Dream Theater Album By Album Thread

Not only is it a great bootleg, it was a great show. I was there for that one!

 

Having faced down the label and lost on FII, Dream Theater laid down the law on their follow-up album. They would accept no interference from the label, and would produce the album themselves. Along with these decisions, they would make one more decision that would begin to fragment their fan base: the firing of Derek Sherinian, by phone, because their preferred choice from the previous round of auditions suddenly decided that he was okay with joining the fledgling progressive metal outfit. This news sent waves through their fan base. Were they off the rails? This would all be understood if the band just turned in a masterpiece…

METROPOLIS, PT. 2: SCENES FROM A MEMORY

To some fans, that is what Scenes From a Memory is: Dream Theater’s masterpiece. A long-awaited sequel to their classic Metropolis, Pt. 1 fusing progressive rock and metal into a conceptual story that would blow your mind…

Unless of course, you’ve already seen the movie Dead Again, which the band fails to credit anywhere in the liner notes, but shamelessly and in my opinion, very much dishonestly plagiarizes throughout. Which would make some sense, if the first part on Images & Words had seemingly anything to do with this story. Though Rush took the sci-fi first part of the Cygnus story and morphed it into an abstract whole with later mythological Hemispheres, stretching some boundaries for sure, the very visceral story of Scenes has no similarities to the original work’s conceptual lyrics, except the labored and manufactured ones that the band continues to force down your throat time and time again throughout the album. The fact they need to spell it out in the liner notes, which pompously resemble a play script, just makes it worse.

And then there is the production. What happens when you give the drummer and the guitarist the reins? All you hear is drums and guitar, which compete throughout the album and leave poor John Myung so far down in the mix the album at times doesn’t even seem to have a bass track. And in what would be the start of a trend, the band shows no ability to restrain themselves and focus on songwriting throughout a full album. One or two songs, maybe.

Masterpiece? To some, yes. To this fan, this is the album that stopped me from listening to any new DT albums for ten years. I hate it.

Act I

1. "Scene One: Regression" John Petrucci 2:06

Starting on a somber and contemplative note, the story is introduced by an acoustic number that is probably the only piece on the album that stands up without the need to follow the booklet. Short, to the point.

2. "Scene Two: I. Overture 1928" (instrumental) 3:37

Of the two instrumentals on the album, this is the tolerable one. And that’s about the only compliment I can pay it. As an overture, it covers some of the themes of the album, but it doesn’t really feel like an introduction, just an instrumental.

3. "Scene Two: II. Strange Deja Vu" Mike Portnoy 5:12

Here is where the story supposedly really begins, but it really makes no sense unless you follow along in the booklet, and even then… it doesn’t make sense. The music isn’t so bad, this would actually be a decent standalone song. But there is nothing remarkable or notable about it.

4. "Scene Three: I. Through My Words" Petrucci 1:02

I don’t even know why this is broken out as a separate track, except to give exclusive songwriting credits.

5. "Scene Three: II. Fatal Tragedy" John Myung 6:49

Here is where the album goes downhill fast. In the past I knocked Petrucci’s vague songwriting, but I’d welcome a dose of it here. The literalism here is forced and the music that accompanies it is pretty bad, especially at around the 2:10 mark. As an attempt at gothic storytelling, it is weak at best. But the ‘romanticism’ of the choruses is so misplaced, especially when juxtaposed with the riffage starting at 3:54. It just doesn’t work. The instrumental passages beginning with this song don’t sound like an extension of the song, but instead are shoehorned in. And it is telling of the production that the keyboard solos compete with the rhythm guitars for attention. And then it gets worse.

