Now, to the point of my comment… There is a section of Tuscany which sounds a lot like the overall soundtrack from Bladerunner. Am I wrong in this? I’ve noted quite a few of what I believe to be deliberate homages to various musical artists and obscure pieces of brilliant music. Tell me I’m right. It would be very nice to be right :)

I rolled my eyes so hard, they ripped through the side of my face.

“To quote the former great drummer Lars Ulrich”

Exactly…I couldn’t agree more!!!!!

All amazing albums!!!!!!!!!
Also, definitely check out “Liquid Tension Experiment”…Basically its the Drummer, Guitarist, and Keyboardist (Before he was in Dream Theater) and Tony Levin…….Amazing albums……..and there is another

For my part, I inaugurated this album during a hiking trip. There were three of us DT fans in the car and two of the three are very talented musicians (one metal drummer, one jazz guitarist, and then non-musical me). However, despite our diverse backgrounds, all three of us were in agreement–BC&SL is just not a very good album, basically DT on autopilot or “stock DT” as the reviewer accurately describes it.

As always with DT, there are moments of brilliance on the album, but the songs aren’t nearly as strong as on past albums. (I’m also amazed at so many people bashing “Systematic Chaos”–it’s not innovative, but there’s very solid songwriting there if you skip over the annoying single “Constant Motion.”)

On BC&SL there are a few VERY sloppy transitions between parts of songs (see “The Shattered Fortress,” which starts off with so much promise, but kind of leaves an unfulfilled feeling in the mouth by the end), uncharacteristic for DT and a sure sign that something is amiss. Also, sometimes songs need to be long to encompass all the musical ideas present, and sometimes songs are long for the sake of being long. Unfortunately, most of the songs on this album fall into the latter category. For example, take a look at the songs in the #2 slots on the past two albums. “Forsaken” and “Rite of Passage” both operate on a very similar compositional premise, but the second one is three minutes longer.

If there’s one unequivocally positive thing I can take away from the album, it’s that James LaBrie’s vocals are continuing to get better and encompass a wider range of possible styles (even if the other players in the band have stopped their musical evolution). The bonus disc of covers is a tour de force by LaBrie, handling the material of Dio, Dickinson, and Mercury while still sounding distinctly LaBrie.