Dream Theater Finishes Smoking Barbecue!! - Album in Food Warmer!

[The Walrus]

Sounds like if it's 8 songs, there's inevitably going to be some mindless wankery and sections that overstay their welcome. Wonderful. Oh well.

Good... that's Dream Theater!

^This, absolutely. 

And not to pick on you, but since we have heard absolutely zero percent of the album, presuming to know what it will be like is really pointless and silly.

I love how people say difficult wankery is "mindless" but boring stuff in stock 4/4 is the stuff of brilliance 

It can be.  Complexity and a shitload of notes means nothing on its own. What you wrote is emblematic of the prog fan stereotype. Complexity good, 4/4 plebian!

[King Postwhore]

Sometimes I want to wank,  and sometimes I want to grind.

[TAC]

Sometimes I want to wank,  and sometimes I want to grind.

I mean... What are we supposed to do with that?

[bl5150]

Sometimes I want to wank,  and sometimes I want to grind.

I mean... What are we supposed to do with that?

Also, I would never cab to a debate.

Mass debater?

[TAC]

 


Totally!

[Setlist Scotty]

Remember when some said the band never gives us as much as Portnoy used to.  In just the last few weeks, they have blown that theory to smithereens.  I don't remember fans ever getting this many updates on the fly during the making of a DT record. 

Yeah, but it took them 4 albums before they finally came around to doing it. I think the theory was proven. Glad they've finally made the change and are starting to give us what we've been missing for several years.

[TAC]

You know what makes me happy?

They seem very excited for this new album.

[KevShmev]

Remember when some said the band never gives us as much as Portnoy used to.  In just the last few weeks, they have blown that theory to smithereens.  I don't remember fans ever getting this many updates on the fly during the making of a DT record. 

Yeah, but it took them 4 albums before they finally came around to doing it. I think the theory was proven. Glad they've finally made the change and are starting to give us what we've been missing for several years.

[Dream Team]

Sounds like if it's 8 songs, there's inevitably going to be some mindless wankery and sections that overstay their welcome. Wonderful. Oh well.

Good... that's Dream Theater!

^This, absolutely. 

And not to pick on you, but since we have heard absolutely zero percent of the album, presuming to know what it will be like is really pointless and silly.

I love how people say difficult wankery is "mindless" but boring stuff in stock 4/4 is the stuff of brilliance 

It can be.  Complexity and a shitload of notes means nothing on its own. What you wrote is emblematic of the prog fan stereotype. Complexity good, 4/4 plebian!

My issue is with the word "mindless". I think it more often applies to bands who play the same 3 chords and drum beats every song, which is pretty much the definition of mindless. Coming up with intricate or complicated passages that challenges yourself and the listener requires a lot more mind. Not to mention there might be wankery in 1 or 2 songs on the album but people act like it comprises the entire album 

[Lethean]

Sounds like if it's 8 songs, there's inevitably going to be some mindless wankery and sections that overstay their welcome. Wonderful. Oh well.

Good... that's Dream Theater!

^This, absolutely. 

And not to pick on you, but since we have heard absolutely zero percent of the album, presuming to know what it will be like is really pointless and silly.

I love how people say difficult wankery is "mindless" but boring stuff in stock 4/4 is the stuff of brilliance 

It can be.  Complexity and a shitload of notes means nothing on its own. What you wrote is emblematic of the prog fan stereotype. Complexity good, 4/4 plebian!

My issue is with the word "mindless". I think it more often applies to bands who play the same 3 chords and drum beats every song, which is pretty much the definition of mindless. Coming up with intricate or complicated passages that challenges yourself and the listener requires a lot more mind. Not to mention there might be wankery in 1 or 2 songs on the album but people act like it comprises the entire album 

I think you're both silly. Of course there are some great songs in 4/4 and also boring stuff.  There's incredible songs that are complex and feature shredding, and boring songs too.  And which is good vs boring is up to the listener. 

[dparrott]

I think you're both silly. Of course there are some great songs in 4/4 ...

The first thing that comes to my mind is the verse riff for Home.  Simple and basic but I love it.

[noxon]

Yeah, but it took them 4 albums before they finally came around to doing it. I think the theory was proven. Glad they've finally made the change and are starting to give us what we've been missing for several years.

To be fair, two of those albums were wrapped in secrecy due to circumstances. Adtoe because dt hadn't announced the new drummer yet, and ta because of the whole concept thing. And we got some cool EPK videos from the ADTOE and DT12 sessions. DT12 also had the fan listening parties in a lot of cities. Plus chocolate cake. TA had a completely different leadup to it with the concept reveal.

