You're viewing all posts tagged with Dream Theater
Happy 45th Birthday, Mike Portnoy! Photo © Joey Pippin Click for high-res photo

Happy 45th Birthday, Mike Portnoy!
Photo © Joey Pippin

The Friday Five: April 13, 2012

Friday the 13th doesn’t have to be scary with the Friday Five over at IckMusic.

Dream Theater - “Ytse Jam” (When Dream And Day Unite, 1989)
Excellent instrumental from Dream Theater version 1. The title is “Majesty” spelled backwards and alludes to the band’s name in its previous incarnation. The album as a whole has not aged well in places, but in others, it remains an excellent showcase of the band’s songwriting and playing prowess.

Alice in Chains - “Nutshell” (Unplugged, 1996)
This album which was recorded as part of MTV’s Unplugged series is probably my favorite from this “grunge” band, with “Nutshell” being one of the best performances from the set. Known more for his chunky guitar riffs than for his acoustic work, Jerry Cantrell shows just how well-rounded he is, providing his usual excellent harmony vocals behind Layne Staley’s unique—though sometimes annoying—voice. I think the songs benefit from the laid-back acoustic arrangements here, and given that AIC had not performed together as a band for nearly three years, they are amazingly tight. Unfortunately this would become one of Staley’s last shows prior to sliding into deep depression and his eventual overdose in 2002, giving many of the songs a weight and somberness in hindsight that they may not have carried at the time.

Caedmon’s Call - “Thousand Miles” (Back Home, 2003)
I’m not sure why iTunes keeps picking Caedmon’s Call, and this album specifically, from my library for Friday Fives, but in the case of this song, I don’t mind one bit.

Iron Maiden - “Moonchild” (Flight 666: The Original Soundtrack, 2009)
Another live cut from Flight 666, this time an often forgotten Maiden gem that popped up in my Friday Five for August 26, 2011. “Moonchild” is from a Puerto Rican show on the tour, and the crowd there is as wild as the South American audiences. And frontman Bruce Dickinson hams it up as usual. Maiden is such a tight unit, and you would be hard-pressed to find a better live metal band.

Mae - “Release Me” (Singularity, 2007)
I am pretty open about my love of this band on my blog, which may seem odd to many given my metalhead and snobbish musical tendencies, but I just can’t help it. I love just about everything Dave Elkins and company have ever put out, and this song and the album it comes from are no exception.

The Friday Five: March 16, 2012

Extreme - “Smoke Signals” (Extreme, 1989)
Super-tight funky groove? Check. Great guitar tone and showy solo from Nuno? Yup. Vocal harmonies? Got ‘em. What did we leave out? Oh, what about lyrics? Let’s see …

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Don’t be playing ball in the street. What you sow is what you will reap.”

Horrible. Just horrible. I get the joke. It’s just not funny.

Dream Theater - “Far From Heaven” (A Dramatic Turn of Events, 2011)
I really haven’t given this disc the listen it deserves. I think I just got tired of the drama surrounding the departure of founder and former drummer Mike Portnoy and the ensuing he said, he said media storm. The only LaBrie-penned tune on the latest from Dream Theater, “Far From Heaven” is a soft, sweet ballad, and clocking in at only 3:56, it has to be the shortest Dream Theater song of all time.

Counting Crows - “Colorblind” (This Desert Life, 1999)
Another ballad, this time from Adam Duritz and company. And yes, it has the expected pretentiousness and self-deprecation, but for some reason it just works for these guys.

KISS - “I Want You” (Alive II, 1977)
I never got into Alive II the way I did with Alive!, even though it has some of my favorite KISS tunes on it. I didn’t notice it at the time—cut me a little slack, I was a bit too young and starstruck—but the overdubs and the fake crowd noise gets a little unbearable after awhile. And then Paul completely destroys the song with his antics at the end. Nice.

Accept - “Head Over Heels” (Balls to the Wall, 1984)
I love it when iTunes surprises me with a song I haven’t heard in awhile. I literally wore out this album and the its followup Metal Heart when I was in high school. Like the Scorions, Accept didn’t have a good grasp on the English language, and it really showed in most of their lyrics. But at this point in their career, they, like their fellow countrymen, had mastered the ability to craft a heavy song with good melody and a wide range of dynamics. And Udo Dirkshneider’s squeely, growly voice was just enough to remind you that this wasn’t “poser” metal.

