Sorry I’ll give it a rest after this, haha. I just listened to A Change of Seasons on my way home from a matinee and that is hands down my favorite DT song.
That song is a masterpiece, it is end to end perfection and the best example of the all the best qualities of DT:
It has some of the most badass heavy 7 string riffs of all time. But instead of being entirely driven by these it uses them for dynamic effect and to build energy and tension at key moments.
It’s an epic 23:00 composition that feels like a cohesive piece.
It’s an ensemble piece, it’s not just driven by distorted guitars, it weaves masterfully through different styles where each person in the group shines.
There are great bass groove driven sections.
The parts around 11:45 - 13:00 are a great example of the fun Zappa/fusion/prog influenced music that I never hear from them these days.
The guitar solo around 17:00 is epic and one of my favorite of Petrucci’s career. This is the kind of thing he does so well.
It is memorable! It’s the kind of song I find myself humming during the day. And I haven’t listened to it in years and I was able to sing along with almost the entire song. It actually has melodies!
This is their best and what I wish they would get back to
Of course we're all entitled to our opinions, but as I continue to listen to
PS, now back to work, so it's on during my commute, and at least 1 listen during work..., I think of 2 your comments in context of what
I'm hearing: The lack of continuity you hear in
TSMI, and your lamenting the lack of more fusion-like themes.
I'll kind of give you that
TSMI does jump around, to me it's just different paths on the journey of that epic masterpiece, yeah, I think it's a masterpiece. It may be my favorite epic from them. The way the chords morph from one place to another, in various meters, etc., it just blows my mind how they end up right back where they started! DT does this SO WELL! I don't have any trouble with the changes myself. To me, they all fit. Now, a change that I
do still feel, and felt the first time I heard it, is in Midnight Messiah. That's a bit abrupt. But in The Shadow Man, they just don't. To me.
As to the lack-of-fusion, also, maybe so. BUT. I follow these musical ideas pretty well now, and the musical understanding it takes for them to craft these incredible changes..., I mean, I'd LOVE to see what the overall chords are in some parts of some of these songs. To me, THAT type of writing ALWAYS flows more than fusion stuff. Shit, look how, out-of-left field some of the ideas come at you in
Erotomania for example.
I know if you don't like it, nothing I say can change that. I even used an analogy myself about foods here in the past. So I get it. But to not hear the greatness of these songs, on the level of
anything they've ever done, and being/been a big DT fan, I wish you enjoyed it as much as I am!
)