Far From Heaven

Album: A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • Guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess penned this ballad as a piano/vocal. Rudess told MusicRadar about the song's origins: "John Petrucci came in with a musical thought, if you will," he said. "He played me a couple of things, like, 'Hey, check this out.' He knows I'm the kind of guy who can pick up a mood or a vibe pretty easily."

    "One of the bands I really like is Coldplay," continued Rudess. "I love how they keep common tones between chords, and they find interesting ways to change chords while maintaining common tones, which all works to create a certain sound. I've wanted to do that kind of thing for a long time. Before we did 'Far From Heaven,' I was looking at certain kinds of chords in that way. We went down that."
  • Petrucci described this song to MusicRadar as vocalist James LaBrie's "centerpiece." He said: "For a few days James, Jordan and I worked on the vocal melodies. James had some very strong ideas, which were great. He recorded his parts up in Canada with Rich Chycki. We never did anything like that, where I as a producer wasn't present when the vocals were being sung, so it was a bit of an experiment." I was blown away when I heard what they had done, not only by the vocal sound but the emotional quality that James put into it. He has such a beautifully unique voice. The way that Andy Wallace mixed it, putting James right up front, gives me shivers."

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