The Friday Five: December 9, 2011

Getting lyrical with IckMusic’s Friday Five.

Work and life have been kicking my tail big-time lately with deadlines and things to do. I’m still not ready for the all Christmas songs all the time theme, and since I’ve been on a bit of a lyrics kick on my blog anyway, I thought I would do a short-and-sweet lyrics-based Friday Five this week.

King’s X - “The Train” (live bootleg)
Step up and step aboard, your seat is to the left

The Outfield - “Your Love” (Play Deep, 1985)
Just ‘cause you’re right, that don’t mean I’m wrong

Stone Temple Pilots - “Creep” (Core, 1992)
Feelin’ uninspired, think I’ll start a fire

Matthew Sweet - “The Ugly Truth” (Acoustic & Live NoiseTrade Sampler, 2011)
We want you to act like nothing’s wrong even though you heard a sound

Dream Theater - “Since I’ve Been Loving You” (live bootleg)
I’ve been working from seven, seven, seven to eleven every night, and it kinda makes my life a drag

The Friday Five: December 2, 2011

Yeah, yeah, yeah, do the Friday Five shuffle.

U2 - “Kite” (All That You Can’t Leave Behind, 2000)
I was a big fan of this album when it first came out. I don’t know if I overplayed it or what, but it doesn’t seem to stand up well these days to me. That being said, “Kite” is one of the better tunes, and I don’t immediately want to skip it.

King’s X - “Sometimes” (Out of the Silent Planet, 1988)
Mid-tempo groove from the Texas trio filled with complicated, twisting, heavy riffs, arpeggiated guitar verse sections, excellent vocal harmonies, and Doug Pinnick’s raspy, soulful lead vocals. Just the usual stuff that the music world wasn’t ready for in 1988.

Rush - “Bravest Face” (Snakes & Arrows, 2007)
iTunes is really digging Rush lately, especially this album for some reason. Much of Snakes & Arrows was written on acoustic guitar, and it shows more here than on other tunes. I like this song, but the opening verse almost kills it for me every time, what with Geddy’s uncharacteristic almost-out-of-tune vocals and Alex’s strange acoustic riff—that is until we hit the bridge and the real Rush shows up.

OSI - “Standy (Looks Like Rain)” (Office of Strategic Influence, 2003)
Probably the most melodic and laid-back song on the debut album from this supergroup featuring Fates Warning’s Jim Matheos and former Dream Theater members Kevin Moore and Mike Portnoy. And at 2:09, it’s way too short.

Flight of the Conchords - “Mutha’uckas” (Flight of the Conchords, 2008)
Seriously, dude, iTunes totally played this tune yesterday when I was shuffling. What gives?! “Too many mutha’uckas ‘uckin’ with my shi’!”

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Played 10 times

Platypus - “Cry”

Monday. One day. “Mayday.”
I am calling out over the sea.

Runnin’ Down A Dream

John Petrucci’s Rig Rundown

Rundown of John Myung’s Rig

The gear geeks over at Premier Guitar have done it again, bringing us rig rundowns for the Johns of Dream Theater. Rebecca Dirks runs through the guitars, effects, amps, and setups for bassist John Myung and guitarist John Petrucci with their techs John Zocco and Maddi Schieferstein.

Remember, kids, you gotta put on a rack show. Oh, and the square root of evil is 25.80697580112788.

Enjoy!

We Spiral Towards Disaster

Dream Theater - “On the Backs of Angels”

Dream Theater has released the music video for “On the Backs of Angels,” the first single from the new album A Dramatic Turn of Events, released yesterday, September 13, and the first in the band’s 26-year career recorded without founding member and former drummer Mike Portnoy.

“On the Backs of Angels” is easily the strongest track on the album, although there is some excellent material on the remainder of the disc. Each of the songs seems to recall different periods of the band’s history, most often sounding like a mixture of Images and Words and something off Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory or Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. And while there is a little too much “hey look at how well we can play our instruments” jamming wankery going on for my taste (since more often than not it lends little to the overall song experience), I’m guessing I’ll drop my hard-earned cash for the album after a couple more listens to the streaming version that I mentioned a few days ago.

And to address the elephant in the room, new drummer Mike Mangini sounds enough like Portnoy that you might not immediately be aware of the change if you didn’t already know about it, which I’m sure is what the rest of the band was looking for when choosing a new drummer if the truth were told.

Enjoy!

Stream Dream Theater's New Album

Dream Theater’s new album A Dramatic Turn of Events, which hits stores in the U.S. next Tuesday, September 13, is streaming over at Roadrunner Records. Try it before you buy it.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Played 1 times

Jughead - “Halfway Home To Elvis”

Progressive supergroup Platypus split in 2000 after two releases, resulting in the projects The Jelly Jam and Jughead, both featuring King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor. In the former, Tabor continued on with Dream Theater bassist John Myung and drummer Rod Morgenstein (Dixie Dregs, Winger), while the latter saw saw Tabor and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (former Dream Theater and current Black Country Communion ivory tickler) team with the fraternal rhythm section of Matt and Gregg Bissonette.

On its 2002 self-titled release, Jughead focuses on crafting concise pop tunes that get straight to the point—with the exception of the eight-minute album closer “Paging Willie Mays”—rather than on extended jams and progressive instrumental suites. Although all but the three songs repurposed from the Bissonette’s former group The Mustard Seeds are credited to the entire band, I’m fairly certain Matt Bissonette and Ty Tabor are responsible for the songwriting on the album, which spotlights both writers’ affinity for the Beatles and is far poppier than anything on a King’s X or Ty Tabor solo release. The result is 45 minutes of pure pop goodness.

Enjoy!

Always Online

Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess with friends Project RnL recording a song [almost] completely with iPad applications

Holy crap! I have just about given up on ever being able to play the guitar the way I would like. I guess now I’m going to have to give up on computers as well.

The song itself is kind of cheesy, but you have to admit the technology that allows you to do something like this has come a long way.

I’ve started breaking out my iPad in concert with Dream Theater, and no one has complained yet!
Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess on using his Apple tech gear live in concert, Mac|Life magazine, December 2010
The irony isn’t lost on me that on the day I plunged back into the swirling waters of Dream Theater, their drummer made the choice to climb out of the water and towel off.
former Metal Edge editor Paul Gargano on Mike Portnoy’s departure from Dream Theater

Black Clouds or Silver Linings?

Drummer extraordinaire Mike Portnoy announced late yesterday on his website that he is stepping down from the drum kit for the band he started 25 years ago:

Wednesday September 8th 2010

I am about to write something I never imagined I’d ever write:

After 25 years, I have decided to leave Dream Theater….the band I founded, led and truly loved for a quarter of a century.

To many people this will come as a complete shock, and will also likely be misunderstood by some, but please believe me that it is not a hasty decision…it is something I have struggled with for the last year or so….

After having had such amazing experiences playing with Hail, Transatlantic and Avenged Sevenfold this past year, I have sadly come to the conclusion that I have recently had more fun and better personal relations with these other projects than I have for a while now in Dream Theater…

Please don’t misinterpret me, I love the DT guys dearly and have a long history, friendship and bond that runs incredibly deep with them…it’s just that I think we are in serious need of a little break…

Dream Theater was always my baby…and I nurtured that baby every single day and waking moment of my life since 1985…24/7, 365…never taking time off from DT’s never-ending responsibilites (even when the band was “off” between cycles)…working overtime and way beyond the call of duty that most sane people ever would do for a band…

But I’ve come to the conclusion that the DT machine was starting to burn me out…and I really needed a break from the band in order to save my relationship with the other members and keep my DT spirit hungry and inspired.

We have been on an endless write/record/tour cycle for almost 20 years now (of which I have overseen EVERY aspect without a break) and while a few months apart from each other here & there over the years has been much needed and helpful, I honestly hoped the band could simply agree with me to taking a bit of a “hiatus” to recharge our batteries and “save me from ourselves”…

Sadly, in discussing this with the guys, they determined they do not share my feelings and have decided to continue without me rather than take a breather…I even offered to do some occasional work throughout 2011 against my initial wishes, but it was not to be…

While it truly hurts for me to even think of a Dream Theater without Mike Portnoy (hell, my father named the band!!), I do not want to stand in their way…so I have decided to sacrifice myself and simply leave the band so as to not hold them back against their wishes….

