By rights Dream Theater should be among my favorite bands, as I love all progressive rock - except maybe the most experimental kind. Knowing that, friends suggested Dream Theater to me early on: their music was supposedly intricate yet accessible, and the musicians were all top-notch. My first approach was, as usual, through a compilation. This one was called GreateSt Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs). I'll present it in detail in another post, but the gist of it is that it was good and yet not particularly interesting. The playing was as good as advertised but, although one can find no fault with the compositions, my impression was that they were too commercial, too safe - certainly not what one thinks of as progressive. But that actually seems to be the general conclusion i.e. that the compilation is not indicative of the band's true style, so I tried again - this time with the band's original album series box set, containing 5 of their classic albums. I will present them one at a time, starting with Images And Words, the oldest album here and widely considered to be among their best.
The first 3 songs here were already familiar from the
GreateSt Hit comp. "Pull Me Under" is the band's hit, as referred to in that title. It opens with an atmospheric intro followed by a barrage of metallic riffs, and evolves into an epic rocker which is often reminiscent of Rainbow. James LaBrie is an operatically trained vocalist with a typically "metal" high pitched voice - as opposed to most "rock" singers. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but at least it fits the song perfectly. Combined with the heavy riffing, virtuosic solos and catchy chorus, the song has all the elements needed to endear it to all hard rock fans. "Another Day" is your typical Reo Speedwagon-style power ballad. Some fans are appalled by the mellow saxophone, but I liked it as it reminded me of the saxes on Supertramp and Pink Floyd albums. "Take the Time" is introduced with metallic riffing followed by some funkier lines and by LaBrie displaying his vocal range hitting some high notes. After the 4-minute mark it becomes more diverse with proggy keyboards and fast guitar solos of the Steve Vai/ Joe Satriani school. "Surrounded" is a softer, melodic, tune that's pure 80's AOR. Which brings us to fan favorite "Metropolis—Part I". It's evident that the band intended this as their
showcase: an epic song derailed by long instrumental passages of ridiculously difficult solos accompanied by very busy and complex drumming. "
Under a Glass Moon" has all the hallmarks of generic
metal: Metallica (riffs) Iron Maiden (vocals) and Van Halen (solos) come to mind. Maybe for that reason, it's the most indifferent to me, as well as likely to win pure metalheads over. It's followed by my favorite tune here:
"Wait for Sleep" is a short beautiful piano piece with genuinely emotive, histrionic-free, vocals. It serves as intro to the most progressive composition, the 11:30 minute "Learning to Live" - basically a patchwork of mini-songs, charming melodies, and guitar/keyboard solos that lacks cohesiveness but takes you on a musical journey akin to sitting on the window seat of a train enjoying the constantly changing scenery.
Images and Words remains the band's best selling album to date. It defined their sound and served as a blueprint for prog metal in general. It displays considerable complexity and versatility for a Metal album - which is of course akin to describing an animal as considerably graceful for a rhinoceros. On the other hand, if you like 70's prog and have no metal background you may find it unnecessarily bombastic and lacking in finesse. Sure, the extended solos and unexpected time changes bring it into prog territory but the compositions are rather pedestrian compared to the classics of the genre. It nevertheless warrants 4* just on the basis of the excellent musicianship involved: Petrucci and Portnoy are obviously masters of their respective instruments, Moore's keyboards add that classical element, and Myung's bass solo on "Metropolis Part 1" is among the most impressive I've ever heard. LaBrie on the other hand is a technically capable singer whose style fits well with the band but he's difficult for me to warm up to - at least in this record. Anyway the latest careful listen of
Images and Words still didn't convince me to let Dream Theater in among my favorite bands, but it made me appreciate them a bit better than I originally did. Time to give the other 4 CD's in this box set a good listen, and maybe even give
Octavarium another chance
if I still have it - I remember putting it aside after a couple of listens many years ago, unimpressed. It didn't turn up when I cataloged my collection, and it isn't in the right genre/alphabetical position, so I may or may not have sold it or given it away at some point. In any case we'll return to Dream Theater later.
By rights Dream Theater should be among my favorite bands, as I love all progressive rock - except maybe the most experimental kind. Knowing that, friends suggested Dream Theater to me early on: their music was supposedly intricate yet accessible, and the musicians were all top-notch. My first approach was, as usual, through a compilation. This one was called GreateSt Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs). I'll present it in detail in another post, but the gist of it is that it was good and yet not particularly interesting. The playing was as good as advertised but, although one can find no fault with the compositions, my impression was that they were too commercial, too safe - certainly not what one thinks of as progressive. But that actually seems to be the general conclusion i.e. that the compilation is not indicative of the band's true style, so I tried again - this time with the band's original album series box set, containing 5 of their classic albums. I will present them one at a time, starting with Images And Words, the oldest album here and widely considered to be among their best.
It seems that this is my 500th blog entry in a little over 5 years. Not a small feat, despite that it means covering less than 10% of my intended target, which is to present my lp and cd collection one album at a time. Cheers!
ReplyDeletethis blogger has posted a download link for this album:
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