Music of the Day, 27 December 2024
numb and strange
I can’t go too long without listening to some harder music.1 With my past few days focused on knitting and lighter fare, I wasn’t surprised to find myself wanting to hear something more complex. The album I craved was a bit unexpected, though, as it isn’t usually at the top of my list for the band.
I fired it up and realized that I had a difficult choice in front of me: which piece to choose to feature today. Since we’re approaching the end of the year in the Gregorian calendar, that became the deciding factor.
It seems to be an unpopular opinion, but I adore this disc. Falling into Infinity (FII) is Dream Theater’s fourth studio album and was released in 1997, right when my life was transformed. “New Millennium” is the lead track, and one could say that it foreshadows the band’s changed sound on the rest of the album.
I didn’t know it at the time, but their label was pushing hard for a more accessible sound. Kevin “Caveman” Shirley2 produced it and brought in Desmond Child to rewrite some songs, much to drummer Mike Portnoy’s frustration. That explains FII’s unevenness: some tracks are characteristically complex while others are almost languid. As I stated already, I enjoy listening to them all in part because of that unexpected variability.
Maybe it’s my imagination, but I hear a bit of snark in James LaBrie’s voice as he sings “New Millennium.” I feel it because whether a it’s a new year, century, and/or millennium, they’re all arbitrary time markers, and pinning one’s hope for better days on them seems silly and futile.3
As usual when I’m listening to Dream Theater, all the elements of the music demand my attention. John Petrucci’s guitar work is solid as ever, but it’s Portnoy’s percussion and John Myung on the Chapman stick and bass that make “New Millennium” a standout track. Derek Sherinian is on keyboards, as Kevin Moore had left a few years prior, and does a fine job here. I’ll never tire of LaBrie’s versatile voice, but if you’re like me, you may have trouble getting some of the whispered/background lyrics4 without a little help.
I have a couple of later Dream Theater discs that haven’t gotten enough of my attention, and there are several that I’ve not bought nor listened to. Maybe it’s time for that tide to turn. Suggestions are welcome.
the patterns aren’t always well represented in this space
whom I know of from his work with Rush
especially if one isn’t working for the “better days” one wants
Mike Portnoy provides backing and harmony vocals on this track
I truly appreciate you pulling out this moment in the DT timeline. I knew about the push-pull with the then record label but hadn’t researched how it actually affected this album.
And, yet, there are these glorious moments that linger and spark in my mind, like Hell’s Kitchen, which shone its complexity stunningly when transposed into classical by the Vitamin String Quartet.
And despite the thumb of the record label forcing commercial viability onto this album, I admit my bias of fondness because the musical moments were exactly what I needed at that point in my life.
Cheers!