Do You Remember?

I stumbled across a few things on YouTube that really hit home this week.

Anyone who recalls the Marillion years with Fish will remember all the imagery, the wonderful lyrics and music, performances on Top Of The Pops and all the world's greatest stages. I still adore both Fish's solo work and much of modern Marillion, but taking a look at these clips made me feel kind of sad. I only wish the guys would get back together for a series of shows to reprise some of those wonderfully edgy, progressive rock tracks once again . . .

Fish - Leamington Spa 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNnRrAuEh3Y

Marillion live in 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vA1PIKYwec

Marillion in 1985
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUbDnGYMyig

Sometimes the passing of time really sucks

Win The Golden Book

Feel a bit like Willy Wonka here, but . . .

From the news page of www.liftingshadows.com

"As we’ve been hinting over on Twitter, we’ve got a very special competition up our sleeves. We’re printing a very, very small number of extra special copies of the Limited Edition for the band themselves. Like the rest of the Limited Edition books, these will be luxurious leather-bound copies of Rich’s acclaimed biography. Unlike the rest of the Limited Edition, they will sport a unique foiled designation on the front cover and they won’t be put on sale. In fact, the only place you might ever see one is on the guys’ personal bookshelves. We’ve got one of these highly unusual books – we’re calling it the Golden Book – to give away. What’s more, Dream Theater have agreed to sign it."

"To be in with a chance of winning the Golden Book, simply pre-order either edition of the new Lifting Shadows. When the pre-order phase ends, we’ll randomly select one purchaser to receive the prize. You can choose either the Classic Edition or the Limited Edition – they’ll simply be one chance to win per customer, so it doesn’t matter which edition you order or how many copies you buy. And if you’ve already ordered, don’t worry – your name will also go into the hat. Good luck!"

Quite A Sad Day

Well it's been a bit of an odd day. I have tidied my office and for the first time in over 5 years, I'm not surrounded by large black folders marked with the words "Dream Theater Research". Given that I can't honestly see myself updating the book for a few years (if at all), I've moved the mounds of research I've accumulated over the years into storage boxes and chucked them into the loft.

It's quite a strange feeling really and the only other time I can recall feeling this way was the day I finsished my final exams at University. I can't imagine what I'm going to do with my time now that the Dream Theater book project has finished. I guess I need to start thinking about what I'm going to do next . . .

In the meantime, please do spread the word amongst the DT fans about the second edition of the book. The publishers are going to base the number of copies they print on the number of pre-orders, so if people want a copy then they better get in there fast. They will only print a few copies over the pre-order levels of orders. And with the world economy in the mess it is in, and people understandable watching their cash flow, it actually looks as though this second edition will end up being rarer than the original two book set . . .

Second Edition Extracts

Here are a couple of extracts from the second edition of the book for you!

Firstly, a section from the appendix (which covers the side projects) on the Chicago LTE show, when the keyboard broke down mid-set

With the keyboard written off, and Jordan feeling disappointed for himself and all the audience, he decided on a radical and unexpected solution – wandering onstage and trying to persuade John to let him use the guitar.
“I decided that rather than just have the disappointment of having the keyboard go down, I would just go out there and do a bit of jamming on the guitar,” smiles Jordan. “So I remember getting the courage up to go out on stage when they were playing. When I walked on stage, John was doing this thing where he was playing so fast, playing with two hands on the fretboard and was looking down. And as I got close to him, I realized he was really wrapped up in his own world. He looked up and was like ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ So I kind of said ‘Give me your guitar,’ and he realized and thought ‘OK what the hell’ and passed his guitar to me. He went over and played bass while Tony was playing the Chapman Stick. I hadn’t played the guitar in a long while and his guitar was like some wild animal and was screaming. I was doing my best to control the beast and play some riffs. I think I did a few good ones but I could definitely have done with some practice. It was one of the most dreadful nights of my life but I think the fans got a kick out of it, and we all ended up having some fun.”
“If you can’t play keyboards, alright play my guitar. That’ll work,” laughs John at the memory. “Obviously I felt sorry for Jordan because having a technical problem that you really can’t solve really sucks because you are just in panic mode. And because we were only out there for five shows, it was low budget and you aren’t going to take out back-up rigs. You are just trying to do it inexpensively and have fun. So if I was in that position, and my amp blew up and there was nothing I could do, I’d be like freaking out. I also felt bad because there were only a few shows and the people in Chicago didn’t get to see the whole thing and it was going pretty well until that point. But what are you going to do? We made the best out of it in the spirit of improvisation which was how the whole project was born.”

