Official DT Top 50 Thread Mark II (bss4life15 up now - starting page 79)

[Onno]

Good writeups! And nice choices too, though both IWBY and TDS will probably not be in my top 50. I don't feel that IWBY is too poppy; it's just not interesting enough for me, though I enjoy it and never skip it.

[Ruba]

47. Peruvian Skies

It's certainly fine, but there's nothing extremely excellent or notable about it.

To each is own and so on.

[Ħ]

Meh choices this round. TDS and Erotomania are cool though.

[54_diplomats]

I love TDS, Erotomania and The Root of all Evil and would probably place the latter 2 much higher. I Walk Beside You and Wither are songs that I started to like more recently (hated them before) but they wouldn't make my list.

[Lolzeez]

Only 2 of those are in my top 50. And one of them is pretty high.

[RuRoRul]

Controversial indeed to put This Dying Soul so low.

[theseoafs]

Gonna throw in another update today, since I don't really have anything better to do.

40. Under a Glass Moon

Here's our first I&W tune in an I&W-heavy update (and indeed an I&W-heavy top 50 -- all but one of the album's tracks made it in). A great song, this one, though that's mostly due to the stellar instrumental section.  We've got yet another excellent JP solo here, and, when the instrumental section isn't going on, JLB keeps us warm with some wildly impressive vocal acrobatics.  Good work, gentlemen.

39. As I Am

TOT's songs are loud, heavy, and energetic anthems built to be live crowd-pleasers, and in this respect, As I Am is a triumph.  Though I've always found most of TOT's songs a bit too long, AIA is (comparatively) concise, and that's great; the song is a quick punch to the mouth, delivered by the fist of JP's Rock Discipline. So energy! Powah!

38. Overture 1928

A fantastic instrumental, and a wonderful album-opener (or near-album-opener, or whatever).  DT cleverly combines all the album's now-classic themes in a way that is meaningful both in and out of context of the album. 

37. Another Day

Gonna be honest, JLB makes this song for me.  With a worse vocalist, this piece could come off cheesy or cliche, but the Pirate totally sells this one, giving this song the power it deserves.

36. Pull Me Under

We'll end this update with the so-called "greatest hit".  This is a fine song, though I imagine I'd enjoy it a lot more if I were able to find a version that didn't cut off mysteriously at the end.

[Elite]

Hey, seoafs, what the hell is the 'carnival riff' in Erotomania?

[Unlegit]

Besides As I Am, good update 

[MoraWintersoul]

45. I Walk Beside You

This song gets a bit more hate than it deserves, I think, because it's poppy.  There's nothing wrong with that, in my opinion.  I say, pop is fine.  I say, let them eat pop.

42. This Dying Soul
The "I can feel your body breaking" chorus is so unbelievably cool it makes me angry, and I applaud DT for taking a risk with the pseudo-rap verses.

41. Erotomania
I particularly enjoy the neo-classical-esque riff at 4:31, and, of course, DAT SOLO.  Oh, god, that solo.  Take me now, JP.

40. Under a Glass Moon

A great song, this one, though that's mostly due to the stellar instrumental section.  We've got yet another excellent JP solo here, and, when the instrumental section isn't going on, JLB keeps us warm with some wildly impressive vocal acrobatics.  Good work, gentlemen.

39. As I Am
the song is a quick punch to the mouth, delivered by the fist of JP's Rock Discipline. So energy! Powah!

38. Overture 1928
A fantastic instrumental, and a wonderful album-opener (or near-album-opener, or whatever).  DT cleverly combines all the album's now-classic themes in a way that is meaningful both in and out of context of the album. 

37. Another Day
Gonna be honest, JLB makes this song for me.  With a worse vocalist, this piece could come off cheesy or cliche, but the Pirate totally sells this one, giving this song the power it deserves.

Quoting the parts which made me smile. Great writeups!

[theseoafs]

Hey, seoafs, what the hell is the 'carnival riff' in Erotomania?

The riff at 1:30, which always seemed carnival-esque to me. Am I the only one?

[wasteland]

Wow, UAGM is very low here! I can sense unconventionality approaching! 

[Scorpion]

Eh, I think I would rank it similarly, and I've seen many people rank it around there as well - good, but not quite up there with the best that DT has to offer.

[Elite]

Hey, seoafs, what the hell is the 'carnival riff' in Erotomania?

The riff at 1:30, which always seemed carnival-esque to me. Am I the only one?

It's probably the sound of the keyboards you refer to, but I don't think it sounds carnival-esque at all due to the time signatures alone

[Sycsa]

UAGM is top 10 material for me.

Hey, seoafs, what the hell is the 'carnival riff' in Erotomania?

The riff at 1:30, which always seemed carnival-esque to me. Am I the only one?

