From tonysounds@yahoo.com Fri Mar 18 07:57:34 2005
Subject:Re: PROG: Was Starship Redux

Yeah, I appreciate Dream Theatres abilities, but for the most part, it's like watching women's uneven bars: yeah, that's really hard to do, but I dont want to do it myself. However, the first 2 DT albums with keyboards Kevin Moore are REALLY good; decent songs with great arrangements. When he left, it seems the "calming" influence left with him. Falling Into Infinity was the one DT studio disc Derek did (I think he only did one) and it is arguably their best record. I put that on the other day and I was surprised at how good it was and how much of it had stuck with me after not hearing it for years. I saw Derek's Planet X, and ..... yuck. Between endless arpeggios by he and the guitarist (I think it was Tony MacAlpine, I can't even remember anymore), and the flat out aggravating inability to play straight time at all by drummer Virgil Donati, I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Derek is now playing with Billy Idol; I actually do want to see that show to see what Derek does in the context of rock POP songs in combination with Steve Stevens, who is a PHENOMENAL player, especially live.

Tommy Zvoncheck wrote: