Liquid Tension Experiment
1998
Favorite tracks: Paradigm Shift, Universal Mind
Sleeper tracks: 3 Minute Warning
In actuality, this is just a jerk-jam by 2 guys in Dream Theater, 1 that would be in Dream Theater and a bass player that didn't really bring much to this project.
At the time, this was a 'super group' started by Mike Portnoy. Magna Carta Records gave him the cash to pick his own all star band to do a project. He picks his guitar player from Dream Theater (John Petrucci), a solo keyboard guy who would eventually be in Dream Theater about a year later (Jordan Rudess) and Tony Levin, bass player for John Lennon, King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. The band would write and record songs in the span of 5 days.
I was very eager for this album. I remember ordering it and when I got it, I brought it to my friend Luke's house. 4 or 5 of us listened to it and were sort of impressed, sort of bored after awhile. Hearing it now (and knowing how things played out in the prog family tree), you can tell that most of these songs were just Jordan and John coming up with parts while Tony and Mike played along. The songs have a bunch of Dream Theater riffs thrown in. There's a structure to each song but they all follow a real simple chart pattern. The last 5 tunes are a big, 27 minute jam. Starts off quiet, builds up, soloing, builds up...faster, soloing, BOOM!, quiet again, builds up, different riff, different solo, faster...rinse and repeat.
Aside from 'Paradigm Shift' and 'Universal Mind', I don't waste a bunch of listening time on this record.
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