6. "Scene Four: Beyond This Life" Petrucci 11:22

WTF. Is DT channeling The Ramones with that opening riff? Because it starts off weak, and just gets weaker each time it repeats as the song goes on. And on. And on... Typically when I put in this album, here is where I either lose interest and turn the album off, or hit the skip button. The literalism is back, as is the forced attempt at a ‘gothic’ feel on the choruses, and the whole song just… well, it blows. If it is supposed to be the reading of a news article, why is it so damn angry? Well, except for those cheesy backing vocals right before the song descends again into that mindless main riff and aimless noodling for about five minutes…

7. "Scene Five: Through Her Eyes" Petrucci 5:29

Decent song. I like the soothing female vocal opening that brings us back from the drudgery of the prior song. But I feel like somehow they are trying to hard to evoke other (better) prog albums that have included ‘character’ voices too far into the album. The fact that it is only an ‘accent’ just makes it a bit… lacking. I think that lyrically, this is probably one of the better songs on the disc and I give credit to Petrucci for grounding this absurd story a bit. But the song just stays on that one note and really doesn’t go anywhere interesting. Especially not when James starts vamping at the end. Oh, and what’s with the abrupt fade?

Act II

8. "Scene Six: Home" Portnoy 12:53

Oh hell yeah. Now this is where I start listening again. This, my friends is some serious shtuff. That opening riff is what really evokes the original Metropolis – not some rote reincorporating of it’s motifs, but some seriously gnarly balls-out prog rock. That chord at 0:38 is what tells me we’re in for something awesome, and it just goes uphill from there when JM’s distorted bass comes in. And then at 1:46, the DT I know and love is finally back in form. The harmony lines shortly thereafter are classic and superb and take you into that crunching riff that feels like Metropolis, even if it doesn’t sound exactly like it. But if there is one shortcoming (well there isn’t just one) to this song, the lyrics are worthless unless you follow along with the booklet... and even then… Shortcoming number two is the chorus. I feel at 4:00, they could have gone right back to the verse and had a way better song. Oh, and shortcoming number three are the terrible references to the lyrics of Pt. 1, especially swapping Victoria’s name for Metropolis. But if you think about it, the fact I am willing to cut this song so much slack given those factors means this song rocks pretty friggin’ hard. Well, up until the 11:50 mark where they have to start noodling again for no reason at all…

9. "Scene Seven: I. The Dance of Eternity" (instrumental) 6:13

Okay, we get it fellas. You can play in every time signature imaginable within a six-minute window. But for everything this song has in technical prowess, it lacks even the slightest shred of any kind of emotion or cohesion. This song is to me the beginning of what would curse every DT album from here out: the wankery factor. There is nothing that is actually interesting in this song for me, but I know I am lonely among DT fans in thinking that. But then we have problem #2 that would plague DT albums from here out: Jordan’s circus patches. And by this I mean the ridiculous and silly keyboard tones he uses at times like 2:30 that can take any song and make is sound just stupid. In this song it doesn’t make much difference, but in their later catalog, he can effectively ruin a song with one passage in his solo. And lastly, given the utterly classic nature of the closing line of Pt. 1, using that as the title here does it no justice, nor does it make any sense.

10. "Scene Seven: II. One Last Time" James LaBrie 3:46

Whew. A little breathing room. But really, I don’t have anything productive to offer at this point; the prior song has pretty much sucked out of me any possible enjoyment I could have had. I’m just getting my bearings back. Which is good, because…

11. "Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On" Petrucci 6:38

This song is a very close second for best on the disc. The lyrics here are probably the only ones that have any meaning independent of the concept of the album, and the melody is an excellent one. JM’s bass works is quite good here as well, laying the foundation but also adding to those melody lines, which is nice since you can barely hear him on the rest of the album when he’s not soloed up. I do think the latter part of the guitar solo is way over the top given the rest of the song, but I guess given the fact they are following it with a full gospel chorus, over the top was the intent. All in all, this is an excellent end to the album. Except, well… of course its not. Because DT is now a band with no restraint.

12. "Scene Nine: Finally Free" Portnoy 11:59

If Metropolis Pt. 2 had faded out on those last guitar bends and female vocal notes, I might have been able to tolerate it. Even with the hypnotherapist coming back and the acoustic guitar line, maybe. But once you hear those keyboard lines and footsteps followed by the key change, you know this album, like any bad movie, is going to go on one scene too long. You know those movies, the ones where the psycho is killed off ever so thoroughly, only to come back one more time!! But overall, though the song has a nice melody, we are forced to listen more tortured attempts to relate “The Miracle and The Sleeper” to this plagiarized story. Then the song takes a dark and confusing turn, which doesn’t make much sense again unless you study the booklet. Carefully. Which at this point I couldn’t care less to do. I’d rather just rent Dead Again and see this story told well. And the song just goes on and on, building in its gothic myth-telling, making less sense as it reaches a finale that is jarring, preposterous, and… yawn. Still hate it. Next.

