as ever, "On the backs of Angles" is pretty damn good, and the rest is not unlistenable.

So the most recent effort that I have is the imaginatively titled "Dream Theater". Again, being fair, it's not as bad as I'd really like to SAY it is, there are, to their credit, a bunch of songs shorter than 10 minutes (exception, of course, being the 20 minute "Illumination Theory".......however, "The Enemy Inside" and "The Bigger Picture" don't sound too bad......

Yes, I know they have also released a metric shit ton of live stuff. I don't have any, if you do and you want it
posted, you know what to do......I also know they've released an album this year, but, what with some of the shit I've been going through, I haven't QUITE yet found time for the all-important new Dream Theater disc......again, haven't heard it, maybe never will, whatever.

An interesting, eventful, and productive career, none could argue that, bit at times a tiny bit on the pretentious side, be hard to argue that, as well.

SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE DISC 1-01 The Glass Prison (I. Reflection II. Restoration III. Revelation)/02 Blind Faith/03 Misunderstood/04 The Great Debate/05 Disappear


SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE DISC 2-01 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (I. Overture II. About to Crash III. War Inside My Head IV. The Test That Stumped Them All V. Goodnight Kiss VI. Solitary Shell VII. About to Crash (reprise) VIII. Losing Time/Grand Finale

TRAIN OF THOUGHT-01 As I Am/02 This Dying Soul ( IV. Reflections of Reality (revisited) V. Release)/03 Endless Sacrifice/04 Honor Thy Father/05 Vacant/06 Stream of Conciousness/07 In the Name of God

OCTAVARIUM-01 The Root of All Evil/02 Nature Sounds/03 The Answer Lies Within/04 Pitch Bend/05 These Walls/06 Wind-Heartbeat-Chimes/07 I Walk Beside You/08 Panic Attack/09 Synth Solo/10 Never Enough/11 Voices Begin/12 Sacrificed Sons/13 Octavarium

SYSTEMATIC CHAOS-01 In the Presence of Enemies Part I (I Prelude II Resurrection)/02 Forsakaen/03
Constant Motion/04 The Dark Eternal Night/05 Repentance (VIII Regret IX Restitution)/06 Prophets of War/07 The Ministry of Lost Souls/08 In the Preence of Enemies Part II (III Heretic IV The Slaughter of the Damned V The Reckoning/VI Salvation)

BLACK CLOUDS AND SILVER LININGS DISC 1-01 A Nightmare to Remember/02 A Rite of
Passage/03 Wither/04 The Shattered Fortress (X Restraint XI Receive  XII Responsible)/05 The Best of Times/06 The Count of Tuscany

BLACK CLOUDS AND SLIVER LININGS DISC 2-01 Stargazer/02 Tenement Funster-Flick of the Wrist-Lily of the Valley/03 Odyssey/04 Take Your Finger From My Hair/05 Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part Two/06 To Tame a Land

BLACK CLOUDS AND SILVER LININGS DISC 3-01 A Nightmare to Remember/02 A Rite of Passage/03 Wither/04 The Shattered Fortress/05 The Best of Times/06 The Count of Tuscany

A DRAMATIC TURN OF EVENTS-01 On the Backs of Angels/02 Build Me Up Break Me Down/03 Lost Not Forgotten/04 This Is the Life/05 Bridges in the Sky/06 Outcry/07 Far From Heaven/08 Breaking All Illusions/09 Beneath the Surface

DREAM THEATER-01 False Awakening Suite (I. Sleep Paralysis  II. Night Terrors  III. Lucid Dreams)/02 The Enemy Inside/03 The Looking Glass/04 Enigma Machine/05 The Bigger Picture/06 Behind the Veil/07 Surrender to Reason/08 Along for the Ride/09 Illumination Theory (I. Paradoxe de la Lumiere Noire  II. Live Die Kill  III. The Embracing Circle  IV. The Pursuit of Truth  V/ Surrender, Trust & Passion

Dream Theater Part 1

Many love them, many hate them, in my opinion they were always quite ambitious, quite experimental, and often quite innovative, as well as sometimes pretty bad. They made a slew of albums, I know there is no way I have them all, but I do have a few of them, so let's investigate a bit.....

For today let us concentrate on their pre-2000 albums, and in the next part (unsure when, remember I am in the middle of the multi-part Costello thing as well). The band was formed by guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, and drummer  Mike Portney in the Boston area ca. late 1980's......I am not about to go into all of their lineup shifts, Petrucci and Myung being the anchors......the first release was 1989's "When  Dream and Day Unite" (note: there also exist recordings from pre-"Where", when the band went by the name "Majesty", I have never seen one) which is fairly standard progish-metal, with strangely poor vocals from Charlie Dominici, who would be let go......it's not a horrendous effort, not anything special either, there are some pretty good tracks here, such as "A Fortune in Lies", "Those Who Help to Set the Sun", and "Only a Matter of Time"......the lists of influences on their sound are too numerous to mention, which, oddly creates a fairly unique sound.

