Queensryche & Geoff Tate

Black Bart said:
Time to pull a Mangini on Todd LaTorre? :D
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I don't recall spitting, punches, and firing of wives being involved in Portnoy's exit, though...LOL. Plus there's this whole Scott Rockenfield legal thing still percolating.

Could I see a limited-run mercenary reunion tour in Japan for quick $$$ someday, like what Dokken did a few years ago? Maybe. But an actual long-term reunion seems nigh impossible to me, and the last 3 LaTorre albums are so much better than all the Tate-era Queensrÿche after Promised Land that I'm not sure what the point would be.
 
Jer said:
I don't recall spitting, punches, and firing of wives being involved in Portnoy's exit, though...LOL. Plus there's this whole Scott Rockenfield legal thing still percolating.

Could I see a limited-run mercenary reunion tour in Japan for quick $$$ someday, like what Dokken did a few years ago? Maybe. But an actual long-term reunion seems nigh impossible to me, and the last 3 LaTorre albums are so much better than all the Tate-era Queensrÿche after Promised Land that I'm not sure what the point would be.
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It is true that the 2010-2012 period was horrible for Queensrÿche, mostly due to Geoff Tate's business decisions (i.e the Cabaret and relying too much on outside writers) and behaviour, as you have exemplified. So something had to change and I really enjoyed the self-titled album.

Unfortunately, Queensrÿche, once the "thinking man's band", has gone stale creatively ever since (in my opinion, they have kept releasing generic albums), not to mention the fact that LaTorre tends to make it "his" band, but I guess that's because there is no other strong "media" personality in the band now.

Though, realistically, I cannot see Geoff Tate rejoining QR... unless Chris DeGarmo and Scott Rockenfield do too. But in the former's case, it is rather unlikely.

PS I rate Hear In The Now Frontier above anything with LaTorre, as well as The Warning, so I rather "get" why DeGarmo left - the album was his brainchild. Just check the setlist for the '97 tour, as far as I'm concerned, it was their artistic peak (not commercial one of course). Having said that, the worst albums, in my opinion, are Operation: Mindrime 2 and American Soldier, which corresponds to when Geoff was all-powerful in the band.
 
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Jer said:
and the last 3 LaTorre albums are so much better than all the Tate-era Queensrÿche after Promised Land that I'm not sure what the point would be.
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All the LaTorre´s are better than post Promised Land Tate. I know you´re not a big fan of the selftitled with Todd but it's really awesome.
 
efekåseo_suomi said:
Is it a prevalent expectation among Americans that all individuals globally should be proficient in English?
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Your English was fine, I think he's expressing astonishment at your overall claim. I don't remember reading anything about Steve's thoughts on SSOASS except that they were positive, but I know that Bruce has been a bit more critical of it, saying that it's only half a concept album and Queensrÿche outdid them that same year on Mindcrime.
 
efekåseo_suomi said:
Seeing Geoff Tate perform Operation Mindcrime in full in a few weeks! I'm so excited. I remember reading a story that Steve broke down and cried when hearing it, saying it was the album Maiden should have done. I think it is from one of the biographies?
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I’m seeing Tate in Stockholm. Been a dream for a decade to see and hear Mindcrime live. It is my favorite album by any artist; it just towers above everything else.
 
Black Bart said:
Unfortunately, Queensrÿche, once the "thinking man's band", has gone stale creatively ever since (in my opinion, they have kept releasing generic albums)
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Huh. I agree that the self-titled with LaTorre is pretty bland and generic, but I couldn't say the same about the next three. There's a lot of stuff on The Verdict that's pretty different, for example ("Propaganda Fashion", "Launder The Conscience", and "Portrait" come to mind).

Black Bart said:
PS I rate Hear In The Now Frontier above anything with LaTorre, as well as The Warning, so I rather "get" why DeGarmo left - the album was his brainchild.
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I remember you've mentioned this before, and I think you were also a fan of Q2K. For me, HITNF felt dumbed down and trend-chasing, and I really only liked "Sign Of The Times" and "You", which were unsurprisingly the singles.

