Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment (1998)
Liquid Tension Experiment was released in 1998 by Liquid Tension Experiment through Magna Carta. The group is formed by John Petrucci (guitars), Mike Portnoy (drums), Tony Levin (bass, Chapman stick), and Jordan Rudess (keyboard). The album was written and recorded within one week of studio sessions.
Track listing
1. - "Paradigm Shift" (8:55)
2. - "Osmosis" (3:26)
3. - "Kindred Spirits" (6:30)
4. - "The Stretch" (2:01)
5. - "Freedom of Speech" ( 9:19)
6. - "Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure" (2:22)
7. - "State of Grace" (5:02)
8. - "Universal Mind" (7:53)
9. - "Three Minute Warning" (8:20)
10. - "Three Minute Warning" (4:03)
11. - "Three Minute Warning" (5:19)
12. - "Three Minute Warning" (4:21)
13. - "Three Minute Warning" (6:31)
NOTES
* "State of Grace" also appears on An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess
* "Paradigm Shift" and "Universal Mind" are both included in the "Instrumedley" from the Dream Theater CD Live at Budokan.
* "Three Minute Warning" is a reference to the recording sessions where Levin wanted to improvise as opposed to Petrucci and Portnoy wanting to carefully write songs. Levin eventually told the others that if they didn't start to jam in three minutes, he'd just go home. The song "Three Minute Warning" is a recording of what followed. The recording was so unexpectedly fluent that the recording tape ran out after about 27 minutes into the jam, but luckily Portnoy's DAT recorder archived the ending as well. The back cover of the CD says: "CAUTION: "Three Minute Warning" is not for the musically faint-hearted, impatient, or critics of extreme self-indulgence. If you fall into any of the above categories, please hit the stop button on your CD player after track # 8."
* Part of "Universal Mind" appears in the Jordan Rudess keyboard solo on the Dream Theater album Live Scenes from New York.
* The piano at the ending of "Universal Mind" contains a variation on the common Heart and soul-song, as well as an excerpt from the military march Entrance of the Gladiators.
* "Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure" is not a reference to two previous members of Dream Theater, Chris Collins and Kevin Moore. Rather, it was named because of a promo photographer who, during a photo session, kept calling Mike Portnoy and Tony Levin "Chris" and "Kevin", even after being corrected several times. The duo decided to adapt the names for their two-and-a-half minute jam track.
It is also a reference to the 1991 film, "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure".
Credits
Rich Alvy - Mixing Assistant
Paul Laraia - Photography
Tony Levin - Bass, Chant, Electric Upright Bass, Upright Bass, Beu
Liquid Tension Experiment - Producer
Kosaku Nakamura - Assistant Engineer
Paul Orofino - Engineer
John Petrucci - Guitar
Mike Portnoy - Drums, Liner Notes
Jordan Rudess - Keyboards
Kevin Shirley - Mixing
Leon Zervos - Mastering
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Liquid Tension Experiment is an instrumental progressive rock/metal project consisting of Dream Theater members John Petrucci (guitar), Jordan Rudess (keyboard), and Mike Portnoy (drums), as well as progressive rock icon Tony Levin (bass, Chapman stick) of King Crimson. The combo was formed as a side project to Dream Theater in 1997. Rudess was asked to join Dream Theater largely because of the success of the Liquid Tension Experiment; Mike Portnoy mentioned it in the introduction of the "Liquid Drum Theater" instructional DVD and in the Score Documentary. Jordan Rudess had previously declined the offer to join in 1994, instead becoming a member of the Dixie Dregs. The band played fast, fusion-based pieces similar to those of Dream Theater, if somewhat more jazzy, less orchestral, more virtuosity, and (almost entirely) devoid of vocals.
Liquid Tension Experiment released two albums, Liquid Tension Experiment (1998) and Liquid Tension Experiment 2 (1999). A third album, Spontaneous Combustion, was spawned in between from DATs of jam sessions of Portnoy, Levin and Rudess. It was released as Liquid Trio Experiment as Petrucci couldn't participate to these sessions. Parts of these, though, were later included in LTE's second album. All three albums were released on Magna Carta records
Liquid Tension Experiment also played a few live shows in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles (1999 NAMM included!). Mike Portnoy has stated in numerous interviews (and on his web site FAQ) that there will not be a third LTE album, as 3/4 of the band is in the current Dream Theater line-up. However, several songs and "riffs" have been incorporated into Dream Theater's live performances, such as the "Instrumedley" from Live at Budokan (2004), this song was previously played in several live presentations including the 2003 Modern Drummer Festival during the Mike Portnoy presentation.
In 2008, the group reunited and played several shows across the United States. Portnoy has since then stated that there will be CDs and DVDs released, as well as the possibility of a third album being produced.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
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