[Mrhat201]

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I'd maybe try "In Absentia", "Deadwing" or "The Incident". It took me a little while to really "get" them, until I watched the "Arriving Somewhere..." live DVD and everything clicked!

I tried "The Incident"  and didn't like it.  I think the drumming is awesome for most of the tracks the guy has a great sound for sure.  But the lyrics and his singing make me want to take a power drill to my head. 

 

[Jamesy1969]

Quote:

I tried "The Incident"  and didn't like it.  I think the drumming is awesome for most of the tracks the guy has a great sound for sure.  But the lyrics and his singing make me want to take a power drill to my head. 

 
Fair enough - you may just never like them then. Your experience mirrors mine with Dream Theater!

 

[Mrhat201]

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Fair enough - you may just never like them then. Your experience mirrors mine with Dream Theater!

Yeah it must!  I love Dream Theater.  Though his voice does irritate me after a while.  It's just so high and predictable. But both bands in my opinion have to notch drummers... Well Dream Theater used to not so sure now. 

 

[Jamesy1969]

Quote:

Yeah it must!  I love Dream Theater.  Though his voice does irritate me after a while.  It's just so high and predictable. But both bands in my opinion have to notch drummers... Well Dream Theater used to not so sure now. 

 
Understood. The most obvious point of any band is generally the singer, and if that's a point we can't get along with then we won't get along with the band, no matter how talented the musicians.
 
Usually.
 
Why do I love Rush????? (maybe because I've had 25 years or so of listening to them to get used to Geddy's whine)

 

[MorbidToaster]

As long as Rudess is in DT, I will be into them. That dude is insanely talented.

 

[Mrhat201]

Quote:

As long as Rudess is in DT, I will be into them. That dude is insanely talented.

I agree.  He's the guy that showed me that keyboards could be cool. His work in Liquid Tension Experiment is amazing as well. 

 

[mongol]

Quote:

Yeah it must!  I love Dream Theater.  Though his voice does irritate me after a while.  It's just so high and predictable. But both bands in my opinion have to notch drummers... Well Dream Theater used to not so sure now. 

 
You're not sure about Mike Mangini being top notch?

 

[Mrhat201]

Quote:

 
You're not sure about Mike Mangini being top notch?

Actually I haven't listened to anything with out Portnoy.  I'm behind the curve on DT right now.

 

[MorbidToaster]

There's really only been 1 album without Portnoy so far, and all the fan boys were whining about it...but I think they're full of crap. Dramatic Turn of Events is a great album, IMO.
 
I do think the 'golden years' will be with Rudess and Portnoy though. 2000-2010.
 
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Actually I haven't listened to anything with out Portnoy.  I'm behind the curve on DT right now.

 

[Mrhat201]

Quote:

There's really only been 1 album without Portnoy so far, and all the fan boys were whining about it...but I think they're full of crap. Dramatic Turn of Events is a great album, IMO.
 
I do think the 'golden years' will be with Rudess and Portnoy though. 2000-2010.
 

I saw that came out.  I'm gonna wait until I'm back stateside before I pick it up. My only other option right now is iTunes and I don't want to do that.

 

[MorbidToaster]

Honestly it's a pretty good sounding album. I personally think 256AAC is fine, but it's up to you. I bought the CD and really want to pick up the LPs as they're getting a bit harder to find.
 
I've stood by it since release. It's definitely not their worst album to date, and it flows quite nicely in general. Overall I really liked it.
 
All this talk reminds me I need to listen to my RSD Liquid Tension Experiment LPs tonight.
 
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I saw that came out.  I'm gonna wait until I'm back stateside before I pick it up. My only other option right now is iTunes and I don't want to do that.

 

[The Dan of Steel]

I saw Mangini play with DT just after the album dropped in NY and I think he's great. I'm a long time DT fan and even grew up near their hometown. The fact that Portnoy was fired bothered me since it was his HS band. But music is business for recording artists and I understand what happened. I felt the same when Kevin Moore left especially in exchange for Sherinian which I really didn't like. And then they got Rudess and there aren't words for how awesome he is. I'll continue to follow them no matter their roster change.

 

[Pyrrho]

The Van Halen HDTracks releases sound great. VH1 is even a good upgrade over the DCC. One of the few HDTracks releases that is better than the best CD version.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

The Van Halen HDTracks releases sound great. VH1 is even a good upgrade over the DCC. One of the few HDTracks releases that is better than the best CD version.

Just a heads up on those van haven remasters, davebsc put some investigative work in on them here http://www.metal-fi.com/hdtracks-everybody-wants-some/ and here http://www.metal-fi.com/hdtracks-fair-warning/

 

[Pyrrho]

Vinyl may have higher dynamics, but I 'm not able to get used to the clicks and pops... A high DR isn't everything, DR12 can sound better than DR14...
 
The HDTracks versions sound more detailed than the CD versions (first pressings or DCC).
The 24/96 and 24/192 is unnecessary as always...