The Dream Carries On

Oops,haven't posted in a while. Happy Turkey Day everyone! Today's review is an album I've been listening to for a while, Dream Theater's A Dramatic Turn Of Events.

I purposely sat on this one a bit because the last few albums from them I liked a lot more when I initially got them and then less over time. In particular the last disc Black Clouds And Silver Linings fell off quickly and I eventually only found half the album enjoyable. So I waited until the newness wore off on this disc this time out.

The album's title refers to obvious events in the DT camp, founding member Mike Portnoy exited the band after he failed to convince the others to take an extended break. The Portnoy / Dream Theater saga hit soap opera proportions as fans sided with one person or the other. Once the dust settled, Dream Theater went on a search for a new drummer before selecting Mike Mangini.

And the change has done the band good from my point of view. Dream Theater sounds like a band out to prove it's still vital on ADTOE, unleashing barrage after barrage of their trademark riffage and noodling. Portnoy's absence brings a welcome change in their dropping that nu metal growling / melody style in favor of a more classic approach (which I'm really really happy about. Systematic Chaos gave me a literal headache at times). New guy Mangini has a drum style notably less heavy but no less dexterous than Portnoy, allowing a lot more space for bassist John Myung to groove.

There are some songs on ADTOE that I flat out love, and funnily enough my favorite is the slightly nu metal flavored "Build Me Up, Break Me Down" with it's "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" keyboards, churning guitar riff and stellar chorus. The band locks in to prog nirvana on "Bridges In The Sky" as they pile on the solos until things get almost jazzy. The rest of the disc is filled with high points in almost every song and even surprises by showing a bit of restraint on the closing track "Beneath The Surface".

Despite doing just about everything right, I don't care for the album as a whole. Part of the problem is I didn't like most of the ballads, the power ballad "This Is The Life" felt lie it should have had a better melody. The whole track builds up to this flick your bic moment and then the chorus hits and it's kinda a let down. And while I like vocalist James LaBrie generally I found the Phantom Of The Opera tone to "Far From Heaven" a bit much to take. Speaking of choruses, many of them seem to follow a similar pattern on ADTOE so it takes a while to differentiate the songs from each other.

After having A Dramatic Turn Of Events for a month I find I'm still going back to it repeatedly so while it's not perfect I like it a lot. Dream Theater proves they are still plenty awesome.

Rating:

Midnight Madness - New TV Season Edition

It's that special time of year when new tv series make their over publicized debuts and returning favorites make another run for ratings gold. Actors and actresses pushing their mugs onto the screen screaming "watch me!". Like how many times do I have to see Maria Bello's pretty face all bruised up as she rattles off tough cop nonsense? She's a good actress but this ad campaign doesn't ring true for me, seems forced. Her show could be great for all I know yet I don't have an interest in her program now.

Haven't posted in a little while so there's a bit of old news that doesn't really need addressing...but I'm goin' for it anyway!

Slippin The Secret Salahi - Wow, it's a real worlds collide moment when the guitar player of my favorite band gets involved in a real Real Housewives Of... moment by stealing a former RHWO D.C. cast member for himself. One of the crazy ones no less. On the upside, it's the most press Journey's gotten in a year or two. Downside? At best Schon comes off as an insensitive horndog. And then there were rumors Salahi was riding Steven Tyler's elevator too.

New Adventures In Hi Fi -is when R.E.M. should have stopped in my opinion, even though I enjoyed Accelerate and Collapse Into Now. I was offended that they kept going after Bill Berry split because they made a big deal beforehand about how if one of the four left the band would end and then it didn't. Not so offended I wouldn't listen to them, just thought R.E.M. was one of those "men of their word" kind of bands. Anyway, they've called it a day now. When they return hope Bill Berry is back. Didn't Berry go into farming or something?

X Factor - is booorrriiing

New Girl Now - watched the Zooey Deschanel tv show, she was as offbeat as ever too bad they made the supporting cast like male versions of her. Show has potential if it makes the guys more normal to make it less of a tightly focused personality fest (one guy is macho aggressive, another douchey and a third hyper sensitive). Oh wow, 2nd episode in and the aggro guy has been replaced with a more grounded character (was that Damon Wayans?). New Girl don't waste no time!

Rock Em Sock Em Robots - is what I think when I see commercials for Real Steel.
50/50 shot - my wife told me what she thinks this movie is about, still I gotta say this is the suckiest ad campaign for a film I've seen in awhile. All I get out of the tv adverts is a bunch of testimonials about how funny this film supposdedly is while all the scenes shown have a drab dour tone. The 3rd rock / Inception kid shaves his head and I don't get what's funny about that. Either this movie is so incredible that an advertisement can't convey what it's really about or it's about nothing of merit. A real 50/50.

Harvester Of Sorrow - the first sounds of the Metallica and Lou Reed team up have hit the net. And in honor of Spinal Tap all I can say is "Shit Sandwich".

Dreamin' - lovin the new Dream Theater video. truly awesome stuff.

The Dream Is Still Alive!

Dream Theater has released their first song without founding drummer Mike Portnoy. I was hoping with Portnoy gone they would lay off some of the nu metal edge they've had lately and if this songs an indicator, they have a little bit. While I wish "On The Backs Of Angels" would have had a stronger melody, it's still plenty good with a nice dose of proggy splash.

My Maiden Voyage

Thank you to my wife for the tickets and the name of this blog post. Sunday night was a night of firsts for me, it was the first time I had gotten to see Iron Maiden. But more importantly, it was the first time I got to see Dream Theater.

I've been a DT fan for awhile now and although I had an opportunity to see them once opening for Yes I couldn't get to the Sleep Train Pavilion in time to catch 'em. We arrived about an hour before the show and promptly got into line to enter the Pavilion. And waited. And waited. Nice mix of ages in this line. And waited even longer, I don't think they opened the gates until about a half hour before showtime. Not that this stopped anybody from getting the party started. Shortly after we sat down in our seats, these two guys sat their drunk friend down a few rows ahead of us. About 15 minutes later, one of the friends escorted the drunk dude back up the stairs because the guy was so wasted he pissed all over himself. In a sort of surprise move, the music before the concert included a Dream Theater song "The Best Of Times". Then the famous slashing strings from the movie Psycho hit the PA to let the crowd know things were about to kick off.

In a real rarity, Dream Theater started their show five minutes before the official start time of 7:30. I've never seen that in all the years I've been to concerts, no one ever starts early. DT came out with guns blazing on the opener "As I Am", immediately proving lead singer James LaBrie was in excellent voice. A sea of devil horn throwing arms thrust towards the stage to the beat. "A Rite Of Passage" has a sluggish groove but came alive with drummer Mike Portnoy doing his drum parts while standing each chance he got. The longest cut of the evening was the epic sitar effect laced "Home", a ten minute run through DT's proggy side. My wife had gotten me a beer during "Passage" so I had a nice buzz going when we hit the highlight of my evening, "Constant Motion". DT blasted thru "Constant Motion" hitting the groove changes with hairpin precision. Guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess took their fleet fingered solos to the next level. Meanwhile, we noticed this one dude to our right headbanging with equal fury and accuracy. This guy was definitely a fan, he changed head banging speeds in perfect time with the music.

