Favorite 3 Dream Theater Albums, Portnoy era

I feel bad for you. I hope you didn't travel too far! 

Did you see the opening acts? I wouldn't mind seeing them once.

Sevenoneself wrote:I feel bad for you. I hope you didn't travel too far! 

Did you see the opening acts? I wouldn't mind seeing them once.

It was about an hour away. I made a day of it: hiking, theater, picture taking of Gary, Indiana, BBQ ribs in a rough part of town and going to the beach. Then sitting through the 2 warm up bands. 
The roughest part was getting back to my place at 1A, very sleepy.

oldschooldoom wrote:

Sevenoneself wrote:I feel bad for you. I hope you didn't travel too far! 

Did you see the opening acts? I wouldn't mind seeing them once.

It was about an hour away. I made a day of it: hiking, theater, picture taking of Gary, Indiana, BBQ ribs in a rough part of town and going to the beach. Then sitting through the 2 warm up bands. 
The roughest part was getting back to my place at 1A, very sleepy.

Sounds like you and Gary had a busy day!

So far I've had a hard time getting into anything past Images & Words.  

If the material is TOO busy, too dense and complex, no melody or hooks, it loses me.

Trying their albums again.  Does anyone have recommends for a post-I&W album that is more melodic, less overly-technical, less over-indulgent?

I'm listening to Scenes From A Memory now and am liking it a lot so far.

I tried to listen to Awake and Train of Thought and could not get past the first songs, but am willing to give them another go sometime.

Distance Over Time was just dull.  Self-titled was too harsh if I remember correctly.  I liked Change of Seasons but that was mostly cover tunes.

So much talent in the band but I prefer melody over noodling.

I’m far from being an expert, but Systematic Chaos has some good tunes.

Thanks, I will add it to my playlist to check out.

Constantine wrote:Thanks, I will add it to my playlist to check out.

Falling Into Infinity is their most commercially-accessible album. They were receiving pressure from the label to make sales; Portnoy says that he almost quit the band at that time.

It has some really good tunes. And it has real artistic emotion like I&W and Scenes from a Memory. Upbeat rockers like Just Let Me Breathe. Great ballads in Anna Lee, Peruvian Skies and Hollow Years. And a few progressive show-stoppers that aren't simply frenetic: Lines in the Sand and Trial of Tears. One of my favourite DT moments is in Lines with Doug Pinnick wailing away in the chorus.

Sevenoneself wrote:

Falling Into Infinity is their most commercially-accessible album. 

Awesome, I will check that out next.  That sounds up my alley

I was really enjoying Systematic Chaos until "The Dark Eternal Night," which was the style of theirs that I do not like. 
But after skipping ahead, it is sounding a lot better and does seem like one of their better albums.

Constantine wrote:
Trying their albums again.  Does anyone have recommends for a post-I&W album that is more melodic, less overly-technical, less over-indulgent?

"Burning My Soul" off Falling Into Infinity (although I hate the ballads on that album)

"Panic Attack" - Octavarium (considered one of the all-time great bass lines)

"About to Crash" - Six Degrees

"These Walls" - Octavarium

"New Millenium" - Falling Into Infinity (very Tool-like in parts)

"The Root of All Evil" - Octavarium (killer intro riff)

"Constant Motion" - Systematic Chaos (you probably already know)

MagnusPrime wrote:I'm still a big fan, but the songs/albums just don't seem to be as memorable/arranged as well since Portnoy left.

Superjuice wrote:Glad this poll only includes Portnoy stuff cuz I just haven't been able to get into the band since he left. 

It seems like Mike Mangini is obsessed with being a great technical drummer but Portnoy is obsessed with rock music.  He just knows how to write songs and his side life is just being a fanboy to so many other bands in almost every genre of rock.

oldschooldoom wrote:I saw DT last week. I sorely miss Mike's charm

I'm just so glad the band got the memo.  Petrucci or more like Myung is probably a fan of the Realm.  Somebody passed the word onto Portnoy and his people got right on it.  Well done everyone .  All is well in the world of metal.  You can thank us later.

Holy smokes! I just saw the news after you posted this. Well that's quite something; I didn't think it was going to happen. I thought DT would announce their retirement as the band members went on to other projects.