Has anyone seen Dream Theater's Score DVD?

[yairhol]

Hi gang,

Has anyone seen the Score DVD?
I got it today and it is mind blowing.
I highly suggest it to all progressive rock fans in general and especially to Dream Theater Fans.

Regards,
Yair

[grayman]

WOW! I was listening to their A Change Of Seasons CD when I first saw your post. :eye-poppi Spooky.

[yairhol]

WOW! I was listening to their A Change Of Seasons CD when I first saw your post. :eye-poppi Spooky.

I've been told before to stop messing around with my psychic abilities but I just don't wanna.

Anyway, SCORE is the 'celebration' of Dream Theater's 20th year together. It has music from all of their albums. AMAZING stuff.
Almost unhuman.

Regards,
Yair

[sir drinks-a-lot]

Yeah, I've seen it. It is almost superhuman how technical they can get. At a certain point it gets almost humorous.

Sort of like watching Shawn Lane do a guitar solo...

[ZirconBlue]

I've been told before to stop messing around with my psychic abilities but I just don't wanna.

Anyway, SCORE is the 'celebration' of Dream Theater's 20th year together. It has music from all of their albums. AMAZING stuff.
Almost unhuman.

Particularly since James LaBrie has finally fully recovered from his vocal cord injury and can actually sing some of the high notes that he hasn't hit in years. While he is one of my favorite vocalists, I never would have thought that he could handle "Another Won".

The only weak points to this DVD to me are:


The orchestra sometimes has tuning problems, and
The setlist is a little heavy on the Octavarium material.

[a_unique_person]

I know I bought I DVD of one of their live concerts and was seriously disappointed. Not at the music, but the waste of time it was to try and watch it. DT are not mainstream pop music, but that's exactly how the footage was cut, like a music video, with constant, irritating jumps and no actual footage of them playing their solos, for example.

[negativ]

I saw John Petrucci several years ago, having never heard him or Dream Theater before. I enjoyed much of what I heard, although it didn't really blow me away (to be fair, that may have had a fair amount to do with the fact that it was in the Austin Music Hall, whose interior temperature is frequently used as a reference point by astronomers studying temperature variations of the surface of the sun, AND on top of that I had developed a nice hefty head cold about 2 hours before showtime).

When I think of "Progressive Rock", I think of King Crimson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_crimson), UK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_%28band%29), Gentle Giant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentle_Giant), and other, lesser bands who aspire to the title ;) . What's a good album or two to start off with if I wanted to sample Dream Theater?

[ZirconBlue]

I know I bought I DVD of one of their live concerts and was seriously disappointed. Not at the music, but the waste of time it was to try and watch it. DT are not mainstream pop music, but that's exactly how the footage was cut, like a music video, with constant, irritating jumps and no actual footage of them playing their solos, for example.

I'm guessing that must have been Live Scenes from New York. Their two most recent DVD sets -- Live at Budokan, and Score -- are both much more straight forward in their presentation. Both are beautifully shot and edited IMO.

[ZirconBlue]

I saw John Petrucci several years ago, having never heard him or Dream Theater before. I enjoyed much of what I heard, although it didn't really blow me away.

Was that one of the G3 tours he has done with Vai and Satriani? After being invited to join that tour, he had to write mostly new music for it, since, at that time, he only had the music he'd written with DT or his side projects.

When I think of "Progressive Rock", I think of King Crimson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_crimson), UK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_%28band%29), Gentle Giant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentle_Giant), and other, lesser bands who aspire to the title ;) . What's a good album or two to start off with if I wanted to sample Dream Theater?

Dream Theater were heavily influenced by those Prog Rock bands and have those sounds and styles present, but they also have strong influences from Metallica, Rush, early Queensryche, etc. Their genre is therefore usually referred to as "Prog Metal".

For a single song, the title track to their EP A Change of Seasons might be a good place to start. It's the best song DT has ever written, in my (and most fans') opinion. It's 23 minutes long, but it doesn't ever feel "long" to me. Great music, and awesome (semi-autobiographical) lyrics.

The album that best defines the Dream Theater sound is, IMO, Images and Words. (That was also their most popular album in the US, and they actually got some radio/MTV play with the track "Pull Me Under".)

(My favorite album is still their 3rd release Awake, but I'm not sure if it's as good an introduction to the band as I&W. It's darker and heavier.)

Scenes from a Memory is a concept album that hearkens back to the I&W sound somewhat (being a sort of sequel to the I&W track "Metropolis"), and is a fan favorite. Again, a good mix of what DT is about, musically.

The album with the most old-school "Prog Rock" elements is probably Octavarium. That may make it a good introduction for Prog Rock fans, or it may sound too derivative to them. Being only passingly familiar with most of the original prog rock groups, I can't say which is more likely.

[UltraTexan]

I just saw them in Phoenix and they were unbelievable.

[delphi_ote]

I saw them in Cleveland... In the Presence of Enemies is just insane live.

Score is an amazing performance. James just sounds incredible.

ETA and the production on Score just blows my mind.

[negativ]

Was that one of the G3 tours he has done with Vai and Satriani? After being invited to join that tour, he had to write mostly new music for it, since, at that time, he only had the music he'd written with DT or his side projects.

Yes, it was a G3 show. He announced to the audience that the material had been written specifically for that tour. Has that stuff been released? Much of his set I enjoyed a lot, especially the opener which was a super-heavy drop-tuning thing that if I recall correctly alternated between 5/8 and 7/8 time. I don't know any of the titles but I would love to get my hands on that stuff, even if it's a bootleg.

As a side note, as much as I really REALLY like Joe Satriani's guitar tone(s), his live shows in my opinion are utterly boring. If you enjoy hearing exact reproductions of studio material without any deviation whatsoever, then his live show is for you. I suppose there's something respectable about that, but it's just not my cup o' tea.

Also, while I deeply regret missing the G3 tour that featured Robert Fripp as the 3rd "G", I don't think I'll be attending any more of those concerts, should they arise in the future. The first G3 in 96 was awesome (Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani), but standing for three and a half hours in a jam-packed, hot-as-hell venue just isn't a good time, regardless of how good the music is.

(My favorite album is still their 3rd release Awake, but I'm not sure if it's as good an introduction to the band as I&W. It's darker and heavier.)

Dark and heavy I like, but I understand what you mean. Frank Zappa's "Civilization Phaze III" is my favorite Zappa release, and it's also dark, heavy, and dense. I don't think I'd recommend it to people curious about FZ. I'll check out your suggestions.

[ZirconBlue]

Yes, it was a G3 show. He announced to the audience that the material had been written specifically for that tour. Has that stuff been released? Much of his set I enjoyed a lot, especially the opener which was a super-heavy drop-tuning thing that if I recall correctly alternated between 5/8 and 7/8 time. I don't know any of the titles but I would love to get my hands on that stuff, even if it's a bootleg.

I think that most of the material he played on that G3 tour came from his solo album Suspended Animation (available through www.johnpetrucci.com (http://www.johnpetrucci.com)), with some of it possibly being DT instrumentals or from the Liquid Tension Experiment (instrumental side project featuring JP, Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess, and Tony Levin) albums.

Dark and heavy I like, but I understand what you mean. Frank Zappa's "Civilization Phaze III" is my favorite Zappa release, and it's also dark, heavy, and dense. I don't think I'd recommend it to people curious about FZ. I'll check out your suggestions.

It also occurs to me that Score -- either the DVD version or the 3-cd audio set -- might also be a good introduction to DT. It is a 20th Anniversary set with material spanning their career, so you get a good cross section.

Live at Budokan contained a "Zappa Jam" during one of their songs. It was an improved jam that evolved over the course of the tour, in a Zappa-esque style.

[a_unique_person]

The album with the most old-school "Prog Rock" elements is probably Octavarium. That may make it a good introduction for Prog Rock fans, or it may sound too derivative to them. Being only passingly familiar with most of the original prog rock groups, I can't say which is more likely.

For me it was interminably derivative, especially of their own work. I prefer Awake. I think I am also leaning more to the LTE style of music.