Unleash the hounds.

 

As much as I like Moore's work in the band, Derek was always my favorite. I felt he had the perfect blend of Kev's atmospheric playing and Jordan's chops, and

Those official bootlegs are, for the most part, fantastic. I highly recommend them all.

 

SCENES FROM A MEMORY.... an overrated album.

 

I mean... you like what you like. I like Scenes and recognize its faults, it's a pretty ridiculous album. That's kinda the charm of it though, and a big part of DT and the whole "prog metal" thing. No hounds released but I have come to think of Scenes as DT's Ultimate Statement Of Purpose, for better or worse, and it's hard to imagine a DT fan who doesn't like it. Like I'm sure there are Pink Floyd fans that hate Dark Side of the Moon but it's... weird.

 

Interestingly, when I went back and listened to FII, and stated it is my favorite album, I was kind of torn in doing so, because listening now, I hear its faults. When I got SFaM, I probably played it 3-4 times, and then shelved it for years. And I mean years. But in the last six months, I've attempted to listen to SFaM at least three other times prior to this (one of those in the car with my wife who was *not* pleased), and every time I get the exact same feeling: most of the album can go by without me paying any attention. I tune out large parts of it and often skip other sections. The songs just aren't good.

As for the prog-metal comparisons, I liken this album to either Dead Winter Dead by Savatage or Operation: Mindcrime by Queensryche in its full album conception, and contemporary subject matter (rather than pure sci-fi or fantasy). Both of those other albums I believe would be considered prog-metal, but I think they are way better than Scenes. Why? Because they have more than two really memorable songs on them. In fact O:M has about ten absolute monsters of superb songwriting that both exist well in the story, but also stand on their own as songs. I could say the same about DWD.

My opinion hasn't changed of SFaM. Those who defend it are overlooking a great deal to get there, IMO. Like this guy: http://www.popmatters.com/column/18...reflection-on-dream-theaters-scenes-from-a-m/

 

Scenes From A Memory is one of three DT albums I own; the other two are Images And Words and A Change Of Season. You'll notice that those three are, stylistically, the most alike. In my opinion, DT changed styles too fast and too often between albums; hence, why no two fans agree on what their next one should sound like (more like Awake... No! More like Images... etc.). Falling was not to my taste, but Scenes was more in the style of Images, so I dug it. It also helps that the story being told is actually rather interesting (the live concert DVD was very helpful in visualizing the more obscure bits).

I disagree with stodgers in that there's more to like here than just two songs. That doesn't mean the work is above critique – editing is DT's biggest problem, and the seemingly endless instrumental passages here and in subsequent albums are evidence of it. As someone mentioned earlier, an outside producer (e.g. Prater) can work wonders with such material – whether the band likes to admit it or not.

 

I don't know that I agree on the first point of Scenes sounding like I&W. If it had, I might like it.

On the latter point, that is what I actually *liked* about DT, and part of the reason I love both Rush and Queen. Stylistically, you could expect changes with each new release those bands would put out, and they would be incremental. Queen was a little more deliberate in only changing a couple songs; Rush changed their entire sound. I love how one Rush album will sound enough like the one right before it, but completely unlike the one two albums before it. Well, at least until Test For Echo.

 

I'll attempt to mount a defense for Scenes. I discovered the band (and the genre) in late 2005 via Images and Words. I thought it was a stunning record, and that the the centerpiece, Metropolis, was one of the best pop songs I'd ever heard. I was very excited when I realized the band had written a much longer sequel of sorts to this. Prior to hearing Scenes, I had never been emotionally affected or in suspense by the lyrical content of an album. But damn if I didn't sink into the "mythology" of the album. Because I was new to the idea of caring about the story content of the album, I'm more forgiving of its literalness. Apart from all that, I like all the songs, particularly towards the end. I've always interpreted "Dance" as the last word in insane DT instrumentals, the most ridiculous, the most silly (see circus patches). The guitar solo in "Spirit" is magnificent, especially when it crescendos. And after the emotional catharsis there, "Finally Free" delivers concrete answers about the story and also a "twist"! Who knew albums could have twists?

