[NewMusic] Recent Gems

[Robair, Gino]

Matt D. scribbled:
<< (Dream Theatre was a highly pedigreed prog/hair-metal band
that appeared just after hair metal went out of style in the 90's. A
friend of mine was really impressed by how complex their music and
guitar solos were, but was turned off when he saw them live, simply
because the live show was a note for note rote performance of the cd.)>>

I had the same reaction about ZU. Kick-ass band and players, for sure. But
it wasn't until seeing the band several nights in a row (on tour with Pink
Mountain) that I realized that the songs are set, and there's not much
improv there. (There's a bit of improv, mind you, but less than I had
expected.) 

But yeah, if you listen to concert tapes by most touring acts, things like
solos and inter-song chatter are mostly the same from gig to gig. That's why
some bands -- the Dead, Frank Zappa, Phish -- are popular among tappers:
they don't play their songs the same way each night.

The thing I remember about the concert video of Dream Theater that I watched
was that every few bars, the drummer (who plays like he has 8 limbs) would
hock a huge loogy off stage. Bleh...