Liquid Tension Experiment 2

Amazon.com
In 1997, neoprogressive rockers John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater joined with keyboardist Jordan Rudess and veteran bass master Tony Levin to create an adventurous and joyously unrestrained musical environment. On volume 2, surging technical brilliance is abundant--and as provocative as it is impressive. These tracks were largely the result of extemporaneous jamming; each piece comes across as a finely crafted and flawlessly executed composition. Also striking are the enjoyably drastic changes of style. "When the Water Breaks" and "Another Dimension" are eclectic journeys, happily unpredictable. Quieter, more atmospheric moments unfold in tracks such as "Hourglass" and "Chewbacca." Petrucci, Portnoy, and Rudess effortlessly master intricately explosive rhythms and unleash astounding solos. Levin displays his wonderful eccentricities, particularly on the playfully wicked grooves of "914" and "Liquid Dreams." --Mark McCleerey

Liquid Tension Experiment 2,Liquid Tension Experiment,Magna Carta,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop

---

Liquid Tension Experiment 2

Average customer rating: Worthwhile Leftovers As good as the first one A great buy for any lover of this band More interesting than the first Even better than the first LTE album.

Liquid Tension Experiment 2 Liquid Tension Experiment Manufacturer: Magna Carta ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music Progressive Metal | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Progressive | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Liquid Tension Experiment An Evening with John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory Falling Into Infinity ASIN: B00000J7UT Release Date: 1999-06-15

Tracks:

1. Acid Rain
2. Biaxident
3. 914
4. Another Dimension
5. When The Water Breaks
6. Chewbacca
7. Liquid Dreams
8. Hourglass

Amazon.com

In 1997, neoprogressive rockers John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater joined with keyboardist Jordan Rudess and veteran bass master Tony Levin to create an adventurous and joyously unrestrained musical environment. On volume 2, surging technical brilliance is abundant--and as provocative as it is impressive. These tracks were largely the result of extemporaneous jamming; each piece comes across as a finely crafted and flawlessly executed composition. Also striking are the enjoyably drastic changes of style. "When the Water Breaks" and "Another Dimension" are eclectic journeys, happily unpredictable. Quieter, more atmospheric moments unfold in tracks such as "Hourglass" and "Chewbacca." Petrucci, Portnoy, and Rudess effortlessly master intricately explosive rhythms and unleash astounding solos. Levin displays his wonderful eccentricities, particularly on the playfully wicked grooves of "914" and "Liquid Dreams." --Mark McCleerey

Customer Reviews:

Worthwhile Leftovers.......2007-07-15

If You LOVE LTE 1; you are a confessed gear freak, guitarist that does not wince when people know you Love Prog??? This a must purchase. It is a shame that it seems like maybe scheduling prevented these guys from putting together a continuation or extension of this project that lives and breathes as well as the first...buy it cause nothing else like this exists.

A true Gem with Petrucci/Rudess is the Solo Piano/Guitar disc that is on Vai's "Favored Nations" Label...absolutely worth the effort and every penny.

As good as the first one.......2007-06-13

Well. Another effort that demonstrates the talent of these guys. This cd is as good as the other liquid tension releases. Sheer power and great pieces. Highly recommended for people who appreciate virtuosos and instrumental rock. If your a Dream Theatre fan, you'll probably like it. If not, it is still a great CD to listen to.

A great buy for any lover of this band.......2007-06-13

A great buy for any lover of this band

More interesting than the first.......2007-03-27

I've been a pretty big fan of the first LTE for years, and only just now laid ears on vol. 2. I find it a much more satisfying listen, the overall approach seems a bit looser, resulting in a more raw and less-produced sound throughout. The main difference I noticed right from the first couple notes, is that the band takes a much more stylish and contemporary approach. While the first album had a sort of cheezy, new age-esque bent to it, this one is much funkier and more compositionally minimal. Don't get me wrong, the dizzying sequences of time shifts and rhythmic mayhem are out in force, but the compositions overall are more abstract. Rather than the almost orchestral approach of LTE 1, this record aims more for good old-fashioned riffing, as well as some really incredible experimentalism from Petrucci and Rudess. The whammy-pedal workout in Acid Rain in particular grabbed my attention. There are bonafied head-nodders throughout, with Petrucci and Levin laying down huge slabs of classic rock riffage. Because the tunes are more spacious in general, when someone cuts loose on a solo, it has even more impact. Petrucci's wild antics are more enjoyable for me over an edgey groove than the walls of keyboard strings and rhythm guitar that was common to LTE 1. They haven't toned down their virtuoso flurry-of-notes technique at all, but they have placed it in a slightly different context that makes the whole project much more interesting and enjoyable for me. LTE 2 overall feels more dynamic and creative, with a wider sonic palette, more like listening to a live band. My only disappointment is the last track, which I would've much preferred be a crazy 8 minute shredfest than the slow piano-driven "Hourglass".