I've always admired ambition, and this was a new bar to clear for me in the idea of story on an album, and the musical virtuosity married to actual songs that engaged me and made me feel something. What if every rock band on Earth could play like this and attempted concepts like this?

I think stodger's critiques are fair, but I just thought I'd share my more positive impressions. I do agree that the mix isn't great and I want to hear Myung more. This is one I can never be wholly objective about. I think it was the band's best album, and it's the last one of theirs I really like. I'm one of those 90s DT fans who likes a handful of their songs after that but not any albums as a whole. I agree with Mike B's remark about this album being their "endgame," so to speak, like every preceding one built towards this in a way.

Has anyone heard the vinyl version of this, and if so how does it compare to the CD?

 

I've heard almost universal praise for the vinyl, but obviously have never sought it out myself. It was apparently taken from pre-mastered versions of the mix and thus is not as heavily compressed as the CD is. And I never considered until now, but this album was probably my introduction to 'brick-walling', and that may also be what I can't handle. I don't know that I owned another album before this one that offered so little dynamic range.

 

By the way, I won't be doing Six Degrees until next week. I think both that album and this one, because of the content, deserve a full week of analysis on here. That, and I think It may require multiple listens for me to fully digest Six Degrees for this purpose.

 

I, too, like it when a band updates their sound to try new things and/or stave off tedium. The difference with Dream Theater is that they did it too early and too often back when they were still just getting started. And, not just their style – singers, producers, keyboardists. They baffled their own early fans with the constant changing, to the point where they don't know what to expect from them other than inconsistency.

They hit upon a great sound with Images... then bam! – they changed things for Awake. And again for Falling. Both Rush and Queen waited a good three or four albums before switching gears; they stuck with what worked because it's the smart thing to do ("if it ain't broke..."). Had DT done this, I believe things would have gone better for them. But they're too impatient and impulsive, and not receptive to advice.

 

Yeah, this is probably the album I own that I most want to be remixed/remastered. I love it, but I don't love the way it sounds.

 

Dude Mindcrime is the pinnacle of metal concept albums, no doubt, that is an amazing record, ATF.

Re: Fatal Tragedy and Beyond This Life- they are not coherent songs and they have musical wankery but I actually like the wankery there. I dunno, I guess it's subjective but I just think there are bits like Fatal Tragedy (IIRC, I'm gonna prob listen to this one on Wed or Thurs) where the guitar bleeds into the keys and you don't know exactly where, and it's freaking awesome sounding.

Dance of Eternity is super lame, though.
As of now basically there are 3 DT albums I like but I gotta take out one track to enjoy it fully.

• Images & Words (minus Glass Moon)
• Awake (minus Scarred)
• Scenes From a Memory (minus Dance of Eternity)

I just finished FII and it is better than I remember- take out You Not Me and chop off the last two numbers and it's really a lovely little record.

 

Two DT studio albums I don't own, Falling Into Infinity and Scenes From a Memory. They lost me after Awake but regained my loyalties with subsequent albums which I'm sure I'll be the minority on concerning later albums.

For a good concept album I'll take Bob's Blonde on Blonde, Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime, Mercyful Fate's Melissa or a whole host of others before SFAM.

For me DT has always been about the music with lyics taking a back seat. This album just doesn't do it for me.

 

I think you bring up a valid comparison here. Just like "Dark Side of the Moon" this album forged a stable and recognized (market)place for Dream Theater as well as put progressive metal on the mainstream music map. However, it is also the release where Dream Theater ceased to be progressive (read: exploratory) and became Progressive (as a genre), just like Pink Floyd on its breakthrough album, which in both cases divided its existing fanbase and at the same time attracted a whole lot of new fans.

