DREAM THEATER SURVIVOR 2016: Results -> A Change Of Seasons wins!

Satisfied with the results?

  • Total voters
    10
I don't care if Glass Moon is one of Petrucci's best solos; a great solo doesn't save an average song. That said, I still prefer it to the highly overrated Take the Time, but to each their own.

Petrucci's solo in Glass Moon is excellent from a technical, "look at the tricks up my sleeve" standpoint, but I'll take a solo where he nails the emotion (like the aforementioned Lines in the Sand) over showoff moments any day.

And now for a bit of trivia: What's the only Dream Theater song over 10 minutes in length that doesn't contain a guitar solo? First to answer gets a bonus double vote!

Note: You will not get a double vote.
 
Under a Glass Moon - strategic vote that probably won't pay off
Overture - It's amazing, but hard to justify keeping it around
Strange Deja-Vu - Not my favorite, though still quite a good song

Finally Free - the more I listen to this song, the more I dislike it. Overall the vocals just do nothing for me. The chorus melody is catchy-ish, but not great. As for specifics...
  • The jaunty happy part of Victoria's section just feels out of place.
  • I despise the fade-out (Portnoy awesomeness not withstanding).
  • The sound design and plot at the end is fucking abysmal.
    • So, Edward kills Victoria in the past and Nicholas figures it out and is finally free to move on with his life. But for some reason, their story is so cosmically important that one reincarnation isn't enough, no no, of course the only other character in the entire story (Hypnotherapist) is also the reincarnation of Edward and then kills Nicholas again. I get that it "completes the cycle" and seems like a nice wrap-up, but it's plot lunacy.
    • And how exactly is the Hypnotherapist listening to this album before it's even released? You can hear that last riff play from a passing car (that I can only assume is the therapist arriving at the house) briefly as Nicholas pours his drink and walks to the record player.
    • Speaking of that record player: WTF kind of music is Nicholas listening to?! Rejected tuba recordings from Sgt. Pepper's?!
    • Also, what kind of wasteful dick leaves their TV on the entire time they're out getting hynotherapized?
 
I agree that those ending sound effects hardly make sense. I mean, the song is in a car stereo, okay. Then someone gets out and goes into a house, obviously not trying to be quiet or anything, so it must be Nicholas, right? The hypnoterapist/Edward/Miracle would at least try to be inconspicuous, right? Not stomping like a fucking elephant. But

1.) the song has cues regarding Edward and the story "hidden" from Nicholas, so he either didn't listen to it in its entirety or the song that played in his car is only the final, "Finally Free" part (also makes sense),
2.) the house is not locked,
3.) his footsteps sound as if he wore cement shoes,
4.) the TV is on, reporting of a Kennedy Jr.'s death, for some reason,
5.) he goes immediately to put on a tuba recording of the Spirit theme and pour himself some liquor, not even, I don't know, putting down the coat or putting the keys on a table,
6.) the hypnoterapist appears out of nowhere and murders him (how? He didn't shoot him, that's for sure, it was very abrupt, so no stabbing/slashing, he couldn't have been sure he's going to win in a hand to hand duel, so how did he do that? Garrote, maybe?), also fucking up the vinyl somehow. Did he tail him so closely? And how come we didn't hear his footsteps on the gravel or on the floor, especially since Nicholas' footsteps were that loud? How come we didn't hear his car, for that matter? Nicholas didn't. Isn't it kind of strange, since the house is obviously in the country/in quiet neighborhood? (preferably country/suburb because of the gravel),
7.) vinyl players don't switch to static if the needle is fucked up.

Also, I agree that the "the hypnotherapist is Edward" is a complete ass-pull. WHY? Okay, he killed Victoria 70 years earlier (took them all some time to reincarnate in the first place, right?) and then in the next life became a psycho/hypnotherapist because he knew the reincarnated Victoria would visit him? How did he know Nicholas would even try to solve it by hypnotherapy (okay, it might have been his suggestion, but still...)? How did he know who to look for? Or did he not know in the beginning? How come Nicholas did not know about his past life without a hypnotherapy, but the hypnotherapist was already aware? And where's Julian?

I also don't believe the "finally free" part. He knew about Victoria, okay, and he knew her story, but that didn't mean she disappeared. Or that his feelings did. He should be a wreck anyway. If he came to search for a therapy in the beginning, he should still be shaken, especially since he now knows about his previous life (that's right he knows now), but he also knows his past life was violently murdered. That's definitely not something that would make me feel "finally free" and put me in a mood for some tuba and rye.
 
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Opinions. Groove is good but Finally Free majes use of some fantastic melodies and is a great grand finale, with plot holes or not.
 
youstrollin.jpg



But, just so you know, two can play this game.