[yairhol]

Octavarium is definately not my cup of coffee. The first DT album I ever heard was Scenes From a Memory which I absolutely loved. Images & Words is great also. Awake is third place for me then A Change of Seasons and Falling Into Infinity. I didn't like Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance. Train of Thought is not in my favorite list either.
Have you guys heard their laterst "Systematic Chaos"?

I wish their DVDs would have more extra features like different angles and more documentary from rehearsals and gear they use.

Another Prog. metal band I like is Symphony X.


Regards,
Yair

[ZirconBlue]

For me it was interminably derivative, especially of their own work. I prefer Awake.

On the whole Octavarium is probably my least favorite DT album, but I still think there are some great songs on it.

I think I am also leaning more to the LTE style of music.

For whatever reason, I can't seem to get into instrumental music that much. I like individual instrumental tracks within an otherwise non-instrumental album, but am seldom motivated to buy or listen to entire discs of instrumental music. I own the first LTE disc, but never got around to buying the 2nd, and I haven't even heard Petrucci's solo album, yet. I guess I'm just more into the vocals. James LaBrie's Elements of Persuasion is excellent by the way.


Have you guys heard their laterst "Systematic Chaos"?

Systematic Chaos is, IMO, their best work since Scenes from a Memory.



I wish their DVDs would have more extra features like different angles and more documentary from rehearsals and gear they use.

Well, the last couple have had entire 3+ hour concerts on them, so there's not a whole lot of room for extras. Live at Budokan had the Tour Documentary and the Multiangle option on "Instrumedley", while Score has the 20th Anniversay Documentary and 3 additional live videos from older shows.

The "Special Edition" of Systematic Chaos comes with an bonus DVD, containing a 90-minute documentary on the making of the album.


Another Prog. metal band I like is Symphony X.

I still need to check out more of their stuff. I like the couple of tracks I've heard.

[grayman]

Try this site: Pandora (http://www.pandora.com/). Once you sign up you can set it up to play any style of music you may enjoy.

I have three different stations set up at the moment depending on my musical mood. One of them is set to Dream Theater, so it plays their music and similar artists.

[Floyt]

Saw them in Munich and thought to detect in LaBrie a certain weird late-Ian Anderson-like gesticulation style :D Anyway, it was scorchingly hot and the concert was not particularly well sound-engineered, thus I still prefer my Dream Theater canned...
Awake is in my top spot too. The Score is in the player these days and does not fail to please. My main complaint would be that I don't care for Six Degrees (too unmelodic and broken for long stretches), so that's 42 minutes that don't really do much for me.

[delphi_ote]

There sure are a lot of us Dream Theater nerds on this forum! :D

[sir drinks-a-lot]

When I think of "Progressive Rock", I think of King Crimson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_crimson), UK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_%28band%29), Gentle Giant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentle_Giant), and other, lesser bands who aspire to the title ;) . What's a good album or two to start off with if I wanted to sample Dream Theater?

DT definitely is not as experimental as, say, Gentle Giant. They are more along the lines of Rush, Marillion, or more recently, Yes.

I would recommend Images and Words as a good place to start. And, if you like Gentle Giant, try looking into Henry Cow if you haven't already.

[yairhol]

Some excellent suggestions here for new explorations in music.
I will surely begin listening to some of the suggestions brought up in this thread.

Regards,
Yair

[ZirconBlue]

I saw them in Cleveland... In the Presence of Enemies is just insane live.

Did Jordan rock the Zen Riffer at the Cleveland show? I think I'm going to miss this leg of the tour, but I've been living vicarously through the concert reviews of others.

[EventHorizon]

Wow, I never thought I'd find Symphony X fans on here. Check out their newest album, Paradise Lost. It's absolutely amazing. And I'm not just saying that because my wife and I know them personally. It really is a tremendous disc. As far as older stuff goes, you can never go wrong with V or Divine Wings, I think most fans have those as their top 2 Symphony X albums. Although my favorite song of theirs, Smoke and Mirrors, is on Twilight in Olympus.

