YTSEJAM Digest 3804
Today's Topics:
1) New thread: Album themes, part 1
by Michael Bahr <durnik@goodnet.com>
2) arg
by Jon Kretschmer <jkretsch@sdcc17.ucsd.edu>
3) I'm stupid
by Chris Oates <aspect@cats.ucsc.edu>
4) NT Album Themes, part 2
by Michael Bahr <durnik@goodnet.com>
5) Kids these days. I swear they're all gay.
by "Trevor W. Hoit" <TrevorW@ms.kallback.com>
6) NT Album Themes part 3
by Michael Bahr <durnik@goodnet.com>
7) NT Album Themes part 4
by Michael Bahr <durnik@goodnet.com>
8) eeek another FII
by "Matt Halloran" <imemnok@hurricane.gnt.net>
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Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 01:58:13 -0700
From: Michael Bahr <durnik@goodnet.com>
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: New thread: Album themes, part 1
Message-ID: <35459A25.570A@goodnet.com>
By no means should we just "quit" the other thread that's up and
running now about the FII songs, but I thought I'd throw some more meat
out here for us dawgs to gnaw on.
I wonder, years from now, what we will think about the "themes" of the
DT albums. Everyone knows a really good album either has a coherent
theme throughout, or is a "Concept" album where the concept itself is
the theme. The best possible examples of this that I can give are Rush
and Metallica. I'm going to go into that for a little bit and see if I
can bring DT into the picture, and if not, examine why not. I await all
your input on the matter with baited browser. :)
The first albums we usually can thematically connect with their proper
ideas are the Metallica albums because the themes are much more
heavy-handed. Back when I was a teen it was already obvious that I could
understand these things, whereas many of the subtler Rush themes eluded
me. I knew what people SAID the themes were, but it was tough for an
unschooled/immature/non-worldly-wise mind to grasp them fully. A
possible causal factor of the "downfall" of Metallica can be seen in the
fact that Load and ReLoad are MUCH less thematically strong than their
predecessors. Don't get me wrong... I like most of Load and as for
ReLoad, I find about three or four songs to be VERY strong and most of
the rest are below-par. But let's examine things album by album and see
where it leads us.
Kill 'Em All, like all bands' debut albums, I will excuse from critical
examination because this album was NOT all written during the same era,
and not by the same "Metallica", and contains bits and pieces of various
stuff like No Life Til Leather and Metal Up Your Ass and so forth... if
there's any coherent theme, it's aggression. It's there in Four Horseman
(The Metallix), Jump in the Fire, Seek and Destroy, Whiplash, and so
forth. I usually frown on bands' use of violence and death as themes
because it's so basic and easy to do; it's almost a cop-out. Only Rush
has (to me, so far) addressed it at a high cerebral level, with Grace
Under Pressure (more on this later). But anyway, we can say the loose
theme of Kill 'Em All is "aggression", and it DOES fit.
Now Ride the Lightning is where Lars and James took the thematic
consistency of the album into consideration during the writing stage.
It's not a very deep theme, but it's pretty obvious: Death. Every single
song deals with death on this album. Fight Fire with Fire... nuclear
armageddon. Ride the Lightning... execution. For Whom the Bell Tolls...
war. Fade to Black... suicide. Trapped Under Ice... cryogenic freezing.
Escape... despair vs hope. Creeping Death... well, death; the passover,
etc. And Call of Chthulu should be obvious. It's not something that
really opens the mind MUCH... but it does give us something to think
about. Look at all those various forms of death. Someone could die to a
war or to execution, or even kill themselves... or could be killed in a
natural disaster or even by something of the diabolical. There's almost
a "click" of understanding in the young mind when they grasp the theme
of Ride, and it makes them a deeper person for so understanding, even if
the subject matter is a little macabre.
With Master of Puppets, Metallica took things one step further and
wrote about something that resonated a LOT more with their presumably
predominantly-late-teen-male fan base: MANIPULATION. This theme is
thoroughly apparent throughout the album, as each song deals with
manipulation of a different sort, be it drug addiction (the title
track), insanity (Welcome Home Sanitarium), religion (Leper Messiah),
you get the idea. It's not too tough to see these themes in Metallica's
work, and that's both a reflection of the simplicity of the themes and
the good work Lars and James did of utilizing them in the songwriting.
There's no doubt in the world that the late-teen-male feels manipulated
on a rather constant basis. Therein, I believe, lies the true power of
the Master of Puppets album, and is why it seems to mean a lot less to
me now that I'm 24 (thursday) and things are so different than they were
back then. It still advances the yound mind quite a bit to understand
these things... to put a NAME to their "rebellious" tendencies.
And now for ...And Justice For All. AJFA is Metallica's masterpiece...
it's the closest they ever got to prog, and many feel they should have
continued in that direction. The theme is made obvious by the album
title (Justice in its many forms) but the true value of this album is
how well it explores the theme of justice and quid-pro-quo. Blackened
deals with the injustice of man toward earth, AJFA the injustice of the
judicial system, EOTB with the injustice of the prevailing opinions
squashing individual inspiration, One with the injustice of how our
wounded veterans are forced to live out their agonizing remaining days,
you get the idea. All the way to the end, Dyers' Eve, which jabs at the
"Do as I say, not as I do" attitude of parents vs. children which is all
too prevalent nowadays.
And then we come to a sort of an impasse. What's the theme of the Black
album? It's just damned inconsistent! People have told me
"Truth/Deception" and they have a point there... Sad But True is an easy
one, Holier Than Thou works too. Unforgiven's a lock. Sandman has a lot
to do with the deception of dreams. God That Failed... My Friend of
Misery... fundamentally sound. The theme breaks down when we examine
stuff like Through The Never, Nothing Else Matters, and Of Wolf and Man.
It's almost as though those tunes don't fit. Even with the ones that "do
fit", the theme isn't as consistent. Since Metallica themselves called
the Black album "a regression to a simpler, earlier way of song writing,
and intentionally so", it may be that there's not much theme to grasp.
Load and Reload must be considered together as all the songs were
written together and the two albums sound very alike. The problem is
that NO thematic ideas are consistent AT ALL throughout the albums. Some
might say this shows diversity... but showing too much diversity on an
album dilutes that album's strength and cohesion. (This is what I worry
about in reference to Dream Theater). About the only thing I can see
that's consistent is betrayal, and that's a very vague and simplistic
theme. It works for Bitch, 2x4, Sleeps, KN, Hero, Thorn, MS, and Outlaw
Torn, as well as for a few ReLoad tunes, but it's pretty specious. We
can't just find a solid expression in the albums.
So where does that leave us so far before part 2? Well, Metallica has
done some decent themework and then they've done a few things that defy
consistency of theme. We have to see how DT applies this and how Rush
applies this as well to understand what's going on here. Feel free to
jump in on this one already, before I finish, because this is a pretty
good breakpoint. Even if you disagree with my thematic analyses... I
WANNA HEAR IT, and more importantly I wanna hear WHY.
..
DU HAST! Du Hast Mich!! :) This fuckin' song's been running through my
mind for a WEEK now!! Even with the English version on the disc, the
German version is the preferred one... it's just so solid.
-- - Mike Bahr - Prism Records - d u r n i k @ g o o d n e t . c o m - http://www.goodnet.com/~durnik/------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 02:07:16 -0700 From: Jon Kretschmer <jkretsch@sdcc17.ucsd.edu> To: ytsejam@ax.com Subject: arg Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980428020716.00891510@sdcc17.ucsd.edu>
Rick Audet quoted me:
>> Most of us "kids" in southern CA have known about this for a long time. >> Its usually the first thing us "kids" look for when we hear DT is touring. >> I was surprised as hell, usually HOB has a real stick up their ass. But we >> all know why, so no reason to rehash that thread. Most wouldnt want to >> hear about it anyway. > >Okay, now that I see this in context, I understand how my use of the word >"kids" might appear to be condescending.
