Progarchives.com has always (since 2002) relied on banners ads to cover web hosting fees and all. Please consider supporting us by giving monthly PayPal donations and help keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.
Joined: January 15 2013
Location: Oregon, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 2673
Topic: Dream Theater Cover Albums Posted: March 06 2013 at 10:03
Dream Theater have covered several albums live in their entirety. Which one do you think they did the best job on?
I think they did some great things on Number of the Beast, especially their rendition of Gangland. Master of Puppets was a slight disappointment, though mainly because LaBrie's vocals didn't fit in. Made in Japan sounded quite good, though I don't have the Deep Purple original, so I'm curious of the comparison between those two.
Joined: November 17 2008
Location: Indiana, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1584
Posted: March 06 2013 at 11:33
My favorite is Number of the Beast followed closely by Made in Japan. Their version of Dark Side is also good but lacking the subtleness of the original. The Master of Puppets one is awful. Good poll.
Joined: November 17 2008
Location: Indiana, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1584
Posted: March 06 2013 at 11:37
Their best cover song though IMO is Heart of the Sunrise on their album Uncovered 2003-2005. It's a collection of obscure tracks by well-known bands that they covered live from 2003-2005.
Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 12581
Posted: March 06 2013 at 19:51
This one is a bit hard for me... one thing is sure, it's not Master of Puppets (I never even liked the original). Dark Side certainly is my favourite of the original albums, but as covers made by DT, I guess I'll go with Made in Japan.
Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 12581
Posted: March 06 2013 at 20:01
Earendil wrote:
Their best cover song though IMO is Heart of the Sunrise on their album Uncovered 2003-2005. It's a collection of obscure tracks by well-known bands that they covered live from 2003-2005.
I didn't really like that cover so much. As a matter of fact, most DT covers suffer from the same thing: they are too faithful, and let's face it, La Brie's vocals will hardly be better than the original artists, mainly because he lacks the personality most of this singers have (technically, he can surely do it, he can sing Jon Anderson, Freddy Mercury, Robert Plant, Dio, etc without a sweat - most of the times - but he lacks that "something" that makes all those singers so great). On the other hand, if they gave those songs their own touch, kind of what Yes did with the covers they did on their early years, they might have been much better. Mainly, making the songs heavier or proggier, depending on what fit the song better (I do wish they had made their version of sheep into a full metal song).
However, my favourite cover from them is "Stargazer". Closely followed by "Heaven and Hell", "Hallowed be thy name", and "to tame a land". Though perhaps that's because I don't know the originals very well.
Joined: November 17 2008
Location: Indiana, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1584
Posted: March 06 2013 at 20:30
Dellinger wrote:
Earendil wrote:
Their best cover song though IMO is Heart of the Sunrise on their album Uncovered 2003-2005. It's a collection of obscure tracks by well-known bands that they covered live from 2003-2005.
I didn't really like that cover so much. As a matter of fact, most DT covers suffer from the same thing: they are too faithful, and let's face it, La Brie's vocals will hardly be better than the original artists, mainly because he lacks the personality most of this singers have (technically, he can surely do it, he can sing Jon Anderson, Freddy Mercury, Robert Plant, Dio, etc without a sweat - most of the times - but he lacks that "something" that makes all those singers so great). On the other hand, if they gave those songs their own touch, kind of what Yes did with the covers they did on their early years, they might have been much better. Mainly, making the songs heavier or proggier, depending on what fit the song better (I do wish they had made their version of sheep into a full metal song).
However, my favourite cover from them is "Stargazer". Closely followed by "Heaven and Hell", "Hallowed be thy name", and "to tame a land". Though perhaps that's because I don't know the originals very well.
Yeah I agree with you. On The Big Medley on A Change of Seasons I think they do that pretty well. Even musically don't always deliver on covers in terms of personality, like on Larks Tongues pt 2 for example.
Joined: January 15 2013
Location: Oregon, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 2673
Posted: March 07 2013 at 00:56
Earendil wrote:
Their best cover song though IMO is Heart of the Sunrise on their album Uncovered 2003-2005. It's a collection of obscure tracks by well-known bands that they covered live from 2003-2005.
I thought about adding that one too, but I ended up just sticking with the whole albums covered. I could have added A Change of Seasons also.
Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 12581
Posted: March 07 2013 at 19:20
Earendil wrote:
Dellinger wrote:
Earendil wrote:
Their best cover song though IMO is Heart of the Sunrise on their album Uncovered 2003-2005. It's a collection of obscure tracks by well-known bands that they covered live from 2003-2005.