Black Bart said:
[T]he worst albums, in my opinion, are Operation: Mindrime 2 and American Soldier, which corresponds to when Geoff was all-powerful in the band.
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I think Tribe and Operation: Mindcrime II are actually the relative bright spots of the post-Promised Land period. Neither album is great, but they both have enough strong moments to justify their existence. Operation: Mindcrime II I think suffers most from comparisons to the original album, but on its own merits it's got a fair amount of good material on it, along with some chaff.

I also gave Q2K another look (I think inspired by your positive views on it), and it fared better on a relisten than I'd remembered, but there's something so icky to me about Tate singing about sex and lust, and I'm just not a fan of Kelly Gray in general. But it would probably be on par with HITNF for me, a step down from Tribe and O:M II.
 
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Yax said:
I’m seeing it in Stockholm. Been a dream for a decade.
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I got to see the back-to-back Operation: Mindcrime I & II show when it was still mostly the original band line-up (with Mike Stone swapped in for Chris DeGarmo), and even though it was in a smaller theater it still had the full production and was a great gig.

The Mindcrime At The Moore Blu-Ray was a pretty good document of this tour, though it's out of print now and goes for $100+.
 
Jer said:
I got to see the back-to-back Operation: Mindcrime I & II show when it was still mostly the original band line-up (with Mike Stone swapped in for Chris DeGarmo), and even though it was in a smaller theater it still had the full production and was a great gig.

The Mindcrime At The Moore Blu-Ray was a pretty good document of this tour, though it's out of print now and goes for $100+.
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I have the DVD and revisit it every now and then. You are fortunate indeed!
 
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efekåseo_suomi said:
Is it a prevalent expectation among Americans that all individuals globally should be proficient in English?
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First, It was not my intent to offend. My apologies.
Second, My reply was for clarification. Did you mean he cried literally? I should have been more clear.
Third, As Diesel said your English is fine. Hell, I only speak my native tongue so I am impressed by anyone who can speak English as their second or so language as it's a messed up language for starters.
 
Black Bart said:
The worst albums, in my opinion, are Operation: Mindrime 2 and American Soldier, which corresponds to when Geoff was all-powerful in the band.
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What about Dedicated To Chaos ?
When it was first released I quite liked it but it didn´t age very well and contains their worst songs.
 
MindRuler said:
What about Dedicated To Chaos ?
When it was first released I quite liked it but it didn´t age very well and contains their worst songs.
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True, it contains some of their worst songs ("Wot we do" as far as I remember) but some of them are more than ok. I'm going to listen to it again to refresh my memory. ;)

EDIT
+ Get Started, Hot Spot Junkie,
ok Retail Therapy, At The Edge, Broken, Hard Times, Drive, I Believe, I Take You, It's A Lie, Big Noize
- Around The World, Higher (the latter is too similar-sounding to the former, it would have fit better elsewhere), Luvnu, Wot We Do

Lots of "meh" then, but also some "+"s that are more numerous here than on other albums.

The problem of this album is that it features Geoff doing the same thing all along, and too little attention encouraged on the instrumental parts. Too many songs, which are longer than necessary, and some of them quite similar.
 
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Yesterday, I went back and listened to the self-titled from 2013 for the first time in ages. I forgot how great of an album that one was.

EDIT: YES! I am so glad that I came back and lurked in here. He is playing in my hometown too in three weeks! Purchasing the ticket right now.
The Warning and Operation Mindcrime are bonafide 10/10s in my book
 
Abas said:
Yesterday, I went back and listened to the self-titled from 2013 for the first time in ages. I forgot how great of an album that one was.

EDIT: YES! I am so glad that I came back and lurked in here. He is playing in my hometown too in three weeks! Purchasing the ticket right now.
The Warning and Operation Mindcrime are bonafide 10/10s in my book
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You're lucky, current tour is OM in full ;)
 
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