Best Album Ever Survivor: Somewhere In Time wins
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SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
Disc 2 is just a big melting pot really.
SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
Hmm, I'm not sure. Physical Graffiti has Zeppelin sounding like everything from country Down By The Seaside to Funk ala Sly and the Family Stone in Trampled to pure pop to acoustic folk songs to heavy blues rockers....This albums has everything.
SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
It has everything Houses of The Holy has and then some....But Houses has No Quarter 
SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
Haha
However which way you want to put it. But that is an amazing song alright. You want to know how I first heard it?
However which way you want to put it. But that is an amazing song alright. You want to know how I first heard it?
SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
Yes, No Quarter, second to last song on Houses...
____no5
Free Man
SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
Oh, well it is not really much of a story, but I got to know that song through this band and their cover version in 1993. Heavy!!
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Meanwhile, the Foro "The Led Zeppelin basher" continues to listen to Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory:
8. Home. A captivating song. I love such Arabic melodies.
9. The Dance of Eternity was pretty OK as well. Until now I have to admit I haven't heard that much wankery yet. Ok, this was a bit lengthy but not that much over the top.
10. One Last Time has this chord scheme that stays in my head. Really nice dramatic melody. And I can stand LaBrie here!
11. The Spirit Carries On is not my cup of tea. The melodies and singing. It reminds me too much of a song from perhaps Pink Floyd (or even Queen?). I can't place it yet, but it doesn't sound very original.
12. Finally Free. The short recurring of One Last Time was neatly done but I don't like the other melodies enough to appreciate the whole track. Lots of repetition. Lots of sound effects. Lots of story telling, but simply not enough music. Maiden, Iced Earth, Rush, Helloween, they all do more with a track of such length.
In the end I have to confess that the music on this album was not just some showing off. The problem of the songs in red were as I expected from other listenings to Dream Theater:
- Difficult to bear the vocals.
- Not very memorable melodies.
It is a personal opinion but that's what this game is about: a sum of personal opinions.
7. Through her Eyes was also hard to bear. A ballad with non pleasant vocals.
8. Home. A captivating song. I love such Arabic melodies.
9. The Dance of Eternity was pretty OK as well. Until now I have to admit I haven't heard that much wankery yet. Ok, this was a bit lengthy but not that much over the top.
10. One Last Time has this chord scheme that stays in my head. Really nice dramatic melody. And I can stand LaBrie here!
11. The Spirit Carries On is not my cup of tea. The melodies and singing. It reminds me too much of a song from perhaps Pink Floyd (or even Queen?). I can't place it yet, but it doesn't sound very original.
12. Finally Free. The short recurring of One Last Time was neatly done but I don't like the other melodies enough to appreciate the whole track. Lots of repetition. Lots of sound effects. Lots of story telling, but simply not enough music. Maiden, Iced Earth, Rush, Helloween, they all do more with a track of such length.
In the end I have to confess that the music on this album was not just some showing off. The problem of the songs in red were as I expected from other listenings to Dream Theater:
- Difficult to bear the vocals.
- Not very memorable melodies.
It is a personal opinion but that's what this game is about: a sum of personal opinions.
The Flash
Dennis Wilcock did 9/11
I have no problem with your statements about Through Her Eyes and The Spirit Carries On, but Finally Free doesn't feature enough music ? It has three certain parts that give goosebumps to me. I'm not talking about sounding good, I'm saying giving goosebumps.
The parts are : 1:02 - 1:29, 4:02 - 4:44 (i think the sound effects fit fantasticly, considering they represent Nicholas' mind at the moment), 05:27 - 05:52
The track length is illusive. The first 24 seconds feature spoken-word, for almost four minutes it's all about improvized drum attacks (which I absolutely love, btw, but slamming repetitiveness doesn't make much of a sense here), and there's barely any music in last two minutes and it serves a different purpose. "Maiden, Iced Earth, Rush, Helloween, they all do more with a track of such length." argument just sounds out of place, I think.
If they DID try to come up with musical material on those parts, you'd have a point, but as the last track of the album, it serves as conclusion of the story on the album.
The argument about DT not having memorable melodies makes me think that people don't give their stuff enough chance to digest. The Final Frontier doesn't feature memorable melodies at first listen. If I were to not give it more chances, I'd probably hate the album but now it's one of my favorites of the band. DT's stuff are much tougher to digest than TFF, it's in the nature of the band. So I don't buy any arguments about "not-strong-enough melodies, not-memorable-melodies" from people who heard the certain album once or twice.
It's not all directed to you Foro, as you probably will assume.
The parts are : 1:02 - 1:29, 4:02 - 4:44 (i think the sound effects fit fantasticly, considering they represent Nicholas' mind at the moment), 05:27 - 05:52
The track length is illusive. The first 24 seconds feature spoken-word, for almost four minutes it's all about improvized drum attacks (which I absolutely love, btw, but slamming repetitiveness doesn't make much of a sense here), and there's barely any music in last two minutes and it serves a different purpose. "Maiden, Iced Earth, Rush, Helloween, they all do more with a track of such length." argument just sounds out of place, I think.
