Making of Scenes from a Memory liner notes

Scenes From A Memory was a monumental album for us on so many levels.

First and most importantly, it was our first album with Jordan Rudess in the band. After John P. and myself had the great pleasure of doing 2 Liquid Tension Experiment CD’s with Jordan, it became obvious to us that there was an amazing musical chemistry at work which would have been a shame to confine to “part-time” status.

So we extended the invitation to Jordan to join us full-time in DT and he quickly and happily accepted. This opened up a whole new world of musical possibilities for us which we would begin to tap into on this album.

The next level of “firsts” for this album was that it was the first DT album ever composed and assembled in the studio. Once again taking a cue from our experiences with LTE, we decided to “move into” Bear Tracks Studios and build this monster from the ground up... writing, arranging and recording all part of a single creative process.

The album also marked the first time we ever created a true “concept” album. Having been hugely influenced by such albums as “The Wall”, “Tommy”, “Misplaced Childhood” and “Operation: Mindcrime”, it was really only a matter of time before we tackled a concept album of our own, But what would the concept be...?

That’s where Metropolis came in...

We had written a 20-something minute version of the inevitable sequel to the “Images And Words” track back in 1996, but it was tossed aside by all of the other material we ended up writing for “Falling Into Infinity”.

When the time came to start a new CD in 1999, we knew we had to revive and finally include Metropolis Pt. 2 this time around...

Once we determined it was time to finally tackle a concept album, the 2 ideas on the table became 1 and we decided to expand Metropolis Pt. 2 into a full length album!

The final “first” of this album was the absolute necessity of the band regaining 100% control over the music... and the first step in that equation was to finally self-produce our own albums. We had a great time personally and really loved sonically what Kevin Shirley had done with our previous record, but we were forced into ALOT of creative compromises with the music and the arrangements on that album.

In order for DT to survive and grow, we needed to take back our music... and John P. and myself took over the Producer’s chair.

Making this record was a tremendous undertaking on so many levels, and I think we came through with flying colors in every department: the music, the lyrics, the execution of the concept and the production.

I think if hard pressed to answer “the” question that I am constantly asked, I would have to say this is my favorite Dream Theater album... and my most proudest musical achievement of ours to date...

Close your eyes and begin to relax ...

MP

CD1 The Session Outtakes

Regression

1. This is an alternate vocal take of Regression. This guitar piece was something JP came up with and it ended up becoming the central theme tying together the whole album: reoccurring in Through My Words, Finally Free and most significantly, as the basis for The Spirit Carries On.

Overture 1928

2. This was the first bit taken directly from the 1996 version of Metropolis. On that version it also was the opening Overture of the piece. Most of these themes date back to the European “Awake” tour in 1995... I specifically remember working on them at soundchecks in Utrecht. Holland and Offenbach. Germany.

This version is a live run through from start to finish in the studio before beginning to lay down the basic tracks. The arrangement is pretty much the same, but the performances are totally different (and still a bit loose)

Strange Déjà Vu

3. This is the first thing we really wrote with Jordan in DT, as most of the Overture had previously existed. Most of the first part is another live run through. It is interesting to hear the guitar quote the “Metropolis” rhythm on verse 2... and the missing tag that leads to the pre-chorus. Also the different odd time signature experiments for the pre-chorus. There is a keyboard solo and guitar section over the 3rd verse parts which sounds killer as solos, and we intended on bringing it back later in the album, but never did! There’s also a nice a Capella version of the chorus between me and James, and a great example of his Canadian yodeling technique!

Fatal Tragedy

4. Various ideas in progress... a lot of people accused our writing in the studio as being “quick and thrown together”. That is not the case at all. We would work out every section with a fine tooth comb as we always have, the benefit in this case is once a song is rehearsed and “together”, we’d go for it and record it (rather than put it on the shelf for months, the way it is when you don’t write in the studio.)

Our writing in the studio did not change the attention we give to each and every section of every song while writing.

Beyond This Life

5. More various ideas in progress... Some of John and Jordan’s ridiculous unison and harmony sections from this song can be heard here being worked on at a speed that actually makes the notes audible to Earthling’s ears!! A lot of cool, trippy production ideas on this tune from cool vocal effects, weird keyboard sounds, flanged mono drums, etc. I love the guitar jam at the end...John totally NAILS the Frank Zappa guitar tone and style and had me totally cracking up!

Through Her Eyes

6. An entire alternate vocal take by James with some great alternate melodies and deliveries. Although the melodies for this song were mainly written by John, this is a good example of how the vocalist can take an existing melody and try so many different things with it.

Also included is an alternate take of Jay Beckenstein’s sax solo on the outro which ultimately ended up being left off of the final mix.

Another interesting note: originally we wrote 2 different versions of this song (the working title was “Titanic”). There was the “short Titanic” (this arrangement – that ended up making the final CD) and the “long Titanic” (which was more of a traditional rock arrangement, with drums and some additional chord progressions). Because of time restraints the “long Titanic” is not included on this CD, but for all of you completists, it can be found on the closing credits of our “Metropolis 2000 – Scenes From New York” DVD.

