New Dream Theater song - The Gift of Music

[RUSH_Of_Excitement]

I have always loved the instrumental and melodic aspects of their music. Obviously they're all extremely talented musicians, but as a lyricist John doesn't do much for me it kind of gives me hope because it shows that he's still human. Regardless, his lyrics to me, with a few exceptions, have been fairly cringe worthy. It's like he never got the "show don't tell" memo in high school and that no one reads over his songs beforehand and says "hey, how about cutting this out? Or saying it in a more concise and impactful way?" Bottom line is, imho, the lyrics always feel like rough drafts.

 

[wankerness]

It does seem like there's an inverse correlation here between how much people like the album and how good their English is I'm the outlier, because I am capable of totally ignoring lyrics 95% of the time!

 

[technomancer]

It does seem like there's an inverse correlation here between how much people like the album and how good their English is I'm the outlier, because I am capable of totally ignoring lyrics 95% of the time!

nope

 

[Duosphere]

Lyrics?!
I only hear...............notes

That reminds me a funny story that happened like a decade agne friend of a friend mentioned he didn't like instrumental music.99% of bands he used to like had lyrics in English and, as I knew he didn't speak English, I said instrumental music was the only thing he liked cause, as he couldn't understand a word, he was only hearing notes, lyrics were only sound.If you guys could see his face, it was the biggest ever

 

[wankerness]

Lyrics?!
I only hear...............notes

That reminds me a funny story that happened like a decade agne friend of a friend mentioned he didn't like instrumental music.99% of bands he used to like had lyrics in English and, as I knew he didn't speak English, I said instrumental music was the only thing he liked cause, as he couldn't understand a word, he was only hearing notes, lyrics were only sound.If you guys could see his face, it was the biggest ever

That's kind of true, though the sound of vocals with words (even if you can't understand any of them) is quite different from the sound of vocals that are just going "ooooo" or whatever, and both are a sound that's not going to happen in pure instrumental music (though the erhu comes close!). Thus, I can understand someone still preferring music have lyrics even if they can't understand any of it.

 

[GraemeH]

I don't usually care about lyrics since even meaningless banal words can sound epic in the right musical context, but I do want to reach for the mute button just for the "I will give him a better life/I swore this vow to my dying wife/sure, she would not survive" section.

You can't be much more utilitarian and un-poetic in your prose than that.

 

[Duosphere]

That's kind of true, though the sound of vocals with words (even if you can't understand any of them) is quite different from the sound of vocals that are just going "ooooo" or whatever, and both are a sound that's not going to happen in pure instrumental music (though the erhu comes close!). Thus, I can understand someone still preferring music have lyrics even if they can't understand any of it.

If you can't understand what you are listening, you'll only listen "oooo" and "aaahhh" but with different letters(sounds), still they are only notes without any meaning.Let's assume you don't understand Mandarim, listen to a Chinese song with lyrics, they'll sound like notes, voice will sound just like a guitar with a very strong wah.That's a really cool thing when you think about it.

 

[JohnIce]

If you can't understand what you are listening, you'll only listen "oooo" and "aaahhh" but with different letters(sounds), still they are only notes without any meaning.Let's assume you don't understand Mandarim, listen to a Chinese song with lyrics, they'll sound like notes, voice will sound just like a guitar with a very strong wah.That's a really cool thing when you think about it.

Given that we have an entire part of the brain dedicated just to processing speech, I think the difference between instrumental and vocal music is substantial regardless of language. For example, in a factory full of machines making a million different noises all blending together, your ears would immediately react if you heard someone coughing in the middle of it all. I mean, you can even tell one person from another by just hearing them breathe through their nose. Don't think there's anything our ears are more finely tuned for than the sound of other humans.

 

[A-Branger]

voice will sound just like a guitar with a very strong wah.That's a really cool thing when you think about it.

just like the school teacher in Peanuts

 

[Sephiroth952]

I've been digesting this album in this past week. I absolutely love it. As a huge power metal fan, the sheer cheesiness of the lyrics and story is just lovely. Literally can't stop listening to it. Ravenskill and The path that divides are defnitely the best songs.