Yes, but I think the real problem I had with your post was my paper due tomorrow. I hadnt started it, and now, at 2am with less than half of it done, I am in a more serene mood. So I see I was being a bitch. Doncha love what stress does?
Sorry bout that, didnt mean to snap.
I hate when Im an asshole.
Jon
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Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 14:05:25 -0700 From: Chris Oates <aspect@cats.ucsc.edu> To: "Ytsejam (E-mail)" <ytsejam@ax.com> Subject: I'm stupid Message-ID: <01BD724B.C8DBE5D0.aspect@cats.ucsc.edu>
Oh, and about Anna Lee: I'm a Queen fan (they were tied with Metallica as my fav band before I discovered DT) and I do hear the Brian May in the guitar work, now that it's been mentioned, and I also like it, cause, as a keyboard player, I'm a sucker for a piano ballad. They just have so much more emotion than guitar ballads. Heh. That's some flamebait for all those wanky guitar players. ;)
~Chris
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Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 02:29:43 -0700 From: Michael Bahr <durnik@goodnet.com> To: ytsejam@ax.com Subject: NT Album Themes, part 2 Message-ID: <3545A187.3E20@goodnet.com>
{continued from part 1}
Now let's take a look at the Rush themes and see where they take us. Rush at first was NOT very thematic. Their debut album is devoid of anything remotely resembling songwriting (grin), unless you just wanna call it an album whose theme is jammin' in the early '70s. :) It's got the only silly boy-girl lyrics too, from "I see you standin there with your finger in the air" to "Oooh I, need some loo-uuhh-oove! Ooooh yeah, I need some... LOVE! [guitar riff] Ooooh yes I neeeeeeed some love! [bass riff] It's that feeling I can't rise abooouuooove.... YEAH YAY!!". "Lines In the Sand" it AIN'T. :)
On Fly By Night, Neil starts to show his promise. The overall theme of FBN can be called "Individualism" but 2112 has this same theme and does it better... so FBN can be better pegged by how individualism merges with the minor theme of the album, "personal interaction". Individualism is a lock for Anthem, BIC, FBN, Rivendell, and ITE, and personal interaction works for all the others, from the "good buddies" setting (Making Memories) to the fantasy-type (By-Tor vs Snow Dog). In fact there's a lot of overlap; both themes fit some songs. Rush did a decent job on this one. The slight incohesion of the theme is more due to their immaturity as songwriters here than to subtlety.
Rush themselves will tell you Caress of Steel was their first ambitious thematic album, and though it flopped, they were proud of it as a major step in their development and rightfully so. I also consider it one of the best-chosen and best-expressed themes. Most albums deal with negative things (they're easier themes to craft rock music around) from whatever band you have. Caress of Steel's theme is LIFE. It's a beautiful thing. It's done well. It's a little wet behind the ears, and Neil insists that it's meaningless, but The Fountain of Lamneth is perfectly powerful just the way it is. Bastille Day is about the toughest one to include but life fits with it too, since it's about the life of a nation. ITIGB, Lakeside Park, TFOL... they're obvious. Is Necromancer (death) about life? Certainly! The song is a fantasy indulgence in which good triumphs over evil, and in this particular case evil was written in as death (Necro-). Hey, it ain't Middletown Dreams, but this is 1975 after all. TFOL is the clearest expression of the Life concept, as it chronicles a life and takes a worthy guess at the meaning of life itself, "Life is just a candle and a dream must give it flame". Props to Rush for having the balls to even ATTEMPT this record.
