YTSEJAM digest 5214

From: ytsejam@torchsong.com
Date: Mon Nov 29 1999 - 23:11:16 EST

  • Next message: ytsejam@torchsong.com: "YTSEJAM digest 5213"

                                YTSEJAM Digest 5214

    Today's Topics:

      1) Cynic, Gordian Knot...etc
     by Stephen LaMonica <sl080890@mailhost.sju.edu>
      2) Re: Cynic, Gordian Knot...etc
     by Janne Jokitalo <janne_jokitalo@yahoo.com>
      3) RE: Adam's FTP site
     by "Pye, Adam" <apye@kcc.com>
      4) Re: YTSEJAM digest 5210
     by Dustro2@aol.com
      5) re: FII, SFAM, and various ramblings(long)
     by Brian Hansen <bhansen10@yahoo.com>
      6) Re: LTE/punk
     by Fett2002@aol.com
      7) Re: Something nifty...
     by MTeiper@aol.com
      8) various Ramblings (long but fun to read)
     by Kurt M Hampton <kurt.hampton@juno.com>
      9) Threshold
     by Chris Oates <coates@objy.com>
     10) S&M
     by Greg Kristianson <gkristia@ucalgary.ca>
     11) Kevin's SFaM comments
     by "Niall Connaughton" <ytsejam@pop.primus.com.au>
     12) VARIOUS ramblings (kinda long...)
     by "Adriano F. Giacomini" <randy_rhoads@dreamtheater.zzn.com>
     13) Sales of SFaM
     by "Mike & Susan Verstraete" <homewks@sound.net>
     14) RE: Threshold
     by "Dave Thomas" <dthomas@best.com>
     15) FII...opinions...
     by "Gregor" <uzs9pl@uni-bonn.de>
     16) CD Now Discount Links?
     by "W. Tugmutton" <tugmutton@toast.net>
     17) Re: Kevin's SFaM comments
     by Trent <cybertrent@yahoo.com>
     18) "Better" songs...
     by Steve Zebrowski <szebro1@gl.umbc.edu>
     19) Re: Scaterd Few
     by Dale R Newberry <schnapster@juno.com>
     20) punk
     by mikel <mikel@alphalink.com.au>
     21) take me off this mailing list
     by "Gagne" <gagne@bicnet.com>
     22) Spock's Beard; Dividing up long songs
     by "Chris Files" <cfiles44@hotmail.com>
     23) skin
     by "Fran Brennan" <okelnard@hotmail.com>

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 15:02:20 -0500 (EST)
    From: Stephen LaMonica <sl080890@mailhost.sju.edu>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Cynic, Gordian Knot...etc
    Message-ID: <199911292002.PAA17081@polaris.sju.edu.sju.edu>

    In response to Jeff on Gordian Knot and Cynic. Where can you purchase these
    cd's? By the way, you mentioned Laser's Edge....have you ever listened to
    Clockwork on their label? They are philadelphia prog band.....I know the
    guitarist Tom Gammarino pretty well. We lived a few doors away from each
    other freshman year of college. Anyway, you can get there cd off of cdnow.
    Sean Malone is a guest artist. He has a Grand Stick solo on one of the songs.

    Quick question......does anyone own Shadow Gallery's Tyranny??? I have been
    debating over whether or not I should purchase it or not. I liked Carved
    In Stone, especially Cliffhanger.....but I just can't stand the lead singer. I
    just don't like his singing style....would anyone recommend it? I can deal with
    the lead singer...I think that they are an incredible band.
    Steve La Monica

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 12:10:42 -0800 (PST)
    From: Janne Jokitalo <janne_jokitalo@yahoo.com>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Re: Cynic, Gordian Knot...etc
    Message-ID: <19991129201042.5588.rocketmail@web302.mail.yahoo.com>

    --- Stephen LaMonica <sl080890@mailhost.sju.edu> wrote:

    > Quick question......does anyone own Shadow Gallery's Tyranny??? I have been
    > debating over whether or not I should purchase it or not. I liked Carved
    > In Stone, especially Cliffhanger.....but I just can't stand the lead singer.
    > I
    > just don't like his singing style....would anyone recommend it? I can deal
    > with
    > the lead singer...I think that they are an incredible band.
    > Steve La Monica
    >