The groups Rock Band representative track "Panic Attack" came up next, giving bassist James Myung room to groove. Then it was time for the big finish, DT didn't miss a beat on their lone hit "Pull Me Under". Keyboardist Jordan Rudess whips out the keytar and it is smokin'. And then as efficiently as they had started Dream Theater finished and left the stage. A great performance that seemed to be held to a very regimented time table.

After a set redress the stage became cloaked under a black fabric screen. The sound of an Iron Maiden song raged over the PA as the audience anxiously awaited the arrival of their Metal heroes. Then the cloak was removed and revealed a stage set that looked like a sci fi movie. The stage was framed by sci fi looking storage containers that doubled as a second tier above the floor. Iron Maiden's drummer sat centered on the second tier as band members ran in and out of a fabric door to the rear left of the stage.

Now for a disclaimer / admission. I like Iron Maiden. They are one of those bands that are beyond questioning in terms of motivation to rock. I don't know a lot of their music. I know three albums from them, The Number Of The Beast, Piece Of Mind and Somewhere Back In Time - The Best Of Iron Maiden. I thought playing the Best Of Cd the week before would help me prep for the concert. Of the 15 songs on that album, Iron Maiden only played three of them in my presence (I had left before "Hallowed Be Thy Name" was played). So I hardly knew any of the songs played at the concert. It doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the show, but that my Iron Maiden experience was more a series of impressions than anything else. From what I remember, it went something like this:

• All right, it's Iron Maiden!


• Bruce Dickinson runs around a lot. And jumps a lot. He's more active than David Lee Roth!


• Wow, that blond hair guitarist got those poser moves down. Playing while standing on one leg? Cool!


• Hey, I didn't realize they had three guitarists before.


• "Wrathchild"! I know this one. Interesting how Dickinson does this snake like move with his upper torso and arms while singing.


• The other blond guitarist is playing, funny how the one guy looks hair metal while this dude looks Bachman Turner Overdrive. And the non blond guitarist moves with courtly gestures like an English gentleman.


• Their new album The Final Frontier isn't out yet so the sci fi staging doesn't make total sense, but it sure looks awesome!


• Why is it I can hear Bruce Dickinson loud and clear when he does stage patter but he gets buried in the mix during song performance? WTF?


• Gotta take a monster whizz.


• Is Dickinson skipping to the drum kit during guitar solos? Is that allowed? I've never seen skipping by a member of a hard rock / metal band.


• We're getting to the slow songs, kinda cool and medieval sounding.


• Dickinson pays tribute to Ronnie James Dio, huge crowd pop and "Dio" chant follows. Nice lead in to the song called "Blood Brothers".


• I like it when the bass player aims the neck of his guitar out at the audience and pretends to strafe them with a gun.


• The audience is getting drunker if that's possible. I've had people fall out of the aisle into me twice now. That first dude had serious b.o., he hit me for a second and his stench lingered the whole song!


• Speaking of smells, there has been a lot of medicinal herbs stinking up the place.


• All right, back to the fast songs!


• The Bunny looks cute head banging.


• Should I put up some devil horns at the end of song? Should I? Yes! Feels so good :)


• Dickinson's shirt says Psycho Ward. I kinda miss the Medieval warrior look I used to see him wear in Circus magazine all those years ago.


• The guy in front of me keeps getting blocking my view at random by making out with his chick. Damn he's got a big head. Now they're leaving to presumably do it in the bathroom.


• Awesome, the blond guitarist with the poser moves has added two new moves: slinging his guitar up and down his shoulder like a military rifle mixed in with some around the worlds.


• It's the song "Iron Maiden". I've heard this one before! A giant alien looking Eddie is onstage and the band members are doing battle with him. Cool!


• The Pavilion looks totally sold out. The main part of the set is over, time to go. Don't want to get caught in a drunken traffic jam.


• I can hear "The Number Of The Beast" play as we walk to the car in the distant parking lot.


• Time for some Dennys!

Considering I didn't know most of the songs, I had a great time at the Iron Maiden part of the show. The size and spectacle was impressive, as was the tight performance of their music. Maiden is one of those groups where if you like one song, you're gonna like them all. Sound mix could have been better but it wasn't horrible. I left thinking I was going to miss "Run To The Hills" but it turns out they didn't play that one. All in all, a fun concert.

The Year That Was 2009 pt 1

I've been neglecting the blog lately and want to get back into posting so to start up again I'm going to subscribe to the "Out with the old and in with the new" routine. My first two posts of 2010 will be to review the year that was 2009. The first post is music and the second is everything else.

2009 was a year of big hype and modest pay offs in music. It was the year the King of Pop died, ironically sparking a career re-evaluation as audiences were able to separate the music from the person. It was the year of Glambert and Susan Boyle keeping reality tv's foot in the door of pop music. It was the year of free live concerts streaming on the internet. It was the year people went gaga for Gaga and told Kanye he's heartless. Maybe he was upset that it was the year of Taylor Swift, the lanky Country teen dominated everyone and everything else in her path.

For me personally it was the year I completed my Top 100 Favorite albums posts. It only took what, two years? I'm big on lists though, as my wife says I have lists of my lists. And true to my self, here's more lists-

To start things off, here's my Top 5 favorite albums of 2009:

5. Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - Under The Covers Vol. 2 / Chickenfoot - Chickenfoot (tie)

When old timers pool their talents, sometimes they can come up with something a little fresher than if they worked on their own. Fan that I am of Matthew Sweet and of his first pairing with the lead Bangle (2006's Vol 1.) I anxiously looked forward to this set of 70's covers. And fan that I am of Saint Sammy, how could I resist a combo with guitar god Joe Satriani, ex VH Mike Anthony and funky drummer Chad Smith? In both cases, the teams came up with solid discs touched with earnest excitement and heavenly bright spots. Sweet and Hoffs were a little more mechanical this time out than on their first combo yet still found magic in well worn power pop(Raspberries, Todd Rundgren) and classic rock (Rod Stewart, Yes) scripture. Meanwhile AOR geeks rejoiced, basking in the glory of hard hitting guitar driven grooves ("Soap On A Rope"), high flying rockers ("My Kinda Girl") and power balladry ("Learning To Fall") that's Hagar's stock in trade.