[PetFish]

I love how people say difficult wankery is "mindless" but boring stuff in stock 4/4 is the stuff of brilliance 

This is so true that it was right in front of my face the whole time.  Mind.  Blown.

r/Showerthoughts

[MirrorMask]

One thing that I want to throw out there is that beside the music, I hope the change to Inside Out will bring a new approach also to the actual booklet and packaging.

A Dramatic Turn of Events was just fine, it was the standard case, no big deal.

Dream Theater, at least in my stores, came with the digipack version, two discs included, AND the booklet glued to the case. You wanna go through the booklet? get the whole package.

Then came The Astonishing: once again the booklet is glued to the package, and on top of that, on the inlay there are white credits on a basically white backgrounds, and the lyrics are written in small and generic Arial (or something very similar) font. Why lord why? with such a gorgeous album a little part of the pleasure is also to take off the booklet, read the lyrics as you listen to the songs, even just read the lyrics period for a quick trip down memory lane (am I the only one that occasionally takes off the booklet of an album to go through it and just have a general memory of what the album is like going quickly through the lyrics?).

I basically never, ever read The Astonishing lyrics holding the actual CD package, which I actually bought of course, in my hands. I've bought something and the label packaged it in a way that made me lose interest in actually holding it in my hands, and considering how I ripped the music on my computer, I guess I can safely say that I barely ever touched the CD (which, again, I actually bought). The only interaction I had with the physical copy was whenever I was listening to it in my car (old car, no mp3 player), otherwise, it was always mp3 player or PC speakers AND the lyrics off the internet.

I hope the next album will be something good to look at and to hold in your hands, and with a free booklet.

[Pax]

You know what makes me happy?

They seem very excited for this new album.

Did they ever seem not very excited for any past album?

[Enigmachine]

Then came The Astonishing: once again the booklet is glued to the package, and on top of that, on the inlay there are write credits on a basically white backgrounds, and the lyrics are written in small and generic Arial (or something very similar) font. Why lord why? with such a gorgeous album a little part of the pleasure is also to take off the booklet, read the lyrics as you listen to the songs, even just read the lyrics period for a quick trip down memory lane (am I the only one that occasionally takes off the booklet of an album to go through it and just have a general memory of what the album is like going quickly through the lyrics?).

This. If any album needed a good booklet it was TA, but it just didn't. ADToE and DT12 have a way better overall presentation. At least Hugh Syme had unique artwork for each song.

[mikeyd23]

Remember when some said the band never gives us as much as Portnoy used to.  In just the last few weeks, they have blown that theory to smithereens.  I don't remember fans ever getting this many updates on the fly during the making of a DT record. 

Yeah, but it took them 4 albums before they finally came around to doing it. I think the theory was proven. Glad they've finally made the change and are starting to give us what we've been missing for several years.

Indeed.

[The Walrus]

I would like a deluxe package to also come in jewel case form or something a little less fragile than the cardboard digipaks or whatever they're called. Every album I have back to Systematic Chaos has an extremely beat-up case because of the material used. Even DT12, which I never listen to, is rough on the edges.

[bosk1]

Yeah, but it took them 4 albums before they finally came around to doing it. I think the theory was proven. Glad they've finally made the change and are starting to give us what we've been missing for several years.

To be fair, two of those albums were wrapped in secrecy due to circumstances. Adtoe because dt hadn't announced the new drummer yet, and ta because of the whole concept thing. And we got some cool EPK videos from the ADTOE and DT12 sessions. DT12 also had the fan listening parties in a lot of cities. Plus chocolate cake. TA had a completely different leadup to it with the concept reveal.

This.  And three LONG drummer audition videos.  And a FREE live Christmas album (not song or short video clip).  And live DVD that featured an orchestra conducted by a fan.  And, because the fans wanted it, a modification to the TA tour set to include a few fan favorites.  And, because the fans wanted it, a full "Images and Words and Beyond" tour, with the "beyond" featuring songs that were specifically chosen as fan favorites.  But we're somehow only just now, four albums in, getting the level of fan service Mike Portnoy provided?  Sorry, Scott.  But I have to disagree with that one.  I will acknowledge that it is different than when Mike was in the band.  And the quantity of "extra" fan service might not quite be the same.  But they absolutely have been giving us some pretty cool extra stuff, and have been doing it pretty consistently. 

