OCTAVARIUM

-- William Wordsworth Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

In this case, the Child would be my eldest son, who, repeatedly during the first few years of this decade, insisted I listen to Dream Theater. Growing up in our household, Number One, as I have called him, referred to himself as the Yes Prophet. During The Ladder Tour, Yes made its most recent appearance in the Crescent City, and my son, at the very last minute, prevailed upon his mother and me to dash out to the concert. Later, in 2005, Octavarium became my first acquaintance with Dream Theater.

This acquaintance abides. In my view, one's experience of music is inextricably bound with memory. My memories of my first encounters with Octavarium are tied to August of 2005 and flight from the path of Hurricane Katrina. My family and I spent about five weeks in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area, before our return home. Through the agency of Providence, our neck of the woods was spared the cataclysmic flooding visited upon our now infamous Lower Ninth Ward, St. Bernard Parish, New Orleans East, and Lakeview areas. My respect for and enjoyment of Octavarium and the music of Dream Theater will always pass through my mental veil of recollection of Katrina.

And, now, to the music. Beginning with Octavarium, I worked my way back to Scenes from a Memory, Part II, Train of Thought, Images and Words, Awake, and so on. Yes, the clear crystallization of the music came first in its original form on Images and Words. This album is to Dream Theater, what The Yes Album is to Yes. There are those who appear to suggest that, following Awake, the band has become more and more a Progressive tribute band. Of course, 1999's Scenes from a Memory, Part II, negates much of this view. In Octavarium, we find almost a scholarly set of reference points to musical memory that is effective.

Obviously, there is the epic Octavarium with musical quotations from the Moody Blues, to Genesis' In the Cage, to Jordan Rudess' use of what is ostensibly a mini-moog, and, of course, to the actual lyrical references to the history of Progressive Rock. Derivative? Perhaps . . . . However, humans do not create from within a vacuum.

Not only was Panic Attack appropriate music to a major hurricane and its aftermath, but it is also one of my theme songs. Yes, I am a nervous guy. I am also a great fan of the bass guitar, and must point out John Myung's almost tortured rhythmic foundations here. As is evident, Portnoy, Petrucci, Myung, Rudess, and LaBrie are all monsters in the musical sense. And, yet, they do know restraint. And, to some, this leads to a few less than progressive numbers on this album. In its entirety, Octavarium would occupy a special place in my memory without its association with Hurricane Katrina.

Yes, thankfully, The Child is Father of the Man. Number One, the Chief salutes you.

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