The introduction, 'Regression', begins with a ticking sound, echoing from ear to ear (I like to think that this is somehow a continuation of the end of Ayreon's The Final Experiment, but that's just my imagination). The voice of a hypnotherapist appears, giving instructions to relax. The protagonist of the story, Nicholas, is put into a trance by the hypnotherapist as a form of 'past life regression therapy'. As a welcoming acoustic guitar guides us into the music, Nicholas begins to visualise a girl called Victoria; him in his past life. While this introduction is somewhat minimalistic, the chord progression of the acoustic guitar, combined by the soft tones of James LaBrie's vocals, is very soothing and quite beautiful, creating a very 'easy' introduction to the album.
We a now presented with an instrumental overture of the album, 'Overture 1928'. This instrumental piece covers many of the brilliant themes to come in the album. The band really works as one piece to create a joyful painting of the setting of the story - it's really amazing, yet only a taste of what is to come.
'Overture 1928' transitions seamlessly into the first real song of the album; 'Strange Deja Vu'. As Nicholas discovers that Victoria was his past life, and that she was murdered, the music in the verse moves to the background of the vocals and provides a mysterious mood. A pristine pre-chorus leaves into one of my favourite choruses of all time; stunning vocals and an incredible chord progression. If one thing stands out about Scenes From A Memory, it's the second-to-none songwriting of Dream Theater. After the first chorus of this song, we are now brought into a very groovy section where the band now takes the centre of the stage. It's quite different to the rest of the song, yet it still fits in so well; the composers clearly demonstrate their ability to construct a song seamlessly. The awesome chorus returns, and fades away to piano, leading (again, seamlessly) into the next track.
'Through My Words' is a very brief interlude that serves as an introduction to 'Fatal Tragedy', in which Nicholas realises that Victoria is haunting him to reveal the the circumstances surrounding her murder. The song is a duet between LaBrie's vocals, and a piano accompaniment.
The piano flows into 'Fatal Tragedy' as the music begins to sound darker. The band kicks in, in a loud and foreboding manner. We now see Nicholas explore 1928 in his trance. As he begins to learn about Victoria's murder, the music sounds quite evil and strange. After another great chorus ("without faith, without hope") the band takes centre stage, most notably the drums and keys. The song turns a bit heavier as LaBrie resumes singing. After the second chorus, things turn very dramatic. The tempo picks up, and the playing becomes very technical in a sequence time signatures that elude me. Complex polyrhythms appear between the snare drum and the keyboards. What is most admirable is that its not just showing off - its very well written and makes you want to tap your foot (even if your tapping has no hope of keeping in time). This sections lasts for a long time, but I'm certainly not complaining. It ends quite heavily, and then suddenly cuts to just the piano as the hypnotherapist guides us into the next song.
'Beyond This Life' begins heavily, with dissonance between the keys and guitars. The song eventually settles into a much quieter verse as Nicholas reads a newspaper article detailing Victoria's death: Victoria had allegedly broken up with her boyfriend, Julian, in favour of his brother, Edward, and Julian had murdered them both in revenge before killing himself. The song moves to a mysterious section ("Our deeds have travelled far...") where the vocals shine briefly, before being taken over by a very fast guitar solo. After another verse and mysterious section, a ray of sunshine blooms across the cloudy mood of the song in a brief moment of serenity ("All that we learn, this time..."). We are now brought into a crunching prog section, similar to that in 'Strange Deja Vu'. A keyboard solo begins this technical section, which goes through a variety of styles. As this section progresses, it becomes more and more dissonant in the keyboards, which is... interesting. Personally, I don't 'get' the effect, but it doesn't last for long until we're brought back into the realms of more comprehendible music with the vocals rejoining the music in one last moment of bliss.
'Through Her Eyes' is the main ballad ('The Spirit Carries On' is too diverse for me to label it as such) of the album. We hear some female vocals (which could really be used a lot more in this album) in the background while LaBrie's vocals (playing the role of Nicholas) lament over Victoria's death. This song is musically different from the rest of this album; slow paced and relatively simple.
We now reach one of the highest points of the album, with a 13-minute song called 'Home'. A middle-eastern instrument guides into the song with hypnotic percussion. Guitars and drums seamlessly join in, creating a massive build up to a huge riff that just explodes. Through the heaviness, the middle eastern sound can still be heard. The tempo is suddenly lowered as soaring vocals join in over a simple (yet powerful) beat. We see Julian's point of view, how he begins to become addicted to cocaine and gambling, which is what drives Victoria away from him. The chorus of the song is melodic and very strong (in a similar way to 'Strange Deja Vu'). This whole section of music repeats (with different instrumentation) as we see Edward's perspective as he falls in love with Victoria, but still feels guilty for cheating his brother. The song moves to a slower different section, as we hear Julian gambling in one ear, and Victoria making love to Edward in the other (don't make the mistake of listening to this bit with your parents in the car like I did). This leads into a groovy synth solo (which Jordan Rudess really excels at in this album in particular) and a guitar solo, both of which float above complex rhythmical patterns provided by drummer Mike Portnoy. We now have one final chorus, this time from the perspective of Nicholas, who realises that solving the mystery of Victoria's murder will free him from the visions of the past that plague his life. The song ends with one final instrumental section, that flies through the themes of the song before diving into some complex time signatures. A very cool song indeed, one of Dream Theater's greatest without a doubt.