    Oh, man, don't hesitate any longer ! It's a wonderful concept album, which,
    ranks pretty high in my best overall album list. Great songs, in fact a nice
    story, fantastic guest appearance by DC Cooper and a small part by KJLB
    too...Go get it, now !!! ;-)

    =====
    Janne Jokitalo

    Boss Information: jaska@boss.fi
    Jyväskylä University: jajokita@st.jyu.fi
    Homepage: http://www.jyu.fi/~jajokita
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    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 14:13:19 -0600
    From: "Pye, Adam" <apye@kcc.com>
    To: "'ytsejam@torchsong.com'" <ytsejam@torchsong.com>
    Subject: RE: Adam's FTP site
    Message-ID: <CF2C9F6501B6D211862500805F15297F01EE89B7@ustcax09.kcc.com>

    Hey folks..

    Yes, the FTP is down because I've moved. It's doubtful, however, that it
    will return in the same format that it was in. Keep an eye out for
    something very interesting that Bogie and I are collaborating on. If you
    liked my site, you'll love this. Now, we've just got to get off of our lazy
    butts (and I've got to finally get my high-speed connect installed) and get
    going. :) Take care..

    Adam

    > ----- Original Message -----
    > ]From: Janne Jokitalo <janne_jokitalo@yahoo.com>
    > To: Multiple recipients of list <ytsejam@torchsong.com>
    > Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 1999 4:18 PM
    > Adam's FTP Site
    >
    > Thanks Ed...(Now I only hope I didn't delete that number ;)
    >
    >>--- Edward Polzin <polzin@mindspring.com> wrote:
    >> the reason why it's invalid is because he's in the middle of moving and=
    >> the site isnt online. check back in about 2 weeks or so when he gets
    >> settled in. later.

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 15:15:45 EST
    From: Dustro2@aol.com
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Re: YTSEJAM digest 5210
    Message-ID: <0.e4564d09.257438f1@aol.com>

    No Geddy is not in a new band! Geddy is my Fave...he is takeing some time off.
    Dustro

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 13:01:12 -0800 (PST)
    From: Brian Hansen <bhansen10@yahoo.com>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: re: FII, SFAM, and various ramblings(long)
    Message-ID: <19991129210112.15392.rocketmail@web114.yahoomail.com>

    Kevin Carmouche <khc@bellsouth.net> wrote:

    > Now, on to DT, and, well, SFAM sounds exactly like
    what I feared it
    > would sound like with Jordan on keyboards...His
    sound choices are
    > dreadful in several spots.

    Welcome back to the jam... Several people (including
    myself) have commented on some of Jordan's sound
    choices. He introduced a lot of new sounds; some of
    them may take a little while to get used to, some you
    may like right from the start, some you may never
    like.

    > I've listened to it all the way through 3 times,

    Uh oh. Did I mention that some people posted
    retractions after posting hasty, early reviews?

    > and I couldn't walk away any of those times
    remembering a single
    > thing I heard. It was like one big jumbled up blob
    in my head.

    Give it some time. My first few listens I might have
    called it "jumbled". It will unjumble over time.

    > I'm curious to see what reaction I get.

    I'm curious to see how long it takes for you to change
    your mind.

    my $.02, BH

    __________________________________________________
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    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 16:17:45 EST
    From: Fett2002@aol.com
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Re: LTE/punk
    Message-ID: <0.6eede8af.25744779@aol.com>

    <<<Punk fans???? LTE (and prog in general) is everything that punk isn't!
    >>Either you have some very openminded punk friends, or you really need to
    >>explain them what punk is... <<<

    >It's funny that he mentioned punk fans, because I went to a small
    >communications school in Boston for a year, and in my advanced recordings
    >class, there was this punk dude that liked LTE.

