I'm going to go out on a limb here and reply to all of these. This is why the band's output and fanbase are stale. It's a bold claim, but it's true.
New and non-metal is not always good.
Symphony X doing an unplugged album is a waste of talent imo.
False. You're making the error of writing off the band's compositional and arrangement ability, in essence you're saying that they should stick to the "symphonic" stuff because that's what they're good at. This is actually an insult as it pigeonholes their creativity and suggests they are a one-trick pony. I for one certainly hope that is not proven true.
The things they'd have to leave out are the things they excel at. For some bands this is a great idea, for Symphony X not so much.
A live orchestra DVD is a more suitable "different" thing for this band, but not so much for some other bands.
Again, here we go with the same mentality. You suggest they stick with the orchestral stuff, even add a REAL orchestra, which renders much of the band's current arrangements superfluous. On the other hand, a Live DVD would be a good thing, just not in this ill-chosen format. Again here you openly admit you think the stuff they're good at would be lost on an acoustic album. How then can some of the acoustic ballads as they currently are be as good as they are?
How is an unplugged album different anyway? Isn't that one of the most eyerolling cliches in the world? When I found out Marillion did it I almost vomited out of disgust, you'd think they'd have more taste
A fair assessment. That is the trick you see. Everything's been done. There's not an original story out there, but if you can tell it well enough and with a fresh approach, you can entice eager listeners. PoS' 12:5 accomplishes this with ease. It is such a departure from their normal repertoire that it is as if they are new songs. For Marillion, this doesn't work as much of their work involves acoustic instruments. There's no departure, so it is a cliche poorly executed.
It would definitely be cool, but I just don't realistically see them doing it.
Both acoustic and orchestra albums are cliche, but the latter definitely fits Symphony X's style more. However, it's hard to imagine them doing it, since their older material fits the orchestra vibe far more and I don't see them sacrificing most of their newer material for their first DVD.
Again, what "fits" is what makes it boring, unimaginative, and therefore, not interesting. Not of value to ADD to the existing catalog. There's no sacrifice in creating a DVD that showcases all of the band's strong points. A DVD with an acoustic set as a bonus would accomplish this just fine, and still show off the current "metal" stuff. Even having some of those songs on the acoustic set, drastically re-arranged, would work. I don't think you all realize how uninteresting an orchestra set would be for a band that already sounds and intentionally arranges like one.
I don't think it would be good.Too many bands use to do it,and at the end a fan
is always tied to the original versions,besides tracks like ballads would be too similar to the original.For me the only acoustic-orchestral album worthwhile was
Rage with Lingua mortis orchestra in wich there were good version of their classics in a very special style,but I'm not anxious to do such a thing by SX,I
prefeir waiting many years for a new album
Obviously a fresh new album trumps all.
However, barring that, the next best thing would be a fresh look on old favorites, and orchestral performances would not accomplish that. There are many songs (speaking generally now, of other bands) whose re-arranged acoustic version HAS BECOME THE DE-FACTO version representative. Such songs break with your assumption that "the original is the best" - because it's not always the case. A skillful arrangement is everything, everything in music.
The idea to do an unplugged recording would far surpass any attempt at an orchestral collaboration. It has the same merit as, for example, a band whose normal style is stripped down 3 piece to work with a full orchestra, and re-arrange all the songs with new components. The key is the departure from the "norm".