2112 is where it gets easy. We all know the story of how Mercury was leaning on Rush for a hit and they got pissed and Neil was an Ayn Rand disciple and how all of this objectivism and Fountainhead and "the bottle within" (heh) and so forth got put on this album. Well, just so we know, it's pretty obvious. It doesn't fit with The Twilight Zone, but then again that song was written in an hour before they hit the studio for the last day of making the record, and they needed to fill space. Big whoop. :)
For A Farewell to Kings, Rush's themes began to really mature and their subtlety and depth are just wonderful. If any theme permeates AFTK, it's "immortality" or "timelessness". It's a strange thing to write a record about, but then again, Rush were strange people in 1977. This fits every single song on the record perfectly... I don't even have to review them (though I will just to add some beef to this postulate). The title track deals with history itself, and that's an easy tie-in to timelessness and immortality. The theme of the title track seems to be the old saying "Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it". Xanadu is about the yearning for immortality, and is straight out of Coleridge. Closer to the Heart is about the timeless virtues of charity, obedience to necessity, and how we hold these values as moral and true. Cinderella Man is about the urge to be timeless/immortal as one would be if remembered for philanthropy. Madrigal is about timeless love and devotion. Finally, CX1 deals with the idea that the afterlife might be attainable somehow... "Through the void, to be destroyed, or is there something more? Atomized at the core, or through the astral door?"
Hemispheres is easy: it's about balance. Enough said. I won't even waste bytes on what's essentially a tautology. :)
themes because Rush gets even better at using them. The theme of Waves is definitely independence ("Free will", as it were.) TSOR talks about how a band can collapse to commercial pressure or can stay true to themselves. Freewill is pretty straightforward. Jacob's Ladder is the most difficult to work this on, though the independence of people dreaming their own destinies plays a hand. Entre Nous is about independence vs dependence in relationships, and is very well done. "The spaces in between leave room for you and I to grow. We are planets to each other..." etc. Different Strings bows out as a Lee tune that isn't fitting with Peart's theme for the other five songs. And Natural Science works on so many levels it's not even funny. Just listen to the bloody thing... it's been called "the finest 9 minutes ever put to tape."
Moving Pics is another easy one. Perspective. It's all about perspective, and it has its acclaim for a reason... not only are the songs well written, but the entire theme is SO coherent and SO consistent and SO thoroughly well used, it's amazing the album isn't even MORE universally loved than it already is. Tom Sawyer about the perspective of the necessity for change vs. comfort with the status quo. Red Barchetta about the perspectives of manhood, sexuality, status, and power that are associated with the automobile. Limelight about the perspective of a famous band dealing with celebrity status and the adulation of fans. The Camera Eye about the imagery, energy, and vibrancy that are perceived about city life. Witch Hunt about narrow perspectives. And Vital Signs about personal perspectives and the need to find one's own. What a thoroughly powerful album! The theme works both bluntly and subtly throughout.
Looks like I'll continue this in part 3! Again, feel free to jump right in already; you don't need to wait for me to finish.
-- - Mike Bahr - Prism Records - d u r n i k @ g o o d n e t . c o m - http://www.goodnet.com/~durnik/
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Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 02:44:30 -0700 From: "Trevor W. Hoit" <TrevorW@ms.kallback.com> To: "'ytsejam@ax.com'" <ytsejam@ax.com> Subject: Kids these days. I swear they're all gay. Message-ID: <30434A6945ABD1119A3A00A024D1C34124A96A@ms.kallback.com>
Children, > > I was surprised as hell, usually HOB has a real stick up their ass. > But we > > all know why, so no reason to rehash that thread. Most wouldnt want > to > > hear about it anyway. > As for the content being rehashed, I just found out about the shows > being > all-ages and don't recall seeing it posted before. Pardon me for > having > overlooked the original thread and wasting your valuable time. I'm > sorry I > tried to help when it wasn't needed in the first place. I believe the thread he did not want to rehash was the thread about HOB having a stick up their ass, not the thread about the gig being all ages.
