Composer Reacts to Dream Theater - Stream Of Consciousness (Live) (REACTION & ANALYSIS)

[@otacon04psn]

For the next instrumental: When the water breaks (live) by Liquid Tension experiment 🙏😊

[@jeannettesimpson9778]

I'd go for 'The Passage of Time'.

[@otacon04psn]

@@jeannettesimpson9778 from LT3 I like more Key to the imagination

[@jeannettesimpson9778]

@@otacon04psn You can't go wrong with any one you pick, but this is a great track too.

[@williamreynolds3487]

My favorite Dream Theater album. Every song but one is over 10 minutes and they’re all heavy and dark compared to their other albums which have a lot of different moods within them. Can’t get much better than those two aspects imo. Edit: Coming back to this a couple years later, you’re spot on. It’s basically taking a single idea/theme and alternating it several ways (sometimes drastically, sometimes not) over the course of the song. And they do such a great job; never feels too repetitive.

[@ncdice1]

It’s my favorite too! I love the dark atmosphere

[@matheusvaladares5884]

SoC, the Best track

[@progperljungman8218]

One of their best imo. Still didn't get my vote due to the competition.... Actually, you doing your analysis as a stream of thought is one of my favourite things about your ways in this channel. Especially since you've got a really good and fluent stream 😊. (I know you get stuck sometimes, which just goes to proove one of my other favourite things: no editing - just the spontaneous thoughts spoken as the come to you - or not... 😉)

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

Great track. Probably their best instrumental (yes, even compared to Dance of Eternity). I first got into Dream Theater shortly before Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence was released, and this was from the album (Train of Thought) that came out next. Train of Thought was a pretty big evolution for DT because they'd never made an album that consistently heavy that incorporated so many modern metal influences. This is probably the "lightest" track of on the album minus the 3-minute Vacant. I've always really enjoyed the themes from this piece--several remind me of video game music--and I love how smoothly it moves between all its sections. Your commentary on the music matching the title is quite apt, though I also think it's dubious that DT actually intended that. It's more probable they titled it after the music was written. I think I remember reading the title was originally going to be the title of their Falling Into Infinity album.

[@gabillos]

Great analysis and thoughts! I think this is probably one of the best Dream Theater songs for a classical composer's analysis. Every section works with the concept of variations over a theme/riff, even though sometimes it's not so obvious. Great content, love your reactions and criticism, always on point. Classical composer here :D Cheers!

[@JVR10893]

“Unless there’s something beneath the surface”. No that came out four albums later…

[@alanalanis2257]

You should react to Key to the Imagination or Rhapsody in Blue from Dream Theater's instrumental side project Liquid Tension Experiment 3. These instrumentals are far beyond phenomenal!!

[@milton1448]

Yes and YES

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

SoC is probably one of DT's easiest songs to play on bass. For uber-difficult DT on bass, The Dance of Eternity, Metropolis Pt. 1, or The Glass Prison are good listens.

[@CriticalReactions]

You're not the first to bring up Dance of Eternity for bass work. I might have to dig into that one on my own time to see what's going on there.

[@ShatteredWindowpane]

@@CriticalReactions I highly recommend that song. Live versions, the studio version, any one of them would be worth looking at. Also - their song Take The Time is a masterpiece in fusing slick instrumentation with a rocking sound.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

@@CriticalReactions Dance of Eternity is infamous for having over 100 time signature changes in ~6 minutes. It's probably DT's most overtly complicated song. I'm not the biggest fan of it from a musical perspective, but it's a technical marvel.

[@scorpiusbalthazar4327]

The Glass Prison is also the hardest song for Petrucci to play.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

@@scorpiusbalthazar4327 It requires immense endurance. I can play some of its sections in isolation, but I have no idea how Petrucci/Myung do it for the entire track.

[@davguev]

My favorite instrumental DT song is Hell's Kitchen, but this one is a close second. Thanks for your analyisis!

[@palantir135]

The dance of eternity, live breaking the fourth wall, is another epic instrumental by Dream Theater. Anesthetize by Porcupine Tree, live at Tilburg. Not purely instrumental but lots of instrumentals in this long song. Epic drumming.