As far as Dream Theater goes, I thought the Score DVD was excellent. I might be biased though because I was there. And I have a soft spot for LSFNY as it was the greatest show I've ever been to. SFAM is my favorite album by any band ever and to see it performed live, in its entirety is something I'll never forget. Sure, the production value wasn't that great on the LSFNY DVD itself, but the show was amazing. Plus you can't go wrong when the band is talking about chicken francese on the secondary audio track.

[delphi_ote]

Did Jordan rock the Zen Riffer at the Cleveland show? I think I'm going to miss this leg of the tour, but I've been living vicarously through the concert reviews of others.
Yes... complete with purple and disco lights. And then they went into 'Lines in the Sand.' For a minute, I had this sinking feeling that Derek might jump out on the stage. Fortunately, there were no lava lamps to attract him.

[yairhol]

Wow, I never thought I'd find Symphony X fans on here. Check out their newest album, Paradise Lost. It's absolutely amazing. And I'm not just saying that because my wife and I know them personally. It really is a tremendous disc. As far as older stuff goes, you can never go wrong with V or Divine Wings, I think most fans have those as their top 2 Symphony X albums. Although my favorite song of theirs, Smoke and Mirrors, is on Twilight in Olympus.

As far as Dream Theater goes, I thought the Score DVD was excellent. I might be biased though because I was there. And I have a soft spot for LSFNY as it was the greatest show I've ever been to. SFAM is my favorite album by any band ever and to see it performed live, in its entirety is something I'll never forget. Sure, the production value wasn't that great on the LSFNY DVD itself, but the show was amazing. Plus you can't go wrong when the band is talking about chicken francese on the secondary audio track.

Hi, EventHorizon.
Indeed I love all the Symphony X Albums and I'm getting my wife into their music also. We sometimes drive a couple of hours to her parents' house and I put on Symphony X for a couple of minutes at high volume and look at my wife from the corner of my eye to see what her reactions would be. I mostly see her shaking her head to the rhythm. I then tell her that I'm going to turn off the radio and she tells me not to since she's enjoying the music. I know, I've got a rocking wife !!!! I'm lucky :D

Where do you know Symphony X personally from?
What are LSFNY and SFAM?

Oh and BTW, I love their newest album. It's great. Do they have any DVDs of their shows?

Regards,
Yair

[EventHorizon]

Where do you know Symphony X personally from?



My wife stumbled upon Mike LePond's screen name on AOL instant messenger about 7 years ago. So she used to talk to him all the time. She also used to have an internet radio show and interviewed him a few times on her show. She doesn't do her show anymore, but we still keep in touch (he and his wife came to our wedding 2 weeks ago) and of course we see him at all the shows.

I also know Russ Allen. I worked at Medieval Times for about three months when Russ was also still working there.

We also go to most of their shows in the area, so they all kind of recognize us from all those shows by now.


What are LSFNY and SFAM?


Those are Dream Theater's Live Scenes From New York, and Scenes From A Memory.


Oh and BTW, I love their newest album. It's great. Do they have any DVDs of their shows?

Regards,
Yair

The only commercially available DVD performance of Symphony X is on the Gigantour DVD, but they only have about 3 songs on it. The only other way to get them on DVD is to find some bootlegs which are out there somewhere (most are terrible quality though).

Oh, and they made a video for Serpent's Kiss which has played on Headbanger's Ball on MTV2. Here's the youtube of it:

Uer6GCRULEc

[yairhol]

I love the clip. Can't wait for a DVD of theirs.
I'm now about to watch DT's Images and Words DVD.

I've heard some negative things about it like for example that it is edited in an MTV clip fashion, i.e. the camera cuts between scenes very quickly.

Regards,
Yair

[ZirconBlue]

I love the clip. Can't wait for a DVD of theirs.
I'm now about to watch DT's Images and Words DVD.

I've heard some negative things about it like for example that it is edited in an MTV clip fashion, i.e. the camera cuts between scenes very quickly.

Regards,
Yair

Live in Tokyo? Like 5 Years in a Livetime (which now comes packaged in the same DVD set) it goes back and forth between songs from the live concert, interviews & behind-the-scenes tour footage, and the music videos that were released at the time. I enjoy it more for the extra stuff than the actual concert footage. Both DVD's have good band commentaries on them, also.