Stoney

Don't worry, Ludovica, I was just wondering if you had read it, you are not "obliged" to reply to me. Of course, if you want to, I would be more than happy. Bye :)

Alexander, it's clear that all famous bands have "proselytes" rather than regular fans; for instance, a similar thing happens with the already mentioned Queen. There are people who go as far as to say that beyond Queen there can be nothing, that the only true god of singing is Freddie Mercury, that the only god of the guitar is Brian May, etc., and if you try to criticize HALF of something (like: in the 80s they released so much crap... take, I don’t know, The Works; for heaven's sake, what sense does a piece like "Keep Passing The Open Window" make? No, a Queen fan will tell you it's an essential piece, but anyway...) they’ll attack you like rabid dogs. I can't stand the die-hard Queen fans either, but (this is my personal opinion) I find them less annoying than those of DT because I can at least understand them to some extent. I mean, the Queen wrote undeniably immortal songs, gave emotions to entire generations, were personally unique in their own way, and were an entity unto themselves in the rock/pop scene even while being a commercial band and having millions of flaws; all the prerequisites for fanatical devotion are there, and I truly understand it, stemming directly from the emotions of people who fell in love, cried, suffered, and rejoiced thanks to their songs. Even though it's never good to lose objectivity when judging an artistic product, I can somehow empathize with them. The same could be said for Pink Floyd and Genesis, but when it comes to Dream Theater, I’m really concerned about all this overwhelming attention to the raw mechanics of the pieces, the idolatry of mere "tèchne" (in the way the ancient Greeks understood it, meaning the practical way of building or doing something separate from the experience and intention behind how it's done) at the expense of the effort to seek a new and original communicative path. Sorry for the lengthy monologue, but as you will have understood, when I write, I get carried away and always produce lengthy comments. In short, I hope it's clear what I meant. See you next time!

Ludovica, but didn't you sign as Friturik or something similar? Well, if it's you: I sent you a private message a few days ago, I was wondering if you had read it. Just curious. Ciaociao...

Anyone named Vasco in Italy has nothing to say, period.

I understand, but I assure you that I don't criticize the DT just for the sake of criticizing them, especially since, I repeat, I don't gain anything from it. The problem is that both extreme idolization and extreme criticism are two sides of the same coin, meaning it's a superficial approach. I listened to the DT for a long time; I even tried to play them in a band with some friends, and it was during that time that I developed certain convictions (then I gave it up both because I wasn't skilled enough and because, deep down, I didn't care about being skilled and I never perceived it as a limitation). A few years ago, in my city (Rome), there was a flourishing of DT cover bands (it was 1999 or maybe 2000, when Scenes From A Memory came out and nothing else was discussed), and I remember that when you went to venues to see these bands (some of them really good), you were surrounded by hundreds of people who weren't there to have fun, but to judge whether those on stage really played "like" the real Dream Theater, all of them scrutinizing with a judgmental gaze, all counting odd time signatures on their fingers, all solving differential equations to reconcile the timing on Learning To Live, and then at the end of the concert, everyone would take note of the mistakes, all trying to be perfectionists because during the 6:00 roll the poor drummer had hit one tom instead of another, or because in the guitar solo of Erotomania the guitarist hadn't hit all the notes "just right," or because the singer had missed a note on some truly complicated piece. I mean, what’s the point? Aside from the fact that even the DT mess up live (yes, they’re human too), I have never heard such comments at U2, Pearl Jam, or even Queen cover concerts, which are bands that are idolized to an extreme. In many cases, the difference with the originals was much stronger: people were dancing or singing at the top of their lungs to pieces tied to who knows what feelings and memories, a sign that the "music" had succeeded in carrying out its artistic and communicative function, and the cover band had achieved its purpose—making the audience feel the same sensations. This simple observation has always led me to think that yes, the DT do convey something to those who listen to them, but undoubtedly the "fanatical" component carries significant weight, which is unfortunately undeniable. P.S. As for Alice in Chains, you're opening a wide door.