    I don't think it's completely unbelievable for someone to like both punk AND
    prog metal. Personally, I happen to like both, both not everything in those
    genres. For example, I love old punk like the Misfits (old Misfits), the Sex
    Pistols, and the Ramones as wel as some newer punk (if ya can call it punk)
    like the Offspring (I might get a lot of flack on this list for liking them
    but so be it). I also love DT (obviously), Queensryche and Pink Floyd. I
    don't hve the LTE CDs as of now, but I will definitely be getting them in the
    near future. Now maybe, if by saing a punk fan, you mean someone who is
    diehard into punk and that's basically all they listen to, then maybe it
    would be odd, but otherwise I don't think it's THAT unbelievable
                                                                    -Mike

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 16:35:18 EST
    From: MTeiper@aol.com
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Re: Something nifty...
    Message-ID: <0.5af4c5f2.25744b96@aol.com>

    In a message dated 11/29/1999, 1:39:28 PM, KorgMeister writes:
    <<Did anyone catch the oddity in "End of Days" that was somewhat reminiscent
    of our favorite scene in SFaM? The part where Satan walks into the
    Visionary Tomas' hospital room and moves toward the bed.

    "Open your eyes, Tomas."
    Tomas gasps.

    No record player scratchies though.

    I cracked up at that part and everyone had to look at me funny.>>

    Yep! I thought the exact same thing at that part. Didn't bust out laughing,
    however. I guess I was still too pissed at the time due to the lady bashing
    me a few minutes earlier with every one of her 10 shopping bags while trying
    to navigate the stairs in the dark. Ah, the price you pay for an aisle seat.
     :-)

    Laterz... Matt T.

    PS: I thought it was a cool flick as well.

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 15:47:28 -0600
    From: Kurt M Hampton <kurt.hampton@juno.com>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: various Ramblings (long but fun to read)
    Message-ID: <19991129.154731.11662.0.Kurt.Hampton@juno.com>

    hey guys,
    I've been so busy with school, but always time to read emails, I mean,
    you have to proritize. First thing, I found Mullzmuzzler @ Camelot in
    Panama City, FL. Wow. Great CD. Guardian Angel sticks out big time. James
    sounds good on the whole CD. 2 complaints: 1) When I first put it on, I
    felt like I was in a bad dance club, those keyboards on the first song
    should go. Is Dali's Dilmena like that? I hope not, I want to check them
    out.2)Beelzlebubba(sp?) doesn't seem to fit the CD at all.

    Ok-FII-Count me in as loving it. I have personal attachments to a lot of
    the songs on it lyrically, I can relate to them more than the other two.
    I was depressed becuase the girl of dreams (I thought) who I had been
    dating for a while shot me down bad one night, so on impulse I bought it.
    Hollow Years got me out the rut I was in, lifted me up. Made me think,
    hey crying over that is wasted time or "Hollow Years" :) Very good song.

    QR Albums. boyyee, if you bought Hear in the Now you can be VERY Excited
    about the rest, being a ravid QR fan here is the order I would buy the
    rest in:

    Operation Mindcrime
    Promised Land
    Rage For Order
    Q2K
    Empire
    Warning
    the EP last (so cheesy, but so much fun)

    I also think the band should have split ACOS into the 7 parts, but with
    no breaks, so I could scan to Another World. I love that part. It would
    have left the song intact, but made the different parts accessible for
    those who want to maybe just listen to a certain part.

    Sorry this was long

    Kurt
    NP-Extreme Waiting For the Punchline (Gosh they held Mangini back)

    also try to find the Operation Live Crime box set with Mindcrime live on
    CD and VHS. Killer!
    "and though it leads to nowhere, you part debris and keep on
    going"-Doubledrive
    New Dream Theater "Scenes From a Memory" out In Stores NOW!
    "I don't know how the guys in Slayer are going to live past 40"-Paul
    Blocker
    See Queensryche on Tour this fall! www.queensryche.com for latest dates!

    ___________________________________________________________________
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    Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month!
    Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 14:39:13 -0800
    From: Chris Oates <coates@objy.com>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Threshold
    Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19991129143913.01de45e0@objypop>

    Someone asked about them, and I didn't see a response, so here goes:

    I love "Clone" so I went out and got an earlier one "Extinct Instinct" --
    result? I haven't managed to sit through the whole thing yet. They have a
    different singer on this older album, and he has a really thin, whiny
    (typical prog?) voice. A far cry from the huge amounts of soul and emotion
    put into the vocals by their new singer on Clone.

