YTSEJAM Digest 7161 Today's Topics: 1) RE: New Album by "Rob P" 2) O8 by stan tyszka 3) Re: Octavarium by Jon Hamilton 4) Re: Octavarium by Alexandra 5) Viewpoints on Octavarium. by Allroundniceguy 6) RE: Viewpoints on Octavarium. by "Andrew Coutermarsh" 7) RE: Viewpoints on Octavarium. by "Rob P" 8) Variations on Dream Theater opinions. by "Dr. Scott Mosher" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2005 13:50:08 -0400 From: "Rob P" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: RE: New Album Message-ID: That's actually a decent setlist! Here is a sample order: 6:00 Lie Only A Matter of Time Lifting Shadows Off A Dream Light Fuse And Get Away Fatal Tragedy Trial Of Tears Wait For Sleep Learning To Live Of course no Space Dye Vest! Don't Look Past Me would be a possibility. >From: "Niall Connaughton" >Reply-To: ytsejam@torchsong.com >To: Multiple recipients of list >Subject: RE: New Album >Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 04:36:58 -0700 (PDT) > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: ytsejam@torchsong.com [mailto:ytsejam@torchsong.com]On Behalf Of > > xcitor > > Sent: Wednesday, 8 June 2005 12:05 PM > > To: Multiple recipients of list > > Subject: Re: New Album > > > > i think it's about time to make a CD with all parts of The Glass Prison > > up to this point and see how it all sounds. i wonder if we will ever > > be treated to DT playing all twelve parts live once Mike completes the > > rest??` > >Eesh, not my cup of tea... They should do a show where they play only songs >written by KM and JM :P > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 12:45:10 -0700 (PDT) From: stan tyszka To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: O8 Message-ID: --0-1506988204-1118259910=:15231 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Does anyone hear the piano line in the song Octavarium that has a direct similarity to Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody????? --0-1506988204-1118259910=:15231 ---YTSEJAM FILTER: Rest of message skipped because of attachment ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2005 18:55:08 -0400 From: Jon Hamilton To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Re: Octavarium Message-ID: Yes, definitely an homage to the greats. Just check out lyrics like "sailing on the 7 seize the day tripper diem's ready" etc. But I can't believe you are comparing the beginning of the song to anyone but Pink Floyd! It sounds like it was ripped right off of the beginning of Shine on You Crazy Diamond with JP's Gimour-esque guitar. Definitely my favorite track on the disc. >------------------------------ > >Date: Tue, 07 Jun 2005 14:08:07 -0400 >From: Mike Shetzer >To: ytsejam@torchsong.com >Subject: Re: Octavarium > >#8 - loads of fun! What's an Octavarium anyway? I was almost disappointed >that there was no "ridiculous" part in the album, but then between parts 3 >and 4 holy crap... they go insane. Lots of influences in this opus too! Very >Symphony X-ish at the beginning, besides the insane instrumentalism, parts 3 >and 4 totally remind me of Genesis, and there's even a Steve Howe style 5 >second acoustic guitar blast! > >Ok, musical overload... time to take a nap > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 16:54:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Alexandra To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Re: Octavarium Message-ID: >After the first round, I love it!!!!!!!! Remember >also that I HATED ToT >with a passion. Everything that was wrong for me with >ToT has been righted >with this CD. For example I love having the ballads. >"I Walk Beside You" is >a great great song. I can't say enough good things >about it, so I am sure I will be gushing more. I have to say that for me, the ballads are the weakest links here. And really, I am a fan of the ballad (as a song form, in general). I just don't like the tone they've struck with these... or something. Then again, I LOVE ToT, so I think our views will be pretty divergent on this anyway :) ~alex = Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. www.Scenes.de __________________________________ Discover Yahoo! Use Yahoo! to plan a weekend, have fun online and more. Check it out! http://discover.