I have very mixed feelings about Scenes. I pretty much liked all the piano-led smooth stuff on the album (the scenes #3a, 5, 7b, 8 and 9) and did not care for all prog/metal pieces, ruined by incessant virtuosic haemorrhage from Rudess, Petrucci and Portnoy. It was quite opposite to my reception of Falling Into Infinity, whose chart-oriented balladry was IMO cringe-inducing while the carefully crafted epic material was uniformly great. However, when I feel like listening to a band like Dream Theater I am looking for great heavy epics and not (melodramatic) mood setters, which could fine as a complement but not as the main dish.

At first I was undecided what to think about this stylistic turn and the new recruit on keyboards, until I saw them live on the European leg of the tour promoting the album. That was a rude awakening: Dream Theater no longer resembled a loosen up jazzed up unit I had known from earlier live recordings, but a tight well-oiled machine rendering their studio numbers in a passionless technocratic manner. One of the most boring concert experiences in my life, and I have never been to a stadium show, thankfully.

As I am writing this, I am listening to the album again, for the first time in... it must have been twelve years ago... and frankly speaking I did not remember how blatantly sugary and clichéd all these melodies, hooks and arrangements were. Now I have just managed to sit through Home, stuffed to the brim with traditional heavy metal understanding of eastern scales, but I cannot help but skip Dance of Eternity. I always did it and will do it again - enough is enough. Time to enjoy some quality power pop to reward my patience.

 

Thanks for letting me catch-up

I saw DT two days in a row on this tour- one day in NYC, the next in Boston. I was going back and forth between those cities in those days (lived in one, had a gf in the other, but don't remember which because I've done that once in each direction) anyway and this was on a weekend so it was like the perfect timing.

Just imagine- NYC, huge prog metal concept album live. Next day, drive to Boston in the day time, see prog metal concept live again.
Whatever you think of the composition and production of the album itself, it was a beast live and a crazy amount of fun,
The one thing that annoyed me about that tour though was that they played started and ended the tour in the same venue in NYC, the Roseland Ballroom. I saw the first one. But the last show there, that I did NOT go to, was where they filmed the concert DVD, with the narrator and gospel choir and all that stuff. Wished I was there.

 

You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

Oh, uh.. since no one else has said it yet, I'm gonna: Home is a Tool song, right?

 

I was working in Vermont the summer that Queensryche toured on Empire, performing all of Mindcrime. I could have made the two hour drive to see them in Montreal and for some reason I just... didn't. I so deeply regret not having done so. Still the greatest concert I've eve seen was QR on the Promised Land tour. There is a band who put everything into a show.

For that matter, my 10-year withdrawal from DT prevented me from seeing them with bands I would have killed to see them with in the 90s - QR, Megadeth, etc. They were just big enough but now they're too big to do that kind of tour.

 

Yeah, 46x2 sounds just a little too similar.

I do find it curious that they hired Tool's mixing engineer, but then replaced more than half of his mixes. Mike P said the rest of the band didn't like his mixes, but then they go hire Kevin Shirley? Who Mike thinks ruined their prior album? First example of where Portnoy's words and actions just don't seem to jibe.

 

I've only seen DT twice, once on the Touring Into Infinity tour (1997, First Avenue) and again in 2007 (State Theatre). That's exactly what I like about them, their ability to actually reproduce live what I hear from the studio, with of course the variation you get at a live show.. If I want sloppy I'll go see Ministry

 

Operation Mindcrime vs Scenes.... it's an easy decision which one is the better concept album.

Scenes... sounds so artificial without soul.

 

I love Scenes, although I think some of the music is stretched out a bit too much and the story really bludgeons you over the head. To me, the best concept albums (or at least the ones that are my favorites) are ambiguous enough to allow for some personal interpretation and analysis. Tommy, Quadrophenia, Snow, Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, etc all have a clear enough story but enough grey area in between that it keeps them interesting and mysterious and allows them to mean different things to different people. Scenes just keeps reminding you over and over "A YOUNG GIRL WAS KILLED!" and "REINCARNATION!" that it seems too simplistic. I still love the album, but it's certainly a weak concept album.

 

You seem to like your concept albums British.