4. U2 - No Line On The Horizon

The Irish quartet returned to save the world again with their most subdued effort since...The Unforgettable Fire (1984)? I was turned off by the weak techno pop lead single "Get On Your Boots" which turned out to be the hardest rocking thing on the album. That's not to say No Line is a bad album, it's actually pretty good. The dream reteaming of producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois ensures the dreamy atmospherics envelope everything in its path, creating a disc that is as grey and cloudy as its album cover. Though "Moment Of Surrender" is a nice ballad, I found myself really digging the clunky rocker "Stand Up Comedy" in addition to the classic U2 flag waver "Magnificent" and the catchy "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight". But U2's quiet ways were too mysterious with their mass audience leading to weak sales. Wonder if they'll bring back the thunder next time out?

3. Pearl Jam - Backspacer

When I first picked up this disc I was somewhat disappointed that it seemed a little weak lyrically and that they had removed the anthem rock element they just reclaimed on '06's self titled album. A little after that I was notified I would be losing my job and this album took on special meaning to me. The enervated vibe, open ended lyrics and classic Vedder clenched teeth me-against-the-world delivery provided the motivating soundtrack to a month of hell. I've already gone on about this album in other posts so I'll end it by saying my feelings about this disc has increased greatly since my initial review of it.

2. Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King

For most of the past decade, Matthews seemed to be on the run from his own band - creatively that is. DMB brought in producers to try to swerve the sound away from the intricate jam band tendencies they built their name on. But the passing of saxophonist Leroi Moore seemed to change all that and as a result we got the loosest, grooviest DMB disc in ages. The slam bang breezy rock of "Why I Am" was a highlight on an album packed with the natural, tight and instrumentally impressive music that made DMB famous. Other highlights included the gently loping "You and Me", the Cameo "Word Up" send up "Shake Me Like A Monkey" and the Lillywhite Sessions reminiscent "Lying In The Hands Of God". Of studio albums, this was the best of the year. But I'm not done yet...

1. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Live Anthology

I debated over whether or not to include this, seeing how its an anthology of performances spanning back to the 70's and not a disc of new material. It's just I'm so blown away by this set (if I had done a separate post to review it Dixie would have given ten barks) that I feel compelled to include it. This is an outstanding set, five discs in all, of live performances taken from all phases of Petty's career with the Heartbreakers. Big hits, deep cuts, covers and what not are sewn together to form the facsimile of a live concert. Each song features a strong emotional performance and stack together to form something greater than the sum of its parts. This is one of the best box sets I've heard, it captures a spirit of the different facets of a brilliant artist better than most other box sets and does it with live cuts. I was lucky to get this set as a gift and even though I haven't watched the DVDs that came with it yet I will say that if you have the money to spend on this, it's well worth the price.

And now, my Top 10 songs of 2009:

10. The Lonely Island "I'm On A Boat" and Bruce Springsteen "The Wrestler" (tie)

Is having a tie a way of cheating so I can include an extra song or album in a countdown? Yup, and that won't stop me either. Comedy rappers The Lonely Island floated in "I'm On A Boat" early in the year and I turned a deaf ear to it until it was featured on a mash up with the movie Ponyo. I haven't gotten the song out of my head since then, with my flippy floppys while you're at Kinkos straight makin' copies! On the other end, The Boss provided a song for a movie soundtrack finding him in grumbly acoustic serious guy mode. He captures the soul of a beautiful loser perfectly. Technically this song is from 2008 but since I didn't listen to it until I bought this years Working On A Dream album I'm including it here.

9. Green Day "21 Guns"

All in all, I found Green Day's heavily hyped follow up to their modern classic American Idiot to be a fair but bloated affair. Except for a handful of cuts, one of them being "21 Guns" with its steady march beat and defiant chorus. Never did figure out what the song is actually about, after watching the overblown video for it I went off the song for a little while. I went back to it later, when you get to brass taxes I just like the beat and melody here.

8. Foreigner "Can't Slow Down"

A full review is to follow of the new Foreigner disc I got for Christmas. There's a lot of slow numbers on the new one, but the opening cut is a hard charging rocker that shares its title with the album. The current lead singer gets his Lou Gramm on (Grammophone?) to great affect as the guitars hammer onward to a charged anthemic chorus. A slice of AOR awesomeness on a stick.

7. U2 "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"

Easily the catchiest tune on the recent U2 effort, you know a song is listener friendly when you hear it playing over the sound system of Home Depot while you shop for bricks. In one of those lazy susan musical influence deals, "Crazy" bears some resemblance to the sound Coldplay has employed to amazing success, the sound that borrows a lot from Radiohead and U2. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Either way, this is a pleasant pop rock feel good song.

6. Franz Ferdinand "No You Girls"

New new wavers Franz Ferdinand went from future stars to yesterdays news in a heartbeat between their first and second albums. On their third disc a desperate move (infusing their angular guitars with techno dance sound effects / beats) paid off with strong results peaking with "No You Girls". Balanced on a groove that is almost disco, the Scottish quartet bring the alternative rock cool on and back it up with a killer hook. The chorus has me flashing back to Greg Kihn's "Jeopardy". Normally I hate when a song is referred to as "hip". Franz Ferdinand justifies use of that word.

5. Dream Theater "The Best Of Times" (pts 1 and 2)

My favorite song off the musically spectacular but lyrically insipid DT disc Black Clouds and Silver Linings. The heartfelt intent of the words to "The Best Of Times" (not to be confused with the Styx song) about a man thanking his dying Dad is enough to overcome the maudlin sentimentality of the piece. Best of all, the proggy metalheads weave a tight fabric of instrumental virtuosity that pays off with a stunning John Petrucci guitar solo at the end. It's epic in all the right ways that make Dream Theater great.

4. Mandy Moore "I Could Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week"

Unlikely 70's inflected pop from a former teen queen Britney Spears type singer, Mandy Moore hauled in a hand clap beat and cheap keyboards to finesse a tune that would have sounded right on an AM radio channel in 1973. And I'm a sucker for songs that use the days of the week in the chorus (see "Seven Days" under Sting for details). Amid the heavy clutter of machines and calculated marketing moves that make up modern pop music, Mandy Moore sounded like a breath of fresh air in '09. And yes, this is the same girl who once sang "Candy" and starred in those teen romance movies.

3. Bon Jovi "We Weren't Born To Follow"

OK, you're Jon Bon Jovi and you think: you know what a new Bon Jovi album needs? "Born To Be My Baby" with different lyrics! Yes, that's precisely what was needed Jon Bon Jovi. That sir, is why you earn the big bucks. Musical cop out that it is, I freakin love this song. Maybe it was the timing, I certainly could use encouraging music from a familiar artist. "We Weren't Born To Follow" (just noticed this title even has "Born" in it!) hit home and meant a lot to me. And thank you Richie Sambora for redoing that guitar solo.

2. Lady Antebellum "Need You Now"

Well look at that, I picked a Country song for number two. My cousin gave me the debut album which I thought was decent pop rock done Country style so when their new song for their second album popped up I gave it a shot. Well, I was floored by how good the new song is. A straightforward pop rock duet rendered nicely with able vocalists. Sure, this is about as Country as say Restless Hearts "When She Cries" (meaning its not) but that's fine with me, I don't listen to hardcore Country. This is like Starship's "Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now" for the new millennium. Which I guess isn't that new anymore since we're up to 2010.

1. Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs "Go All The Way"

Duets are us it seems, Sweet and Hoffs Marvel Team Up hit a home run with their cover of The Raspberries / Eric Carmen classic "Go All The Way". The revved up guitar riff and intertwining voices make for audio ecstasy thanks to an inspired performance by the dynamic duo. It may also help that my copy of the original song sounds like crap even though it's from a Time Life collection. Anyway, this cover encapsulated everything that makes the pairing of these two great. (The only place I could find the song online is their myspace page, you have to click on the song to play)

2009, so glad its gone. Next is the year in movies, tv and whatever else I can think of media related. Vampires you say? That is so last year and I hear they suck.

More New Music

Senators, tennis pros and rappers oh my! Having an outburst is the hot new thang. I haven't had much time for posting this week so I'm gonna do an outburst myself with some odds and ends new music I meant to feature last week but forgot about.

William Elliott Whitmore popped on my IPOD from a Paste sampler, I was impressed by this track with its old school feel. "There's Hope For You" makes me feel like I'm at the end of one of those movies where some dramatic thing happened and now we see a montage of different characters acting reflective while doing different things in different places.

This next band I can't criticize too harshly because they're kids. Somebody please think of the children! Won't someone think of the children? I saw this video on tv and spent the whole time wondering if this was a marketing trick or if they're really playing? From seeing this clip on Letterman it looks like they really play their instruments, pretty impressive. The song is just OK. Their name definitely sounds like a marketing construct made for their Disneyfied pop punk - Care Bears On Fire.

One of my favorite 90's bands, The Black Crowes, have a new set out. I'm on the fence on the first single "I Ain't Hiding", I'll have to give it a few more plays on the Pod to get a real opinion on it. It has a dance groove that I'm not entirely sold on though I like that it displays more energy than anything from their previous album.

After coming up with one of the best 70's sounding rockers of the 21st Century, Wolfmother is back (well, at least Andrew Stockdale is back with new band members) to try to do it again. Groovy!

Death Cab For Cutie has a new song for I think Twilight called "Meet Me On The Equinox" which isn't too bad, but what I'm hooked on is a song from their recent The Open Door Ep called "Little Bribes". I like the fuzzed out jauntiness and lyric about slot machines being like one armed robot amputees waving hello. That's clever.

And last, I've gotta give props to Dream Theater's new power ballad "Wither". Easily the best song from the new disc (an album I liked less and less the more I played it which was a bummer 'cause I love that band) they get some nice flick your bic moments packed into this hair metal sounding weeper.

My Summer In Prog

Rating:

I may have used that title before so if I'm recyclying at least I'm saving the planet. Dream Theater has returned with yet another disc stacked with solos on top of solos on top of solos, this time called Black Clouds and Silver Linings. When last we left our intrepid prog metallurgists, DT aimed for head throbbing dark muscular metal on 2007's Systematic Chaos. I had to play this one a lot to get a fix on it and get past my natural bias to say "Hey, it's Dream Theater it's automatically the best thing ever made by man or nature!" After shaking that off, I was able to give a clear headed review:

First the good stuff. Every DT album has its own character and this is one of their proggiest. Long stretches of time pass by between James LaBrie's singing and/or ominous spoken word stuff. In those intervals virtuoso guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess tear it up, trading solos as the rhythm develops and shifts behind them. The result is much like the first disc to their 2002 effort Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence where there are about six 10 minute songs. Drummer Mike Portnoy and bassist John Myung are in fine form and are given plenty of space to stretch out as well.

The songs are pretty good, the highlights for me are the magnificent power ballad "Wither" and the heartfelt "The Best of Times". "Wither" is old school power balladry, sort of like "Forsaken" from Systematic Chaos taken to the next level. "The Best of Times" starts off slowly and then picks up in the midsection before descending into an inspired, majestic guitar solo.

One of the things I like about DT is that they wear their influences on their sleeve, it's not unusual to hear direct lifts from Metallica or Queen in their stuff. On Black Clouds... they don't lift anything, this is the most original sounding recording I've heard from them. It sounds entirely like Dream Theater and nobody else. They also tackle some different moods with the scary aesthetics of "A Nightmare to Remember" or the regal "The Count of Tuscany". A pretty strong accomplishment.

Despite these advancements, my overall impression is that this is a good Dream Theater album. It's not a great one, one of the dangers of going more prog is that if every second isn't magic my attention meanders which happens a few times here (particularly on the draggy single "A Rite Of Passage"). A slight feeling of stagnation takes place even with the push for new ideas, once they hit a certain groove in their songs it can get a little predictable.

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There are more magic moments than not and since I like them so much I'm gonna play this to death anyway. It's just having heard plenty of their other albums, I know they have the ability to pack a disc (or two discs) with stellar songs and performances from beginning to end. They tried hard here, just missed the mark for me. Still an awesome band though. Maybe it will grow on me more as I continue to play it.

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One last note, an unintentionally funny part takes place in "The Count of Tuscany" where the song goes on and on about this Count and how he doesn't want to die and tell people about my family this and that...then talking as the Count the singer goes "Wait a minute Man, it's not supposed to be this way!!!" May not be a word for word transcription, after all the pompous drama that precedes it I find that lyric way funny.

Time Passages

One of my favorite bands, Dream Theater, is set to drop a new disc in a few weeks called Black Clouds and Silver Linings. They have a new video out for the first single, the heavy rocker "A Rite Of Passage." Looking forward to some brand new Dream Theater!

Little Guitars - My Ten Favorite Guitarists

It's Alive!

Well, it's been a long week for me I've been under the weather almost the whole time and a trip to the doctor yesterday was of the mostly good news / some bad news variety. I started this post earlier this week but didn't get past the first sentence so I've decided to give it another go. I've always had one or two favorite guitar players but I haven't ranked a listing of them since about 9th Grade. And, being the mature person that I am, I'm doing it again! To my surprise, a lot of my picks aren't shredders and while I'll be explaining why I picked these people and logical reasoning for it and yada yada yada-it's really just based on my emotional reaction to their playing. Also, I'm not a guitar player so I can't get all technical with keys or what string was used so there won't be a lot of that here. Though it won't stop me from sounding like I do. Know stuff, that is. For some reason, I wanted to write this like they were criminals or outlaws from the 1930s, so I kinda did. Ooooh you dirty rat, look here see, disclaimer is done this is how it's goin' down now.

10. John Frusciante

In a Nutshell: That guy Dave Navarro tried to replace.

Known Affiliations: Red Hot Chili Peppers and Solo

The Rap Sheet: Frusciante can get down to scratch funk, rock out in that 90's Alterna way, strum acoustic guitar beautifully and adapt to a wide mix of beats with taste and energy.