    The instumentals have some of that Clone-y sound (grin) but somewhat
    weaker, and it has a Pansy-Ass (tm) bright colors celtic design thing for
    artwork.

    All in all a disappointment. I still love Clone, tho, and will buy their
    next one as soon as is comes out/I find it -- but I don't think I'll be
    buying any more of their previous releases.

         ~Chris

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 16:12:32 -0700 (MST)
    From: Greg Kristianson <gkristia@ucalgary.ca>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: S&M
    Message-ID: <Pine.A41.4.10.9911291548340.13434-100000@acs6.acs.ucalgary.ca>

            Having had a chance to hear most of Metallica's S&M I must say,
    imo, it is an extremely disappointing album. Thing is, it didn't have to
    be. I strongly believe that Michael Kamen ruined any hope of these songs
    sounding good with an orchestra. Kamen grossly underestimated the
    possibilites within the music for this type of expanded treatment. Rather
    than reinforce and enhance harmonically what is already there, he by and
    large chose to play the composer himself, writing third rate Hollywood
    action film score type themes overtop of the existing melodies. The result
    sounds muddled and chaotic, like John Zorn on anesthetic. Kamen is the
    classic schlock orchestrator; strings doing the big 64th note run into the
    registral stratosphere, upon reaching the top note they hold it for thirty
    or so measures. Gee, gotta have truckloads of brass, regardless of whether
    or not it's appropriate; Enter Sandman wouldn't be out of place on a Nancy
    Sinatra album. The music would have been a lot more powerful had Kamen
    stuck to using the orchestral colors available as a reinforcement, not as
    a chance to throw a bunch of unrelated material on top of an already
    substantial arrangement. I think they should have had Nino Rota
    orchestrate the music; there's a guy who knows what he's doing!

                                                            Grp

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 10:27:08 +1100
    From: "Niall Connaughton" <ytsejam@pop.primus.com.au>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Kevin's SFaM comments
    Message-ID: <0860f0430231db9ISPSRV16@mail.primus.com.au>

    Ok, I haven't quoted the message because it was one long train of
    thought and it's too much of a hassle to cut up different parts of it.
    But I'm talking about Kevin Carmouche's comments last jam about
    why he didn't like SFaM.

    Fair enough, you don't have to like it. Nobody is going to come
    round to your house and beat you over the head with baseball bats
    until you scream in submission that this is the best music you've
    ever heard... IMHO, Jordan is a perfect addition to DT. He brings
    some fresh ideas and sounds, ala that ragtime or whatever it is part
    in DoE. He also uses piano sounds a lot more than Derek and
    Kevin. I thought he sounded great on the album, and I especially
    loved the extremely moody part on the piano just after Nicky boy
    leaves the hypnotist's and he's in the car.

    As to your statements regarding how easy it was to remember
    parts of the album after a listen - you say yourself you've only
    heard it 3 times. DT albums often take a lot longer than only 3
    listens to get into your head. But even so, if you could walk away
    with absolutely no recollection of the album, you must either have
    not been listening, or you had something else on your mind. The
    first time I played it, I was left with the chorus tunes from Home
    and Finally Free, and also that malevolent riff towards the end of
    Finally Free. I found these to be very rememberable, if there is
    such a word.

    I won't disagree with you on FII, I love that album. But SFaM has
    taken the cake in my opinion. As for not being able to hear
    Myung... Did you have the bass turned down on your stereo or
    something? I thought that of all the albums, Myung was easiest to
    hear in SFaM. He's clearly audible all through Through Her Eyes,
    he has that funky riff in Home (NP), he's all over the album.

    You *need* to have a look at the story. It seems like what you
    need to do is lock yourself in a room and listen to the album a
    couple of times with absolutely no interruptions. The story is
    brilliant, and the more you listen to the album, the more it grows on
    you.

    It's your choice. Shelve it if you so wish, but IMHO, you'll be
    missing out...

