A Dramatic Turn of Events (or, what’s this?? a music review!)

My friends know that I love prog rock. For some listeners, prog rock carries over into kitsch, feeling like a sort of aural masturbation, as artists go off into the weeds. For me, that describes freeform jazz or "performance rock" which drives me nuts when nothing seems to tie together to a common sense of purpose in a piece of music. Good prog rock (and the jazz that I do like), has a structure and sets about achieving it, in part, by throwing off the shackles of the pop song time limit and by embracing all sorts of other musical genres—classical, jazz, rock. The best prog rock distills the best of those other genres for an effect, and is mindful of that effect as it moves. I imagine that in concerts, prog rock bands might go off in the weeds, a la Spinal Tap, but the studio music is evocative. And often, the practitioners of prog rock are classically trained and tremendous musicians.

As you might expect, especially because of the length of its songs, a lot of prog rock doesn't get airplay and so its practitioners fly under the radar of those who only listen to the radio. So bands like Dream Theater don't have a lot of mainstream recognition, though among those who know of them, their following is rabid. Dream Theater has been recording since 1989, and allmusic.com says A Dramatic Turn of Events is their 11^th album. Originally formed by three students at the Berklee College of Music, Dream Theater has undergone some lineup changes over the years, none more potentially devastating than the unexpected departure of founding member and drummer Mike Portnoy, a critically acclaimed and much beloved virtuoso, to be replaced by Mike Mangini. Perhaps the title of album is a small acknowledgement of the dramatic change.

In a lot of ways A Dramatic Turn of Events seems to distill a lot of the essence of the Dream Theater that I like best, meshing the best of prog—the soaring instrumentation and wacky lyrics—with some pop sensibilities. The musicianship is just ridiculously good, as it always is with these guys, and there seems to be no fall-off with the new drummer at all, which is a pleasant surprise. This album seems to be playing up the keyboards a little more than in the past, sometimes to the detriment of the bass line, but when the bass is allowed to come through, John Myung just blows me away. To be fair, Jordan Rudess's keyboards do seem to somehow have gotten better, and John Petrucci's guitar work just kicks major butt. And though I sometimes make fun of James LaBrie's vocals, it's all relative. He's a good singer, showing a range throughout the songs on the album, but he just cannot compare to the spectacular performances by the instrumentalists. It really isn't fair, and maybe I should consider listening to his upcoming solo album to hear him where maybe he can come to the fore. The album sometimes feels "orchestral" especially when there is a depth to the many things going on at once, and when those depths include organ or a chorale, it feels really big—a staple of prog. I like it. J

Track 1 – "On the Backs of Angels": With the introduction to this piece, it's clear that Dream Theater is going back to their roots a little bit, balancing on the line between pop and prog, pulling in audiences of both.

Track 2-"Build Me Up, Break Me Down": This is perhaps my favorite track on the album, perhaps because of the hewing to some of the best of hard rock. LaBrie's vocals alternately soar and growl, and each instrument is given time in the spotlight. By itself, this song provides a solid introduction to what Dream Theater is all about. Petrucci provides a different flavor to the way his guitar usually sounds, alluding to some heavy metal settings, reflecting the song's title and lyrics a little. But each instrument eventually gets put through its paces, evoking the very different kinds of sounds that appear throughout the album.

Track 3-"Lost Not Forgotten": While I like the music of "Build Me Up" a great deal, I just love the lyrics of "Lost Not Forgotten", with its veiled references to Ozymandias in lines like

I am not immortal
I am just a man
A power-craving tyrant
Beyond the shadows in the sand

Again, it feels like a throwback to the roots of prog rock, with its pomp and mysticality, but Dream Theater's instruments rescue it from being borne down by the weight of such themes. The song also has another common element for prog rock, a long playing time (coming in at more than ten minutes) but it's not even the longest track on the album. And oh my word, the ridiculous changing time signatures!

Track 4 – "This Is the Life": A change of pace to a slower, gentler ballad, with acoustic guitar and lyrics that reflect the meditational sounds. In some ways, it's a palate cleanser for what follows.

