Love or Hate?

grindy · 10-15-2015, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Why?

I was young and stupid and liked some of their songs because I confused technical proficiency with good music.
At concert length I realised my mistake.

Traveling_Alone · 10-15-2015, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grindy

I've been to a Dream Theater concert.
It lasted three hours or at least felt that way.

Never seen them in concert, but when attempting to listen to a DT album I've always felt this way.

Trollheart · 10-15-2015, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I'm pretty sure more people on this site have shown appreciation for Ke$ha than Dream Theater.

That's just because of her tits. Now if James LaBrie had tits ...oh. Wait...

The Batlord · 10-15-2015, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

That's just because of her tits. Now if James LaBrie had tits ...oh. Wait...

No, it's because her music is objectively superior.

Trollheart · 10-15-2015, 02:20 PM

Cant be objective, only subjective. Music is subjective. Trollheart FTW.

Trollheart · 10-15-2015, 02:23 PM

Title: Church of Anthrax
Artiste: John Cale and Terry Riley
Genre: Avant-garde
Familiarity: While almost everyone knows John Cale, I've heard him on VU but that's it. Terry Riley I have heard through another rec from Frownland; really enjoyed that.

1. Church of anthrax: Groovy. Organ is cool, bass is great. I see this album is almost entirely instrumental bar the third track. I have no idea if I'm right here, but I think I prefer a tenor sax to a soprano one? Lower, smokier, fuller, whereas this is kind of like a clarinet or something? Ah hell, I don't know. I just know it's a little light and airy for me. Still good though
2. The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace at Versailles: Like the slow piano intro here; I'm already forming an image in my mind. Again, I would have been happier without the horn. Nice tune even so, quite long at almost eight minutes. Let's see where it goes. Oh, it's over. Well that didn't make too much of an impression.
3. The soul of Patrick Lee: Nice sort of folky tune; interesting to hear vocals.
4. Ides of March: Great piano here, no sign of sax yet but I'm sure it's coming. I don't mean to diss Riley, it's just that sort of sax does not appeal to me at all and it kind of ruined the “Hall of Mirrors” track a little. Longest one here, this is, at eleven minutes and change. Favourite so far for sure. Percussion is great too. Hey! No sax! At all. Liked that a lot.
5. The protege: Short but I really enjoyed it. Didn't like the ending though.

End result: Interesting little album. Wouldn't be mad about it, but it was nice. Some good tracks, some not so good. Feel it should have been a lot better, somehow...

So, Love or Hate? All I can give this is a Like.

The Batlord · 10-15-2015, 02:26 PM

Dream Theater's awfulness is an exception to that rule, as is Ke$ha's awesomeness.

**Frownland** · 10-15-2015, 03:01 PM

I was worried that the soprano sax might turn you off. Oh well, at least you got some kicks out of it. I love both artists and feel like it could be improved as well, tbh, but I still think it's a very solid record. It's just that given the track record of both artists, they could have taken it to greater heights (although I'm sure the heights that we're both envisioning are very different).

Trollheart · 10-16-2015, 03:03 PM

Title: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
Artiste: Dream Theater
Genre: Progressive Metal
Familiarity: I've heard two of their albums; didn't care for either.

