Dream Theater

Sorry if someone already posted about this, I just wanna make sure everyone's aware.

On Monday Jordan started gathering funds on pledgemusic.com for his upcoming project. We need everyone's help to be sure he gets all the money he needs.

Go here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/jordanrudess

It's exactly like kickstarter. Create an account and decide how much you want to contribute. Plenty of extra stuff for giving more money. Thanks everyone!

The 'Lost not a Glass Moon' Theory

I've been struck by how similar LnF is to UaGM in composition. Upon closer inspection I heard that these two songs are even more alike than my initial impression! I'm not going to get TOO detailed but here's what I've noticed. Most of what I comment on here is in regard to the general feel of the music, I didn't get too much into analyzing all the micro parts of each instrument. The overall point is to convey how the overall song structure is similar in both cases.

I'm including pairs of time markers; one for each song. Each pair indicates the beginning of a section that is similar. The Lost not Forgotten time marker will be listed first followed by Under a Glass Moon. I've then included a short blurb on how I feel that section is similar.

0:42 - Lost not Forgotten
0:00 - Under a Glass Moon

The guitar riff is a long drawn out melody line that Petrucci creates by moving a chord form up and down the neck. (I assume)
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1:12 - Lost not Forgotten
0:26 - Under a Glass Moon

The Groove kicks in with a similar drum pattern emphasizing double bass rhythms.
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1:42 - Lost not Forgotten
0:53 - Under a Glass Moon

The melody turns into a metal chug. I'll call this Chug 'A'. This chug is building on what the rhythm was already just doing underneath the intro melody line.
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1:58 - Lost not Forgotten
1:05 - Under a Glass Moon

Both LnF and UaGM move into a clashing/dissonant sounding section after chug A. UaGM is chordal here whereas LnF is a fast moving unison section. Still similar feel to the choice of notes though!
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2:31 - Lost not Forgotten
1:19 - Under a Glass Moon

We now have a slower metal chug leading into the first verse. This is Chug 'B'.
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3:46 - Lost not Forgotten
2:09 - Under a Glass Moon

First chorus here. Notice how the drum feel turns to a strong steady double bass rhythm with accents on every downbeat. The drums then move to the backbeat on the second line. The feel proceeds to return to the downbeats and then back to backbeats. There's more! In between every lyrical line there's a syncopated little riff. and then…
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4:27 - Lost not Forgotten
2:35 - Under a Glass Moon

We return to Chug A!
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4:51 - Lost not Forgotten
2:52 - Under a Glass Moon

Both songs move into a second verse but neither follows the form of the first verse! Both of them turn to a slightly more hopeful/happy sounding melody line and backing.
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5:40 - Lost not Forgotten
3:31 - Under a Glass Moon

We return to the chorus after having finished the second verse section. The Chorus retains the same basic form in both cases.
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6:22 - Lost not Forgotten
3:59 - Under a Glass Moon

I'm calling this the start of the instrumental section. It's similar in both songs! The drums/guitar/bass are playing unison syncopated hits while the keyboard plays a competing part that comes through in the gaps.
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6:57 - Lost not Forgotten
4:26 - Under a Glass Moon

The guitar abandons the syncopation for some chordal playing. This does not last too long in both cases.
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7:10 - Lost not Forgotten
4:37 - Under a Glass Moon

Guitar Solo! both solos have this kinda shreddy-bluesy feel and moments of syncopated backing from the other instruments. _______________________________________________________________________________________

8:07 - Lost not Forgotten
5:30 - Under a Glass Moon

The guitar solo is followed by 8 measures of a repeating phrase over top moving chords below. Definitely a similar feel here for the bridge between guitar and keyboard solos.
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8:22 - Lost not Forgotten
5:47 - Under a Glass Moon

Keyboard solo! Man this LnF key solo carries the vibe of the UaGM solo in a serious way! I love it! Both solos lead to this climactic instrumental section end.
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8:52 - Lost not Forgotten
6:10 - Under a Glass Moon

The climax! Big unison syncopated hits across the entire band.
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9:04 - Lost not Forgotten
6:21 - Under a Glass Moon

We return to the Chorus. Now this is crazy. Both songs switch up the feel of this last chorus in the same way! Instead of the drums starting with emphasizing downbeats then moving to upbeats, Mangini and Portnoy both stay on the down beats for the entire first half of the chorus. When it comes to the second half of the chorus, Portnoy stays on the down beats in UaGM just like the first half but Mangini returns to the upbeats again. But still, in both cases the feel is changed so that the entire first half of the chorus is consistent and the entire last half is consistent, unlike both earlier choruses.
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9:46 - Lost not Forgotten
6:48 - Under a Glass Moon

We return to the intro Melody in all its glory! Both songs run through this melody once and proceed into a syncopated little riff to give both songs a cold ending. We made it!
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And there we go. 'Lost not a Glass Moon'. I believe that this was done purposefully by Petrucci as one way of creating a strong connection between Images and Words and A dramatic Turn of Events.

Regards,

Justin