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QUOTE (tick @ Dec 19 2009, 10:53 AM)
5 minutes to Transatlantic tickets !!! 1022.gif
make it 4... bolt.gif

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QUOTE (tangy @ Dec 22 2009, 11:46 AM)
QUOTE (tick @ Dec 19 2009, 10:14 AM)
QUOTE (tick @ Dec 19 2009, 10:53 AM)
5 minutes to Transatlantic tickets !!! 1022.gif
make it 4... bolt.gif

common001.gif common001.gif common001.gif

so did you score?

yes.gif new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

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QUOTE (tick @ Dec 22 2009, 11:10 AM)
QUOTE (tangy @ Dec 22 2009, 11:46 AM)
QUOTE (tick @ Dec 19 2009, 10:14 AM)
QUOTE (tick @ Dec 19 2009, 10:53 AM)
5 minutes to Transatlantic tickets !!! 1022.gif
make it 4... bolt.gif

common001.gif common001.gif common001.gif

so did you score?

yes.gif new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

yes.gif I am glad for you guys! I was without power for the last three days so I missed the earlier news.

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

While I "got" it for Christmas.....the book actually just came in today! (Shipped from the U.K)..

 

I got the limited edition........ Leather Bound hardback, ribbon bookmark, autographed by Rich Wilson (the author)..

 

This thing is a beaut! I cannot wait to start reading it!

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It's a great book
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I got the 1st edition when it first came out and thought it was a great read. I wish he had gotten more in depth when it came to their later albums, and writing processes and such, but it was still a good read. I hope they fixed the typos though, the edition I got was FULL of them.
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QUOTE (GrandDesigner @ Jan 5 2010, 09:37 AM)
I got the 1st edition when it first came out and thought it was a great read. I wish he had gotten more in depth when it came to their later albums, and writing processes and such, but it was still a good read. I hope they fixed the typos though, the edition I got was FULL of them.

I got my limited book too! Heck I have two of the original red hardbound copies with the cd inside!

Not bad for a DREAM THEATER HATER! LOL! tongue.gif

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QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jan 6 2010, 12:40 AM)
One of the greatest prog albums in the world just kicked in on my stereo!

"IMAGES AND NERDS!" tongue.gif

comp26.gif

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QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jan 6 2010, 01:40 AM)
One of the greatest prog albums in the world just kicked in on my stereo!

"IMAGES AND NERDS!" tongue.gif

FAIL sarcasm.gif

 

 

Ya can't hit a homer with every swing RushHead. laugh.gif

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QUOTE (tick @ Jan 6 2010, 07:51 AM)
QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jan 6 2010, 01:40 AM)
One of the greatest prog albums in the world just kicked in on my stereo!

"IMAGES AND NERDS!"  tongue.gif

FAIL sarcasm.gif

 

 

Ya can't hit a homer with every swing RushHead. laugh.gif

HAHAHA!!! "FAIL" seems to be my middle name these days!! laugh.gif

I must have Primus on the mind today: "They All Can't Be Zingers!"

My threads and posts are like Jack Cust who used to be on the A's.

 

He can hit with power, but most of the time he strikes out! tongue.gif

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QUOTE (The Owl @ Jan 8 2010, 07:15 PM)
follow Mike Portnoy on twitter!


http://twitter.com/MikePortnoyDT

I'm surprised Mike doesn't have his own social network by now, like say, Facemike, or Portbook. spit6ph.gif

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Reading "Lifting Shadows" right now.....

 

 

Intresting factoid discovered #1: Charlie Dominici's LAST show with DT, was as an opening act for Marillion on their FIRST with new singer Steve Hogarth.

 

 

small world eh?

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QUOTE (The Owl @ Jan 11 2010, 04:52 PM)
Reading "Lifting Shadows" right now.....


Intresting factoid discovered #1: Charlie Dominici's LAST show with DT, was as an opening act for Marillion on their FIRST with new singer Steve Hogarth.


small world eh?

I was at that November 14, 1989 show intending to buy a Marillion shirt, but you can guess what happened.

 

Rather annoying (and surprising) to see "Dream Theatre" on the marquee of the old Ritz too. Had no idea they were opening. I only discovered Dream Theater that summer through "The Spirit Of Rush" fanzine.

 

 

 

The updated book was a very good read. First time I read it since getting the first edition 2 years ago.

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Listened to "Live at Budokan" today........

 

 

Great f***ing live album........ "Stream of Consciousness" is the instrumental that blows all other instrumentals away....and is better on the live release than the studio.

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QUOTE (HemispheresserehpsimeH @ Jan 21 2010, 07:49 PM)
What does everyone think of Octavarium (the album)?

I did a thread around the release of the latest album where I reviewed all the DT albums..

 

This is what I thought of Octavarium

 

http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?show...dpost&p=1688282

 

QUOTE
Okay 3 more reviews left......... and here is another I have been waiting to review..

Here is Octavarium!!!!!!!!!!!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Dream_Theater_-_Octavarium.jpg

--------------------Track 1: Root of All Evil----------------------------

From the first note, a heavy piano note picking up where "In the Name of God" left of to start this....I love the build up with the Mike Portnoy drum intro... and it leads directly into the 3rd installment of the 12 step saga..  I am going to be doing this alot in the song reviews and the song analysis... but John Myung owns this album... throughout this whole album he is giving a top knotch preformance...  and this song introduces the Myung ownage..  I also am liking the band uniformity here.  Not my favorite JBL preformance... but still decent.  As with other parts of the 12 step saga, I am liking the harkening back to the other installments of the series, both musically and lyrically... A great opening track, noting too special..... but the higlights of this album are to come...

Track Score: 9/10


---------------------Track 2: The Answer Lies Within-------------------------

Its odd for Dream Theater to but a ballad in this early in the album, but I'll take it....  If its a ballad you know were going to hear some epic JBL singing, with Rudess accompany( piano, and a very quiet, but detectable mellotron)... and we recieve..  This is one of La Brie's best vocal preformances ever... and the lyrics are just great..  It's not "Hollow Years" but it is still great...  What sets this apart from others is the addition of the "Octavarium Orchestra"  and the violins in particular set this one up majestically.

Track Score 9/10


-------------------Track 3: These Walls--------------------------------------

A Weird opening (what the hell is that?) But a nice riff into a band blowup... musically... A nice technical headbanger, with Jordan Rudess at the lead.  As aformentioned Jordan Rudess is leading the band in this song... and as before and later, John Myung is giving an awesome bass performance.  The vocals are okay, as is the lyrics noting too special.  A very nice JP solo at the 4:45 mark, but it gets little face value, and the song does get a little repeatative after a while... but the Rudess and Myung owning masks the minor grievances I have with this track..

Track Score: 7.5/10


----------------------Track 4: I Walk Beside You-----------------------

You want the mark of a good progressive band?  Its not what they can do over the 10 minute mark... its what they can do with the under 5 minute marks...  This is probably my favorite DT track that comes in at the under 5 minute marks...  It is well orchrestrated, and executed...  musically, vocally, and lyrically........  The Bridge section is f***ing magical...... La Brie Owns.........  No Complaints..

Track Score: 9.5/10


---------------------Track 5: Panic Attack-----------------------

So far the prog elements (to my happiness) have been pretty high on the display here... as well as the technical metal elements... But this is a well placed straight forward headbanger here... and very enjoyable..  And I cannot champion him enough....... GO MYUNG GO!!!!!!!!  The lyrics are not the best, but are "entertaining" and they fit the feel of the music..... you do get the feel of a "panic attack" with this song... very well titled..  The song gets a redundant up until the solo sections with two great solos by Rudess and Petrucci...........one last note (THIS SONG IS f***ing IMPOSSIBLE ON ROCK BAND)

Track Score: 9/10  (A rare score for the straight forward metal songs)

--------------------------Track 6: Never Enough--------------------------

A nice heavy opening into what?........... Okay, not digging the "moaning" (for lack of a better word) vocals here...  While the singing on this track might be a little off..........and it's nice to know that Mike Portnoy loves his fans (That was a joke..... I actually like the lyrics), the music is really really good, the band is playing very uniform here..... I am hearing a couple of minor transitional change problems, but barely noticeable.  The technical metal is killer!

Track Score: 8.5/10

----------------------------Track 7: Sacrificed Sons--------------------------

As with " The Great Debate" Dream Theater does the rare job of being able to sample in this.... and it well sets up the song to some..  And it of course to get you emotionally involved here.  (The samples of course are from news casts of 9-11)...... and it works well..  The shut out of the samples to the quiet and errie and dark piano is VERY powerful.. the lyrics reflect the power as well..  This is one of the best written JBL tracks, as well as sung.  The whole song contains the errie darkness theme running throughout the first half of the song.......  The second half of the song picks it up and it becomes a little more heavy, and as before John Myung shines here..  One of the few times you will get a bass solo forefront.. There are also some great solos by Rudess and Petrucci here.  The technicality of this song is so far unmatched.....some really great high and low moments it is unbelieveable..

Track Score: 9/10

----------------------------Track 8: Octavarium-----------------
I. Just Like Him

Another one of my favorite DT epics (3rd actually behind "A Change of Seasons", and "6DOIT") The startoff is great, and I am liking that 2 things are very different here than in any other DT epic, first is the inclusion of the Octavarium Orchestra, and the next thing is the opening with Jordan Rudess' new toy...  His Contiuum Fingerboard.........and he is using it to an epic errie, and great effect....... a nice and long solo by JR is a great way to begin this masterful Epic........ leading into one of the best full explosions of sound I have ever heard.........EPIC in every sense of the word!  The next section of John Petrucci acoustic playing backup to the beautiful solo flute...  Then as with ballads before this is an errie yet beautiful JP and JLB duet... with great lyrics, and beautifully sung... which leads us to the next section...

II. Medicate (Awakening)

This section starts out with some (Once again) Myung ownage, in a great solo intro to this mellower section...  The lyrics here are pretty cool.. the singing is very good... as you could say with this JLB written section.  Then all hell breaks loose when the singing stops and we are presented with  Progasmic Jordan Rudess solo....... WOW.. anything I could write about this solo would be an understatement..... WOW!  Mike Portnoy is doing some great owning underneath this epic solo as well..... the best drumming so far of this album...........and the solo finishes bleeding into our next section......

III. Full Circle

Here the band is doing a great job, just playing together and jamming and letting the great lyrics and vocals take center stage.. The lyrics by Portnoy are full of references to The Beatles, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Yes, and Genesis.........Then we get into some musical epicocity..........  the uniformity continues, while everyone playing with their upmost powerful chops.........that continues over into the next section....

IV. Intervals

The instrumentation continues with a fantastic Guitar/Keyboard solo, playing the near impossible together..... WOW...  HOW THE f**k IS THIS POSSIBLE?!?!?  Jordan Rudess and John Petrucci are owning.... making this the best part of the song........  The lyrics here are great...... revisiting the earlier tracks of this album, with a lyric each... Every by much getting louder and leading to a screaming La Brie....... TRAPPED INSIDE THIS OCTAVARIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

V. Razor's Edge


Here is where it all comes together, in a glorious Epic finale.. The orchestra makes its ultimate impact....... the band is playing epically, the lyrics are phenominal....... and the epic solo by John Petrucci..........powerful, graceful, the solution to "why are we here",  and an epic finish to an epic track!

Track score: 10/10





-----------------------------Overall Analysis---------------------------------

I am going to say that other than the minor issues that I had with individual tracks, I had no issues with this album.......it is the album that completes me... an I have nothing but praise for this..

First of all, was the performance of John Myung.. who before this album seemed to have only one or two shining moments, he owned this album.. period!  The bass preformance on any DT album.

Next, The production of this album was excellent... It has to be, and it is an excpetionally hard thing to do when you are adding an orchestra into the mix, but this album did it fantastically.  The sound quality was great, maybe not as good as Train of Thought, but still excellent to hear on my headphones. 

One thing I never seem to praise is the writing and orchrestration of the compositions as a whole on the albums..  But this album is worth noting... Octavarium in a way is a concept album.. the number "8" is kind of the theme.. there are 8 songs, each song is written in a different key (all 8, and the main theme running as the original title of the album was supposed to be called "Octave"), Octavarium the title itself is a play on the number 8... and the title track references other tracks.......

You gotta love the attention to detail....

I could name alot of other things, but those were the main things to note in this album............noting left to do now but score it........


Overall Score for Octavarium.........
95/100 (not an average of the track scores)
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QUOTE (tangy @ Jan 26 2010, 10:12 AM)
MP announced the next DT tour will be an "evening with" tour.

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