Home

7. The writing process in progress. This song had such a vibe from the get-go and we knew it was a seriously strong track because it had us so excited. It’s interesting hearing the drums playing odd times with the guitar track on the pre-chorus, whereas the final version ended up being straight. And the drums playing the original Metropolis phrasing on the top of the choruses.

8. Our very first live run through of the first half of the song. The tempo is noticeably faster. Very cool sound effects by Jordan on the 1st verse which I guess got left behind by the time he did his real tracks.

The Dance of Eternity

9. A live run through of “Part A” as it was called at the time. As you will indeed hear, there are many totally crazy parts which ended up getting changed or taken out. (a few of which were pulled from Metropolis ‘96). When we write an instrumental, anything goes... especially one of this technical magnitude! We wanted this piece to be the absolute SICKEST piece of music in the DT catalog and I really think we succeeded!

10. Various writing in progress for “Part B”. Several more abandoned riffs and themes... some of which are absolutely insane! All of Part C (the section which follows where this leaves off), as well as the music for “One Last Time”, already existed from Metropolis ‘96 and we knew we wanted to use them on this album.

The Spirit Carries On

11. A live run through of the original, much shorter alternate arrangement. Interesting how quickly it gets directly to the bridge and guitar solo (with a cool key change which always reminded me of Pink Floyd’s “Us and Them” – maybe it’s better we didn’t use it!!)

12. The Gospel Choir session outtakes. This was a real thrill for us, as we always dreamed of working with a choir. (the orchestra is still to come!) Jordan had some contacts with them and was able to arrange them to appear on the album as well arrange their parts and conduct them. Theresa Thomason’s amazingly powerful and soulful voice is one of the highlight’s and great climaxes of this entire album.

13. John’s vocal melody demo/sketch for James to learn, is an example of the man’s terrific power, versatility and range and actually sparked an impromptu duet with my trusty companion in the studio that day, Bongo Portnoy.

Finally Free

14. Alternate lyrics and vocals for the final verse and chorus as well an alternate outtake of the final vamp/drum solos (and some silliness tagged onto the end!).

15. This song was written and arranged in a very different fashion as we gathered around Jordan’s keyboard and put the pieces together while discussing through the different parts and having Jordan play all of the different possibilities into his keyboard. Once we finished the arrangement, before actually getting behind our own instruments, Jordan put the arrangement into his sequencer and this is what it sounded like!

This was used as our end of concert/walk out music for the entire 2002 World Tourbulence tour.

CD2 The Alternate Mixes

In July of 1999, we entered Electric Ladyland Studios in New York City with producer/mixer David Bottrill. We had talked about wanting to work with David for many years as we loved his work with King Crimson, Peter Gabriel and Tool. (and between those 3 bands, we thought he’d be stylistically PERFECT for Dream Theater!) So we asked him if he’d be interested in mixing our latest CD. He was up to the task and came to NYC to begin the mixing process.

David mixed the entire album over the course of about 10 days, and the poor guy had all of us breathing down his neck (“more drums”, “more bass”, “more guitar”, “more keyboards”!!!) At the end of the process, the mixes included here on this CD are what was supposed to have been Scenes From A Memory.

After sitting with them for a few days, John expressed some concerns to me over the overall impact of the mixes sonically. It was a hard suggestion to swallow having just head-butted over every single sound and nuance for the past few weeks, but we couldn’t have this record be anything short of totally perfect and satisfying for us all after all we had put into writing and recording it.

John called Kevin Shirley to see if he had any time available to take a look at what we had. Kevin being the great friend and DT supporter he is, was more than happy to give the mixes a whirl, but had very limited time available and could only do a few tracks. So we started with what we thought would be the most “radio-friendly” tracks that could use some of the “Caveman” touch. so he re-mixed “Home”, “The Spirit Carries On” and “Through Her eyes”.

After A/B-ing Kev’s mixes with David’s, it became apparent that Kev’s had the power that we wanted the overall record to have and he was convinced to do a few more before his time was up and he had to do his next album.

This brings us back to David’s mixes... we ended up using “Regression”, “The Dance Of Eternity”, “One Last Time” and “Finally Free” on the final CD. And I must say, even if Kevin’s mixes ended up being bigger and more powerful, there are a lot of nuances that got lost in Kev’s mixes that are apparent in these mixes. (maybe it was Kevin’s lack of time maybe it was that he didn’t have the “good” fortune of us breathing down his neck as David did!)

In any case, we all can now have the best of both worlds!

David was a good sport about the whole thing and even let us use his voice as Edward Baynes in the murder sequence in Finally Free. (unlike others who shall remain nameless who weren’t as cooperative...)

We also should take a moment here to acknowledge and thank the man who was there for every pain-staking moment of tracking this album, our great friend Doug Oberkircher, who has been with us since 1991 and has been the best enginnEAR a band could have.

Open your eyes Nicholas...