1. Scene One: Regression: Okay, well before I've even heard a note I have a problem, and it's with the difficulty I've always had with Dream Theater, and that is pretension. If you're going to split your album up into tracks called “Scenes”, fine --- the album is called Scenes From a Memory, after all --- but why further subdivide those scenes into parts? So you have Scene Two, I and Scene Two, II. Pre-ten-tious! Maybe I'll be eating my words at the end of this review, but this is not a good way to start off. Anyway, music, music... Oh great. We open on a clock ticking and a hypnotist talking, fading out now, nice acoustic guitar coming in, good vocal. Like this, despite my acerbic comments beforehand.
2. Scene Two: I. Overture 1928: This is an instrumental, and is pure prog rock/metal. Nothing bad to say about this. Flows directly into
3. Scene Two: II. Strange deja vu: Having read the plot I'm now intrigued and a little more disposed towards tolerance or acceptance of the album, and yet we'll see. But nothing bad so far and I've not heard any evidence of technical wankery like on the other two albums I listened to. Everything here seems to fit into the narrative, whether vocal or musical, though we have of course some distance to go yet.
4. Scene Three: I. Through my words: A short piano piece, very nice.
5. Scene Three: II. Fatal tragedy: Darker tinge to the piano now; whole thing takes on a more menacing tone. Choral vocals are great. An instrumental section that feels like it actually adds to, and belongs to the song rather than just being a jam, an excuse to show off. Some pretty spectacular keyboard work, all the same. Nobody said these guys can't play.
6. Scene Four: Beyond this life: Much tougher and rockier, hard guitar driving this from the start. Faster, almost frenetic in places, real sense of urgency and panic. Portnoy does some great work on the kit. This is one of the longer tracks, at just under eleven and a half minutes, so if there's going to be any wankery it should be here. I'm hoping not, though. Like the slower, gentler passage about halfway, then a solo from Petrucci that seems taken out of “Money” by Floyd. Well, there is an extended instrumental near the end, but it does seem to fit in and be part of the story. Well done.
7. Scene Five: Through her eyes: Touches of gospel in the opening, with a very Gilmouresque guitar then it becomes a ballad/lament with some lovely acoustic guitar. I shoudl speak about the vocal too. James LaBrie has a really nice, clear and soulful voice, and the emotion really bleeds through as he sings. Backing vocals really add to the song.
8. Scene Six: Home: Another long one, almost thirteen mnutes, but I'm feeling much more sanguine about this album now. Nice eastern tinge to the guitar (or is it a sitar? Sitar I think), the tempo slowly increasing as it goes before it breaks into a big powerful instrumental, almost three minutes before the vocal comes in strongly. The position Edward is put in is very well described and brought to life here, and the madness of the gaming table just adds to that, almost as if he's being told to take his own gamble. Great keyboard solo from Jordan Rudess, his first stint with them I believe
9. Scene Seven: I. The dance of eternity: Next up in an instrumental. Six minutes long. Meh, it's all right, but do we really need it? Does it convey any special message or make a bridge between sections? Maybe it does, and lord knows Genesis have long enough instrumentals themselves, but I'm just not as blown away by this as I have been with the rest of the album so far. Yeah, I could definitely have lived without that, but in fairness it's a small complaint where I thought there would be loads of them, so I'll let it slide.
10. Scene Seven: II. One last time: Back on track now. This is much better.
11. Scene Eight: The spirit carries on: Chanelling Waters here; very emotional sort of waltzy ballad. I hear a lot of “The tide is turning” from Radio KAOS. Gospel coming back in, with a strong sense of Floyd backing vocals. Great guitar work from Petrucci. Love this one. Might have been better to have ended on this but...
12. Scene Nine: Finally free: ... back to the voice of the hypnotherapist with a nice picked guitar then some very dark symphonic strings with sounds of thunder before solo piano takes the tune, and we learn the horrible truth. Not sure what the news clips near the end have to do with it, though I read that after finding out the truth, the hero is shot by the hypnotherapist, who turns out to be the reincarnation of his killer in his other life as Victoria. It's possibly an unnecessarily dark ending to what could have been a triumph, but I suppose every story can't have a happy ending.

End result: Well, that was a total revelation! It's been quite a while since I enjoyed an album so much, and so unexpectedly. I don't know whether it will change my mind about Dream Theater, but at least now I now that they can make really great albums like this, so there are probably some gems in there. This really impressed me, and I had no idea it would. A real masterpiece, deserves to be up there with The Wall and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway as concept albums. I believe “Rolling Stone” chose it through their readers as the top concept prog album ever, and when I read that I was scathing in my inner criticism and disbelief, but I can kind of see the justification for it now.

