therealting Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 20 hours ago, donkelley said: IMHO, by far their BEST album is Metropolis, Pt. 2. That’s a pretty good one too, I liked it enough that I bought the live DVD. I actually quite like A Change of Seasons too, but just the track - not crazy about the live covers. Images and Words with modern production would be pretty sick. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealting Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 (edited) While we’re talking about DT, anyone who hasn’t checked out Sons of Apollo is missing a treat. I actually think their version of ‘Lines in the Sand’ is better than the DT original. Myung is a monster player, but I prefer Sheehan’s tone here... as well as Bumblefoot’s to Petrucci’s and Sherinian’s to Rudess’ (of course, Sherinian and Portnoy played on this one when in DT, and both sound really relaxed here). And Soto sounds way better than LaBrie, IMO. Edited August 27, 2020 by therealting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkelley Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 Damn I love Portnoy's playing/musicianship... great band, Sons of Apollo, I hadn't actually watched them until now! Thanks for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Morris Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 Has anyone got info on if and when this bass will be available in the UK? I tried to buy one off Reverb and realised the wood is illegal to import, then spoke to Music Man a few months ago and they said they were working on how to import to europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pineweasel Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 On 29/11/2020 at 14:49, Daniel Morris said: Has anyone got info on if and when this bass will be available in the UK? I tried to buy one off Reverb and realised the wood is illegal to import, then spoke to Music Man a few months ago and they said they were working on how to import to europe. They seem to have gone backwards on worldwide availability in recent years. I've been after a lefty Stingray Special but they're US only, and I've only got vague statements about maybe offering them in the future from EBMM customer services. You could try asking Strings and Things, the UK importer. Is it the rosewood that's illegal? The CITES musical instrument exemption comes into force on Dec 14th in the EU and is already applied for US exports, so you'll be OK then. Until Jan 1st anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 On 27/08/2020 at 21:41, therealting said: While we’re talking about DT, anyone who hasn’t checked out Sons of Apollo is missing a treat. I actually think their version of ‘Lines in the Sand’ is better than the DT original. Myung is a monster player, but I prefer Sheehan’s tone here... as well as Bumblefoot’s to Petrucci’s and Sherinian’s to Rudess’ (of course, Sherinian and Portnoy played on this one when in DT, and both sound really relaxed here). And Soto sounds way better than LaBrie, IMO. You're echoing much of the criticism I've read of DT in the last decade (or longer). Myung is an excellent player when it comes to just doubling passages with Petrucci or thumping on the root. I sadly feel as though the last times his lines were really creative were on 'Awake', though even there he could have flexed a bit more and taken an equal share of the sonic space. Portnoy is an amazing drummer and although the circumstances of him leaving DT are a shame, he has certainly made the most of his time away and has played in a load of settings that he never would have done if he'd stayed on the DT train. Sheehan and Portnoy are an amazing team, and Billy can be relied up to produce absolutely incredible tone and great basslines. There is a cover of 'La Villa Strangiato' that he did with Portnoy on Spotify, it is amazing. Mangini is a good drummer but lacks something that Portnoy has. Rudess has been an absolute curse for the band as far as I'm concerned. His technical facility is not in question but he brought keys right to the fore in a really awkward way. I hate his tones and his need to constantly overplay. Sherinian and Moore both did a better job with far less prominence, IMO. LaBrie is just so far over the hill it's not funny. His voice has never been great but it really tailed off after the turn of the millenium. Some critics suggest her lost his touch even earlier, following him getting food poisoning in 1994. Modern day DT is just painful to watch mainly because of LaBrie, who frequently seems to stagger round the stage like a drunk. His vocals are awful; he just shouts and pushes where previously the notes came easily to him and his timing is off, as if he is struggling to hear the band or find his cue. It must be hard to be a vocalist in a band that is all about technical musicianship because your gift will fade faster than those of the instrumentalists, but he should have stepped aside IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 Further to my earlier post, I had wanted to write futher but ran out of time! I think a lot of modern day DT's problems can be traced back to the very reason that Portnoy was forced out - DT is now industrialised and they can't stop the production process! Part of the reasoning given to Portnoy by the band was that, if he were to take even a year out for his own projects, the DT show would stop and that would mean all their staff would be without pay. They are undoubtedly a huge band and probably have a huge road crew who depend on them for work, along with all the other auxiliary staff for media, marketing etc etc. The flipside of that is that, it seems clear to me, DT have locked themselves into a pattern that they feel unable to break - album/tour/album/tour ad infinitum. I don't doubt that even most fans would not deny that the quality of their releases had tailed off years ago (even before Portnoy left). That is the inevitable result of a band that feels compelled to keep releasing albums to a schedule rather than when their creative whims take them. They have consistently released albums every two or three years for 30 years now, with the massive tours that go with that. Portnoy and Petrucci managed to cram in a couple of side projects and tours here and there too! It is telling to me that John Petrucci's new solo album is the best thing he has played on in years and he sounds really fresh and revitalised there. Maybe part of it is playing with Portnoy again, having a world-class bassist like Dave LaRue to play alongside or just being set free from the standardised DT format, but the resulting album speaks for itself, it is pretty damn good! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrorshowbass Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 On 29/11/2020 at 14:49, Daniel Morris said: Has anyone got info on if and when this bass will be available in the UK? I tried to buy one off Reverb and realised the wood is illegal to import, then spoke to Music Man a few months ago and they said they were working on how to import to europe. Daniel, there's one on the bay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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