Octavarium

So... some random person out there may be wondering how I got the name "Octavius." No, it wasn't because because of that one Roman guy you might have learned about in history class. It was actually supposed to be based off of Dream Theater's song "Octavarium" (and unfortunately, that explanation doesn't really sound any less nerdy).

Therefore, it seems fitting that my first post on this blog will be a huge (and by huge, I mean huge) analysis/rant/review on the song Octavarium. Let us begin.

What I like about this song is that it has a great sense of continuity, as does the rest of the album. It revolves around the theme that everything ends where it began. There are five parts to the song. The first part, Someone Like Him (up to 8:47), starts off with a continuum and lap steel guitar solo (a continuum is basically a flat keyboard). At around 2:40, the first main theme appears, with the second main theme making its entrance at around 3:50. Both of these themes reprise later in the song, which I find really cool since classical piano concerti are structured in a similar manner. After the guitar intro, a flute somehow finds its way into the mix and repeats the first theme in a more "understandable" manner. The singer finally starts singing at around 5:30. The chords are a development of the chords in the intro solo (already, the song's getting quite structurally complex). The lyrics describe a man who initially wants to be different from everyone else. Later, though, he still isn't satisfied and wishes that he'd be ordinary, hence the title "Someone Like Him."

The bass makes a nice, smooth transition from the first part to the next (John Myung doesn't get nearly enough of these moments). This part is called Medicate (Awakening). Notice that the song has shifted from the key of F minor to A major. In layman's terms, that's kinda weird. Dream Theater has the ability to do that.
These lyrics describe a person who has spent the past 30 years in a catatonic sleep (essentially a coma, although I don't really know how realistic this is). His doctor thinks he's cured him, but he eventually ends up back in the state he started in. A keyboard solo follows this, but I don't think it serves any thematic purpose other than as a musical transition back to the home key of F minor.

This next part is titled "Full Circle." The first "verse" of this part is in 7/8 (3+2+2), but after the "chorus", it turns into 5/8 (3+2). To the "average Joe," it'll sound the same, but if you try counting through it, it'll be slightly different because of the extra two beats. Pay attention to the hi-hat, too. As a percussionist, I respect the ability of the hi-hat to do miraculous things.
Anyways, this is where the lyrics probably get the most complicated. It starts with a Pink Floyd reference and ends with a Pink Floyd reference (following the theme, as usual). The lyrics in between are all references that the drummer felt like putting in. These references are connected by their words, literally. The first reference is "Sailing on the seven seas" while the next one is "Seize the day." They combine them using a little pun, so it becomes "Sailing on the seven seize the day." They then add the song "Day Tripper" by The Beatles to the reference chain, so it becomes "Sailing on the seven seize the day tripper." From then on, they keep on adding references (and the occasional transition, since it's quite difficult to write lyrics purely out of references). One random thing that I'm excited about is that in the song Breaking All Illusions from Dream Theater's new album, I think they reference Octavarium. One of the lines in Octavarium says "Looking outward, reaching in" while a line from the snippet of Breaking All Illusions that they've released says "Searching out, reaching in, to arrive where I begin." I hope that's an intentional reference (which it probably is) because cross-album referencing is so cool.
After the lyrics end, more multiple-voice craziness ensues. At 16:07, the guitar plays a riff based on the diminished scale while the keyboard plays a higher string part. This part reminds me a bit of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no. 2, but that probably wasn't intended. Eventually, Jordan Rudess kinda ditches the strings to play a unison with John Petrucci on guitar (these unisons happen pretty frequently).
After the Jingle Bells-y part, the guitar plays a version of the keyboard solo's theme and eventually descends back into the key of F minor (what a surprise).

This part is titled "Intervals" because it references all the songs in the album by naming them as intervals (the first song being "root," the second "second," and so on up to "octave" (eighth). The lyrics for each interval paraphrase the song in question, with the last interval paraphrasing the song Octavarium's first section. In addition, part of each song is played in the background while being referenced, although you can't really hear much. It ends with four repetitions of "Trapped inside this Octavarium," with each repetition getting more... insane than the last. While he's busy screaming, the guitar plays a bit of the second main theme that was introduced 15 minutes ago. It sounds a bit strange at first, but I got used to it.

The last (and possibly the best) part of the song is Razor's Edge. The orchestra reprises the first main theme with the whole band playing along. The lyrics describe how everything moves in circles. After he says "A perfect sphere," the piano plays a G and then a lower C, which I think of as a reference to the perfect 5th interval (it makes more sense with a bit of music theory). After another line, he says, "The story ends where it began," which is obviously the theme of the whole song. Petrucci now proceeds to blow our minds with another hair-raising solo based on thematic material from Someone Like Him. After a final climactic buildup, the orchestra closes with a reprise of the second main theme. The last "important" chord is played and a horn plays a slight afterthought, although I don't know if it has any real significance. This last chord is not entirely minor, but made up of perfect intervals (5th and 4th, which combine to make the 8th). Again, I'm not sure if they intended the "perfect" intervals to mean anything.

But it's not over yet. At the end, you can hear something very faint playing. That's also the beginning of the first song of the album. That means that you can put the tracks back to back while still making musical sense! Both are in F minor, as the band intended them to be.

So that's it. Any comments? Was it too terminology-intensive? I'd like some constructive criticism.