If you felt bewildered by the complex ending of 'Home', you'll be in shock for the next track on the album. 'The Dance of Eternity' is the second instrumental of the album, and it is a mad display of technical mastery. The song has over one hundred time signature changes, and can only be attempted by the most proficient of drummers out there. Despite this high degree of technicality, the piece manages to maintain a constant flow and groove throughout; the whole band really works as one unit. From crazy synth solos, to heavy drum patterns, to soaring guitar sweeps - this track has it all. Suddenly, we're given a breath of 4/4 in a peculiar ragtime section, led by the pianos, showing the amazing ability of prog metal to transcend any expectations. It's not long before we're thrown back into the instrumental chaos that is 'The Dance of Eternity'.
'The Dance of Eternity' seamlessly gives way to 'One Last Time'. Contrasting the previous two songs, 'One Last Time' is relatively short and simple in comparison. Regardless, Dream Theater's songwriting ability continues to shine with a melodic chorus, guitar solo, and a reprise of the chorus of 'Strange Deja Vu'. The lyrics describe Nicholas visiting Edward's home (in his trance) to reach the conclusion that Julian had killed both Victoria and Edward as a result of their affair, before positioning himself as the witness for the newspaper article. A mystical piano gives us a transition into the next song.
Nicholas seems to be at peace at last, having solved the mystery. In 'The Spirit Carries On', we see him come to terms with the fact the he, too, will one day die and be reincarnated. This song creates a truly emotional atmosphere that will often have fans in tears at concerts (not me of course). Just when you think this album couldn't be any better, Dream Theater moves away from the heaviness and technicality into something as slow paced as this, yet still continues to create another song that is a highlight of their catalogue. A fantastic guitar solo leads into one of my favourite moments in all of music: a powerful reprise of 'Regression' complete with a choir. In contrast to the acoustic introduction, it is now majestic and vast. After such a breathtaking performance, it would seem that we have now reached the end of the story...
... or have we? One final (12-minute) song remains; 'Finally Free'. We hear the hypnotherapist awaken Nicholas as a pleasant melody plays in the background. Suddenly the music changes to stormy and dramatic as we cut to a new scene. We see Edward fabricating a fake suicide letter. Plot twist; it was he who murdered Victoria and Julian and acted as the witness for the newspaper article, because Victoria had ended their affair and rekindled her love for Julian. Flashback 2 hours before, and we hear Victoria finally happy at having found her true love in Julian. This song, like so many other on Scenes From A Memory, has a great chorus. This album is so good, it has forced me to run out of synonyms to describe great music. Anyway... as the song turns heavy, we now hear Edward murdering them both. As they fall to the ground, a reprise of 'One Last Time' is heard. It is pleasing that Dream Theater are able to use reprises like this in ways that are interesting rather than repetitive. The music shifts to more upbeat and joyful as we see their spirits leave their bodies, moving onto their next incarnation... Nicholas, now aware of this, at last feels at peace. After a brief semi-acoustic rendition of the chorus, we move onto a foreboding riff that develops for quite some time before fading out to end the album. This is my one and only gripe with Scenes From A Memory, but this ultimately puts it behind Ocean Machine: Biomech in my books. I despise fade outs. Can't stand them. There are so many more creative ways to end a song, yet alone end an album. Such a good album isn't worthy of such a mediocre ending. Fortunately, an alternate ending - which is absolutely fantastic - can be heard on Dream Theater's Live Scenes From New York live album; a recording of the album played live in full. Back to the the album; as a sort of 'post credits scene', we hear Nicholas return to his home, only to have the hypnotherapist follow him and murder him. The hypnotherapist was Edward's reincarnation, and has completed the cycle again.
The cover artwork for Scenes From A Memory is based on that of the comic The Sandman: Brief Lives. It depicts a face that is collaged out of photos from the past, which links into the plot of the album. It's a mix of gold/bronze/sepia on a black background, creating a very striking image that represents the music well.
Despite the arguably disappointing ending, Scenes From A Memory remains one of the greatest prog rock / metal albums of all time. It has the perfect blend of the extreme technicality that the Dream Theater musicians play at, and their brilliant songwriting ability. It becomes, easy when playing such technical music, to become show-offish without any enjoyable chord progressions or tunes, but Dream Theater are able to incorporate elements of both to create a true masterpiece, that is deserving of its place in the history books of prog.
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