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2005 06:34:49 -0700 From: Allroundniceguy To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Viewpoints on Octavarium. Message-ID: On initial listen, I'm not impressed. Even more so than FW-X, the new DT is uninspiring. It has a distinct AOR streak (the second song is a radio-friendly ballad? SECOND song? Shades of some of the boring tripe from FII) and unmemorable songs. The first FEW listens don't really add much, so this one may take some time to sink in. I hear shades of FII and even SfaM (the pompous, theatrical keyboard sounds and chord progressions, which never did much for me). So, needless to say, so far I am disappointed. Unlike most previous DT releases, there isn't one song that jumped out and grabbed my musical cojones right from the gate, and that is usually a telling circumstance. Even FW-X, while the overall CD was a slight let-down, there were 4 songs that were incredible from the first listen. Octavarium, well... it sounds redundant, bordering on boring. Let's continue to take it for the extended test drive and see how it plays out, but overall, I'm a little disappointed. As a graphic artist, though, I"m glad to see they enlisted the art direction of Hugh Syme and his refined design style. Your friendly neighborhood allroundniceguy Scott Mosher | http://www.theambientmind.com/ Inferno at CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/all/scottmosher ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 07:06:13 -0400 From: "Andrew Coutermarsh" To: Subject: RE: Viewpoints on Octavarium. Message-ID: Wow, Scott, I'm amazed that you think this. Granted, everybody is entitled to his opinion, but I really don't understand how you can say that these songs are unmemorable. I can name parts of this album that grabbed me from the very first listen (I walk Beside You, while being overtly U2-ish, has an awesome chorus, for example). The most interesting thing, to me, is that I think that I'm much like you in terms of my tastes for DT (I prefer the earlier stuff, and Awake will always be my favorite DT album). I was worried about this album, and yes, there are things that are extremely wrong with it (the lyrics?), but overall I'm pretty blown away by it. Andrew Coutermarsh http://www.acvox.com/ andrew at acvox dot com -----Original Message----- From: ytsejam@torchsong.com [mailto:ytsejam@torchsong.com] On Behalf Of Allroundniceguy Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 6:38 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Viewpoints on Octavarium. On initial listen, I'm not impressed. Even more so than FW-X, the new DT is uninspiring. It has a distinct AOR streak (the second song is a radio-friendly ballad? SECOND song? Shades of some of the boring tripe from FII) and unmemorable songs. The first FEW listens don't really add much, so this one may take some time to sink in. I hear shades of FII and even SfaM (the pompous, theatrical keyboard sounds and chord progressions, which never did much for me). So, needless to say, so far I am disappointed. Unlike most previous DT releases, there isn't one song that jumped out and grabbed my musical cojones right from the gate, and that is usually a telling circumstance. Even FW-X, while the overall CD was a slight let-down, there were 4 songs that were incredible from the first listen. Octavarium, well... it sounds redundant, bordering on boring. Let's continue to take it for the extended test drive and see how it plays out, but overall, I'm a little disappointed. As a graphic artist, though, I"m glad to see they enlisted the art direction of Hugh Syme and his refined design style. Your friendly neighborhood allroundniceguy Scott Mosher | http://www.theambientmind.com/ Inferno at CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/all/scottmosher ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2005 08:12:14 -0400 From: "Rob P" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: RE: Viewpoints on Octavarium. Message-ID: I agree with Andrew. To me that's why this is a great album. It is memorable. It has hooks which was the case with the early albums. This one harkens back to those albums which is why I am blown away. I really didn't think they could do that anymore. I think they would HINT at it in the last few albums. I guess we are due for a firestorm over this album much as we are for any DT album which doesn't surprise me. I am interested to see the comparisons people will make between these last 2 albums as far as liking one over the other or just liking them period. To get back to "I Walk Beside You" (one of my favorite tracks that I will wind up defending alot), I think it shows an important side of DT that we've always had. They know how to write a good song. Is it poppy? Maybe, but to me a good song is a good song. The song should always be the key. Length and the number of notes or the time signature isn't the focus. Having said that, yeah I love the title track! Mostly because like ACoS, it GOES some place and takes you along. Many tracks on the last album were long but I often felt like the band was not trying to take me along but rather lose me on the path and see if I could "keep up". Just my opinion of course. Rob >From: "Andrew Coutermarsh" >Reply-To: ytsejam@torchsong.com >To: Multiple recipients of list >Subject: RE: Viewpoints on