Track 5-"Bridges in the Sky": The track begins with tone shaping and hints of themes often associated with American Indians (also reflected in the song title). When one thinks of American Indians in rock, Kansas should come to mind, and this song often evokes Kansas with its chords and phrasing—Dream Theater's debt and love for Kansas has been made clear in earlier albums. Another element that Dream Theater excels at, dramatic changes of tempo and tone, are all over this 11-minute song: there's something remarkable about a Petrucci guitar solo lifted out of hard rock side by side with an organ solo from the best 1970s Kansas.

Track 6-"Outcry": It may not be the intention, but "Outcry" feels very much like a piece set aside for Rudess to just show off. And strangely enough, the introduction evokes Evanescence with a piano solo blown up by a bombastic multi-layer battering ram that includes growly bass at the bottom and an angelic chorus above it all. And, as one might imagine, when the singing starts, the song is set on a battlefield:

Somewhere overhead
Distant thunder roars
The revolution has begun
The war to end all wars

And while the other instruments weave in and out, the keyboards always come to the forefront and Rudess tears it up over and over.

Track 7-"Far from Heaven": Another change of pace, a slow ballad, cleansing the palate one more time for what is about to follow.

Track 8-"Breaking All Illusions": Again, the song starts with the sounds of Kansas and then moves on to interweave some Queensryche instrumentation as well. The song is an anthem, and if "Outcry" is the Rudess showpiece, "Breaking All Illusions" is Petrucci's moment in the spotlight. The various guitar solos in the song are breathtaking, especially when Petrucci attaches relatively generic blues chords and phrasing to prog rock that borders on hard rock. This song competes hard with "Build Me Up, Break Me Down" as my favorite.

Track 9-"Beneath the Surface": A final slow ballad, to let off the pressure of the previous song ease and to bring the album to a contemplative, thoughtful conclusion. There is irony in the lyrics, especially as the trappings of a love ballad are balanced with the lyric that is made to stand out: "I stopped caring." Rudess evokes Emerson, Lake, and Palmer with moog synthesizers, and Petrucci's acoustic guitar is clean. Perhaps the song on the album that best fits the standards for release as a single, both for its length and its content, it is also a counterpoint to all the creative energy that has gone before.

Put simply, I'm falling in love with this album, reminding me why I own every Dream Theater album there is. First and foremost, every musician is astounding, and the album is filled with breathtaking moment after moment. Second, they know their roots—they know prog back to its earliest days and its history, calling on its best and brightest in service to their music. At the same time, they also know hard rock and are willing to call on its repertoire in their music as well. And finally, they recognize how silly prog rock can be, with its airs and pretensions to classical music and epic literature. But they never let their own music slip into goofiness, even with lyrics that make me smile; over and over, the musicianship transports the songs to something greater. This album serves as a brilliant introduction to the potential of prog rock, especially in modern hands, as well as to the majesty (yeah, I said it—it's hard not to get carried away) of Dream Theater.

Metric and Muse – a concert

(Well, the banner says "And rarely, music")

Mrs. Speculator and I actually made it to a concert last night. I got into Muse a little while ago, when they first released the single "Knights of Cydonia" and I bought Black Holes and Revelations, followed by Absolution and then The Resistance when it came out. For me, "Knights of Cydonia" was a fascinating pop take on prog rock and the more I listened, the more I found things to interest me. We were fortunate to see Muse open for U2 and felt like they did a great set, limited as they were for time as the opening act. So when they announced they were coming to our area, we got tickets as quickly as I could.

Opening for Muse was Metric, a band out of Canada that I had heard infrequently on satellite radio. I liked their single "Gold Guns Girls" but never got the urge to buy any of their music. Part of the appeal of that single is a cynical sensibility and awareness of just how over the top they could get. And yet it remained somehow restrained until it wasn't any more. Also interesting is the female lead singer, Emily Haines, who sounds waifish, again, until she isn't any more.

Their performance was eye-opening and a lot of fun. While they only performed seven songs, the four-piece band showed a wide range of influence, none so much as New Wave and even some punk; given the median age of the attendees, I wondered if a lot of kids there could identify New Wave or punk. The performance was vibrant and energetic, really warming up the crowd for the main act in what really felt like a throwback to the best bands of the late 70s and early 80s, somehow loud and intimate at the same time. There really wasn't a bad song in the set, and the audience was particularly enthusiastic about "Gold Guns Girls" and "Help I'm Alive."