Strangely enough, I just read an interview that I recently did that asked me about the future of DT and I talked about “always following your heart and being true to yourself”…sadly I must say that at this particular moment, my heart is not with Dream Theater…and I would simply be “going through the motions”, and would honestly NOT be true to myself if I stayed for the sake of obligation without taking the break I felt I needed.

I wish the guys the best and hope the music and legacy we created together is enjoyed by fans for decades to come…I am proud of every album we made, every song we wrote and every show we played….

I’m sorry to all the disappointed DT fans around the world…I really tried to salvage the situation and make it work…I honestly just wanted a break (not a split)…but happiness cannot be forced, it needs to come from within….

You DT fans are the greatest fans in the world and as you all know, I have always busted my ass for you guys and I hope that you will stay with me on my future musical journey, wherever it may lead me….(and as you all know my work ethic, there will surely be no shortage of future MP projects!)

Sadly…

Your fearless ex-leader and drummer,

MP

The Dream Theater guys have countered with an official statement of their own:

To all of our loyal fans and friends: It is with profound sadness — regret — we announce that Mike Portnoy, our lifelong drummer and friend, has decided to leave Dream Theater. Mike’s stature in the band has meant the world to all of us professionally, musically, and personally over the years. There is no dispute: Mike has been a major force within this band.

While it is true that Mike is choosing to pursue other ventures and challenges, we can assure you that Dream Theater will continue to move forward with the same intensity — and in the same musical tradition — that you have all helped make so successful, and which is truly gratifying to us.

Fans and friends: File this episode under “Black Clouds and Silver Linings.” As planned, we begin recording our newest album in January 2011, and we’ll follow that with a full-on world tour. “The Spirit Carries On.”

All of us in Dream Theater wholeheartedly wish Mike the best on his musical journey. We have had a long and meaningful career together. It is our true hope that he finds all he is looking for, and that he achieves the happiness he deserves. He will be missed.

Well, at least it sounds like an amicable split, but why does it feel more like a punch in the gut? I just can’t imagine Dream Theater without Mike Portnoy and vice versa. Unfortunately, I, like Mike, have found more enjoyment over the past few years in his side projects than in his main gig. I guess now he’ll have more time to work on things like Transatlantic.

The saddest thing about this whole affair is that I have absolutely no one I can tell who would even care but you guys.

Bummer.

The New Math

One of Mike Portnoy’s many projects over the past few years has been to produce drum-cam “instructional” DVDs of his drumming on the various releases by Dream Theater and his side projects, complete with full tracks, drum isolation tracks, and commentary. This video comes from a similar Hudson Music DVD called “In Constant Motion” that includes the track “The New Math (What He Said)” from the side project OSI.

OSI is the brainchild of Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos and features former Dream Theater keyboardist and Chroma Key founder Kevin Moore, and the name refers to the U.S. government agency formed after 9/11, Office of Strategic Influence, which is also the name of the band’s 2003 debut release. Portnoy provided his drum talents to both this and the project’s second album Free, and the songs are more focused on ethereal, atmospheric soundscapes and compositions than on the progressive rock and metal Matheos and Portnoy are more well-known for. This particular track features samples of news anchor Dan Rather’s on- and off-camera antics and hysterics.

As with Yellow Matter Custard, Mike is playing a smaller kit than his Dream Theater double-kits that can sometimes weigh in at 20 or more pieces and upwards of 30 cymbals. It’s amazing to see what a drummer of his caliber can do with such a (relatively speaking) small kit.

If you like the song itself, you really need to check out Office of Strategic Influence. It contains similar instrumentals, as well as tracks that feature Moore’s laid-back, spacey vocals which provide a nice complement to the instrumental textures of the compositions, and enough background samples and sounds to keep things interesting.

OSI’s “The New Math” from the In Constant Motion DVD