    Niall

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 22:05:20 -0200
    From: "Adriano F. Giacomini" <randy_rhoads@dreamtheater.zzn.com>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: VARIOUS ramblings (kinda long...)
    Message-ID: <199911291601511@randy_rhoads.dreamtheater.zzn.com>

    >Derek had the
    >ability to really rock, and it showed on FII and ACOS.

    >because Derek
    >rocks his ass off, he grooves so much and drives the band so well.

    Very true... His playing in ACOS is very cool, and it is a major
    reason for that being my favorite DT song... I've already said a
    couple of times how much I like Derek's playing, so I won't go into
    that again...

    >KevMo could too,

    I don't think anybody on this list would disagree with that...

    >Myung I can't hear most of
    >the time, he's not mixed near as well as he was in FII

    I haven't heard FII in a while, so I don't remember how well you can
    hear him, but I can hear him VERY well in SFAM...

    >As for the talk about FII, I really don't have any problems with it

    Neither do I... In fact, I like it a lot... PS, LitS, ToT, JLMB are
    among my favorite DT tunes...

    >>would be it. Overall I give SFAM an A just like Awake. I&W gets >the A+
    >>despite the production and same with ACOS for that matter.
    >
    >
    >I could agree on the ACOS production, but totally not for I 1 W. I >am not a
    >sound engineer, but sounds really well IMHO.

    I guess the fault most people find with the production in I&W is that
    trigger thing that was used to record MP's drums... Otherwise, I
    can't see any other problem...

    >Strange... I really prefer these pieces together as a whole, as was >intended
    >to be...
    >PS. Braking the song up into pieces would reaaly be some kind of
    >sacrilege...

    Me too... Dunno why, but if feels kinda weird to hear ACOS broken
    like it is in OiaLT... But I wouldn't go as far as to say it was a
    sacrilege to break it up...

    >Hmm... why is it, on this list, that everyone time someone likes an >album,
    >they find it necessary to go out of their way to point out how >"anal" and
    >"picky" the people who don't like it are?

    Yeah... Let people like or dislike whatever they want, for whatever
    reasons they have... People don't think the same way, so why should
    they all like the same stuff?

    >> PS. Braking the song up into pieces would reaaly be some kind of
    >> sacrilege...
    >
    >Oh, you mean like DT did in their tour? Yeah, I always thought the >world
    >was going to end whenever they stopped playing it on the beginning of
    >OIALT. Honestly... They did it themselves; how bad can you really >think
    >it is?

    C'mon man, it's just his opinion, no need to go that hard on him...

    Whew... I'm done now... Sorry for posting such a long post, I just
    thought I'd write a few thoughts...

    NP: Bruce Dickinson: Accident of Birth

    Later,
    Adriano

    "A daily dose of eMpTyV will flush your mind right down the drain"
                     DREAM THEATER
    Dream Theater newsletter - http://www.dreamtheater.net/uacmmail/
    ___________________________________________________________
    Get your own Web-based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 18:54:12 -0600
    From: "Mike & Susan Verstraete" <homewks@sound.net>
    To: "ytsejam" <ytsejam@torchsong.com>
    Subject: Sales of SFaM
    Message-ID: <003501bf3acd$6dce3340$dd5299d1@default>

    Since we're talking about number of CD's sold, has anyone heard how the
    sales are on SFaM???

    Mike

    Mike and Susan Verstraete
    www.sound.net/~homewks

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 16:46:10 -0800
    From: "Dave Thomas" <dthomas@best.com>
    To: <ytsejam@torchsong.com>
    Subject: RE: Threshold
    Message-ID: <003f01bf3acc$4bfeea80$046400c0@oemcomputer>

    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: ytsejam@torchsong.com [mailto:ytsejam@torchsong.com]On Behalf Of
    > Chris Oates
    > Sent: Monday, November 29, 1999 2:52 PM
    > To: Multiple recipients of list
    > Subject: Threshold
    >
    >
    >
    > Someone asked about them, and I didn't see a response, so here goes:
    >
    > I love "Clone" so I went out and got an earlier one "Extinct
    > Instinct" --
    > result? I haven't managed to sit through the whole thing
    > yet. They have a
    > different singer on this older album, and he has a really thin, whiny
    > (typical prog?) voice. A far cry from the huge amounts of
    > soul and emotion
    > put into the vocals by their new singer on Clone.