James LaBrie, a more conventional metal vocalist, takes over on "Images and Words".....a better effort by most all accounts. With bands such as this one, there is always the option available that there is some grand concept at work, I'll be damned if I know what it is (or if there is one), I do know this is a pretty good record, "Surrounded", "Pull Me Under" and "Metropolis Part 1" are all worth the effort on one of 1992's most underappreciated efforts, allowing even for the fact that, as I said earlier, a lot of people that I know HATE these guys.

1994 brought us "Awake", which I think is one of their better efforts....harder rocking than the previous sets, yet still retaining the "conceptual" pretensions, (again, no idea what this is all about, but it IS a good effort)....."6:00" and "Caught In a Web" are good examples of tunes which can stand on their own, and then there is the "A Mind Beside Itself" trilogy, which is like the kind of thing that Rush used to specialize in,  only listenable.


"A Change of Seasons" is an EP which contains the stunning 23 minute title opus, plus a bunch of live cover material.....the covers, for me, are just pretty much filler, but this is WAY worth it for the title track, it is that length to good effect, as opposed to its detriment, which is what happens so often. Recommended.

"Falling Into Infinity", as best as I can determine, is mostly about the band's frustrations with their record
label.....it's a decent effort, not as good as some, but with this band you honestly NEVER know....as always, sharp instrumentally, as always, maybe not-so-sharp conceptually and lyrically, but you be the judge....EVERY Dream Theater album at least has its moments, and this one contains "Peruvian Skies" and "New Millenium", as well as a few more. Solid 3.5 star album

We will complete this part of our investigation of Dream Theater with "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory", which is a fairly bloated affair, a sequel to "Metropolis part 1" from "Images and Words".....structured like some sort of opera or play, ("Acts" and "Scenes") the story is not TOO difficult to follow, and I do give them props for THAT.....musically it is as technically proficient as the other Dream Theater albums, one guy I know calls this his all time favorite album (by ANYONE), I can't see that, but really, it is a pretty stunning effort.

When we get to the next part, these guys will really go prog-crazy, some for better, some for worse....but, here is the first half of their career, if unfamiliar give it a try, it's not as stodgy as Rush, not as hard rocking as Tool.....as I said, some like it, some hate it.....I think it's pretty good, overall, and I do find it strange that they never reached the mass popularity that I would have predicted for them.....hell Rush earned it, and these guys were certainly better than Rush......anyway, here are the albums, and sometime next week, we'll get to the rest of their stuff.

WHEN DREAM AND DAY UNITE-01 A Fortune In Lies/02 Status Seeker/03 The Ytse Jam/04 The Killing Hand/05 Light Fuse and get Away/06 Afterlife/07 The ones Who help to Set the Sun/08 Only a Matter of Time

IMAGES AND WORDS-01 Pull Me Under/02 Another Day/03 Take the Time/04 Surrounded/05 Metropolis part 1/06 Under a Glass Moon/07 Wait For Sleep/08 Learning to Live

AWAKE-01 6:00/02 Caught In a Web/03 Innocence Faded/04 Erotomania/05 Voices/06 The Silent Man/07 The Mirror/08 Lie/09 Lifting Shadows Off a Dream/10 Scarred/11 Space-Dye Vest

A CHANGE OF SEASONS-01 A Change of Seasons/02 Funeral For a Friend-Love Lies Bleeding/03 Perfect Stranger/04 The Rover-Achilles last Stand/The Song Remains the Same/05 The Big Medley

FALLING INTO INFINITY-01 New Millennium/02 You Not Me/03 Peruvian Skies/04 Hollow Years/05
Burning My Soul/06 Hell's Kitchen/07 Lines in the Sand/08 Take Away My Pain/09 Just Let Me Breathe/10 Anna Lee/11 Trial of Tears (I. It's Raining, II. Deep in Heaven, III. The Wasteland

METROPOLIS PART 2: SCENES FROM A MEMORY-01 Act 1 Scene 1-Regression/02 Act  1 Scene Two I-Overture 1928/03 Act 1 Scene 2 II-Strange Deja Vu/04 Act 1 Scene 3 I-Through my Words/05 Act 1 Scene 3 II-Fatal Tragedy/06 Act 1 Scene 4-Beyond This Life/07 Act 1 Scene 5-Through Her Eyes/08 Act 2 Scene 6-Home/09 Act 2 Scene 7 I-The Dance of Eternity/10 Act 2 Scene 7 II-One last Time/11 Act 2 Scene 8-The Spirit Carries On/12 Act 2 Scene 9-Finally Free

OK, I could EASILLY hate these guys and their ultra-serious approach, but I don't because they have such great musical chops......draw your own conclusions, and as you will see on Part 2 of this (whenever I do it), you will see that they had barely cracked the ice on pretentious seriousness......does fucking ROCK at times though, which to me is what matters most.