So, Love or Hate? Taking me quite by surprise, I have to award this a True Love. It's just that good, and the unexpected factor pushes it well over the line.

TechnicLePanther · 10-16-2015, 04:52 PM

Glad you enjoyed it! I love to give you surprise Loves; it gives me the most pride in my suggestion.

10-15-2015, 02:20 PM	#1885 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Cant be objective, only subjective. Music is subjective. Trollheart FTW. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-15-2015, 02:23 PM	#1886 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Title: Church of Anthrax Artiste: John Cale and Terry Riley Genre: Avant-garde Familiarity: While almost everyone knows John Cale, I've heard him on VU but that's it. Terry Riley I have heard through another rec from Frownland; really enjoyed that. 1. Church of anthrax: Groovy. Organ is cool, bass is great. I see this album is almost entirely instrumental bar the third track. I have no idea if I'm right here, but I think I prefer a tenor sax to a soprano one? Lower, smokier, fuller, whereas this is kind of like a clarinet or something? Ah hell, I don't know. I just know it's a little light and airy for me. Still good though 2. The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace at Versailles: Like the slow piano intro here; I'm already forming an image in my mind. Again, I would have been happier without the horn. Nice tune even so, quite long at almost eight minutes. Let's see where it goes. Oh, it's over. Well that didn't make too much of an impression. 3. The soul of Patrick Lee: Nice sort of folky tune; interesting to hear vocals. 4. Ides of March: Great piano here, no sign of sax yet but I'm sure it's coming. I don't mean to diss Riley, it's just that sort of sax does not appeal to me at all and it kind of ruined the “Hall of Mirrors” track a little. Longest one here, this is, at eleven minutes and change. Favourite so far for sure. Percussion is great too. Hey! No sax! At all. Liked that a lot. 5. The protege: Short but I really enjoyed it. Didn't like the ending though. End result: Interesting little album. Wouldn't be mad about it, but it was nice. Some good tracks, some not so good. Feel it should have been a lot better, somehow... So, Love or Hate? All I can give this is a Like. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-15-2015, 03:01 PM	#1888 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	I was worried that the soprano sax might turn you off. Oh well, at least you got some kicks out of it. I love both artists and feel like it could be improved as well, tbh, but I still think it's a very solid record. It's just that given the track record of both artists, they could have taken it to greater heights (although I'm sure the heights that we're both envisioning are very different). __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