    "Extinct Instinct" is sort of thought as Threshold's "Suck CD". The others
    are much better. If you have "Clone", then get the all-time classic
    "Psychdelicatessen". This one rules. I still think it's their best, though
    "Clone" is quite good too.

    Threshold seems to change vocalists a lot for some odd reason, so I'd try
    some of the other early Threshold CDs before completely writing them off.

    Dave Thomas - Editor, Pixel Planet
    Reviews of books, music, comics, movies, games, CG software, programming
    tools and more!
    http://www.pixelplanet.com

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 02:09:50 +0100
    From: "Gregor" <uzs9pl@uni-bonn.de>
    To: <ytsejam@torchsong.com>
    Subject: FII...opinions...
    Message-ID: <000001bf3acf$f13225a0$d82dfea9@flor>

    Well, i really agree with that dude who said that FII is a great album. I
    also prefer Dereks sound to Jordans. But who cares ?
    You should have realized after reading 3 jams, that there are more or less
    as many different tastes as people subscribed to the jam. IMO, for example,
    FII is much better than the I&W, just because of ToT and LitS. These songs
    are something special for me, but i still love the I&W and i would not argue
    with anybody who says that for him LtL is the most special thing he ever
    heard.
    Hey, that is the great thing about this band, they made something special
    for everyone of us, and the other stuff we also like, more or less. So why
    complain about it??
    Life consists of contrasts, and you can just like something best if there is
    another thing you can compare it with and then prefer it.
    I really like to read why somebody likes something, because it opens new
    ways for me to listen to it. But it is so boring when you just read
    complains about other people tastes. Express yourself, that is far more
    interesting than commenting other peoples statements about their musical
    preferences.
    Just my thoughts about all this postings....

    Gregor

    If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
    perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
    Henry David Thoreau

    mmm, just like this quote,
     especially when i think that the drummer might be MP
    well, then keeping pace would not be the problem, i think

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 19:15:14 -0600
    From: "W. Tugmutton" <tugmutton@toast.net>
    To: "Ytsejam" <ytsejam@torchsong.com>
    Subject: CD Now Discount Links?
    Message-ID: <000101bf3ad0$5d1c2f40$cbdd1a93@tugmutton.swt.edu>

    Ahoy,

                If anyone has a CDnow discount link available, please send it to
    me at tugmutton@toast.net , if you please. I would be most appreciative.
    Thanks!

                                - M

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 17:24:44 -0800 (PST)
    From: Trent <cybertrent@yahoo.com>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Re: Kevin's SFaM comments
    Message-ID: <19991130012444.17723.rocketmail@send205.yahoomail.com>

    --- Niall Connaughton <ytsejam@pop.primus.com.au>
    wrote:
    >
    > IMHO, Jordan is a perfect addition to DT.

    Here here! I'll expand on this thought in a sec tho.

    > first time I played it, I was left with the chorus
    > tunes from Home
    > and Finally Free, and also that malevolent riff
    > towards the end of
    > Finally Free. I found these to be very rememberable,
    > if there is such a word.

    I personally fell in immediate love with "Strange Deja
    Vu". I dunno, I just really enjoy(ed) that song.

    > I won't disagree with you on FII, I love that album.

    Mm, at the risk of beating this topic to death, I just
    didn't get in to FII as much as the other CDs. It's
    not bad at all, really. It's nice and heavy and all
    that, but it just seems like something is missing from
    that CD. Maybe it's the fact that this was the first
    time that the band had written new music with a
    musician like DS. I dunno. JLMB was an immediate
    stand out track and NM was an immediate stand out turb
    bomb IMHO. I'm sorry, but I just really dislike NM.
    The keyboards suck more than anything else DT have
    ever put their name on.

    > But SFaM has
    > taken the cake in my opinion.

    Eh, I wouldn't go that far. I think Awake may always
    be my fave DT CD, but SFAM would be #2 on my list. I
    personally think it worked out rather well for DT that
    Portnoy and Petrucci worked with JR with LTE before
    making the new album b/c I think it gave them a chance
    to get comfortable with him as a musician. The live
    LTE gigs probably didn't hurt either. If anyone ever
    wanted an easy explanation on the seeming "instant
    chemistry" between DT and JR, that's my best guess--
    two albums with memebrs of the band, plus a mini-tour.
     Maybe it wasn't so "instant" after all...