Even better than the first LTE album........2006-10-27

*************this is a re-print of my review from Epinions.com under the user name alan-smithee)*************************************************

Liquid Tension Experiment is an instrumental progressive rock super-group of sorts that consists of John Petrucci (guitar) and Mike Portnoy (drums) from Dream Theater, Jordan Rudess (keyboards) of Dixie Dregs & solo fame and the legendary Tony Levin (bass & Chapman Stick) who has played with almost everybody under the moon but is most well known for his work with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel.

They released the first LTE album in 1997 on the progressive rock Magna Carta label. The first release was literally written and recorded during a single weekend. As a result, even though the album was most technically impressive, the extremely short writing and recording time made the album come across as extremely haphazard to me.

The band got back together in late 1998 to record the 2nd LTE album that was to be released in 1999. They had a considerable larger amount of time to make this 2nd album of over-the-top instrumental rock and it definitely shows. The ideas and most importantly the arrangements and songs themselves have a much better feel and don't feel to be flying all over the place at any and every given opportunity like on the first CD.

People should be warned that this album is unapologetically complex and is progressive rock with a capital "P". Being a musician myself, it is quite satisfying listening to this album and hearing musicians of this immense playing caliber just ripping it up. But a lot of people will be surprised at how well thought a lot of the ideas on this album actually are. While there are a few improvised jams on the album, there are also a lot of moments where it is extremely apparent that a lot of thought and hard work went into the tracks.

------------------------------------------------------------
The CD itself runs a couple of seconds shy of 74 minutes and here is a breakdown of each of the 8 tracks:

1)Acid Rain: This opener which runs 6 minutes 35 seconds in length starts out the album with a bang. Very fast, very aggressive with some extremely complex riffing and guitar & keyboard interplay from Petrucci and Rudess. Tony Levin gives his Chapman Stick (a 12 string instrument played completely by 2-handed tapping) a workout as well with some very creative doubling of some of the insane sections. I particularly liked the breakdown section near the middle where Petrucci does a blistering solo over a killer groove laid by Portnoy and Levin.

2)Biaxident: My personal favorite track of the album. Lasting 7 minutes 40 seconds, it bursts with some shimmering and beautiful keyboard work by Jordan Rudess. The track starts out very tranquil and peaceful in a sort of way that kind of reminded me of the progressive rock group Marillion at times. The song really gets cranking about a couple of minutes in and the tone of the song gets heavier before backing down into a really interesting section that plays out in sort of a swing feel. Rudess does an amazing piano solo that is very well thought out. Some very tasteful drum work by Portnoy throughout rounds out an extremely strong track.

3)914: Starts out with an extremely heavy (and grooving) bass line laid down by Tony Levin on his Chapman Stick that is doubled with some solid drum work by Portnoy. The song is kind of deceiving as it actually features no guitar on it since Petrucci's wife was in labor during some of the sessions and he had to be by her side leaving Rudess, Levin and Portnoy time to jam. This whole track is completely improvised according to the liner notes. Rudess lays down a very quirky but cool sounding keyboard part using some shimmering tones on his synthesizer. This track is one of the shorter on the album coming in at only 4 minutes 1 second.

4)Another Dimension: This 9 minute 50 second track starts out with some very eerie solo Stick work by the master Tony Levin. A keyboard pad then joins into the mix before a guitar joins doubling Levin's odd-time bass/stick line. This track kind of reminds me of ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian's band Planet X especially with a lot of the tone choices that Jordan Rudess uses to play a lot of the lead synth lines. A very heavy and dense song that gets weirder and weirder as it goes along. Ends with some delightfully atonal swooping by Petrucci and Levin doubling each other. Not the most accessible song on the album, but definitely one of the most interesting.