The Skinny: When I first heard the Chili Peppers, the thing that stood out to me was the bass playing by Flea (a great bassist, I just recently found out he provided the bass line to Young MC's Bust A Move) and the guitar work seemed secondary (though I liked the guitar to Taste The Pain and later came to appreciate his work from the Mother's Milk (1989) album). When Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) came out, I was more impressed with the meaty funk (Give It Away) and acoustic riffs (Breaking the Girl) Frusciante provided. Then he left.

Frusciante released a series of solo albums I've never heard, in reviews there were lots of mentions of being too "atmospheric" or "making the sound of water dripping slowly". Having not heard these albums I can't say if those critics were accurate or not. In any case, it seemed Frusciante went the opposite direction of RHCP by working on textures and experimenting with his sound while he was replaced with a revolving door of people in the Chili Peppers.

Based on this, Frusciante would not have made my list-it's what happened next that got him here. He rejoined the Chili Peppers for their 1999 release Californication and quickly spurred the artistic growth lacking in his absence. Californication found RHCP delving more into pop and quiet, atmospheric songs while still keeping the beat up on their funk rock jams. Frusciante's ability to move from jumpy blasts of rock to lyrical near acoustic passages attributed to Californication's success. The follow up, By The Way (2002), continued in this path but a little too much so for my taste (though I love his playing on Cabron). But Stadium Arcadium (2006) is a showcase for Frusciante as he adds electrifying rock guitar solos and even touches of Pink Floyd into the mix. And if that's not enough, he does a killer version of the Bee Gees How Deep Is Your Love except for the ending.

Favorite Album Performance: Californication gave Frusciante space to do his thang, ranging from classic RHCP funk rock (Around The World ) to midtempo lyricism with an awesome slide guitar lick (Scar Tissue ).

Favorite Air Guitar Moment: Frusciante delivers a flurry of fuzzed out Hendrixian notes at the end of Dani California (also see Number 7)

9. Brad Gillis / Jeff Watson

In a Nutshell: The Bay Area rockers tap and shred their way to glory.

Known Affiliations: Ozzy Osbourne (Gillis), Night Ranger and Solo

The Rap Sheet: Brad Gillis has to be the whammy bar champion of all time. Jeff Watson can shred like a speed demon but also holds notes at irregular lengths to make it stand out more. Together they're pure adrenalin.

The Skinny: The recently split tag team of Gillis and Watson gave what was termed "laser licks" (it was the 80's, lasers are fast man!) and some of the best non-metal twin guitar fury not seen since...I don't know when. No really, I just can't think of an example right now. Anyway, following a stint as Randy Rhoads initial replacement in Ozzy Osbourne's band (Over The Mountain ) Brad Gillis rejoined his original band Ranger that was then changed to Night Ranger to avoid a clash with another band of the same name. Brad Gillis' squalling and dive bombing whammy bar runs gave the group a distinct sound like on Don't Tell Me You Love Me or soaring through the clouds on Sister Christian as demonstrated on these instructional videos. I could listen to Gillis play all day, I think in high school I pretty much did.

But I can't downplay Jeff Watson's contributions which is why they're listed as a tag team. Watson handled a lot of the pastoral guitar parts they were known for like on Let Him Run and Goodbye while cruising on Four in the Morning or blazing through tracks like Can't Find Me A Thrill . His quicksilver riffing and fiery solos gave the perfect counterpoint to Gillis' whammy. Together, they were my favorite tag team on guitar. And on stage they ran around like a football team in two minute offense.

Favorite Album Performance: Can you top Dawn Patrol (1982)? I don't think so!

Favorite Air Guitar Moment: All of the guitars in (you Can Still) Rock in America is air guitar thunder baby!! And I think I recall Jeff Watson getting upset at people saying he got the finger tapping from Eddie Van Halen.

8. Steve Lukather

In a Nutshell: If you record in L.A. and you need a guitar part done and if he's not already working for someone else then you can call in Steve Lukather.

Known affiliations: Toto and Solo. As a session player- Michael Jackson, Chicago, The Tubes, Boz Scaggs, Cheap Trick, Hall & Oates, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Cher, George Benson, America, Don Henley, Manhattan Transfer, Christopher Cross, Stevie Nicks, Paul McCartney, Randy Newman, Quincy Jones and Alice Cooper just to name a few.

The Rap Sheet: Controlled and professional but definitely not lacking in emotion. As Toto's career went on, Lukather's playing seemed to take on a harder edge but let's face it - this guy can play anything he wants to and make it sound perfect.

The Skinny: In the days before Internet, I had a different image of Steve Lukather. Lukather was the balladeer of Toto, writing and singing sensitive hand wringing love songs like I Won't Hold You Back or How Does it Feel . So I had this idea that he was this sensitive dude that could play kick ass guitar. It was kind of a shock when the Internet hit and interviews like This became common place. It turns out Steve Lukather is a tough talkin' guy, nothing wrong with that, just a surprise compared to the image I had from his songs. But that's cool.

Lukather plays so many different styles that it's hard to categorize him (and musicians hate being categorized anyway) so I'll just run through some of his greatest riffs like the often sampled slide guitar lick from Toto's Georgy Porgy ( MC Lyte's Poor Georgie is the best example). When I saw them live, Lukather's rockin' solo on White Sister was amazing. And then he could turn all jazzy like on "These Chains" from The Seventh One (1988) album. The dude could do it all.

Favorite Album Performance: Toto's Isolation (1984) record was a model of perfect AOR guitar playing. One critic derisively called the record something like an advertisement for their 80's rock studio skills. If you like Toto and read rock critics, you always had to reverse the meaning of what was written to get to the point of view you agreed with.

Favorite Air Guitar Moment: The solo at the end of The Tubes Talk To Ya Later is an awesome piece of AOR craftsmanship. As a dorky teenager, I literally fell off a diving board air guitaring to this solo. And no, I didn't hit the water.

7. Prince

In a Nutshell: Yup, he's a nut alright. A nut but a singular and incredible talent.

Known Affiliations: Prince, The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, Christopher, Jamie Starr, The Time, The Family, Vanity 6, Apollonia, Jill Jones and a continuing list of protege's. (except for the ladies everyone named is pretty much him under different identites)

The Rap Sheet: Funky, funky, funky. Lots of James Brown style funk in there where the guitar kinda rides above the bass groove. And then some Jimi Hendrix thrown in. Prince is able to play any style in his own estimable Purple way. And it's just one of about a bazillion instruments he plays.