Muse, however, just blew the doors off the arena. It was a raucous festival of huge pop anthems and a few ballads to settle the audience down before raising them up again. Lead singer and guitarist Matthew Bellamy has a distinctive voice that covers a wide range, both musically and emotionally. I had no idea, however, what a guitarist and showman he is. Hiding in the segues between songs was Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Brian May, and even some Weezer. And when a grand piano got pushed on stage, we also got some Elton John. But Mrs. Speculator said it best, the way Bellamy struts and preens and grabs his audience, it was if Freddie Mercury played guitar, down to the sparkly shoes and tight pink pants. And then you add a U2 level light show around them, and the result is a captivating mix of styles and genres, something I might describe as prog pop, and a whole lot of fun.

Bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard are adequate, but they are often relegated to the background as the songs take off in Bellamy's hands. The band is unabashed about how their adrenalized hooks and sometimes stupid lyrics appeal to their audience viscerally, and the audience reaction clearly showed they didn't mind either.

We left the arena ears ringing and eyes aglow, staggered by the spectacle of what we had just seen and heard and convinced it was the best indoor concert we had ever seen.

Once, a postscript

Mrs. Speculator and I went to see Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova last week. It was by far one of the best concerts I have ever been to. I’ve found over time that smaller venues are really great for concerts, and they seem to invoke something from the performer to be in such an intimate setting. I know this is pretty much an axiom of performance, but I really have not been to many small venues before. While the concert hall where they performed is not tiny, it only holds maybe 1500 people, if that, and they are close to the stage on three sides. At one point, Hansard looked up to see a balcony of people looking down on him from his right and whirled to find even more in a similar position on his left. At first he seemed taken aback, then he bobbed his head and repeated what appears to be his personal refrain, “Cool.”

I’m trying very hard not to focus on Hansard, though it is pretty clear that he is the driving force behind the band’s work. Irglova seems to be a steadying influence on the band, and after nearly every song, Hansard moves to her side to speak to her. And she has a wonderful ethereal voice that perfectly matches his grounded earthy tones, which still range from low growling to musical shrieks beyond the range of most men not named Steve Perry. But the concert also clearly puts the focus on Hansard—he is the front man and the speaker, as well as the lead singer on most of the songs. And one delightful aspect of him came out as well—the man is a storyteller, which may be the cause or effect of the style of his music. The spaces between each song are filled with Hansard’s story-telling and commentary on his daily life on the road. He spoke intimately with an audience of 1500, making it feel like a performance for a couple of hundred. It may be a very polished act, but it feels like someone you could sit down with and chat for hours—and by the end of the concert I found I really wanted to.

The music itself was marvelous, mixing as it did songs from the soundtrack to Once, songs from their first album and their forthcoming new one, as well as some from Hansard’s original group, the Frames. For good measure, he threw in some Pixies and Van Morrison as well. Irglova played the piano except for a couple of songs where she played acoustic guitar, and there was an instrumental piece as well featuring their violinist, who has released his own CD (and sadly, this was the one place Hansard’s accent really was unintelligible—and with good reason, his name is Colm Mac Con Iomaire). At one point, Hansard brought the stage manager out to play a song as well, and it was clear they had practiced together, as the entire band took part in an American folk song.

And if you haven’t heard the music yet…well, you’ve missed out. I find it described generally as alternative, but I still have no idea what that means. What amazes me is the eclectic mix of genres, from Celtic roots to classical to AC/DC. A lot of his songs are mixes that are inspired, going places that I would not have been able to predict but filled with emotional intensity. A couple of them make me weep at every listening. And this says nothing about his lyrics, which verge (and sometimes fall into) the utterly poetic, well-suited to the instrumentation.

And clearly, between his conversations with his audience, sometimes beseeching their input to him, and the powerful music, he has reached an audience. The one we were a part of were amazed and exuberant, feeding him support and him returning his stories and music, creating a perfect circle of artistic endeavor. There’s no way I can’t go see them again, whenever I can—and while they have taken off on the European leg of their tour, I cannot recommend highly enough that any fan of good music or simple powerful storytelling find a way to see them whenever possible.