Comments on: Dream Theater – The Astonishing

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 17:47:02 +0000

I wondered whether I’d been too harsh with this review, and should have given it another couple of plays to give it another chance. But I found I couldn’t face sitting through the whole thing another time, so decided to publish and be damned,

Then I read some other reviews….

These two are more in-depth than mine, and come to the same conclusion

On Progarchy
https://progarchy.com/2016/02/12/the-astonishing-pile-of-crap-from-dream-theater/

And Prog Archives
http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=1527870

By: Ian Redfearn

Ian Redfearn — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 17:21:22 +0000

I have now given this a few listens and I don’t even think there is a 50 minute album on there. It is as bland as ALW musical (and I absolutely despise his stuff). They have completely removed everything that is Dream Theatre from the recording. It is a miss on every level.

By: Synthetase

Synthetase — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 00:40:12 +0000

I’ve tried to like Dream Theater, but just can’t. I hate the way they chop and change so much. They play a few bars of something and then go straight to playing a few bars of something else. Wash, rinse, repeat. It’s so jarring and annoying and it never seems to serve a purpose. Almost like they listened to Wish You Were Here but completely missed the point.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 21:28:46 +0000

Now that’s an album I haven’t listened to for a long time. One of the earliest double-albums of the CD era, if I remember correctly, when instead of the 75-85 minutes of four sides of vinyl, the most self-indulgent of bands found themselves with up to two and a half hours to fill.

By: Jgrubb

Jgrubb — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 20:45:39 +0000

“The album does leave the impression that there might be a worthwhile 50-minute album in there struggling to get out” is what I always said about Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

By: David R. Lueck

David R. Lueck — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 20:36:08 +0000

Tim,

I am with the “no soul/too many notes” crowd, they just have never engendered any passion in me when I’ve listened to their stuff, though admittedly it’s been awhile. Plus James LaBrie’s (THE BANSHEE!) voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. He is a wailing caricature of what people who aren’t into progressive rock think all progressive rock singers sound like. Yuck. Weird, because I actually like Geddy Lee’s voice! There truly is no accounting for taste. See you on Twitter, Tim,

Dave

By: Tom B

Tom B — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 12:36:24 +0000

Thanks Tim, It sounds like this one might be worth giving a miss. I'm struggling to think of any double album which wouldn't be better as a 50 min single album, The Wall,The Lamb, Tusk, they all suffer from filler, and don't even get me started on The Clash's Sandinista! The only double album I can think of which wouldn't benefit from a drastic pruning is Therion's Gothic Kabbalah and although there's no filler as such, even on that there's tracks I don't care for.