[@richardjones38]

This reminds me that I need to listen to some Dream Theater albums again! The way Dream Theater songs evolve is so good. As a non musician who doesn't understand the technicalities, but appreciates listening to them, this is using their massive skill to make an awesome song. The other band you featured today, Intervals, and others like them do nothing for me. I totally get that they're amazingly skilled too, but their objective seems to be only to show off that skill, not to use it to make memorable songs which leave me wanting to listen again.

[@jetklaatu9831]

There was a Song Contest that was put out by the band based on this song. They basically gave everybody the framework of rules for the song and said do what you can and the winners were put on to an album, you should check it out as it's AMAZING!!!! Also, the riff/theme is also used in the song Vacant which is the previous track on the alum SoC is from, check that out too. Still my favourite song on the album!

[@ZackMorse]

Good stuff! The (now former) drummer (Mike Portnoy) also does some really fantastic work with Neal Morse - you may find "The Door" and "Author Of Confusion" interesting listens.

[@CriticalReactions]

We checked out a 30 minute performance from Neal Morse on the channel a while back. That was a phenomenal experience.

[@ZackMorse]

@@CriticalReactions Cool - I'll take a look for that. Neal & Mike are also co-members of Flying Colors (more pop/prog), Transatlantic (very prog) & the Neal Morse Band (somewhere in the middle). Thx!

[@ShatteredWindowpane]

Love the channel! You're doing great work. There's so much material from Dream Theater that is ripe for deconstruction and analysis. You could choose just about any of their songs and find interesting things to dissect.

[@scylla4342]

Songs like this is basically the main reason why I loved Dream Theater. Which is also the very thing that's gone in the past decade

[@polarbear1932]

I need more BASS

[@Psyggie]

Love me some Dream Theater! You would love to break down the song "Key to the Imagination" from the album "Liquid Tension Experiment 3"! Has Portnoy, Petrucci, and Rudess, along with Tony Levin on stick bass!

[@jan675]

I would actually say that the fact that the bass keeps it relatively simple makes him fill in the "metronome" role that would slightly be missing because of the more dynamic role the drum is taking. The fact that he keeps the basic and fills it in with some runs makes it a stronger song, and i have noticed with Dream Theater that this is the role he often takes. I actually started respecting him much more for this since he is a technically superb player that just knows when to keep it simple.

[@bassplayer2011ify]

John Myung (the bassist) is honestly one of the most humble guys on the planet. And that is reflected in his playing. He has his moments where he shines most most of the time he is chilling in the pocket.

[@myturbulance]

5:22 DUDE, when i watched this moment first time, I blowed my mind. I Couldn't understand HOW. And you said just a shred and don't even mimic :D interesting. :)

[@CriticalReactions]

I mean, I could break down the falling 3rds idea he starts with into the two quick sweeps and go from there but I don't think those elements are *as* important to the thematic and narrative elements of the song on a compositional level. I mentioned he was shredding because the concept of fast, flashy playing is important to the themes. He's a phenomenal guitarists but I tend to keep my focus honed on larger ideas, otherwise these videos would be hours long as I try to break down every minutiae of a song. :)

[@myturbulance]

@@CriticalReactions I see man. Wanted to share my first moment with petrucci. Thanks :]]

[@ronin_zyglrox]

If you want a song where they utilize the bassists skills, you should react to the Dance of Eternity

[@stuartf8116]

Great analysis, would love to hear you listen to Erotmania and see how that compares, because I think that is very similar in form, and would love to know if you would ever give vids doing tutorials about your compositional technique

[@osirisgolad]

You should check out Hell's Kitchen + Lines in the Sand(two songs but the first flows into the second) if you're going to do more Dream Theater in the future, because it shows yet another angle of Dream Theater, different from the previous DT songs you've done until now.

[@robertmunroe9635]

The same chords as vacant. The song itself is a stream but its very much so a continuation of the song before it. This album doesn’t really have a story so it’s not like there is anything meaningful behind it, it’s just a cool continuation.

[@andreasjohansson1952]

This period was their prime in my opinion, songwriting was unmatched and always on point. Nowadays, not so much.

[@aschleon]

Dream Theater - Instrumedley on your list?

[@gregkirk1842]

Id love to get your thoughts on DT song At Wits End , live London. So good.