Octavarium. >Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 04:07:53 -0700 (PDT) > >Wow, Scott, I'm amazed that you think this. Granted, everybody is entitled >to his opinion, but I really don't understand how you can say that these >songs are unmemorable. I can name parts of this album that grabbed me from >the very first listen (I walk Beside You, while being overtly U2-ish, has >an >awesome chorus, for example). The most interesting thing, to me, is that I >think that I'm much like you in terms of my tastes for DT (I prefer the >earlier stuff, and Awake will always be my favorite DT album). I was >worried about this album, and yes, there are things that are extremely >wrong >with it (the lyrics?), but overall I'm pretty blown away by it. > >Andrew Coutermarsh >http://www.acvox.com/ >andrew at acvox dot com > >-----Original Message----- >From: ytsejam@torchsong.com [mailto:ytsejam@torchsong.com] On Behalf Of >Allroundniceguy >Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 6:38 AM >To: Multiple recipients of list >Subject: Viewpoints on Octavarium. > >On initial listen, I'm not impressed. Even more so than FW-X, the new DT >is >uninspiring. It has a >distinct AOR streak (the second song is a radio-friendly ballad? SECOND >song? Shades of some of the >boring tripe from FII) and unmemorable songs. The first FEW listens don't >really add much, so this one >may take some time to sink in. I hear shades of FII and even SfaM (the >pompous, theatrical keyboard >sounds and chord progressions, which never did much for me). > >So, needless to say, so far I am disappointed. Unlike most previous DT >releases, there isn't one song >that jumped out and grabbed my musical cojones right from the gate, and >that >is usually a telling >circumstance. Even FW-X, while the overall CD was a slight let-down, there >were 4 songs that were >incredible from the first listen. Octavarium, well... it sounds redundant, >bordering on boring. > >Let's continue to take it for the extended test drive and see how it plays >out, but overall, I'm a >little disappointed. As a graphic artist, though, I"m glad to see they >enlisted the art direction of >Hugh Syme and his refined design style. > > Your friendly neighborhood allroundniceguy > Scott Mosher | http://www.theambientmind.com/ > Inferno at CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/all/scottmosher > > > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 09:09:32 -0400 From: "Dr. Scott Mosher" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Variations on Dream Theater opinions. Message-ID: I'm still not digging the theatrical/overly-dramatic keyboard melodies JR brings to DT. Ever since he joined the band, sometimes I feel like I"m listening to a Prog Metal Off-Broadway band. Kevin Moore's atmospheric and interesting keyboard approach was an intrinsic element, as was Sherinian's rock-star jazz-fusion synth style, and before people scream "get over it" I'm just saying, I really still haven't warmed up to the Rudess variations, lol. He's unquestionably the ivory-tickling virtuoso but his style just screams "melodrama". Then again, the song writing in DT has been heading in that direction for quite some time. LaBrie also sounds, well... rather redundant here too. Nothing new or too exciting. From what I've heard recently of his work from the FRAMESHIFT project, that sounds intriguing in regards to his vocal styling and approach. That's something I may have to pick up. Any comments about that CD? And, since I'm on a critical roll, I think another thing that has been wearing on me in regards to DT releases is that every CD is almost 80 minutes long. I much prefer the Fates Warning 50-minute CD approach, 80-minutes of hardcore prog is just overkill for me these days. 80 minutes is just about 25 minutes too long. I guess I'm getting old and cantankerous with my prog, the days where I can and want to sit through 80 minutes of musical overkill are passing me by. I think if DT were to shorten and tighten things up a bit, it would work to their benefit. Can anyone say "non-band member producer"? lol Thats in on my end, hoping that Octavarium grows on me more than it's fallen off my "must-play" list. Even ToT had some immediate listen killer tracks (Endless Sacrifice, for instance). Scott Mosher | Musician/Graphic Artist/Allroundniceguy http://www.theambientmind.com ---YTSEJAM-FILTER: This message was posted using the YML command ------------------------------ End of YTSEJAM Digest 7161 ************************** === Contributions to ytsejam: ytsejam@torchsong.com === === Send requests to: ytsejam-request@torchsong.com === === More information at: http://www.dreamt.org/local/ytsejam.php === === Brought by the ghost of ytsejam@arastar.coms past === === Reach the owner of this list at: ytsejam-owner@torchsong.com ===