And here is a section from the mammoth chapter covering the making of Black Clouds & Silver Linings

One of the criticisms levelled at Systematic Chaos was that lyrically – certainly in terms of those written by John Petrucci – there was a tendency to dwell on supernatural tales. Although there was unquestionably a proportion of the Dream Theater fan base that lapped up songs about dark masters and vampires, there were those who found those lyrics incongruous and impossible to relate to. Perhaps recognising that fact, John deliberately veered away from fantasy worlds as a subject matter.

“Yeah, this album is all reality for me,” explains John. “I thought I’d try something different, went in the exact opposite direction and I wrote about real experiences. I was talking to my wife before I started writing the lyrics, and she was saying that I have so many interesting stories that I’m always telling. She was saying ‘Why don’t you think of some of those events as you have such colourful stories.’ And it seemed so obvious but I guess I’ve never really done that. I’ve written songs that are fantasy based, and even early on in our career, I’d done that with songs like ‘Metropolis’ or ‘The Killing Hand’. But at the same time, I’ve also written songs that are reality based about my own experiences. So those are songs like ‘Take Away My Pain’ or ‘Another Day’. But I realized that I’ve never written stories about things that actually happened to me. You know, about situations that I went through that were unusual or bizarre, or interesting. Whenever I wrote about reality it would always be more emotional. It would be about a loss, a feeling, a philosophy or generalisation about something. So this album, I wrote about experiences and I started to think back ‘What are some interesting stories that I’ve told my friends’. You know, like ‘Guys, you’ll never believe what happened to me!’ So I started to realize that these were really cool stories. And when you do that you are able to really write from your heart and you’re not making it up. You are just reflecting back and thinking about what happened. All these people that seem like really weird characters are actually real people. And when you hear the lyrics you will be like ‘What the hell happened here?’ Who the hell are these people?’”

Full Details On The Second Edition!

Hi All
Just to let you all know that the second edition of the Dream Theater biography, Lifting Shadows, is now available to pre-order!
VERY IMPORTANT - IF YOU BOUGHT THE FIRST EDITION, PLEASE DO NOT ORDER YET, AS YOU WILL BE RECEIVING A DISCOUNT CODE IN YOUR EMAIL BOX LATER THIS WEEK!
Full details of this updated book can be found at www.liftingshadows.com
For the second edition of Lifting Shadows, I've tracked down and interviewed even more people involved in the Dream Theater story. The text has also been thoroughly revised and updated. So there's also a detailed look at the making of the Black Clouds & Silver Linings album, which includes all new interviews with the band. Plus I've also added an appendix which covers the numerous side projects, such as Liquid Tension Experiment, Transatlantic, OSI, G3 and other solo albums, with interviews with the likes of Neal Morse, Jim Matheos, Tony Levin and the DT guys. This is edition is also around 40% longer than the original.
As you might know, the original, two book, one CD special edition set has now completed sold out. As that was sold strictly on the basis that it was a limited print run, the publishers have rightly decided not to reissue that. They are however producing a new limited edition version as there are people who want something more special than just a hardback. So there are two versions of the book on sale.
The Classic Edition of the book is a standard hardback version. If you imagine the “Words” book of the first edition, expanded by 40%, with 8 pages of colour photos.
The second of these is the Limited Edition book, which is bound in real leather. This contains the same text as the Classic Edition and also has 8 pages of colour photos. The print run is limited to 2000 copies and each copy is hand signed by myself.
The books are being published by Essential Works who printed the first edition of the book. All sales of the book will also be made via their website.
The book is priced as follows:
Classic Edition:
This retails at $28.95 in the US, £17.99 in the UK and EU plus shipping.Those of you who bought the first edition will shortly be receiving an email from Essential Works offering you a 25% discount off the retail price as a “thank you” for your support in getting the first edition off the ground.But even if you did not buy the first edition, for a limited time, those of you pre-ordering will be entitled to a discount of 15% off the retail price.
Limited Edition
This version retails at £30 in the UK and EU, and $50 in the US plus shipping.Due to the high production costs, low production run and the price already being kept as low as possible, there will be no discount available for this version of the book.
Full details of all the ordering process, details of shipping charges, a list of FAQ and other details on the book can be found at www.liftingshadows.com
Thanks again for all your support!!
I’d also like to ask a small favour – if you could help spread the word of this release through other forums you may visit, through any of your Facebook / MySpace pages I’d be really grateful!
Rich

Well . . .

After hearing about the way Jordan Rudess recorded one of his albums - he basically locked himself in the studio for two weeks and didn't come out until he had finished - I decided the only way I was going to hit deadline and write the update to the DT book was to do the same. So for four days I tied myself to the computer and pulled my finger out of my ass.