I didn't really like that cover so much. As a matter of fact, most DT covers suffer from the same thing: they are too faithful, and let's face it, La Brie's vocals will hardly be better than the original artists, mainly because he lacks the personality most of this singers have (technically, he can surely do it, he can sing Jon Anderson, Freddy Mercury, Robert Plant, Dio, etc without a sweat - most of the times - but he lacks that "something" that makes all those singers so great). On the other hand, if they gave those songs their own touch, kind of what Yes did with the covers they did on their early years, they might have been much better. Mainly, making the songs heavier or proggier, depending on what fit the song better (I do wish they had made their version of sheep into a full metal song).
However, my favourite cover from them is "Stargazer". Closely followed by "Heaven and Hell", "Hallowed be thy name", and "to tame a land". Though perhaps that's because I don't know the originals very well.
Yeah I agree with you. On The Big Medley on A Change of Seasons I think they do that pretty well. Even musically don't always deliver on covers in terms of personality, like on Larks Tongues pt 2 for example.
Too bad I don't really like Medley's. I find them very frustrating. I want to hear the complete songs, not just a part, and then another, and in the end I just end up wanting to hear many complete songs. I would rather have 2 or 3 complete songs than 7 or 8 pieces of songs. About Larks Toungues, indeed they kind of missed something... I guess the nuances of the drumming. Besides, the original has two drummers, which work very fine together. Also the violin player just doesn't compare to David Cross. I think they should have left Rudess play the parts originaly done by the violin, he would surely have done a much better job of it than the violin player they got. Plus, once again, it would have been cooler if they made the song heavier.
Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 12581
Posted: March 07 2013 at 21:57
One funny thing about this covers is that you might listen to some of them, like the Elton John or the Queen ones, and even though you are listening to Dream Theater, and not know the particular songs that they are covering, you can identify that the song they are covering is from one artist or the other. With one of Queen's songs I even asked my wife which band's was that song from and she did get it right. And of course, with LaBrie singing, you could also tell that it's Dream Theater Playing even if you didn't know already.
Joined: September 03 2006
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 9869
Posted: March 08 2013 at 09:34
DSOTM for me, because LaBrie doesn't murder it so much (for me) on that one, being that they are relatively easier songs. Hetfield's baritone voice is not a good match with LaBrie's and he also lacks the sheer power and presence of Bruce's voice (though he does nail the NoTB scream superbly, better than Bruce did in any live version that I've heard).
Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 12581
Posted: March 08 2013 at 18:24
rogerthat wrote:
DSOTM for me, because LaBrie doesn't murder it so much (for me) on that one, being that they are relatively easier songs. Hetfield's baritone voice is not a good match with LaBrie's and he also lacks the sheer power and presence of Bruce's voice (though he does nail the NoTB scream superbly, better than Bruce did in any live version that I've heard).
Actually, now that you mention it, I do find his work on Dark Side rather nice. That's the kind of singing where he does sound fine, where he goes not so loud and more moody. Otherwise, I think he can sing the louder parts "technically" very well, but he doesn't sound good anyway, he kind of lacks the personality of the original singers. As a matter of fact, his singing on the Deep Purple and Iron Maiden covers doesn't bother me so much, but that is mainly because I hardly know the original ones. However, him singing Jon Anderson, Freddy Mercury, or Robert Plant songs... it's just wrong.
Joined: September 03 2006
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 9869
Posted: March 08 2013 at 20:21
^^^ With Iron Maiden, the diction and overall perfection of Bruce's delivery (even if it is somewhat overwrought) makes it tough for him. When he gets to that massive "Yeahhhhh" that kicks off the verse of Hallowed Be Thy Name, he doesn't have Bruce's chest resonance and he ends up sort of yelling it which sounds odd. And the verse itself is a bit overemphatic. Bruce doesn't really sound like he's yelling, just frantic and emotionally charged. With Deep Purple, it's just that Gillan has so much style and delivers the songs with a bluesy, laidback manner that LaBrie doesn't capture. Otherwise, the band probably sounds best on Deep Purple, because the combination (guitar/keyboard/bass) is exactly the same. LaBrie fares well on DSOTM because it's more about the songwriting than singing and the lyrics get half the job done.
Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 12581
Posted: March 09 2013 at 11:59
As a matter of fact, Hallowed be thy Name was the song I liked best from the Number of the Beast covers... I wonder if it's heavier with Dream Theater. However, both Deep Purple and Iron Maiden are among the bands I must get into... I guess it will take a bit of time, but I'll get there.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
This page was generated in 0.172 seconds.
Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.