It's probably the sound of the keyboards you refer to, but I don't think it sounds carnival-esque at all due to the time signatures alone

There are a lot of things that come to mind from a distorted Hammond sound, but carnival music is not one of them.

[theseoafs]

It's probably the sound of the keyboards you refer to, but I don't think it sounds carnival-esque at all due to the time signatures alone

Well I guess that just means you're not going to carnivals that are prog enough.

[Ħ]

Nice picks with Overture 1928 and As I Am.

[54_diplomats]

Fantastic picks though as much as I love Pull me Under, it's the only Images and Words song that wouldn't make my top 50.

[BlobVanDam]

All cool choices in the last two updates, with many I'd place a lot higher, including TROAE, As I Am, and all of the IAW choices.

[SeRoX]

All is well chosen and placed. 

[Nekov]

I agree with all your write ups. As I am doesn't make my top 50 but all the others do. Great batch

[Lolzeez]

Only two of those in my top 50.

[theseoafs]

35. The Dance of Eternity

Here's our second-to-last instrumental.  This piece seems a bit controversial -- seems like some people love it, and others just think it's wankery.  I'm a fan, myself; the performance is, of course, extremely impressive technically, but I'm also able to enjoy it at a musical level.  I would marry the ragtime section if I could.  If this song has one problem, it's that it sort of tapers off in the last 90 seconds; after 4:30, things take a turn for the boring.

34. Scarred

Great tune.  I particularly enjoy the groovy introduction/choruses -- the heavy verses ("can't let them rape me again") don't do much for me on the whole.  The bridge ("wash your hands of regret"), too, is powerful, and is one of my favorite Awake moments.  Unfortunately, the song to me feels somewhat disjointed, which will ultimately keep the song from grabbing a higher spot.

33. Beyond this Life

A purely fun tune, from the tongue-in-cheek JP shredding (3:12) to the Zappa-esque keyboard solos near the end of the instrumental section.  It's good to hear a song that doesn't take itself too seriously in a genre that all too often does.

32. Fatal Tragedy

This song kicks ass.  If you don't play air-organ at 2:07, you suck.

31. Endless Sacrifice

Since I guess it's my thing to point out when something is second-to-last, this is the second-to-last TOT song we'll be seeing on this list.  The verses are epic, and the way they transition into the heavy choruses is nothing short of brutal.  (By my standards, anyway, since I don't listen to much brutal music.)  The instrumental section is fine, but the climax ("over the distance") makes the song.

[SomeoneLikeHim]

32. Fatal Tragedy

This song kicks ass.  If you don't play air-organ at 2:07, you suck.

Of course

[Unlegit]

Great batch this time around!

[Scorpion]

Great songs. You're right about Endless Sacrifice, the "Over the distance..." part, along with that riff under it, is the high point of the whole song. And no, the instrumental is not too wanky, even though many people say so.

[Ħ]

Great choices! Endless Sacrifice is indeed epic.

[Lolzeez]

Best batch ever. ALL in my top 30.

[Ben_Jamin]

Nice choices so far.

[BlobVanDam]

32. Fatal Tragedy

This song kicks ass.  If you don't play air-organ at 2:07, you suck.

Of course

The best keyboard solo to air-keyboard too! Especially if you know the proper air-Kurzweil tricks.

Nice to see Scarred out of the way too.

[Ruba]

Scarred is among the best, others are good.

[SeRoX]

Too sad to see Scarred that low.

[wasteland]

Too sad to see Scarred that low.

Yes, the other choices are good, but Scarred is almost 30 places too low 

[Nekov]

That's a nice batch right there.

[theseoafs]

30. Hollow Years

A legitimately good song, this one.  The chorus is catchy and awesome.  I think of HY rather as a radio-classic-that-should-have-been.

29. Stream of Consciousness

Here's our top-ranking TOT song, a great, heavy epic in the style of early Metallica.  The introductory theme is suitably interesting, but things start getting really good with the groovy harmonic minor theme at 2:02.  Predictably, this leads to a fucking awesome JP solo.  The interlude from 5:20 to 7:30 is a bit boring, but on the whole, it's an awfully tasty tune.

28. Space Dye Vest

Kevin Moore is sad.

27. Beneath the Surface

A beautiful song.  Don't care for the JLB's obvious autotune, but apart from that this is an extremely well-done ballad.

26. Finally Free

One of SFAM's crowning achievements.  In particular, I appreciate the sheer number of moods and tones that DT traverses over a relatively short period of time -- from uplifting (0:03) to haunting (0:53) to groovy and upbeat (2:50) to climactic and epic (4:00) and back again.  It's brilliantly constructed and a perfect conclusion to the masterpiece that is SFAM.