5)When the Water Breaks: Here we come to the first "epic" of the album. Bursting at the seams with a really long running time of 16 minutes 58 seconds, the track starts out with the cries of a newborn baby before Rudess enters with a very gentle sounding keyboard part that initially sounds like a mobile in a baby's bed/crib. Things quickly begin to heat up with some very complex riffing by the band. This track goes all over the place and features a truly stupendous section that Tony Levin refers to as the "reggae/accordion" section in his comments in the CD's liner notes. Levin plays a stick throughout most of this song though I did notice some traditional bass work in a couple of spots. Petrucci's wife was in labor at this point and he had to leave the writing sessions for this track to be with his wife. The band marks the exact point in the writing process when his wife's water broke, hence the title of the song. (They do this by punctuating the song with a baby's cry right in the middle of the song when she actually gave birth). The song goes on a bit long in some spots but overall boasts a lot of rich and very musical ideas. Tons of fantastic stick and bass work by Levin makes this song one of my favorites (as I am myself a bass player).

5)Chewbacca: Another really long song at 13 minutes 35 seconds. After a very abstract opening with some really strange sound effects, the band starts cranking out a really heavy mid-tempo riff that features some great wah-wah guitar work by Petrucci. Portnoy goes nuts on the drums during quite a few breaks in the song. This is generally regarded as the weakest track on the album, which it is. But that doesn't make it bad since I've actually become somewhat enamored of the song over time. Tony Levin does some very funny and creative things on his Stick that make this song extremely quirky (it sounds like he's trying to mimic the sounds that the Star Wars character the track is named after makes in the movies). Somewhat repetitious, but still has some great moments as well as being the 2nd heaviest song on the album behind Acid Rain. Some very screwy solos by Petrucci on guitar round out this very odd but grooving and sometimes tribal sounding track. Extremely abstract and weird, but endearingly so.

6)Liquid Dreams: Another long one at 10 minutes 48 seconds but this song just is stuffed with great ideas. Another one of the trio songs as Petrucci wasn't present when this song was written and his guitar parts were added on after the fact. As a result, this track really shines the spotlight on Jordan Rudess' amazing and technically proficient keyboard work. I particularly liked the bass line laid down by Tony Levin on this sort of mid-tempo and very atmospheric rocker. Has a really great groove and I kind of wish they would have made it a actually a bit longer. There is a really neat breakdown section of sorts during the last few moments that features some very unique sounding bass (or is it Stick?) along with some very jazzy keyboard work.

7)Hourglass: A big change of pace for this band, this is basically just 4 minutes 26 seconds of some beautiful acoustic guitar and keyboards. While winding up the album in uncharacteristically quiet fashion, this track is extremely strong and basically just a beautiful piece of music.
------------------------------------------------------------

and there you have it! This album really had to be heard to be able to truly appreciate what these guys accomplished on this album. It is truly a lot better than their first album and a side-by-side comparison will reveal that this 2nd album is just a whole lot more relaxed sounding and much more well thought out. There are plenty of moments that showcase each of the individual musicians and they seem to blend in together a lot better on this album as well.

As a side note, Jordan Rudess ended up replacing Derek Sherenian in Dream Theater not too long after this album was released. Petrucci and Portnoy were so impressed with how easy they could write music with Rudess that they immediately offered him the keyboard chair in the band in which he accepted. They had wanted Rudess earlier in Dream Theater back in the mid 90's when their original keyboardist Kevin Moore suddenly quit the band in 1994. Rudess was tied up with the Dixie Dregs so Dream Theater ended up getting Derek Sherenian to join the band instead.

As a result of Rudess joining Dream Theater, we probably won't see anymore Liquid Tension Experiment CD's as they are essentially 3/5's of Dream Theater now. But what they accomplished with this side-project (and especially with this album) was some very nice progressive rock that shows that true musical proficiency is still alive and well and that it isn't a problem to be technically proficient on your instrument of choice.