10-16-2015, 03:03 PM	#1889 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Title: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory Artiste: Dream Theater Genre: Progressive Metal Familiarity: I've heard two of their albums; didn't care for either. 1. Scene One: Regression: Okay, well before I've even heard a note I have a problem, and it's with the difficulty I've always had with Dream Theater, and that is pretension. If you're going to split your album up into tracks called “Scenes”, fine --- the album is called Scenes From a Memory, after all --- but why further subdivide those scenes into parts? So you have Scene Two, I and Scene Two, II. Pre-ten-tious! Maybe I'll be eating my words at the end of this review, but this is not a good way to start off. Anyway, music, music... Oh great. We open on a clock ticking and a hypnotist talking, fading out now, nice acoustic guitar coming in, good vocal. Like this, despite my acerbic comments beforehand. 2. Scene Two: I. Overture 1928: This is an instrumental, and is pure prog rock/metal. Nothing bad to say about this. Flows directly into *3. Scene Two: II. Strange deja vu:* Having read the plot I'm now intrigued and a little more disposed towards tolerance or acceptance of the album, and yet we'll see. But nothing bad so far and I've not heard any evidence of technical wankery like on the other two albums I listened to. Everything here seems to fit into the narrative, whether vocal or musical, though we have of course some distance to go yet. 4. Scene Three: I. Through my words: A short piano piece, very nice. 5. Scene Three: II. Fatal tragedy: Darker tinge to the piano now; whole thing takes on a more menacing tone. Choral vocals are great. An instrumental section that feels like it actually adds to, and belongs to the song rather than just being a jam, an excuse to show off. Some pretty spectacular keyboard work, all the same. Nobody said these guys can't play. 6. Scene Four: Beyond this life: Much tougher and rockier, hard guitar driving this from the start. Faster, almost frenetic in places, real sense of urgency and panic. Portnoy does some great work on the kit. This is one of the longer tracks, at just under eleven and a half minutes, so if there's going to be any wankery it should be here. I'm hoping not, though. Like the slower, gentler passage about halfway, then a solo from Petrucci that seems taken out of “Money” by Floyd. Well, there is an extended instrumental near the end, but it does seem to fit in and be part of the story. Well done. 7. Scene Five: Through her eyes: Touches of gospel in the opening, with a very Gilmouresque guitar then it becomes a ballad/lament with some lovely acoustic guitar. I shoudl speak about the vocal too. James LaBrie has a really nice, clear and soulful voice, and the emotion really bleeds through as he sings. Backing vocals really add to the song. 8. Scene Six: Home: Another long one, almost thirteen mnutes, but I'm feeling much more sanguine about this album now. Nice eastern tinge to the guitar (or is it a sitar? Sitar I think), the tempo slowly increasing as it goes before it breaks into a big powerful instrumental, almost three minutes before the vocal comes in strongly. The position Edward is put in is very well described and brought to life here, and the madness of the gaming table just adds to that, almost as if he's being told to take his own gamble. Great keyboard solo from Jordan Rudess, his first stint with them I believe 9. Scene Seven: I. The dance of eternity: Next up in an instrumental. Six minutes long. Meh, it's all right, but do we really need it? Does it convey any special message or make a bridge between sections? Maybe it does, and lord knows Genesis have long enough instrumentals themselves, but I'm just not as blown away by this as I have been with the rest of the album so far. Yeah, I could definitely have lived without that, but in fairness it's a small complaint where I thought there would be loads of them, so I'll let it slide. 10. Scene Seven: II. One last time: Back on track now. This is much better. 11. Scene Eight: The spirit carries on: Chanelling Waters here; very emotional sort of waltzy ballad. I hear a lot of “The tide is turning” from Radio KAOS. Gospel coming back in, with a strong sense of Floyd backing vocals. Great guitar work from Petrucci. Love this one. Might have been better to have ended on this but... 12. Scene Nine: Finally free: ... back to the voice of the hypnotherapist with a nice picked guitar then some very dark symphonic strings with sounds of thunder before solo piano takes the tune, and we learn the horrible truth. Not sure what the news clips near the end have to do with it, though I read that after finding out the truth, the hero is shot by the hypnotherapist, who turns out to be the reincarnation of his killer in his other life as Victoria. It's possibly an unnecessarily dark ending to what could have been a triumph, but I suppose every story can't have a happy ending. End result: Well, that was a total revelation! It's been quite a while since I enjoyed an album so much, and so unexpectedly. I don't know whether it will change my mind about Dream Theater, but at least now I now that they can make really great albums like this, so there are probably some gems in there. This really impressed me, and I had no idea it would. A real masterpiece, deserves to be up there with The Wall and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway as concept albums. I believe “Rolling Stone” chose it through their readers as the top concept prog album ever, and when I read that I was scathing in my inner criticism and disbelief, but I can kind of see the justification for it now. So, Love or Hate? Taking me quite by surprise, I have to award this a True Love. It's just that good, and the unexpected factor pushes it well over the line. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-16-2015, 04:52 PM	#1890 (permalink)
TechnicLePanther and the livin' is easy... Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: New York Posts: 1,997	Glad you enjoyed it! I love to give you surprise Loves; it gives me the most pride in my suggestion. __________________ Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN *SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM* - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough.