Dream Theater "Images & Words" 2007 Remix

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

For their "Greatest Hit" compilation, they decided to have Kevin Shirley remix 3 tracks from this album. "Pull Me Under", "Another Day" and "Take the Time".
If you still have very little love left for Dream Theater and, like me, consider "Images & Words" to be one of the very best album ever (well to me it's THE best), here is my advice: don't listen to this CRAP.

 

[R-Stuur]

Images & Words rule, I loved that cd so much. Lastest cd is the biggest piece of crap I ever heard though

 

[Nebulous]

Haha, I had a feeling that would happen. Has it been "remastered" and butchered into clipping too?

I've no faith in re-mixes/masters at all, except maybe for the remixed Iced Earth tracks on Days Of Purgatory.

 

[EerieVon]

For their "Greatest Hit" compilation, they decided to have Kevin Shirley remix 3 tracks from this album. "Pull Me Under", "Another Day" and "Take the Time".
If you still have very little love left for Dream Theater and, like me, consider "Images & Words" to be one of the very best album ever (well to me it's THE best), here is my advice: don't listen to this CRAP.

How so?

 

[Matt Smith]

I figured as much. Though I like a few things he's done, in general I'm not a Kevin Shirley fan. Can't we at least hang on to our good memories of the I&W and Awake eras?

 

[aramism]

i dislike their last album alot. except for repentance and the wicked lead guitar in "ministry of lost souls" that album is so processed as far as songwriting goes. you kind of get the feeling they had no genuine creative juices and just sat there and went "ok let's try to sound like a heavy sludgy prog band"

i kind of feel like they are going through a midlife crisis. systematic chaos was like their '69 corvette. except not as classy.

and the funny thing is DT is my fav band of all time and this is just based on IAW, AWAKE, and SFAM... however i am not one of those people that only sticks to those because i think 6DOIT, TOT, and even octavarium are great great albums with great songs. TOT is a really good heavy album, and i think the fact that they intentionally stepped out of character worked. SC is weak because they are trying to sound prog and heavy and dark at the same time it just doesn't sit right with me. it is very unnatural. part of me feels like they are trying to ride this "scene" and "core" wave a little bit. like appeal with the weird t shirts and the trendy jeans that john petrucci wears and the weird shirts that james labrie wears all the time. they were better when they were cheesy in a true cheesy way ala the picasso guitars, poofy james labrie shirts. they weren't trying to fit in, they were being themselves! anyone remember those mesa boogie triaxis ads in the early 90's with john petrucci and those reebok pumps?

 

[JBroll]

White shoes and black clothing! A keyboard player who always looks like he wants to sex the audience up! A lead singer whose wardrobe makes Elton John look straight! What's not to like?

Jeff

 

[aramism]

jeff you mean kind of like [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pie0UTdTJY"]THIS!?[/ame]


ps - i have a hard time deciding whether the guitar solo in "take the time" or "another day" on that dvd is my favorite live solo of all time. it's one or the other.

 

[JBroll]

Is that from the old Japan DVD? No Flash right now so no video until I find that DVD...

Gotta say Take The Time, since I like the song better.

Jeff

 

[Mendel]

About DT itself: I think it's just me but i've bee a dt fan for quite some years now and i don't get it ?

I love the old stuff and i love the new stuff!

Systematic Chaos is a good album IMO ? So is Octavarium.

You guys talk like Images and Words & Systematic Chaos are like Master of Puppets & St. Anger comparement.

 

[Fragle]

"You guys talk like Images and Words & Systematic Chaos are like Master of Puppets & St. Anger comparement."

while systematic chaos is a pretty good album when compared to st. anger, i'd definitely consider it DT's very own version of st. anger.

sorry, but i just can't stand anything after train of thought. i remember buying octavarium without even listening to it first, and boy, what a letdown. i never even thought DT could possibly write an album this bad. systematic chaos isn't exactly better, just a different kind of crap.
DT has zero credibilty left as far as i am concerned.
but then again, who cares....

 

[slashvanyoung]

For their "Greatest Hit" compilation, they decided to have Kevin Shirley remix 3 tracks from this album. "Pull Me Under", "Another Day" and "Take the Time".
If you still have very little love left for Dream Theater and, like me, consider "Images & Words" to be one of the very best album ever (well to me it's THE best), here is my advice: don't listen to this CRAP.

WHAT DID HE DO TO THEM?

IAW, for me, comes close to being the perfect record. All magic on that one: the songwriting, the musicianship, the great lyrics... just everything. And <3 Kevin Moore!