> We're such a pleasant bunch on here, aren't we ? Yeah, except those darn kids. :)
Trevor "I swear! She said she was 18!" Hoit
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Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 02:54:33 -0700 From: Michael Bahr <durnik@goodnet.com> To: ytsejam@ax.com Subject: NT Album Themes part 3 Message-ID: <3545A759.371E@goodnet.com>
{cont'd from part 2} Ah yes, where were we...
Signals is a transitional work by Rush's own admission, but more than that the album deals a great deal with the idea of personal development. Every single song deals with this except Countdown, which we now know to be a tacked-on "wow, check out that shuttle!" song by the Boyz. Subdivisions about the PD of the school years, of exclusion and cliques and peer pressure. Analog Kid about the PD that brings about the transition from selfish desires to acceptance of responsiblity and of the necessity to live WITH the world and not apart from it. Chemistry about the PD that a relationship brings about and how we overanalyze it. Digital Man about the PD of getting out on one's own, trying to be "cock of the walk" and the keen, cool, refined playboy, and how difficult it finally is. The Weapon about how PD deals with fear and trepidation, and of what we can't deal with directly and therefore dread the idea of. NWM about the PD of leaders and those in charge, and how they deal with it. LI about the later PD in life, where people begin to realize not all the cylinders are firing anymore, and how they must fight the despair of reaching their twilight.
p/g ought to be about fear, but what it's really about is violence on a more general scale, and about death as a more all-encompassing concept. There's a subtle minor theme of loss, too. I will touch on this only briefly as it is probably clear to most of you... DEW deals with disaster on a wide and narrow scale and how death applies to so many things. Afterimage is about death as personal loss; Red Sector A about the death and violence of genocide. Enemy Within deals more with giving up and the death of the individual, and this theme carries over into TBE. Kid Gloves deals with violence as a way of carrying one's station and demeanor, and red lenses with the pervasive view that violence and death are everywhere because the media glorifies it. Finally, Between the Wheels, the masterpiece of the album, sums up all the violence and death and loss and sighs with infinite and mighty regret, "We have wasted it all by these things!"
Power Windows marks a more optimistic turn of Rush's themes... things have never been quite as bleak in nature as p/g. Power Windows is easy... it deals with power. Big Money with the power of avarice. Grand Designs with the power of individuality. Manhattan Project with the power of war and destruction. Marathon with the power of endurance. Territories with the power of patriotism/loyalty. Middletown Dreams with the power of despair and hope. Emotion Detector with the power of illusion vs true feelings. And Mystic Rhythms about the power of instinct and nature. It's very concise and is probably the best thematic presentation since Moving Pictures.
Neil took things a little farther after Mystic Rhythms... he wanted to write Hold Your Fire about Time (and penned Time Stand Still and Tai Shan to this end), but found himself writing more about Instinct. Even TSS itself holds to this. We must remember that Force Ten was added after the sessions and doesn't fit as well because it wasn't part of the album as planned, but it still fits in, dealing with our instinct to find excitement and enjoyment in anything and everything. TSS is easier... it's Rush's masterpiece, and deals with the instinctual need of people to remember and cherish the parts of their lives which seemed to have passed by all too quickly. The next few in a row delve into instinct itself on a number of levels, and finally Neil deals with something he hadn't touched much on before, in Mission. Mission deals with our instinctual question, "Is there a divine being? Is there a God?" Who indeed sets the wheels in motion? Who runs behind the scenes? It isn't us, but we THINK it is. How do we corroborate this?
I'm going to jump to part 4 now because I'm starting to get wordy here and I fear the YtseRejectionDueToLength system.
-- - Mike Bahr - Prism Records - d u r n i k @ g o o d n e t . c o m - http://www.goodnet.com/~durnik/
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Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 03:32:25 -0700 From: Michael Bahr <durnik@goodnet.com> To: ytsejam@ax.com Subject: NT Album Themes part 4 Message-ID: <3545B039.7AD6@goodnet.com>
{cont'd from part 3} Whoa, this is getting pretty lengthy here!
