I'm not an expert on the band so what albums/songs did they use Myung's poetry to make the lyrics?

[QUOTE=guitarded_chuck]I'm not an expert on the band so what albums/songs did they use Myung's poetry to make the lyrics?[/QUOTE]
Well, I know he wrote the lyics on the song "Learning to Live".

[QUOTE=EddieVanHalen769]Well, I know he wrote the lyics on the song "Learning to Live".[/QUOTE]
Myung's just bloody awesome.

He wrote the lyrics on Lifting Shadows Of A Dream. Which I can't make sense of but that's ok because it's a coo song :)

[QUOTE=Eggo]And Dream Theater can't make jazz the way the jazz musicians can...What's your point? :D

I'm just talking about pure technical skill.[/QUOTE]
They probably could make some decent jazz...

^ Question able.

I wouldn't be so sure of that... Petrucci just doesn't seem to have the... what's the word...

I was really annoyed by Petrucci's lyrics in Sacrificed Sons. I don't need politics in my Dream Theater.

I think Labrie wrote the lyrics to SS.

[QUOTE=The End]Thats not even close to being true... people criticize what they dont like, not what they dont understand. Do people go around criticizing the universe, or physics or evolution? I didn't think so. Your friend listens to what he considers to be 'good music' and I dont see anything wrong with that. Let him have his own views, he may not fully appreciate the talent of JP but whatever, thats his own ignorance for not caring.[/QUOTE]

Okay I'm sorry mom. That was basically my life wrapped up in a paragraph, it goes way beyond what I wrote. I don't even understand what you're saying. As for people criticizing physics, yeh millions do. They'd rather believe religious texts than science. The age old battle: science vs. relgion. And don't even get me started on evolution. Think before you speak, idiot.

[quote]Not to mention the fact that the lyrics to one of the sections is terrible (sailing on the seven seize the day tripper, etc.). Petrucci is the only member of the band that can actually write decent lyrics and he really should be the only one writing lyrics.[/quote]

That part is just a giant homage to rock, mostly progressive rock from the 60's and 70's.

Even though Petrucci has written great lyrics in the past(see: Scarred), he has been getting progressively worse. The best two lyricists the band ever had were Myung and Moore. Myung stopped submitting lyrics to the band because they put a stipulation on lyrics that they had to be in a structured form or they would not use them at all, so Myung stopped submitting his abstract poetry, and well we all know what happened to Kevin Moore. Portnoy pulls some great lyrics out every now and then (ACOS, TGP/TDS/TROAE), but a lot of his stuff isn't that great. They really need to take a step back and look at the lyrics of then and now.

Yeah, the maturity level has really gone down... its like they're 13 years old again.

[QUOTE=Tails]That part is just a giant homage to rock, mostly progressive rock from the 60's and 70's.

[/QUOTE]

So? You don't put lyrics like that in a serious song and than expect it to be taken seriously. It doesn't fit the song and it drags the song down a bit from where it could have been. It's still a great song IMO.

I saw them yesterday, they rocked.

from the new cd they played:
the root of all evil
and
Panic Attack

:D

No 8vm? No These Walls?

[QUOTE=Otherside]I was really annoyed by Petrucci's lyrics in Sacrificed Sons. I don't need politics in [U]my[/U] Dream Theater.[/QUOTE]
So they need your approval when they write lyrics?

The thing is, their lyrics have never been that great. Myung wrote "Learning to Live", and that's it as far as I know, and that song is amazing both instrumentally and lyrically. Petrucci writes decent lyrics, but it's all average out-of-your-*** crap. Portnoy writes more edgy stuff, which I like. What really pisses me off is LaBrie's lack of a serious lyrical contribution to the band. He is the singer, right? He didn't even write all the lyrics to his solo album (Elements of Persuasion). I'm thinking: what the hell does this guy do other than what they tell him to? He's a good singer, but he sucks at writing.

Jordan Ruddess isn't a great lyricist, either. Listen to his last solo album (Rhythm of Time). There are a couple of songs with singing, he wrote the lyrics; somewhat similar to Petrucci's stuff.

My point is: I agree with everyone saying they really need to fix up their lyrics. But honestly, I never find the time to pay attention to lyrics anyway and analyze hidden messages or anything. I just listen to the vocal melody, and they're getting that part right, at least. But honestly, they really have to step it up. The lyrics have gotten progressively worse. The reason the title track of "Octavarium" disappointed me so much is because I was expecting an abstract story such as we saw on ACOS, which was basically the story of somebody's life in perspective. Those were amazing lyrics. But "Octavarium" didn't even tell a **** story. It was just random crap like "I don't want to be like him, and now I do" (????). And then that jibberish "sailing on the seven sieze the day tripper diem" thing, which could have been catchy, but it didn't belong in an epic song like "Octavarium", and LaBrie sang it totally wrong. He should've rapped it. What do you guys think?

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

Well, the comparisons are inevitable it seems, but DT's musical talent instrumentally is no excuse for subpar lyrics. You pay attention to what you do, I guess, but take a band like Tool, which manages to be insanely interesting on both levels. Dream Theater takes enough criticism for being too instrument-focused, and they can't afford to not bust their asses on every aspect of composition. You can tell when a musician is half-assing something, even if it's better than most other artists' best. It's still half-assing.

Let's face it: I'll need another album to be sure, but DT has been together for a decade plus, running on two. Very few bands have it together compositionally for such a long time. My opinion, they peaked with 6 Degrees. They have few places left to go, it seems. They'll be met with criticism no matter what modifications they make to their sound. That's what you get when a band sets such uncompromising standards for itself from the outset: a band that writes itself into a corner and has nowhere left to go by the end.

Look at a band like Rush. That band, it can be argued, has been tired at a lot of points in its career, most notably in the late '80s. But the difference is, they changed anyway, against the tides of their fans, and certainly against the tides of mainstream influence, from their shifts from 70s hard rock/proto-prog-metal to 80s synth-pop/Andy-Summers-type rock, and then to their 90s sound. That's why they're one of the best progressive bands: their sound changed, and they had no issues as a three piece with challenging each other musically.

But now later fans can look back and see that they've truly progressed and that's why so many of their eras provide literally 30-something albums of enjoyment. The same can hardly be said for Dream Theater: after about 9 or 10 albums, a few flaws in their sound have remained depressingly constant with little effort made to change them The instrumental prowess displays are among them. They're boring by now, but on the other hand Dream Theater as we know it would cease to exist if they were not there. Classic case of a band writing itself into a corner.

When you have five monster instrumentalists all vying for a piece of the composition, and a singer that doesn't do a thing except sing and leave when the rest of the boys play by themselves, and with very rigid roles for each bandmate, original-sounding composition becomes difficult. And a TON of Dream Theater songs are very derivitive, although that isn't immediately apparent because of the sheer skill on display. There have been more complaints about that lack of originality lately, but even back in IAW days it was like a good combination of Queensryche and Rush with more chops. I don't know, I just think they're pretty done. We'll see with the next album, like I said, but this is a band that could be close to spent creatively.

[QUOTE=Cain]Well, the comparisons are inevitable it seems, but DT's musical talent instrumentally is no excuse for subpar lyrics. You pay attention to what you do, I guess, but take a band like Tool, which manages to be insanely interesting on both levels. Dream Theater takes enough criticism for being too instrument-focused, and they can't afford to not bust their asses on every aspect of composition. You can tell when a musician is half-assing something, even if it's better than most other artists' best. It's still half-assing.

Let's face it: I'll need another album to be sure, but DT has been together for a decade plus, running on two. Very few bands have it together compositionally for such a long time. My opinion, they peaked with 6 Degrees. They have few places left to go, it seems. They'll be met with criticism no matter what modifications they make to their sound. That's what you get when a band sets such uncompromising standards for itself from the outset: a band that writes itself into a corner and has nowhere left to go by the end.

Look at a band like Rush. That band, it can be argued, has been tired at a lot of points in its career, most notably in the late '80s. But the difference is, they changed anyway, against the tides of their fans, and certainly against the tides of mainstream influence, from their shifts from 70s hard rock/proto-prog-metal to 80s synth-pop/Andy-Summers-type rock, and then to their 90s sound. That's why they're one of the best progressive bands: their sound changed, and they had no issues as a three piece with challenging each other musically.

But now later fans can look back and see that they've truly progressed and that's why so many of their eras provide literally 30-something albums of enjoyment. The same can hardly be said for Dream Theater: after about 9 or 10 albums, a few flaws in their sound have remained depressingly constant with little effort made to change them The instrumental prowess displays are among them. They're boring by now, but on the other hand Dream Theater as we know it would cease to exist if they were not there. Classic case of a band writing itself into a corner.

When you have five monster instrumentalists all vying for a piece of the composition, and a singer that doesn't do a thing except sing and leave when the rest of the boys play by themselves, and with very rigid roles for each bandmate, original-sounding composition becomes difficult. And a TON of Dream Theater songs are very derivitive, although that isn't immediately apparent because of the sheer skill on display. There have been more complaints about that lack of originality lately, but even back in IAW days it was like a good combination of Queensryche and Rush with more chops. I don't know, I just think they're pretty done. We'll see with the next album, like I said, but this is a band that could be close to spent creatively.[/QUOTE]

Yeh I see what you mean.

[QUOTE=Cain]

Look at a band like Rush. That band, it can be argued, has been tired at a lot of points in its career, most notably in the late '80s. But the difference is, they changed anyway, against the tides of their fans, and certainly against the tides of mainstream influence, from their shifts from 70s hard rock/proto-prog-metal to 80s synth-pop/Andy-Summers-type rock, and then to their 90s sound. That's why they're one of the best progressive bands: their sound changed, and they had no issues as a three piece with challenging each other musically.

But now later fans can look back and see that they've truly progressed and that's why so many of their eras provide literally 30-something albums of enjoyment. The same can hardly be said for Dream Theater: after about 9 or 10 albums, a few flaws in their sound have remained depressingly constant with little effort made to change them The instrumental prowess displays are among them. They're boring by now, but on the other hand Dream Theater as we know it would cease to exist if they were not there. Classic case of a band writing itself into a corner.

When you have five monster instrumentalists all vying for a piece of the composition, and a singer that doesn't do a thing except sing and leave when the rest of the boys play by themselves, and with very rigid roles for each bandmate, original-sounding composition becomes difficult. And a TON of Dream Theater songs are very derivitive, although that isn't immediately apparent because of the sheer skill on display. There have been more complaints about that lack of originality lately, but even back in IAW days it was like a good combination of Queensryche and Rush with more chops. I don't know, I just think they're pretty done. We'll see with the next album, like I said, but this is a band that could be close to spent creatively.[/QUOTE]

123

[QUOTE=Cain]Well, the comparisons are inevitable it seems, but DT's musical talent instrumentally is no excuse for subpar lyrics. You pay attention to what you do, I guess, but take a band like Tool, which manages to be insanely interesting on both levels. Dream Theater takes enough criticism for being too instrument-focused, and they can't afford to not bust their asses on every aspect of composition. You can tell when a musician is half-assing something, even if it's better than most other artists' best. It's still half-assing.

Let's face it: I'll need another album to be sure, but DT has been together for a decade plus, running on two. Very few bands have it together compositionally for such a long time. My opinion, they peaked with 6 Degrees. They have few places left to go, it seems. They'll be met with criticism no matter what modifications they make to their sound. That's what you get when a band sets such uncompromising standards for itself from the outset: a band that writes itself into a corner and has nowhere left to go by the end.

Look at a band like Rush. That band, it can be argued, has been tired at a lot of points in its career, most notably in the late '80s. But the difference is, they changed anyway, against the tides of their fans, and certainly against the tides of mainstream influence, from their shifts from 70s hard rock/proto-prog-metal to 80s synth-pop/Andy-Summers-type rock, and then to their 90s sound. That's why they're one of the best progressive bands: their sound changed, and they had no issues as a three piece with challenging each other musically.

But now later fans can look back and see that they've truly progressed and that's why so many of their eras provide literally 30-something albums of enjoyment. The same can hardly be said for Dream Theater: after about 9 or 10 albums, a few flaws in their sound have remained depressingly constant with little effort made to change them The instrumental prowess displays are among them. They're boring by now, but on the other hand Dream Theater as we know it would cease to exist if they were not there. Classic case of a band writing itself into a corner.

When you have five monster instrumentalists all vying for a piece of the composition, and a singer that doesn't do a thing except sing and leave when the rest of the boys play by themselves, and with very rigid roles for each bandmate, original-sounding composition becomes difficult. And a TON of Dream Theater songs are very derivitive, although that isn't immediately apparent because of the sheer skill on display. There have been more complaints about that lack of originality lately, but even back in IAW days it was like a good combination of Queensryche and Rush with more chops. I don't know, I just think they're pretty done. We'll see with the next album, like I said, but this is a band that could be close to spent creatively.[/QUOTE]

Overall, I can see what you're saying. The Dream Theater camp is going to be pretty static for the next few years. There was some tiny variations on "Octavarium", such as "Never Enough", but other than that they're just repeating themselves. Although it's a good and enjoyable album, one of my favorites they've released, one think I've noticed is the blandness of the solos. They've become somewhat predictable and far less memorable than solos such as the one for "Lines in the Sand" or "Fatal Tragedy", or "Stream of Consciousness", or even "Metropolis pt 1".

If you guys pay attention, Dream Theater has been an episode type band. They had Metropolis, then they made Metropolis pt. 2. The new "episode" thing is "The Glass Prison/This Dying Soul/The Root of All Evil" series. Whereas I've liked all 3 songs, they need to do something more epic. I don't give a **** about alcoholics. They really need to rekindle some of those old candles, get back on the epic side of things.

[quote]He should've rapped it. [/quote]
No, Labrie should never rap anything again.

[QUOTE=MAthiAS]No, Labrie should never rap anything again.[/QUOTE]

He raps every now and then like on TDS and a bit on his solo album. I like it. It's original, at least.

[QUOTE=MAthiAS]No, Labrie should never rap anything again.[/QUOTE]
lol

[QUOTE=MAthiAS]No 8vm? No These Walls?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, seriously. They could atleast play those two.

[quote]He raps every now and then like on TDS and a bit on his solo album. I like it. It's original, at least.[/quote]
Just because its different doesn't mean its good. He's Canadian, we can't rap.

[QUOTE=MAthiAS]Just because its different doesn't mean its good. He's Canadian, we can't rap.[/QUOTE]

That's true. Who could forget the brilliance of Snow and his breathtaking hit single "Informer"?

[QUOTE=the2stranger]I saw them yesterday, they rocked.

from the new cd they played:
the root of all evil
and
Panic Attack

:D[/QUOTE]

How long was their set? I would expect them to play a lot more from the new album, and I'm sure in their headlining shows they will do.

well I for one agree that KM and Myung were the best lyric writers in the band. Take a look at OSI. Those lryics are ****ing amazing. And Learning to live is one of the best lryical songs DT has ever made. even though i can't stand labries vocal style, i would still be listening to them right now if the lryics were worth half a sh1t.

And no Labrie should be banned from rapping. It makes DT sound ****ing gay.

OSI? What?

They need to bring Kevin Moore back, and Portnoy and Petrucci need to regrow their hair. Maybe hanging with Mustaine all summer will make them cool again...

For the Labrie haters... who would you bring in to replace him? Stratovarius' singer?