 

[technomancer]

Listened to it again today, still loving it

 

[Sephiroth952]

Jp's new rig for the tour.

 

[Duosphere]

Jp's new rig for the tour.

As always.................
If I can remember all his other rigs, this is probably the smallest one even with a backup of everything.
That amp delivers so many tones that he doesn't need any other amp.
Mesa looks beautiful, hot and.............................evil

 

[ihunda]

Why the 20/20 power amps? Monitors?

 

[Sephiroth952]

As always.................
If I can remember all his other rigs, this is probably the smallest one even with a backup of everything.
That amp delivers so many tones that he doesn't need any other amp.
Mesa looks beautiful, hot and.............................evil

It has definitely scaled down over the years.

 

[A-Branger]

Why the 20/20 power amps? Monitors?

yup

Entire signal chain:
Ernie Ball Music Man Guitar(Majesty/ JP 15/ JP 16)—> TRS Cable to Framtone A/B Box
A/B box Piezo OUT—> ISO Transformer —> TC Electronic BodyRez pedal —> Acoustic signal DI to FOH —> PA and Monitors
A/B Box Magnetic OUT —>
RJM Tone Saver(Out 2 feeds TC Electronic Polytune2 Blacklite Tuner on pedalboard)
RJM Tone Saver Out 1—> Jim Dunlop Guitar Products JP95 Wah Pedal (Mounted in rack chasis)
JP95 Wah Pedal —> RJM Mini Effects Gizmo loop switcher IN
Loop 1: TC Electronic Hyper Gravity compressor
Loop 2: Keeley Red Dirt Overdrive pedal
Loop 3: TC Electronic Helix Phaser pedal
Loop 4: TC Electronic Viscous Vibe pedal
Loop 5: TC Electronic John Petrucci Dreamscape pedal(2 daisy chained together for different sounds. Manually switched between)
RJM MEG OUT —> Mesa Boogie JP2C Amp INPUT
Mesa Boogie JP2C Amp FX Loop SEND —> Fractal Audio Axefx XL+ INPUT
Fractal Axefx XL+ OUT 1 L/R —> Mesa Boogie JP2C FX Loop RETURN(Amp 1 and Amp 2. Amp 2 used as power amp for main cabinet sound)
Mesa Boogie JP2C Amp 1 and 2 Speaker Outs —> 2x Mesa Boogie Recto 1x12 cabs(mic’d for PA and Monitors)
Fractal Axefx XL+ OUT 2 L/R —> Mesa Boogie 20/20 DynaWatt power amp( Drives Mesa Boogie Mini Recto 1x12 Slant cabs for monitor wedges)
Pedalboard: RJM Mastermind GT22 Midi Controller
Ernie Ball Volume Pedal
Dunlop JP95 Wah Pedal(control for rack mounted JP95)
TC Electronic Polytune2 Blacklite tuner

 

[Santuzzo]

I listened to the new album twice so far, and so far I really like it.
I think I liked the previous album more, but this also is awesome, even though I was hoping for a heavier album (like ToT).
Obviously I will need to listen to this many more times ...
But some of my thoughts so far: I love the drum sound on the album, I also like Rudess on it, and of course Petrucci's riffing and leads are amazing!
One of my favorites definitely is his leads on A Savior In The Square. so melodic!

 

[Rolanthas]

I've been trying to like it for a week now, feel like I gave it a fair shot, and it just doesn't do it for me. DT are of course free to do whatever they feel like, but this is just too much cheese and grandiosity for me.

I'll come back to the album at points probably, but yeah enough for now.

 

[TheShreddinHand]

One of my favorites definitely is his leads on A Savior In The Square. so melodic!

YES! I love this song. A 4 minute song that does a pretty darn good job of showing all DT is capable of from melodic to heavy and everything in between.

I think this song and Our New World are my favorites.

 

[Veldar]

Did anyone see Anthony Fantano's video on it Dude's not a fan.