A tribute to Kevin Moore

Kevin Moore didn't do anything special in the last few weeks, that I know of.  However, I recently got the latest OSI album, and listening to it the past few days inspired me to make a blog post to introduce readers to this man's amazing music.  We'll look at five songs, so if you've got the patience for some great tunes, make sure to read past the jump.  Some of these are long,  open another browser tab while you listen might be advised.

Kevin Moore was the first keyboardist of Dream Theater, with them for the first three albums.  This song, which he wrote the lyrics for, comes from their second, Images and Words.  A lot of people who like Dream Theater think this is their best album, and I'm inclined to agree with them.  This song can be interpreted on a lot of levels, and even though it feels like it's three parts long, it's only five minutes.

This is the last song he did with Dream Theater - the music and lyrics are both composed by him alone.  A few days before they finished recording the album, Kevin told the rest of the band he'd be leaving so he could have more artistic freedom with a solo career.  The day after that, he and vocalist James LaBrie recorded this song.  If LaBrie's voice sounds different, it's because Moore's is layered in with it - which, amusingly, LaBrie only realized after he heard it on the album.  "Kevin Moore saw this photograph in a fashion magazine of a beautiful model wearing a space-dye vest and he fell in love with her," LaBrie said. "He carried that magazine around with him for ages, but he realized that the only way the innocence could be kept, so that he could retain that love for her, was if she stayed on the page. If he'd met her, all that would have been lost."

Another music post

I'm working on a few monological posts, doing some reading and getting my ideas together.  In the meantime, I realized I haven't updated this blog in almost a week.  I hope you guys don't mind a few more music recommendations.  Also, vote in the poll to the right!

This one always brings me tranquility - the motif repeated throughout the song yields the feeling of cyclic existence, and the patterns created by the later harmonies wrap nicely around the wheel.  If I could listen to this song all at once, I think I would hear a mandala.  Even as I trace the sounds of it around the wheel, I feel like I'm in the center.

If that last one put you to sleep, this should wake you up.  It's an among the more calmly flowing things by this composer, but it's still got spunk.  I think he uses a steel guitar for this - it would explain the slidey notes.  Sorta reminds me of how much I'd love to get a continuum.  Click "read more" for the other two songs in this post.

Progressive metal, anyone?

Survey says: post about music!  I was considering doing a whole spiel about Devin Townsend's crazy concept album, but I'd rather suggest a couple musical selections.  First is a song from that album.  It's called "Planet Smasher", and it's close to the heaviest end of the spectrum of my tastes.  You can understand most of the words, and and though it has some death grunts, they aren't particularly grating.  There's a lot of metal that I simply can't stand because constantly it sounds like it's being sung by goblins.

The whole album is great to listen to, but I picked this one because it's got a nice mix of the comedy, schizotypy, and grandiosity that I like about the album.  I also rather enjoyed the fan-made video, especially with Eris and Dysnomia at the end.

Next we've got a great song from the second Liquid Tension Experiment album.  This is the group that guitar virtuoso John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater made along with Tony Levin and Jordan Rudess when they were trying to persuade the latter to join their band.  Listening the keyboards, you can see why they wanted him.  His keyboard solos are certainly the best parts for me of the live albums Dream Theater has made since then.

Say what you will about darker progressive metal bands like Symphony X, but this is joyous music.  I like how the uploader put a slideshow of smiling people for the visual component, but even without them I can't help but feel bliss when I hear this song.  The rest of their work (two albums) is also worth checking out, but this is definitely the capstone for me.