The Skinny: When he's not offending people at Super Bowls with his guitar posturing, Prince is a formidable performer on the fretboard. The guitar is usually in the middle of the mix of your usual Prince song but is no less important because of it. Memorable guitar parts include that opening bit with the gnarled intro into a twang on "When Doves Cry", the long solo at the end of "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" and even the slinky "Cream". Still, when he's just backing up the groove like on many a Prince jam ("Alphabet St." comes to mind) his playing is on the money and funk-ay. I also like how he uses stray hanging notes to show something slightly unhinged is happening ("Cream" is a good example but I'm sure he did it in other songs, I just can't remember right now). And to many an 80's kid, the Hendrix styled "Purple Rain" with it's drawn out coda is a near religious experience. Though he can't make any claim to one of the best known solos of his hit "Little Red Corvette", that was Dez Dickerson.

Favorite Album Performance: Are you kidding? Purple Rain (1984) of course!

Favorite Air Guitar Moment: The Hendrix styled spectacle at the close of "Let's Go Crazy" saw Prince move away from his R&B tag by out rocking just about every other guitarist around. So good it actually crossed over to Rock radio back in the day. Where's my puffy shirt and spotlight?

6. Lindsey Buckingham

In a Nutshell: Picking a winner.

Known Affiliations: Buckingham / Nicks, Fleetwood Mac, Fritz and solo

The Rap Sheet: Finger pickin' good. Buckingham's style is finger picked and light with an acoustic guitar feel. Very heavy on creating sound textures with his guitar. Though if he needs to rock hard, he can. Up to a mid 70's level, that is.

The Skinny: The first guitarist I ever really idolized, I thought all guitar players didn't use a pick and moved herky jerky on stage (some guitarists have referred to their playing as "making love to the audience", I bet they've never seen Buckingham in action during I'm So Afraid. With every note he gives a long pelvic thrust at the audience and then grimaces. So be afraid. Very afraid.) Known more for his skills as a Producer than a guitarist, I like his unique sound and his custom made sorta banjo guitar.

Guitar wise, he started off as a more traditional sounding Country rocker on cuts like Go Your Own Way, Blue Letter and Never Going Back Again. His finger picked style fit in well with the Country edge. But at the end of the 70's, Buckingham adapted to New Wave and that's when the herky jerky started on tracks like Not That Funny. His stiff, choppy sense of rhythm came to the fore while his solos got more spindly. For the 80's, the guitar work became more involved with creating textures like the raining sound on the live version of Everywhere. His playing eventually condensed down to both the Country rock and New Wave influences to make a unique sound.

Favorite Album Performance: His third solo album Out of the Cradle (1992) showed his distilled style of guitar work to its best effect. The light and bouncy Don't Look Down , the smooth Countdown and the riff heavy This is the Time are just some of the highlights here.

Favorite Air Guitar Moment: The 1982 live version of The Chain features one of the most dramatic arrangements of this well worn tune including a frantic guitar solo at the close. Yes I'm runnin, Yes I'm runnin'!

5. John Petrucci

In a Nutshell: The only thing better than a 30 second shred solo is a ten minute one.

Known Affiliations: Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, Solo

The Rap Sheet: A Prog Metal King, Petrucci can lay a heavy groove and then shred all over it. He's assimilated from the great ones (such as Steve Vai and Alex Lifeson) to come up with a sound that's distinct to him.

The Skinny: I haven't heard of any of his work except Dream Theater. Fast and precise doesn't begin to describe his playing which has adapted from the upbeat and fist pumping 80's riffage to the grinding nu metal modern era without missing a step. Of the first era check out the spellbinding solo on Under a Glass Moon and then chase it down with the escalating riff to Innocence Faded. For the modern era, take the mix a You Tuber put together combining multiple solos to Solo Medley. And then remember he's in a Prog band that plays ten to 40 minute epics with multiple movements.

Favorite Album Performance: Well, for me Images and Words (1992) is tough to top on any level. I think I've posted about this album a few times so I won't bother to elaborate further. .
Favorite Air Guitar Moment: The brilliant soaring solo to Another Day is dramatic, bombastic and moving. Even when unplugged, like it is in this version.

4. Eddie Van Halen

In a Nutshell: Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!

Known Affiliatons: Van Halen. He worked for Michael Jackson one time, too.

The Rap Sheet: The man who brought us finger tapping and made shredding an art form. He used to play with his back to the audience so people couldn't see his hands.

The Skinny: Often imitated but never truly duplicated, Van Halen added a new vocabulary to Rock music. I think he's the last guitarist to truly innovate the instrument (at least in Rock music) on a mass scale. What set him apart from his imitators was the sense of personality that came from his playing. Where many shred guitarists played in a tight and regimented style to show technical skill and dominance, EVH wove his guitar parts together so they flowed smoothly. The Roth era was more playful as reflected in songs like Bottoms Up or Panama where big riffs and charged solos added to the Party Hearty atmosphere. In the Hagar era, EVH dropped the "Brown" sound and some of the playfulness went away in favor of a more direct approach like Poundcake. But not all of it, as shown on Finish What Ya Started. And through it all, Eruption is often ranked as one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. Although I have a soft spot for Cathedral. All done with enough running scissor kicks to wear a hip out.

Favorite Album Performance: Fair Warning (1981) was the only Original Van Halen album where Roth took a back seat. EVH emptied his bag of tricks all over the disc, making it less accessible but no less impressive. Just listen to the mammoth guitars on Mean Streets or Unchained and I think you'll see what I mean.

Favorite Air Guitar Moment: No one from the "I Want My MTV!" era could forget Eddie Van Halen strolling across library tables in black and white to the tribal rhythms of Hot For Teacher. Or how EVH casually unspools one of his best solos filled with excitement and humor as brother Alex punctuates some parts with his snare. And who can forget that shudder to a stop followed by a loop the loop and crash bang ending?

3. Neal Schon

In A Nutshell: Randy Jackson (American Idol) once called Schon "The Rock Dawg".

Known Affiliatons: Santana, Journey, HSAS, Schon & Hammer, Bad English, Hardline, Paul Rodgers, Abraxas, Planet Us and Solo.

The Rap Sheet: Extremely fast and accurate while only occasionally resorting to shredding, Schon is known for his slick riffs and soaring guitar solos from Journey.

The Skinny: Schon's also a sort of performance addict in that he's repeatedly said thru his career that he can't stand not performing for longer than a few weeks resulting in a huge discography. That smooth yet biting approach that ruled cuts like Stone in Love or adding to the stratospheric climb of power balladry for Faithfully wrote the book for Arena Rock guitar. As polished and technical as his playing can be, there's always a sort of primal feeling to his performances that give it edge. In other bands Schon has shown an inclination to rock harder with meatier riffs like Hardline's Takin Me Down. He never dropped his Santana associations and would play with other early Santana members to revive the sound of the first three Santana albums. And as a solo artist he's branched out into different rhythms, like the pleasantly new agey Beyond the Thunder (1994) album. In the 70's, Schon had like a foot of hair on his head. You've gotta respect that! But if not, I think Schon has said the solo he gets the most compliments for is at the end of Who's Cryin' Now

Favorite Album Performance: Is Hagar Schon Arronson and Shrieve's Through the Fire (1984). It captures Schon in his Journey prime on holiday from his day job. Working with raspy meat and potatoes rocker Sammy Hagar instead of smooth tenor Steve Perry, Schon revs up his guitar of killer rockers like My Hometown and He Will Understand. But if you think he forgot his Journey roots, just listen to the dramatic Missing You. And then pump your fists in the air for the anthemic Top of the Rock. Yeah! Stay in School! (HSAS was formed for a series of benefit concerts for Bay Area schools, which was interesting because both Hagar and Schon were high school drop outs)

Favorite Air Guitar Moment: On the Raised in Radio (1986) record, Schon saw his creative involvement reduced but was given some lengthy solos in return. The solo at the end of their Top 10 hit Be Good To Yourself is feel great AOR bombast at its best.

