Information
Studio Diary - 01/10/2001 (Day #4)
Mike Portnoy:Last day of rehearsals/writing before entering the studio tomorrow!!!
The other guys start at 10am to do some arranging work without me and I get to Neal's around 1pm-ish...
When I arrive they've pretty much mapped out the direction of the remainder of this latest piece. ("Hanging in the Balance"...may possibly become "Stranger in your Soul") I jump in and we start to arrange the parts with our instruments...
MAN!!! this song f*cking RULES!! The ending of this thing is tremendous!!
The hugest, most majestic, saddest, baddest, most building, intense grand finale to a song I've ever heard!!! We all had total chills after playing through it the first time!
(I think I came a few times!) : o
We originally thought this tune would be a great album opener, but now we also think this would be an awesome album closer...hmmm..maybe it can be both....maybe this one song should be the whole album!!!!
Now with this song finished, we have 2 intense 20-minute or so songs written, arranged and ready to record....
No rest for the wicked....time to jump into the next one:
I had an idea to take alot of various smaller-pieces that everybody had floating around and put them together into a big melting pot (ala side 2 of The Beatles' Abbey Road, or more recently - the Galactic Cowboys "Machine Fish Suite")
I sense some confusion and doubt from the other guys as to whether or not this idea will work....but I don't give them a chance to think about it, and push 'em right in!!! (What was it Neal said in the special edition SMPTe about me being pushy???)
I really think this will be a cool way to tap into the more poppy/Beatles/Jellyfish type ideas that I LOVE and really want this band to incorporate, but we can do it in a more epic, progressive arrangement rather than having some short poppy songs in the midst of these huge 20-minute epics...
We shall see.......
That wraps up rehearsals! We finish a little early and I'm gonna try to get out for me and Marlene to go see "Traffic".
Tomorrow we start tracking....
C-ya then!
MP
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