Fans of complex progressive rock like mid 70's Yes will especially like this album as it kind of takes that angle and adds a much heavier feel to it. There are some moments where a couple of tracks get a bit long-winded, but overall this is truly great stuff. This is progressive rock made by progressive rock fans specifically for progressive rock fans.

Highly recommended!

Average customer rating:

Liquid Tension Experiment 2 Liquid Tension Experiment ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B00005GRK9 Release Date: 2004-01-20

Tracks:

1. Acid Rain
2. Biaxident
3. 914
4. Another Dimension
5. When the Water Breaks
6. Chewbacca
7. Liquid Dreams
8. Hourglass

Average customer rating:

2 Liquid Tension Experiment Manufacturer: Magna Carta ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Progressive Metal | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000LWIBXK

Average customer rating: Amazing! GREAT CD!!! LIQUID TENSION RULES!

Vol. 2-Liquid Tension Experiment Liquid Tension Experiment ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music ASIN: B0000564YY Release Date: 2004-01-20

Customer Reviews:

Amazing!.......2004-10-28

The best of prog-rock crank out the most impressive instrumental album I've ever heard. And that's saying a lot. Dream Theater fans will have no problem enjoying this CD, as well as newcomers. I'm a huge DT fan, and I find the Liquid Tension experiments to be even more accessible. I would have to agree about James' vocal style for DT - I don't think it matches the intensity of the band. He's a great vocalist, one of the best. But he is certainly not missed, in my opinion. Dream Theater is all about the music, and Liquid Tension Experiment 2 brings out the absolute best. A must have for any music fan.

GREAT CD!!!.......2004-04-16

The other reviewer of the CD said everything correct except for one thing. He said that James LaBrie is an annoying singer. Now I know that this has nothing to do with the Liquid Tension CD, but I want everyone who reads this review to know that James LaBrie is an excellent vocalist with incredible range. He's not for everyone, but please don't let the other reviewer spoil Dream Theater for you because they are the greatest band in the world!

LIQUID TENSION RULES!.......2001-07-20

A friend of mine bought this cd for me and I thought, great just another more cd of Dream Theater with another name on it but I figured I'd hear the annoying yelling of James LaBrie anyway. Was I in for a surprise! The lack of vocals is just what Dream Theater needs to be the best. Petrucci is as fast as it gets in guitars, and if you thought that in the album When Dreams and Day Unite he was good by playing really fast, then you should listen to Acid Rain it shows that he can play even faster while still being melodic. While Tony Levin is in no way the Bass virtuoso Myung is, he keeps a great rythm overall and keeps his pace with Petrucci. Mike Pornoy is argueably the best drummer and he shows in When the Water Breaks, which is a song made by solo after jam after solo... Jordan Rudess was a surprise for me, I thought all keyboardists where of prog bands where at best barily "good", he is simply incredible. What about the songs? well most of them are fast jams. But there are exceptions tho, and they are worthy to be told about. Liquid Dreams is a weird jam for prog bands in that it is slow yet I loved it, reminded me of Transatlantic Jams. Hourglass is a beutiful duet of Petrucci and Rudess that even your mother will like, it's soft and melodious. Over all I say it's worth every dime, as I heard once if you can only buy 5 cds of prog, two of them should definetely be Liquid Tension Experiment 1 and 2. And if you can only buy 20 cds of all genres then I say this would be the ones of prog.

Rap Music:

1. Lochloosa [Enhanced]
2. London Town [Original recording remastered] [Import]
3. Lost Songs 95-98
4. Lounge Against the Machine
5. Mad Dogs & Okies
6. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy: A Collection
7. My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue [EP]
8. No Jacket Required
9. One Fierce Beer Coaster [Explicit Lyrics]
10. Ophelia

Rap Music

rap music

Recommended Music:

Dance Nation V.3 (Australian Edition) [Import]

Haydn: Symphony No.43/Cantata, "Ariadne auf Naxos"/Aria "L'anima Del Filosofo"/Scena Di Berenice/Recitative and /Aria

Live At Don't Tell Mama [Live]

Music: This Is Mod

Love Blind [Import]

Massacre [Import]

Miracle

London Fix

Lonesome in Black: The Legendary Sun Recordings

Jazz Music: 20 Exitos De Basilio

Last Night

Night Worlds

Legends on Acid, Vol. 2

Silly Songs

Caravan