2. Steve Howe

In a Nutshell: Play on Maestro!

Known Affiliations: Bodast, Tomorrow, Yes, GTR, Asia and Solo

The Rap Sheet: Heavily structured patterns that move like data thru fiberoptic cable.

The Skinny: Determined to come up with a Rock guitar style that was not based on the Blues, Howe pretty much threw everything else together. With Yes, Howe became the deciding factor in moving the British band's music forward from being a musicianly vocal group to an instrumentally based group with voice as a fifth instrument. Classic Yes material like the multi movement Starship Trooper, the outer space slide guitar on And You And I and the point/counterpoint riffage of Heart of the Sunrise relied heavily on Howe's abilities. With the end of Classic Yes, Howe adapted to the 80's by shortening his game and punching catchier guitar parts like on Asia's Heat of the Moment or GTR's When the Heart Rules the Mind. Throughout, Howe developed a solo career for his intricate noodlings and by the 90's had regrouped with Yes.
A special mention needs to be made about Howe's stage presence. He's one of the most committed musicians you can hear live and long ago he stopped worrying about holding back for the audience. So if you're not used to seeing Howe live, his guitar faces, awkward movements and at times crab like manuevers can seem a little goofy. But it's just an honest display of the man gettin' down. I got so much crap from friends after the MTV show Asia in Asia over Howe's antics.

Favorite Album Performance: For my money, his solo album Not Necessarily Acoustic (1994) put Maestro's best pieces in one place in live performance. Howe classics like Clap , Mood For A Day, Sketches in the Sun and "Excerpts from Tales For Topographic Oceans" get first class renditions with the focus all on Howe. Nous Sommes Du Soliel!

Favorite Air Guitar Moment: My sentimental favorite Howe song is Masquerade so I'm picking it as my favorite air guitar song for Maestro.

1. Stevie Ray Vaughan

In a Nutshell: Born to be Blue

Known Affiliations: David Bowie and solo

The Rap Sheet: Six string sting with the Blues and Hendrix.

The Skinny: The first time I ever heard of Stevie Ray Vaughan was in the late 80's, I had a friend who said he wasn't a fan but had to admit Vaughan was born to play the guitar. I wasn't into Blues so I never bothered to check SRV out and mostly heard about him via his untimely death. A few years back, I had a different friend who loved Blues and Blues Rock thru which we would trade CDs and videos to see various artists. I think he lent me the Live at El Mocambo video and I finally saw what the big deal was about. Vaughan played guitar like it was as natural as breathing, his thought and action seemed simultaneous. And what he played was emotional, profoundly sharp and skilled. On top of that, Vaughan would use a bag of stage tricks that he performed with ease, such as playing the guitar behind his back for like half a song.

So I delved into the SRV catalog and found a career packed with amazing performances. That he could play that much guitar and not recycle riffs or solos was really impressive to me. Favorite SRV tunes include the rollicking House is a Rockin' , the awesome Crossfire and the unlikely boogie Mary Had a Little Lamb. The Hank Ballard penned Look at Little Sister also gets repeat plays on my IPOD. And I really liked his team up with Jeff Beck for a dynamite Goin' Down. I got into his music about a decade after his passing, it all held up as honest heartfelt music.

Favorite Album Performance: The debut Texas Flood (1983) heralded Vaughan's arrival to the mainstream with a set of great songs like Love Struck Baby , Rude Mood and of course the Title Cut.

Favorite Air Guitar Moment: I think anyone who has played Guitar Hero 3 knows how great Texas Flood is from start to finish. But that solo at the end has more twists and turns than an M Night Shamalyan movie. And no fake ending!

And that's the list. So many other guitarists came close to making this list, but I had to go with my gut in making choices. Meaning I had a lot to go on. Ha ha. Say goodnight Gracie. Goodnight Gracie.

Artist Spotlight: Dream Theater

It looks like the line for the mens room at a football game, but it's really Dream Theater!

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It's been a mellow week which has been wonderfully relaxing but now it's time to get back to rockin'. So I thought I would highlight one of my favorite bands - Dream Theater. Now, out of laziness I will probably just call them DT for a lot of the post. DT was formed in New York at the Berklee School of Music in 1986. Originally named Majesty, the band was filled with technical proficiency and came up with a sound along the lines of Rush, Queensryche and Queen with some Metallica thrown in. After some line up fiddling, the first version of the band to record was the amazing John Petrucci (guitar), fleet fingered bassist John Myung, the awesome Mike Portnoy (drums), the tasteful Kevin Moore (keyboards) and a singer I haven't heard yet, Charlie Dominici. They released their debut album in 1989 to launch their career as one of the longest running Prog Metal bands around.

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When Day and Dream Unite (1989)

...isn't that called a daydream? It just wouldn't be Prog if there wasn't an extended and elaborate way to say something. I've never heard this album or anything off it except the YTSE Jam which is an instrumental cut that shows off these guys chops. Other than that, all I can say is that the album cover was ahead of its time. That's me in the corner, that's me in the spot. light...

Images and Words (1991)

For the next album, the band switched labels and singers. Lead singer James LaBrie was brought in and I assume was a better fit than the other guy. LaBrie had a sort of Operatic hair band singer style that gave drama and oomph to their sound. At any rate, DT laid out my favorite disc of theirs, Images and Words. The perfect blend of late 80's hair metal anthems and proggy musical wankerism coalesce into a killer piece of work. Their lone hit, Pull Me Under was the perfect representation of the band. The shifts from chugging verses to thrashed out sections, dazzling solos and a hook based on Shakesphere. A ten minute Metropolis pt.1 again reflected the knotty arrangements and crafty musicality of the group. I think of the song as the equivalent to Yes' "Heart of the Sunrise" for DT. It was a prerequisite of any Metal band at this time to have a power ballad and the band delivered the life affirming Another Day , a song I think was inspired by a bandmember's dying father. One of my all time favorite power ballads, Petrucci delivers my favorite power ballad guitar solo of all time. And if that's not enough, Petrucci made Guitar magazine's top 500 guitar solos on Under a Glass Moon . Pretty soon I might have the whole album covered which just goes to show how much I like this one. One last song. Surrounded!