And surprisingly, despite the odd venture out of the house to bring back kebabs, fish & chips and any other fat-filled take aways you can imagine - I stayed the course. Which means the book is 99% finished. I still have to write a new ending, tart up a few bits here and there, and slot in another interview that should be done this week, we are virtually ready to rock. I have employed a new proof reader - my non-journalistic mate who has the power to spot all typos (unlike the prick we used first time around and who put-more-fucking-errors-into-the-bastard-text) which is great. So he has the "pleasure" of reading it first. Also got the "go" from the band, so hopefully the publishers will get their mitts on the thing some time next week.

Now I know a lot of you are thinking: "Bollocks. I bought the first edition so why should I fork out my cash on this?". Well first of all, there was always the intention of the book being released in a second, single hardback edition. I always made this clear at the time. It has taken longer than expected to come to fruition for a number of reasons - my health being the main one - and it has taken time for me to have the energy and time to complete it. But that is actually a good thing as it means there is more info for you all to devour. Here are the main bullet points you need to know about:

- The book is to be released as a single hardback which will have a few pages of colour pics throughout the text. Think of your usual band biography.

- The book is around 30% longer in terms of the word count than the original.

- There is a massive chapter covering the Black Clouds & Silver Linings album that discusses the making of the album, the meaning of the songs, the touring as well as detailing some of the more controversial questions that crop up on the forums. For example why James wasn't involved in the writing process, cookie monster vocals, are the band trying to appeal to teenagers etc.

- There is also a huge chapter covering off the various side projects the guys in DT have been involved in. So that's solo albums, plus the likes of Transatlantic, OSI, Liquid Tension Experiment etc etc.

- Apart from the standard hardback, it is likely there will be a limited edition version which will be bound in real leather and signed by myself. Print run in the region of 1000. The publishers are constantly being asked for copies of the original limited edition which has sold out. There was talk of them reprinting it, which I was completely opposed to. But there are those people who want something a little bit more special than the standard book. So this is the compromise and it will look awesome.

- I have also made sure we offer you a discount if you bought the first edition, and even if you didn't buy it, we will be offering you a discount if you pre-order. Obviously though the pre-order discount won't be as great as is offered to those who bought the first edition.

- We are talking about opening up the pre-ordering in the next 3 or 4 weeks.

- I don't know the prices yet or the discounts, but I expect the retail price to be about (and please, please don't hold me to this) £19.99 or $29.99. And then you can get a discount off this price as noted above.

- The new interviewees for this edition apart from the band are Gail Flug, Andrew Ross, John Hendricks, Steve Sinclair, Robert Mason, Jim Matheos, Neal Morse, Roine Stolt and Tony Levin.
- The book should be released around October time.


I will post updates as to when you can order here, on the various DT forums, and via the "Dream Theater Book Lifting Shadows" Facebook page (become a "fan " to get the updates). We should also be emailing all of you who either bought the book or expressed an interest in being kept informed of future releases. Not sure if you are registered? Then go to http://www.essentialworks.co.uk/dreamtheater/ and enter you e-mail address.

Right, that's all I can think of for now. Thanks for all your continued support on this project. Sorry it has taken so long, and I'm also sorry I couldn't persuade Kevin Moore to speak to me and finally get his side of the story. I tried my best . . .

Five Days To Finish The Book

So I am nearly at the end of day one. I have set aside five clear days to finish the second edition of the book. I really can't believe how much longer this version is going to be. I suspect at least 25% longer.

Please become a "fan" of "Dream Theater Book Lifting Shadows" over at Facebook, as I am posting regular updates several times a day there. It also takes less time to do that then write a full daily blog.

Right got to get back to it!

An Open Letter To Kevin Moore

Kevin

I know your reluctance to be interviewed for anything related to Dream Theater, but I have a proposal . . .

I am putting the finishing touches to a second edition of the Dream Theater biography, Lifting Shadows. As a "journalist" I am always striving to get both sides of the story and without your input it is impossible for me to do. So I have a suggestion. That we arrange to have a two hour phone interview covering off your years in Dream Theater as well as OSI.

But what's in it for me I hear you cry? Well think about it. We do this final interview on Dream Theater. Anyone who ever asks you about the band in the future, you can just suggest they "go read the book". You'd never have to talk about them again.

In exchange, I'm also prepared to make a charitable donation in your name to the charity of your choice in the amount of $500. Pick a charity. New York Firefighters Fund, The Red Cross, Cancer Research or whatever.

All I'm asking is that you at least have a think about it.

I would need to do this in the next three weeks due to deadlines. You can contact me through http://www.rich-wilson.com/ or via Inside Out's UK press representative Dorothy. She has my details . . .