Presto was the first album Rush wrote after what they called their "worst time"... during which they had lost their joy for doing what they do and were basically burnt out. They took some time off and came back to it fresher than ever. HYF is wonderful, but the live tour seemed so anemic... so forced. From Presto onward, Rush seems to finally be having FUN again. The album seems to deal with the many things that we consider "magic", and more specifically with validation. The unexplained had bothered Rush, but rather than working on that, they dealt with what can be proven and what people know in their hearts. Show Don't Tell is a bit blunt. Chain Lightning is about interactions and how we feed off each others' energy. The Pass with the true senselessness of self-destruction... War Paint with esteem and the need for self-validation. Scars is a bit shallow. Presto itself is pure magic and pure validation, a song about the joys of pretentious youth mixed with the contentment of time gone by and the here and now. Superconductor deals with the energy and magic of entertainment and how it captivates us. Anagram is mainly wordplay. Red Tide with the destruction of the environment (sidenote: Neil started getting preachy here, and he hasn't quit since). Hand Over Fist about the magic of other people and how they can enrich oneself just by being there. "Take a walk outside yourself to some exotic land... greet a passing stranger, feel the strength in his hand... and FEEL THE WORLD EXPAND." And Available Light really just sums it up, and summary songs are usually well-loved by the hardcore.
Roll The Bones is an easy one: Chance. Neil said as much straight to us, and it's so damned obvious I won't even waste any more time on it here.
Counterparts... well, this one's another tautology. It's about counterparts! Things that are counterpart to one another. Things that go together, whether against each other or in combination. Neil pretty much finalized his mastery of thematic cohesion here.
As for Test For Echo, it's just what the band said it was about... feedback. The need to send out one's signal and hear what they'll get in response. It's about the back and forth of any opinion, ideology, or value. Notice my summaries are getting shorter... because Rush started making it so bloody EASY lately by doing it WELL.
That's Rush. Now we've examined how two very different bands work thematically within their album structures, and both of these bands are admitted heavy influences of OFB, Dream Theater. But look what DT has done! It almost looks as though they DON'T ALWAYS KNOW what they're trying to do. The closest they came, as far as I can tell, was with Awake.
WDADU is easy... it's about dreams, and the power of dreams and how they drive peoples' actions. A Fortune In Lies about how people will sacrifice their morality to accomplish their goals, Status Seeker about the incessant routine and drudgework associated with any greater goal, and how commercial concern always seems to dominate. The Killing Hand is practically a nightmare... a dreamer sees all this death, and only at the end does he realize he caused it all. Light Fuse is about how peoples' dreams of idealism and utopian visions drive them to extremes. Afterlife is pretty shallow but wondering about what comes next is a natural concept for bands to tacks. TOWHTSTS is pretty tough to work with... possibly it doesn't fit thematically. Any help? As for OAMOT, it's a very clear and thorough summation of all this... that no matter how ineffective our actions may seem, that we can accomplish anything by staying true to our dreams.
Alas that the same is not true for Images. The crucial flaw in this album and about the only thing keeping it short of perfection is that it's so hodge-podge... none of the songs are connected to one another (well, except WFS-LTL). They were written at different times and for different reasons. The band has worked with the meanings of all of them... betrayal/Hamlet/spite; death/sickness/despair; who the HELL knows what TTT is about, it's such a potpourri of different writers and their differing ideas and meanderings; enlightenment; survival; introspection; pride; and the AIDS epidemic. There's your album. Had all the songs dealt with a consistent idea or message, this album could have been even better... and it sure the hell ain't bad by any measure!