Awake (1994)

Dream Theater followed up their commercial break thru with a darker album, the band would alternate between light and dark sounds for the rest of their career. I'm not as much of a fan of their edgier, less melodic creations even though it lets the band cut loose harder. But there's still gold here with the bone crunching Lie , the folky The Silent Man and the pure Yes 90125 era Arena rock of Innocence Faded . The playing and arrangements are denser and trickier than anything they attempted before, leaving an impressive array of instrumental breaks and rapid fire riffing in their wake. Drummer Mike Portnoy really dominates on this disc, giving a clinic in Neal Peart inspired beats. Even though I've played this disc a few times, it just doesn't stick with me as a whole piece but as a bunch of little parts. Awake would represent an ongoing theme in the groups career, never settling down and pushing forward to create invigorating music.

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A Change of Seasons (1995)

One of the things I like about DT is that they are more than willing to let their prog freak flag fly. Releasing a CD where the main track is a 23 minute epic of Yessian proportions does just that. A masterwork of instrumental excess and proggy goodness that easily ranks with anything ELP or early Genesis cranked out. Keyboardist Derek Sherinian replaced the departing Kevin Moore and immediately adds his own splashy flavor. And in case there's any doubt about who influences these guys, there's The Big Medley that slavishly references Pink Floyd, Journey, Kansas, Queen and Genesis. Dream Theater get Close to the Edge on this disc.

Falling into Infinity (1997)

I don't have this album but have heard some songs from it. The songs I've heard were OK but didn't quite blow me away. Hollow Years has a Sting quality to it and Burning My Soul thunders along with a strong Deep Purple style organ riff. But there seems to be a slight loss of character here, enjoyable but the songs I know from this album tend to be the ones I play the least. Too bad, I normally like albums produced by Kevin Shirley.

Metropolis pt 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)

After a decade plus in the music biz, Dream Theater realized they hadn't made a concept album yet. So they went out to correct that by expanding on "Metropolis" from the Images and Words album. The album's concept is about a young woman who is murdered because I think she was dating two brothers and one of them kills her. Then a man in the present goes to see a psychiatrist about past lives and is hypnotized and relives the past. Or something like that. I used to love to listen to this disc during insomniac nights at 2 in the morning so my memory of the story is fuzzy. Yet that was probably the best time to hear it, the music just seemed to fit the mood of a late night dream. Jordan Rudess is brought in on keyboards in place of Sherinian and immediately displays his confident prowess with Rick Wakeman rivaling runs. My second favorite DT disc, when I'm paying attention I can follow the story and the music combined with sound effects and acting creates a mood of mystery and intrigue. My favorite song on the album was the longish Home with its mystic flavor and critical story point (this is the point where the girl cheats on one brother with the other) is a dizzying array of musical virtuosity. After seeing the live performance on tv, The Spirit Carries On has become a fave as well. But this album is really meant to be heard as a whole, it was DT's most ambitious effort and in reaching high they've created a minor classic.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

In 2001 the band released a live album that stirred some controversy because the cover art depicted their trademark flaming heart in barbed wire over the city of New York (where the concert was held) that happened to be released around 9/11. The most press the band ever received in their career was mostly negative and entirely unitentional. Still, at this phase in the band's career ambition was riding high and so they followed up their concept album with a two disc set. Not just any two disc set, one of the discs featured an eight movement 45 minute mini concept about the inner struggle of madness. Great tracks like The Test That Stumped The All and the Peter Gabrielish Solitary Shell combine to form one of the longest Prog pieces I've ever heard. Elsewhere, the band begins to infuse modern influences into harder edged pummeling rockers like The Glass Prison and the surprisingly political and catchy anti stem cell research anthem "The Great Debate". I've played these discs several times and still don't know all of it because there's so much to it. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Train of Thought (2003)

The harder modern edge developed on Six Degrees is brought to fore on Train of Thought. So much so that I have a hard time remembering much about any keyboards to this album. What I got out of it was Petrucci, Petrucci, Petrucci. Not necessarily a bad thing since he's a blazin' guitar player but I can't listen to the whole thing in one sitting. It just has a dry crunchy vibe like eating cerial without milk. Anywho, taken as individual tracks its another great one in the DT library. The song I liked the most here was "Endless Sacrifice" which borrowed a bit from Evanescence's "Bring Me Back To Life" showing the increasing development of modern sounds in their songwriting. One of the cool things about You Tube is that you can find people singing along to their favorite songs, so here's a guy named Unflexible Grace singing along to Endless Sacrifice . Pretty cool! DT also makes their anti-war stance known on In the Name of God with it's very windy groove and impressive noodling. A great album that I listen to in halves to get through but is well worth the effort. I almost got to see them live on a double bill with Yes but couldn't get off work early enough to see them. Bummer.

Octavarium (2005)

In their back and forth approach, Dream Theater lightens the sound and brings back more melody while reining in some of their heavier instincts on Octavarium. Proggy as ever, I read that the album was set up where each song was a different octive or something like that. I don't have the musical ear to decypher that but can say I enjoyed this one a lot. Two of the songs seemed to have been set up for potential crossover marketing with the U2 styled I Walk Beside You and the somewhat dull ballad The Answer Lies Within . But if you think these guys went soft, you'd be wrong as Panic Attack thrashes through heavy riffs and intense singing. My all time favorite Dream Theater song, the 23 minute title track, sits at the end of this disc. Backed by an orchestra, the title song goes all over the map from Floydian grace to Kansas groovin to Metallica S&M grandeur. Here it is in parts One ,Two, and Three . The guitar solo with orchestra backing at the close of the song is a thing of beauty. DT had built up enough of a fan base to play at Radio City Music Hall with an orchestra in 2006.

Systematic Chaos (2007)

Apparently Octavarium was too soft for the band to handle because not only did they dive back to the darkness but they jumped back into it with both feet. Drummer Portnoy announced his intention was for the band to release an album with balls, extremely hard edged. Unique in its dogged commitment to the tough guy approach, Chaos overplays its hand a bit to the point of comedy and would be challenging to take seriously if it wasn't for the impressive talent they possess. Monster man vocals, lyrics about ministries of lost souls and an unrelenting mood of hard bitten intensity characterize the album. I would literally get a headache listening to it when I first bought it because it was so dang heavy! Or it just means I'm getting old. The urgent single Constant Motion points to the band's direction as does the awesome ballad Forsaken . After years of listening to DT it's easy to take their talent for granted, which is why I'm glad there's an in studio video for The Dark Eternal Night . Another fine effort from the 80's prog metal band that isn't Queensryche (who is also great).

Dream Theater continues to this day and I hope will continue for years to come. The rare band that wears its heart on its sleeve so to speak, their influences now span from the classic rock era to the present and mix together to create a sound that is both unique and relatable to anyone familiar with rock music from the past 40 years. Or to put it bluntly, they kick ass!