Dream Theater - Scenes From a Memory

Dream Theater is at there best when they concentrate on songwriting. I personally do not like Dream Theater's technical side or, more appropriately, their overly technical side. And that is my problem with Scenes From A Memory. Occasional great songwriting coupled with technical silliness. The album is a mixed bag for me and I'm left wondering why Dream Theater chooses not to write great songs all the time. They are capable of it, look at Awake. But yet they insist, or rather their fans insist, on the musical masturbation and technical nonsense. And when Dream Theater deviates from technical indulgence, many of their fans pout and whine like spoiled children (look at the crying that followed both Awake and Falling Into Infinity, two albums that focused on songwriting). Is Dream Theater trapped by the demands of their hard core fans? Maybe.

Their fans claim that they are a progressive band but, by the very definition of the word "progressive", why isn't DT moving forward and being innovative? We are getting Images & Words II with Scenes From A Memory. How is repeating Images & Words or more specifically, one song from I&W, progressive? Even with Scenes From A Memory's ambitious (but bumbling) story line running throughout the album, this still doesn't make this a progressive CD. C'mon, Dream Theater, become more song-oriented. You could be great but, instead, you are wallowing in the quagmire of technical self-indulgence which is certainly not progressive, innovative and forward thinking.

The great progressive bands are known for their songs, not their technical over-the-topness (if you'll pardon my terminology). Rush, Pink Floyd, Styx, Kansas, Queen, pre-HITNF Queensryche -- all of them are known for great songs first. Unfortunately, the people who claim that technical and progressive music is one and the same have twisted the meaning of the word "progressive" around so badly, most so-called "progressive" fans no longer even consider Queen, Pink Floyd and Styx progressive at all. And that is wrong. The confusion likely started when Images & Words first came out. Some moron heard I&W for the first time and came to the conclusion that because Dream Theater was both technical AND progressive that technical IS progressive. This is dumb. This is like saying that because Def Leppard is pop AND metal that pop IS metal. I hope my point has been made (though I'm sure some hate mail is already on it's way).

Okay, Dream Theater did not make Scenes From A Memory for me. They shouldn't cater to anyone's musical tastes but their own. Unfortunately, Dream Theater has catered to their hard core fans and the result is this: they no longer can lay claim to the label "progressive" and when any fan uses this term to describe Dream Theater, they are misusing that word. A better description would be "semi-progressive technical metal" (yes, Dream Theater is somewhat progressive at times).

Of course, this is all just my opinion. But I've studied the roots of progressive rock and I have a historical basis for my argument, something many Dream Theater fans don't have. They simply rely on the "wise old man" way of gaining knowledge; they heard someone else define progressive music and, rather than researching it for themselves, they've just taken this "wise old man" at his word. I challenge all Deam Theater fans to drop the elitist know-it-all posturing they are engaging in and actually research the history of prog. Hey, maybe you will still reach the conclusion you already had but at least you will have thought and judged for yourselves rather than taking "wise old man" at his word. But I've ranted long enough. Sorry.

Cut out about twenty minutes of complete foolishness and Scenes From A Memory is a damn good album. Most of the opening "Overture 1928" and "Strange Deja Vu" is good stuff. The quiet "Through My Words" and the dark "Fatal Tragedy" are okay but not really my thing. Songs like the soaring "The Spirit Carries On", the beautiful "Through Her Eyes" and the kick-ass "Home" show Dream Theater at their very best. Even the twelve minute finale, "Finally Free", is solid and has some really good dramatic flourishes. But the nonsensical duo of "The Dance of Eternity" and "Beyond This Life" try my sanity. Though "Beyond This Life" isn't all bad, it deteriorates quickly as it goes on (and goes on it does). I'm still quite fond of Mike Portnoy on drums, John Myung on bass and James LaBrie on vocals. But guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess both need to learn when enough is enough. Don't sacrifice the song in favor of technical flash. Various members of Dream Theater claimed to have listened to The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and Operation: Mindcrime by Queensryche while writing and recording this album. I wish they'd listened a bit closer.