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DREAM THEATER released their fifth studio album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory on October 26, 1999 via Elektra Records. The album was recorded at BearTracks Studios in New York, where the band previously recorded their second studio album Images and Words (1992) and the EP Album A Change of Seasons (1995).
The album is the follow-up to “Metropolis-I: The Miracle and The Sleeper”, a song previously featured on the 1992 album Images and Words. It was also the first album to feature Jordan Rudess on keyboards, and the last for John Myung to write. the lyrics came to the album A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011).
Fans had previously asked the band to do a sequel to the first part of the song (“Metropolis-Part I”) from the Images and Words album, but they had not gotten around to it. At first Metropolis pt. II intended to become one with the Falling into Infinity (1997) section. The band recorded a 21-minute instrumental demo Metropolis Pt. 2 (which was later released by Mike Portnoy through his YtseJam Records website along with other songs on the Falling into Infinity Demo), but was not included on the album. The demo, which included several excerpts of music from “Metropolis-Part I” and featured many of the motifs that would later appear on Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (most notably the majority of “Overture 1928” and “Strange Deja Vu” and parts of “The Dance of Eternity” and “One Last Time”), but significantly different from later album versions.
After keyboardist Jordan Rudess took part in Liquid Tension Experiment, a supergroup made up of various members of the popular progressive rock band, Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci found writing music and working with Rudess fairly easy. They convinced the other band members to offer Rudess the full keyboardist position for the band’s upcoming album.
He accepted, and keyboardist at the time, Derek Sherinian being fired from the band via a conference call between the four members in New York while he was in Los Angeles. (Portnoy and Petrucci have stated that they are in an uncomfortable and uncomfortable situation. They don’t want to ask Derek to fly from LA to New York only to be fired.)
Following the departure of Derek Sherinian, the band returned to BearTracks Studios in Suffern, New York to record their new album, which was previously the recording venue for Images and Words (a photo BearTracks is featured on the back cover of the album, intended to represent the home features on the album). ). After the commercial failure of Falling into Infinity, the record label gave the band some freedom of direction for their new album, which allowed the band to wrap up the story.
The final version of the story became a concept album, telling the story of a man named Nicholas and his past life discoveries, involving love, murder and infidelity as Victoria Page, who was more inspired by the 1991 film Dead Again, than by the original Metropolis-Part I.
After releasing the album, the band began touring worldwide, and at a band event in New York City they hired actors to do narrative scenes from the album while they played. This performance was recorded and released in 2001 as Metropolis 2000 Live DVD. In 2011 the album was released on LP to celebrate “Record Store Day”.
The album received generally positive reviews from music critics with Allmusic giving it 4 out of 5 stars and Rock Hard giving it 10 out of 10 stars. At the end of July 2012, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was voted the number one progressive rock album of all time in a poll conducted by Rolling Stone magazine, beating “Rush 2112” and “Close to the Edge” from “Yes”.
Track List: Act I: (1). Scene One: Regression, (2). Scene Two: I. Overture 1928, (3). Scene Two: II. Strange Déjà vu, (4). Scene Three: I. Through My Words, (5). Scene Three: II. Fatal Tragedy, (6). Scene Four: Beyond This Life, (7). Scene Five: Through Her Eyes. Act II: (8). Scene Six: Home, (9). Scene Seven: I. The Dance of Eternity, (10). Scene Seven: II. One Last Time, (11). Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On, (12). Scene Nine: Finally Free.
Dream Theater personnel: • James LaBrie – lead vocals, • John Petrucci – guitar, background vocals, programming (track 7), • Jordan Rudess – keyboard, choir arrangement and conducting, • John Myung – bass, • Mike Portnoy – drums, background vocals. [sources/photo special]