    > You *need* to have a look at the story. It seems
    > like what you need to do is lock yourself in a room
    > and listen to the album a couple of times with
    > absolutely no interruptions. The story is
    > brilliant, and the more you listen to the album, the

    > more it grows on you.

    Agreed. The story kinda unfolds in front of you, if
    you take the time to listen. This could be the most
    straight forward telling of a story on a concept album
    I've ever heard, and it works really well. Kevin
    should definitley give the album a listen. My
    recommendation would be to sit in a bean bag chair,
    put on some head phones and play the CD with closed
    eyes and try to come up with some visuals that match
    the lyrics and mood of the music.

    =====
    *Trent

    "There's colors on the street. Red, white & blue.
    People shuffeling their feet. People sleeping in their shoes.
    There's a warning sign on the road ahead. There's a lot of people thinking we'd be better off dead.
    Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them.
    So I try to forget them anyway I can."
    __________________________________________________
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    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 21:02:31 -0500
    From: Steve Zebrowski <szebro1@gl.umbc.edu>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: "Better" songs...
    Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.19991129210231.007b0100@pop.gl.umbc.edu>

    >You metion some intersting things here. As I mentioned in another post, I do
    >like this album. However, a couple of the songs were written to be "hits" it
    >seems. And I connect this to your comment, "if they had more control, I'm
    >sure it would've been a little less song-oriented." That's an intersting
    comment.
    >I remember reading an interview in Guitar World with JP when FII came out
    and he said
    >about it that "we've gotten better at writing songs." Now, when somebody
    says
    >that, it scares the hell out of me. I;ve heard it before. Becuase, it seems
    >like when somone says "we've gotten better at writing songs" it really means
    >"we think we wrote some hits." Not just with JP saying that but with other
    >bands as well. Anyone else notice that?

    I think it scares people who don't make the distinction between John
    Petrucci, the COMPOSER and John Petrucci, the SONGWRITER. There's a HUGE
    difference. If FII was an experiment in writing better songs, then it is
    better than all their other albums.

    The term "better songs" is not NEARLY as subjective as most people would
    like to think it is. We all know that DT had songs that went verse chorus
    verse chorus etc. before FII, like Another Day, TTT, PMU, TSM, what have
    you. Those songs are great, but whatever quality it is that makes
    something a "great" pop song, the songs on FII have more of it than on the
    other albums.

    Steve Z

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 20:02:39 -0600
    From: Dale R Newberry <schnapster@juno.com>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Re: Scaterd Few
    Message-ID: <19991129.200616.3550.3.schnapster@juno.com>

    Oh yeah, an interesting little side note, original Scaterd Few drummer
    Sam West played on Saviour Machine's first (self-titled) album. A good,
    solid drummer.

    Dale R. Newberry

    ___________________________________________________________________
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    ------------------------------

    Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 01:57:24 +1100
    From: mikel <mikel@alphalink.com.au>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: punk
    Message-ID: <3843E5D4.96C3B78@alphalink.com.au>

     My favourite punk band is Suicidal Tendencies. These guys are great- not progressive,
    but more of a metal vein. You got to love the lead guitar (this is how not to play
    guitar,
    but hey).

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 22:45:34 -0500
    From: "Gagne" <gagne@bicnet.com>
    To: <ytsejam@torchsong.com>
    Subject: take me off this mailing list
    Message-ID: <000501bf3ae5$73e9fee0$bd4a43d8@default>

    Please take me off the mailing list for the dreamtheater newsletter

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 22:53:30 EST
    From: "Chris Files" <cfiles44@hotmail.com>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: Spock's Beard; Dividing up long songs
    Message-ID: <19991130035330.74068.qmail@hotmail.com>

    >The Epic "Healing Colors Of The Sun" is also a killer songs, alldow I would
    >love
    >if they hadn't divided into 6 short parts insted of an epic 20 min track
    >like
    >"Time Has Come", "Flow" or "The Wather".
    >
    >As for songs like "Skin", "The Gipsy" or "Can't Get It Wrong", I think they
    >are
    >good songs but nothing special. Too low for Spock's Beard standarts IMO.
    >
    >Any other oppinions ?