[@alanalanis2257]

This music is only for those of high musical intellect. Not your typical fast food garbage mainstream pop music. This music takes patience and multiple listens to truly appreciate all its layers and motifs developed throughout the composition. I'm glad you get it!!🤗

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

You might be surprised how many people (especially those apart of Bryan's Critical Reactions community) enjoy both Dream Theater and pop music. I'm one of them. Fact is that much "fast food mainstream pop" is made by some of the best songwriters and musicians on the planet. It's foolish to think it's easy to make music millions of people want to listen to (or good, simple music in general). Bryan even did a week of reacting to pop music (he particularly liked Dua Lipa's Don't Start Now).

[@maxhowlett9649]

'This music is only for those of high music intellect' sheesh this is why its embarrassing to be a prog fan sometimes.

[@scorpiusbalthazar4327]

Why was the opening for a different concert put at the front of Budokan? Makes no sense.

[@avantprog6902]

That section is very Crimsonish😆

[@michaelpebbles6243]

Dream Theater has been around since 1985. From then till now there music has evolved, but not sacrifice, the sound, quality, or expertease. I noticed that the only other DT song you've reacted to was Octavarium. Good, but still just one of many sides to DT. Try "The Glass Prison" or "The shattered fortress" ( Live From The Boston Opera House). Both are Very to semi Hard n Heavy.......Shatter Fortress do the live version, and Glass Prison do the Studio version, Both on KZbin.

[@TheDondoran]

I just have to second The Glass Prison. A Change of Seasons is what made me aware of the band, but The Glass Prison is what sold me. I bought Images & Words, and Awake shortly after.

[@michaelpebbles6243]

@@TheDondoran I just wanted to make sure you weren't getting discouraged. This is the greatest band ever in my opinion. thanks!

[@TheDondoran]

@@michaelpebbles6243 Haven't really gotten into anything after Black Clouds and Silver Linings, but that's still a pretty big discography that I love.

[@michaelpebbles6243]

@@TheDondoran The Astonishing sucks. all but one song. ( The Gift of Music) is pretty cool.

[@TheDondoran]

@@michaelpebbles6243 Just listened, and that was a fun song. Hard to listen to the rest of the album, though. But I've had that experience with a band before! It was Iced Earth after Matt Barlow left. It was The Glorious Burden, and I just couldn't stand Tim Owens' vocals, except for the Gettysburg Trilogy on the second disc.

[@jandenbrok9574]

Bombast.

[@JarkkoToivonen]

Please react to Metallicas “Orion”

[@Isaiah_McIntosh]

Man of all the tracks dream theater we've done on the channel so far this is my least favourite. Just never got caught into any of the bits except for the last 2 minutes or so and it felt really meandering in a bad way. It'll probably grow on me with repeat listens to be fair but not really a strong first impression.

[@jamiethomas3122]

They are pretty amazing live, but it doesn't come close to the studio version imo

[@avantprog6902]

They keep switching the meter

[@CriticalReactions]

Yeah, it's all over the place for sure. And those micro changes to standard time feels are hard to count. You mentioned hearing the intro in 9 and then shifting to 15. We're talking about adding/removing just a half or a quarter of a beat from standard 4/4. It's so close to the standard at that point but just enough to feel off.

[@camilovalladares3679]

Jon Snow

[@Selkirk69]

Japan

[@KingXanadu]

I’m a huge DT fan, but this track doesn’t do much for me

[@nikelodeon6852]

That's sad..

[@KingXanadu]

@@nikelodeon6852 It is. I've tried listening to it several times, hoping it grabs me, but I always just think that it's a bit meh. Glad you enjoy it !

[@nikelodeon6852]

@@KingXanadu What's your favorite instrumental by them?

[@KingXanadu]

@@nikelodeon6852 Probably Erotomania. Dance of eternity a close second

[@KingXanadu]

Train of thought as a whole, is probably my least favorite DT album though, I like As I Am and In the Name of God a lot, but not much else

[@avantprog6902]

As a drummer I'm counting this intro as a 9. Then they go into a 15.

[@nikelodeon6852]

There's literally no theme at all. It's a title to an instrumental piece. That's it...they could have named it anything else and it wouldn't fit your "theme"

[@caseymorgan2054]

I see you are bothering someone else with your negativity..dude, get happy!