DT singers, from best to worst:
1. John Petrucci
2. Chris Collins
3. Charlie Dominici
4. Kevin James LaBrie

The band really sold out when they kicked out Chris, you know? He sang with FEELING!

:ninja:
 
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Yes, because I&W, Awake and Moore are so amazing that their magnificence and splendour is simply undescribable to the filthy plebs like me. Thank you for your arguments and explanation. Ah, I forgot, "taste and musicality". Because from the very beginning of LTL or Caught in a Web or Status Seeker, you are drowned in a sea of taste, as far as keyboards are concerned.

I guess I'm really not that smart, because I dislike the early albums. Because I dislike Moore. Because I dislike LTL. That's just something an intelligent person can't do. Maybe I should not participate in the survivor at all.

jazz from hell said:
I'm almost tempted to change my avatar to a picture of Derek.
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But please, do that. Derek's awesome.
 
I don't think that anyone's tasteless because of his preferences. But I also don't like, you know, laughing at someone who does not like the "sacred cows" without at least explaining why these are considered to be those.

I just think Moore's sounds are often unnecessarily too 80's/90's (just as are the I&W or Awake albums as a whole, like it or not - many people complain about Mangini's drum sound, yet Portnoy's drums on these two albums sound like fucking Twisted Sister) and I don't like his style too much. Both Derek and Rudess are superior, IMHO.

Rudess might sometimes be using weird electronic sounds, but then again 1.) so did Emerson, 2.) when he's playing clean piano, he's tear inducing, 3.) his unison parts with Petrucci are without exception my favourite moments ever. He's pushing Petrucci to his limits and that's very good.
To all Rudess haters I can only recommend listening to The Astonishing and realising how much of a hand he had in that. The album might be weird and boring and ballady and whatever, but it's hardly tasteless (at least from the musical point of view)

LTL is a bit more specific, but I covered that one already...

JudasMyGuide said:
Yeah, but the rest of the song is mostly overlong and treads water. The climax is nice and all, but you still have over 4 minutes left afterwards. To me it's probably their longest song that goes pretty much nowhere and one of the toughest to listen to as far as maintaining attention is concerned. I have to actually force myself if I don't want my mind to wander, so it's very often just a background music for me. This fanatical devotion to that song baffles me somewhat. Is it LaBrie's F#? The Yes feeling? (that said, while I still like them a lot, the "treading water" argument could be said about many of Yes songs, heck, albums (Tales, Drama, anyone?)). I mean, it's still mostly harmless good, but those people who consider it to be the masterpiece to end all masterpieces are seriously listening to it with a very different set of ears or maybe on a different planet altogether. Or it's the nostalgia factor, but that's fair - nostalgia factor might be one of the many reasons I have AMOLAD or SC as my top albums.
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I just don't get why people vote against Metropolis and Glass Moon (and even Take the Time) and this is the only untouchable song, even on the untouchable album I&W.

jazz from hell said:
Btw I like Vai a lot (but probably v different albums than you...)
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Not necessarily ;) The dude's realy colourful (from Flex-Able to 7th Song). I like Jarret a lot, too, though his discography is really extensive and I know more of his career as a sideman to Lloyd and Davis. Facing You was a beautiful listen, though.
 
I respect your opinion as well but calling out the sound of two early 90s albums for being too 90s is a bit weird. It's not like these albums came out in the 2000s and did a throwback to those times.

I like Rudess but not for the same reason as you. I like his background work and don't really care for his lead work.
 
I realise that was not the intention, but the sound may be still unpleasant to me. Not allow me to enjoy it wholly. Just as I've seen people complaining about the "80's production" on WDADU. And the "90's production" on NPFTD and FOTD (don't remember where now, but I definitely have). And the drum sound at least could be different - I don't think this was still the norm then. But the keyboards too, I mean, Spock's Beard did their The Light in 1995, which was not recorded that later and the sound is completely different. Or take Parallels by Fates Warning. Very 90's, atrocious drum sound, but at least the keyboards sound very nice. In fact, even the lambasted Symphony X debut might sound better to me in a way (but I'd have to relisten, though).

However there is more to it than just the sound. I just mentioned it as an aside.

It's always about the musician's choices. The hated Jordan uses pure clean piano much more often than those other two, IMO (I might be wrong, but it's my genuine feeling) and even when he doesn't... take those "faux-harpsichord" embellishments from the 9th minute of Stream of Consciousness onward... and tell me it doesn't fit. It's fucking beautiful, that's what it is!

EDIT: I put this here before you edited that second part in. That said, I like him as both. I think he can stay in the background if he wants to and that it's often amazing - take the "no solo" Count of Tuscany:


(aah, the part at 17:28)

but he also does killer unisons, amazing clean piano solos and also controversial, but beloved-by-me synth solos. And he keeps working on himself and isn't afraid to experiment (that Bebot/iPhone crazyness, the continuum...)
 
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