Ah... Alexander77, let me explain something to you: if someone criticizes a well-established and famous group, it's not out of a lack of humility or arrogance, because you see, I’m not a musician in life, and I’m not competing with Dream Theater because they owe me money or because I think I'm better than them; I don’t have a personal issue with them either because I don't know them and I really don’t care. I play guitar with my band in a crappy box, and I may not know much about music, but I also have a brain and a culture that allow me to choose and evaluate what I find valid and what I don’t. Whether I say something is valid or not, I do it because it's the result of reasoning, which can be challenged at any moment, for goodness' sake, but I would like it to be done by someone who brings sensible critiques, not someone talking about humility, prostrating at the feet of these music deities, worshiping the gods of the instrument, because that’s idolatry, it’s the exact opposite of what you criticize. So let’s talk about concrete things. That said… Do you know how many "perfect" musicians come out of conservatories and music schools all over the world? Millions. Why should I care about those five? Because they’re famous? Because a ton of people say they’re great? Because when they come to concert in Italy they sell out? Honestly, I couldn’t care less if they’re "good at playing," you know how many good musicians exist, even way better than them? Seriously, just look up for a moment and you'll discover at every corner people with twice the talent who maybe enjoy not even half the success these guys have. What interests me is whether a musician has something to say; otherwise, I don’t care, that’s what makes a musician a "good" musician, not the practical way they perform the pieces. And the DT have never really had anything to say from a communicative standpoint; they’ve always just worried about composing these huge collages of riffs, breaks, melodic pieces, solos, ostinatos in odd times. The DT pieces progress in stages; one after another, they display the entire technical-emotional range they are capable of; the difference between one piece and another lies only in the order in which the usual patterns arrive: solo, poignant melody, thrash piece, chorus, obligatory, and all meticulously pre-packaged and recognizable (take the melodic pieces, they are all the same: sweet voice, airy melodies, basically the most immediate and recognizable concept of "melody"). They can be deconstructed and reassembled at will, like a Lego construction. What does the DT listener have to do that’s so difficult? They just have to sit there and memorize the sequence in which the "bricks" that make up the pieces have been placed one after the other (the "sequence," not the "meaning"), and once they’ve done that, they’re happy because they’ve understood the piece. The DT can write whatever they want, without worrying about doing it for a reason; the listener will get lost in solving the puzzle and will justify everything a priori. And if you compose like that, I don’t care one bit that you’re a god of the instrument because your technical and performing ability means nothing. The only one who stood out, however, at some point, was Kevin Moore because he demonstrated personality, for example by composing a piece like Space Dye Vest, which is very atypical for a group like the DT, and indeed totally at odds with the other pieces on the album it’s on (not by chance it’s completely his). You can feel that the matrix is completely different; there’s a style, there’s personality, it’s a piece with a lot of pathos, introspective; in a way, it was a precursor to what would be found on the Chroma Key albums, to the point that the DT never again even remotely attempted to approach a piece in a similar manner. Is this explanation okay, or did I once again err in presumption?

Good job, Lux. It's just that here we shouldn't even speak about the lyrics because they are an excerpt of the most vulgar barroom common sense from the overcrowded universities of today's youth in Humanities and Philosophy. The success that this "artist" enjoys is just tangible proof that musicians no longer have the desire to say anything, and the audience no longer wants to listen.

Titty Iron who is she? A new pornstar with steel breasts?

This poor guy left Dream Theater in 1995, it’s been 13 years, yet every freaking time you read his name in reviews, the name "Dream Theater" appears about 14 billion times. "He was the keyboardist of Dream Theater," "he left Dream Theater," "he used to play with Dream Theater," "with Dream Theater he recorded Images and Words and Awake," "but how could he have left Dream Theater." I'm convinced that if he hadn't been in "Dream Theater," 90% of the people who are now praising this CD wouldn't have even listened to it by mistake.

Moore is the only one of the DT who understood everything and left while he still could... And considering the rest of his career both with Fates Warning and his solo project Chroma Key, I would say he did more than well.