 

[Matt Smith]

To me, ToT was rock bottom. ENDLESS noodling with zero musical value whatsoever. Their old instrumental sections were full-on compositions that had melodic value and served the song...when they brought Jordan in, they started all this back-and-forth JP/JR solo over repeated riffs nonsense, and I hate it. Bores me to tears, I don't care how technically impressive it is.

 

[aramism]

yea i think jordan rudess took over in a bad way starting on some parts of six degrees. he really goes overboard on leads and it is annoying. kevin kind of fit better because he added more atmosphere and ambience as opposed to up front punch that rudess gives. and the songs where it was keyboard dominant like "600" were really cool and tasteful. jordan rudess is too much and went totally overboard on SC.


i have no problem with train of thought or octavarium. octavarium was their first album with a couple of straight up bad songs, but the other ones made up for it. once again i think that the title track, octavarium the song, is a great great song, it is epic as fuck and well written.


as far as TOT i think that it was intended to be heavy and kind of a one-off thing. if you step out of the shoes of a classic DT fan, it is a good album. the songs are written well and the album flows. with SC, even if you step out of the shoes of a DT fan it still seems forced. i am sick and tired of dueling guitar/synth solos and twirling arpeggios and stuff like that. i am a fan of "uber-colorful" songs like "lifting shadows off a dream" "innocence faded" "take the time" etc.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

I&W > SFAM > Awake > WDADU > FII > 6DOIT > Octavarium > SC > TOT
Cool, the last 4 albums are the ones I like the less (and to be honest I hate ToT and SC, Octa still has a very few good moments in there).

 

[Metaltastic]

Oh my good god, thank you all so much for these affirmations of opinions I thought I was alone in! Dream Theater used to be my favorite band of all time, but when ToT came out, I was pretty bummed, and when I saw them live on that tour around March/April '04 (at MSG, you were probably there Aramism) and they played the entire album but didn't play Metropolis Part I or Learning to Live, that's when I summarily decided - FUCK THIS BAND.

Honestly, I really think of them as very immature songwriters - they strike me as the nerdy types who are really talented but also really insecure as to where they stand musically - those natural harmonics in the chorus of "Endless Sacrifice" just fucking scream nu-metal, and the rapping part in "Honor thy Father," come on now. Also, I agree that Rudess has turned them from a prog-rock sounding band to almost a broadway show band, with all of his horribly cheesy synths and fake Piano noodling; he honestly is the main architect of the band's demise in my mind. And of course, Petrucci's RETARDED FUCKING WARDROBE CHOICES and his seeming regression from being a tasteful player to trying to show everyone his "super shreddin' skillz!!!one11!" (the last two minutes of "This Dying Soul," I mean are you fucking kidding me!?) Speaking of that, even in the old stuff, their self-indulgence really got a bit excessive (I could trim a good 5 minutes of useless wanking out of "A Change of Seasons," and it'd be perfect). And I personally really like a lot of the stuff on "Falling into Infinity;" "Lines in the Sand" in my mind is one of the best songs they've written, and there are some other good moments too ("New Milennium," "Burning my Soul," and even "Hollow Years").

Oy...I'm glad you guys share my woe, cuz all the DT fans I know around me don't seem to mind their recent stuff (but then again, they're also far less mature than this sophisticated bunch)

EDIT: Aramism, I love your analogy to "SC" being their midlife crisis album (even though I think it began back on ToT ) And I actually really like certain parts of 6 degrees, especially the first disc, and the second disc is a bit of an enigma for having songs I absolutely love (both instances of "About to Crash") and songs I absolutely hate (The first track sounds like music from the N64 game "Rogue Squadron," and I can't stand "War inside my head" or "The Test that Stumped them all"). The others are kinda in between to me

 

[slashvanyoung]

Is there someone else who thinks that their lyrics have lost a lot of quality? Back in the day when Moore was still around they had all those beautiful metaphors (he was writing a lot of the lyrics - i.e. Pull Me Under). Nowadays it's often either egomaniac self-adulation by MP or stupid fantasy crap (like Dark Eternal Night by Petrucci).

But I have to admit that I really liked TOT because of the revolving musical themes (although some riffs sounded like they were trying to sound modern/hard by all means). Octavarium had some very good songs too, but it was lacking the concept/connection/flow in between the songs.

 

[Matt Smith]

No, we're definitely not alone...there was just a 7-page thread on the MP forum in which a lot of people shared the same sentiments:

MP Forum Thread

 

[JBroll]

I like new DT. Sue me. Granted, I also watch Rocky Horror Picture Show and listen to Steely Dan, but... it's not that fucking bad.

Jeff

 

[Kazrog]

OMFG that Japan DT video is amazing... I need to find the DVD now...