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Yeah, but it took them 4 albums before they finally came around to doing it. I think the theory was proven. Glad they've finally made the change and are starting to give us what we've been missing for several years.

To be fair, two of those albums were wrapped in secrecy due to circumstances. Adtoe because dt hadn't announced the new drummer yet, and ta because of the whole concept thing. And we got some cool EPK videos from the ADTOE and DT12 sessions. DT12 also had the fan listening parties in a lot of cities. Plus chocolate cake. TA had a completely different leadup to it with the concept reveal.

This.  And three LONG drummer audition videos.  And a FREE live Christmas album (not song or short video clip).  And live DVD that featured an orchestra conducted by a fan.  And, because the fans wanted it, a modification to the TA tour set to include a few fan favorites.  And, because the fans wanted it, a full "Images and Words and Beyond" tour, with the "beyond" featuring songs that were specifically chosen as fan favorites.  But we're somehow only just now, four albums in, getting the level of fan service Mike Portnoy provided?  Sorry, Scott.  But I have to disagree with that one.  I will acknowledge that it is different than when Mike was in the band.  And the quantity of "extra" fan service might not quite be the same.  But they absolutely have been giving us some pretty cool extra stuff, and have been doing it pretty consistently.

I agree with this.  I think it's just a case of the bandmembers doing all of those extra things without broadcasting it, instead of MP doing all of those extra things while telling you all about the fact that he's doing those things.

[mikeyd23]

Yeah, but it took them 4 albums before they finally came around to doing it. I think the theory was proven. Glad they've finally made the change and are starting to give us what we've been missing for several years.

To be fair, two of those albums were wrapped in secrecy due to circumstances. Adtoe because dt hadn't announced the new drummer yet, and ta because of the whole concept thing. And we got some cool EPK videos from the ADTOE and DT12 sessions. DT12 also had the fan listening parties in a lot of cities. Plus chocolate cake. TA had a completely different leadup to it with the concept reveal.

This.  And three LONG drummer audition videos.  And a FREE live Christmas album (not song or short video clip).  And live DVD that featured an orchestra conducted by a fan.  And, because the fans wanted it, a modification to the TA tour set to include a few fan favorites.  And, because the fans wanted it, a full "Images and Words and Beyond" tour, with the "beyond" featuring songs that were specifically chosen as fan favorites.  But we're somehow only just now, four albums in, getting the level of fan service Mike Portnoy provided?  Sorry, Scott.  But I have to disagree with that one.  I will acknowledge that it is different than when Mike was in the band.  And the quantity of "extra" fan service might not quite be the same.  But they absolutely have been giving us some pretty cool extra stuff, and have been doing it pretty consistently.

I agree with this.  I think it's just a case of the bandmembers doing all of those extra things without broadcasting it, instead of MP doing all of those extra things while telling you all about the fact that he's doing those things.

Well yeah, that certainly has a lot to do with it.

[devieira73]

Anyone knows if The Facebook's Live Q&A should be starting by now?

[devieira73]

It begins!

[gmillerdrake]

Any chance this will be recorded and available for those of us who don't do the Facebook?

[AngelBack]

Working title "Can of Worms" 

[devieira73]

Also Mangini giving some lyric ideas, I've heard this right?! If so, very cool...

[Skeever]

It's fine they're doing this but I do prefer the more "behind the Scenes" vibe that MP would do.

The drummer audition, the Luna Park Behind the Scenes, these vids, all have somewhat of a conscientious-if-not-scripted feel to them. It's not better or worse than the old way they did it, just different.

[Podaar]

Ha, JMX looks soooo uncomfortable.

[mikeyd23]

I was only able to catch the last few minutes of that. Any interesting info in the video?

[rumborak]

One piece of interesting info was that they also decided to track the music in that space, i.e. they will not move to another studio for tracking. Apparently that was decided minutes before the live stream.

[MinistroRaven]

New album out earlier next year.

[MinistroRaven]

Video available here https://www.facebook.com/dreamtheater/videos/10155382393742181/

[devieira73]

Yes, I understood that also (about the recording studio). I hope they can get a very good quality recording there.

This live chat was very cool to see the vibe within the band, but there wasn't a lot of information on the new album. Since they choose the questions, I imagine they don't want to give too much information for now. Of course, maybe some information that were asked they probably still don't know yet at this point.

[noxon]

for most of the instruments you really don't need much of a studio to record. guitars and basses are probably done in boxed up amps, keyboards are put right into the daw, and then you're just left with vocals and drums...

[rumborak]

BTW, was the 175 guitars thing a joke, or is that for real?