If they DID try to come up with musical material on those parts, you'd have a point, but as the last track of the album, it serves as conclusion of the story on the album.
The argument about DT not having memorable melodies makes me think that people don't give their stuff enough chance to digest. The Final Frontier doesn't feature memorable melodies at first listen. If I were to not give it more chances, I'd probably hate the album but now it's one of my favorites of the band. DT's stuff are much tougher to digest than TFF, it's in the nature of the band. So I don't buy any arguments about "not-strong-enough melodies, not-memorable-melodies" from people who heard the certain album once or twice.
It's not all directed to you Foro, as you probably will assume.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Well, I hear melodies that I find memorable on the latest Maiden album. First round of listening. Apart from songs they did live, unfortunately Mother of Mercy, The Alchemist, Isle of Avalon and Starblind were not played live.
I also hear them on this DT album, but not enough in the songs that I pointed out in red.
No matter how complex a song is, no matter how many other ingredients a song has, in my ears a melody always dominates the entire listening spectrum. So, I feel a song is easier to digest if it has (enough) memorable melodies, hearing them in the first listening sessions.
I don't think I will discover great melodies when hearing something more often. It could work for many other people like that, but not for me. I have a strong feeling for melodies and will know instantly if I like one very much, or not at all, or something in between.
The song 2 Minutes to Midnight is a special case. I never thought it had stunning melodies and I still don't think it has. But it has depth and atmosphere. And these matters are sometimes less easy to discover at a first listening. So maybe you're right that I could like DT more with more listenings because of a number of reasons but I don't think I will appreciate certain melodies more than now.
No problem, I know you wanted to make a general statement, from your point of view.It's not all directed to you Foro, as you probably will assume.
I see Finally Free as an operetta more than an epic. Here for the first (and so far only) time in Dream Theater's career, the importance of the music is to serve as a background to the lyrics. It doesn't work well on its own because the point of the song is to tell the end of the story. Yes the rest of the album is telling the story too, but the music is just as important and most of the time works well on its own. I think it's very well done and I got chills the first time. Also, the "I Want You" inspired vamp with all the drum fills is awesome.
Spirit Caries On is the 2nd worst song on the album. It's definitely a Floyd rip off, even some of the modulations are lifted directly from Floyd. It feels really out of place on the album, even though we've heard the same progression during Regression. Somehow it's a fan favorite though and one of their most played songs.
One Last Time is cool, maybe you noticed the Strange Deja Vu chorus making a return?
The Dance of Eternity, aka The Musician Killer, is insane. Not only is it one of the most rhythmically captivating thing they ever did, but it still keeps a coherent theme and has relevance to the rest of the album. I always think of this album as an extended Metropolis in some ways, and this would be the middle section. It is also pretty structurally similar to Metropolis.
Home rocks, out of all the songs it has the most Metropolis references. Even has parts directly lifted from Metropolis. Notice "Victoria watches and thoughtfully smiles, she's taking me to my home."
Through Her Eyes sucks.
Spirit Caries On is the 2nd worst song on the album. It's definitely a Floyd rip off, even some of the modulations are lifted directly from Floyd. It feels really out of place on the album, even though we've heard the same progression during Regression. Somehow it's a fan favorite though and one of their most played songs.
One Last Time is cool, maybe you noticed the Strange Deja Vu chorus making a return?
The Dance of Eternity, aka The Musician Killer, is insane. Not only is it one of the most rhythmically captivating thing they ever did, but it still keeps a coherent theme and has relevance to the rest of the album. I always think of this album as an extended Metropolis in some ways, and this would be the middle section. It is also pretty structurally similar to Metropolis.
Home rocks, out of all the songs it has the most Metropolis references. Even has parts directly lifted from Metropolis. Notice "Victoria watches and thoughtfully smiles, she's taking me to my home."
Through Her Eyes sucks.
The Flash
Dennis Wilcock did 9/11
I agree with everything you said, Mosh. Apart from Spirit Carries On being a Floyd rip-off and a non-special song, its lyrics are so cheesy that they drive me nuts. Possibly the cheesiest lyrics ever.
"where did we come from?
why are we here?
where do we go when we die?
what lies beyond
and what lay before?
is anything certain in life?"
"i used to be frightened of dying
i used to think death was the end
but that was before
im not scared anymore"
"i may never find all the answers
i may never understand why
i may never prove
what i know to be true
but i know that i still have to try"
"where did we come from?
why are we here?
where do we go when we die?
what lies beyond
and what lay before?
is anything certain in life?"
"i used to be frightened of dying
i used to think death was the end
but that was before
im not scared anymore"
"i may never find all the answers
i may never understand why
i may never prove
what i know to be true
but i know that i still have to try"