Awake is much more solid. It's about the various meanings of awakening and understanding, and is enough of a self-fulfilling prophecy that I won't delve too deeply into it (if you disagree, feel free to delve into why I'm wrong, though). The only misfit is Space Dye Vest... is anyone surprised? ;)
And what about FII? It's their most diverse work to date, which as I said, usually dilutes the thematic strength of the work. I think the most appropriate theme we can connect everything with is "experience". It's a pretty vague theme, but how else can we fit Hollow Years, Burning My Soul, and Take Away My Pain, all under one umbrella? They're so vastly different from one another, and yet all deal with experience. I don't even think it was a conscious decision on the part of DT to make FII about "Experience"... I think it's about that because of the incredible and tremendous experience they gained between Awake and FII. Most of them became husbands and/or fathers. That's a real eye-opener right there. They really started to feel their label's collective dick right up their asses in full thrust. They started to tune in to themes otherwise common to "pop" music with their own more reflective, more serious perspective... that's where we get Hollow Years, You Not Me, and Anna Lee from. And some had loss, some had gains, some had hope, and some had regret. The best work on the album encompasses all of this. In fact the song Lines in the Sand can best be described as a song about experience itself!! FII was literally a product of its own development... a very "honest" album by that measure, indeed through this analysis alone my respect for the band and my personal opinion of FII have both gone up considerably.
Is this, perhaps, why DT is so far and away my favourite band and why only King's X comes close? Is it this very elemental connection to real life itself that keeps DT's music so relevant and so engrossing and compelling? I start to wonder if perhaps that may be the truth, after all is said and done. DT does what they do because they write what they REALLY MEAN, what they feel, what their own experiences, hopes, aspirations, and frustrations are and have always been. If anything, the theme of Dream Theater overall would have to be "reality". If there's anything they've examined better, I've yet to hear of it.
-- - Mike Bahr - Prism Records - d u r n i k @ g o o d n e t . c o m - http://www.goodnet.com/~durnik/
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Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 06:01:31 -0300 From: "Matt Halloran" <imemnok@hurricane.gnt.net> To: <ytsejam@ax.com> Subject: eeek another FII Message-ID: <199804281105.GAA01560@hurricane.gnt.net>
I know this is a little late but I just wanted to get a few thoughts off of my chest regarding DT and FII. I must say that I was and still am very disappointed in this recording as a whole. After reading Master Bahr's review and then the stream of replies, I figured, hey what the heck here is another band wagon to jump on.:) So anyways here goes.
The problem I have with FII is the same problem I have with Phish's 'Billy Breathes'. When these recordings came out they were touted in the press as being a departure from the norm and being more song oriented. My question is this, why do bands who are so good at creating incredible musical works of art suddenly get the desire to be "songwriters". I mean Hootie and The Blowfish are a songwriter oriented band, and they are fairly good for what they do. Why don't bands like Phish and DT stick to their forte and leave the "songwriting" to bands that can only dream of creating the masterpieces that DT and Phish can and do. Not that it is a bad thing to want to write good songs, but when that comes at the expense of the music I have a problem with it.
Also the guitar mags all stated how PAtrucci's (heheheh) guitar playing was more restrained and that he played more for the song. How in the world can you get "more for the song" than the solo for Scarred or Another Day or practically any of John's solo work up until this album? I actually didn't feel that his solos fit the new songs as well, since it seemed that hewas restraining his natural urges (shred shred shred, ie LTE) in order to "fit" the song. (Not that I think Petrucci is all shred, I find him to have incredible melodic sensibilities and that is what sets him apart from the rest)
Of course I still respect the band and just look at FII as an experiment, the next couple of recordings will be the real clincher (at least for me). Either DT will go back to what they are better at as in the I&W and Awake era, or they will be able to meld the two directions into a complete whole that will totally rock my world and make me name my children after the band members, even if I have only daughters.
By the way I am listening to FII as I write this and I have really, really tried to like it.....but....not even LITS or TOT can make it a totally pleasant listening experience. Well enough from this peanut gallery, been a long night at work and I am tired. Catch you later different time different channel different pair of underwear.....(well 2 out of 3 ain't bad) Matt Halloran "whiddly whiddly whiddly weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooooooooo" some shredder
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End of YTSEJAM Digest 3804 **************************
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