    I could see the argument for Skin and CGiW, although I still wouldn't agree.
      The Gypsy, however, is a fantastic prog piece, my favorite on the album,
    in fact, after The Healing Colors of Sound. Listen to Gypsy again and see
    if it doesn't grow on you (I'm guessing you've only listened to the album a
    couple times if you were mistaking 'Sound' with 'The Sun' ? :) ...or were
    you just confused by that other song, The Distance to Sound... :)

    >To tell the truth, I thought it made a hell of a lot more sense to break
    >the two opening tracks in OIALT. I had thought about re-burning ACOS onto
    >a different CD and making it separate tracks, but I didn't REALLY see the
    >point of that, since I usually listen to it all the way through. But
    >sometimes, I REALLY want to hear Another World, since it's probably my
    >favorite song from ACOS (why don't they EVER do that one live?).

    Just to throw in a different viewpoint, I'm actually a big fan of the
    undivided long songs (although if the 'index' option had ever gotten
    popularity on cd players, I think it would have been cool to have kept the
    long songs as one track, but had the parts indexed -- my first
    [unremastered] copy of 2112 was like that); in fact, I've been turning my cd
    collection into mp3s lately, and one of the things I've been doing is taking
    divided songs (e.g. A Mind Beside Itself) and recording them as one track
    (or file, in this case). I've even grouped the some of the separate parts
    of some concept albums together (for instance, I made Brain Damage and
    Eclipse one track, and the same with The Happiest Days of Our Lives and
    Another Brick in the Wall Part 2). Anyway, when I mp3 The Healing Colors of
    Sound, it will definitely be one track. Now granted, I do this in small
    part because I can't seem to figure out how to make my mp3s play completely
    seemlessly from one song to the next (using Winamp 2.09), but the primary
    reason is because when I listen to a piece, I usually prefer to listen to
    the whole thing. (And if I really don't like the whole long song [e.g. The
    Water], I just edit out the parts I don't like with Cool Edit).

    Hey, while I'm on the subject, there's an MP3 CD disc-man type player being
    put on the market soon (supposedly next month) and I just want to tell the
    world that I'm very excited about the prospect of carrying 9 hours of music
    around with me on one CD. One title, four words: 'Nine Hour Prog Mix'.
    Whoo hoo!

    Chris
    cfiles44@hotmail.com

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    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 19:59:13 PST
    From: "Fran Brennan" <okelnard@hotmail.com>
    To: ytsejam@torchsong.com
    Subject: skin
    Message-ID: <19991130035913.23359.qmail@hotmail.com>

    As for songs like "Skin", "The Gipsy" or "Can't Get It Wrong", I thinkthey
    are
    >good songs but nothing special. Too low for Spock's Beard standarts IMO.

    I'm new to SB, having only heard Day For Night (and my copy of it snapped in
    half the other day =^(.....), but I still must say that "Skin" is one of my
    favorite songs. It's not ten miniutes long and is in 4/4 the whole way
    through. SO WHAT? It's an intelligent, heartfelt, and VERY catchy song. I
    wish I could write stuff that good. Just because you can hum something,
    doesn't necessarily mean it sucks, IMHO. But then, I like FII , so what the
    heck do I know?

                    -Banjoman

    np: SFAM: Synth Horn Solo (I used to hate this part. I still don't really
    care for the patch, but the actual notes he's playing are so...weird! I
    never even noticed KM and DS's solos, because whenever they took a solo they
    used a patch that sounded a lot like synthed-out guitar, and they played in
    the same way a guitarist would play. I still think KM was the best for
    their overall sound (his droning string textures just....complete Awake),
    but JR seems to be a much more interesting soloist. But then, I like FII,
    so what the heck do I know?
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    weedlyweedlyweedlyweedlyweedlyweedlyweedlyweedlyweedly- Steve Vai
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    ------------------------------

    End of YTSEJAM Digest 5214
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