siLLy puPPy The early 90s caused a lot of turmoil in the music industry as everything 80s was pretty much swept away by the alternative rock and grunge invasion that was pretty much solidified by Nirvana’s phenomenal success of its album “Nevermind,” but the metal world too was completely transformed as glam metal went the way of the dodo as more extreme acts like Metallica and Megadeth established metal as a more technical and serious genre for the masses. Add to that changing of the tides the massive explosion of not only the prog rock revival but something completely new and that was progressive metal. DREAM THEATER had already been around a few years but didn’t capture a lot of attention with its debut “When Dream And Day Unite” which IMHO was an excellent album but suffered from a dismal album cover and emerging a little too soon for the appetite of the public to shift interest into the complexities that prog metal had to offer.

DREAM THEATER itself underwent a huge change when lead singer Charlie Dominici left the band and was replaced by James LaBrie who had remained with DT ever since. After joining the dream team of guitarist John Petrucci, keyboardist Kevin Moore, bassist John Myung and drummer Mike Portnoy, the band was ready to conquer the world with its second classic release IMAGES AND WORDS which was released just at the right time for a glam metal weary public to move on to something with a bit more heft and together with Fates Warning and Queensryche, DREAM THEATER launched the progressive metal invasion that hasn’t stopped since this album was released in 1992. The album pretty much caught the world’s attention immediately with the release of the first single “Pull Me Under” which featured the heft and bravado of classic 80s metal but featured hitherto unthinkable progressive rock crossover effects which most of the world had never experienced despite bands like Watchtower developing the prog metal world in the underground as early as 1984.

As DREAM THEATER’s most successful album of all time, IMAGES AND WORDS is regarded as one of those classics that launched a whole new revolution in the metal world with complex proggy composiitons that adopted symphonic prog touches from bands like Kansas, pastoral moments of classic Genesis and knotty compositions that exuded virtuosic instrumental interplay in the vein of classic Yes but with the energetic overdrive of 80s power metal with neoclassical references. While regarded as an all time classic, i personally can’t say i find IMAGES AND WORDS to be a perfect album by any means. No doubt that “Pull Me Under” was not only the perfect single to bring DT to the world’s attention but also the perfect track to begin the album as it delivers electrifying atmospheres, dynamic songwriting skills performed by seasoned veterans of the metal trade with an energetic bombast and vocal octave range that put this band well over the talent range of the average metal band of the era. However some of the tracks just flounder a bit such as the rather sleepy AOR inspired “Another Day” with Kenny G sax sensualities and sounding something like Styx on a very uninspired day.

While the first half of IMAGES AND WORDS may sound a bit restrained as the band was trying too hard to appeal to melodic metal bands of the 80s that featured too many sappy ballads, the second half opens with the highlight of the album the outstanding “Metropolis—Part I: 'The Miracle and the Sleeper,’" a massive sprawling near 10-minute track that busts out all the prog goods with all the bombast, pomp and awe one could hope for including Keith Emerson keyboard wizardry, tricky speed-of-light time signature frenzies and some of the best musicianship that the band members have ever conjured up. The track proved to be a popular live number with variations changing each performance and by popular demand carried on until an entire album “Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory” finally emerged down the line.

Luckily the album continues the prog workouts with tracks like “Under A Glass Moon” and even takes the beautiful ballad “Wait For Sleep” into turbulent prog workout territories culminating in the album’s lengthiest track the 11 1/2 minute “Learning To Live” which ultimately leaves a satisfying experience that leaves IMAGES AND WORDS resonating high on the metallic prog-o-meter. When all is said and done this album really does deserve its status as one of the best prog metal albums of all time however as i’ve already stated i find the second track “Another Day” to be a throwaway track and even “Surrounded” lacking in compositional fortitude. If these two tracks had been modified or replaced altogether then i would could perhaps deem this a perfect album but since they appear early on sort of dampen the overall experience. But i shouldn’t be too harsh as they aren’t gawd awful tracks either. They just don’t live up to the quality of the others therefore they can be overlooked as a small blemish that doesn’t detract from the overall magnitude that the album brings forth as one of prog metal’s magnum opus. After all the remaining tracks have a staying power some thirty years later after IMAGE AND WORDS’ initial release and one of DREAM THEATER’s finest moments for sure.

UMUR "Live at the Marquee" is a live album by US progressive metal act Dream Theater. The album was released through ATCO Records in september 1993. "Live at the Marquee" bridges the gap between the band´s second and third full-length studio albums "Images and Words (1992)" and "Awake (1994)". It´s Dream Theater´s first live album and it was recorded at London's Marquee Club in April 1993 during the tour supporting "Images and Words (1992)". The full concert set featured 12 tracks and a short tape outro, but only 6 tracks from the setlist made it unto the album. The European/US edition features "Surrounded", while the Japanese version replaces "Surrounded" with "Another Day" (both versions still only feature 6 tracks).

The tracklist features 3 tracks from "Images and Words (1992)", 2 tracks from the band´s debut album "When Dream and Day Unite (1989)" ("The Killing Hand" is featured in an extended format with a short intro song titled "Another Hand" attached to it), and the instrumental improvisation piece "Bombay Vindaloo". The latter is exclusive to "Live at the Marquee". It´s a bit of a shame that the band didn´t opt to release the full concert, because they leave out some pretty brillant tracks like "Under A Glass Moon", "Take The Time", and "Learning To Live", and as the tracks they do opt to include on the tracklist, come from different moments during the concert, you don´t really get a live concert experience when listening to "Live at the Marquee". Some of the pauses between tracks just don´t sound natural.

Tracks like "Metropolis Part I" and "Pull Me Under" were already mandatory songs on Dream Theater´s setlists this early on, and they are performed here to near perfection (as are ""Surrounded""/"Another Day"), but to my ears it´s the tracks from "When Dream and Day Unite (1989)", which are the most interesting feature on "Live at the Marquee". Especially "A Fortune in Lies" stands out as a real treat with the then new lead vocalist James LaBrie singing. "Another Hand / The Killing Hand" is a slightly less well composed/interesting track, but it´s still a real joy listening to this version with LaBrie singing. The instrumental improvisation piece "Bombay Vindaloo" is decent enough, but nothing out of the ordinary for Dream Theater, and I would much have prefered the band include one of the left off tracks from the full concert setlist instead.

"Live at the Marquee" features a slightly thin sounding production job, and a little more bottom end heaviness would have made the album a little more pleasing on the ears. Rumour has it that LaBrie´s original live vocal tracks were cut from the mix, and that he re-recorded his vocal parts live in the studio. That´s not audible though, and LaBrie´s performance here pretty much sounds like the real deal...warts and all. While his performance is professional and his voice generally is strong, he has a nasty tendency to scream some parts, which really didn´t need a scream. Those parts are pretty grating on the ears, but it´s unfortunately a trend LaBrie would continue on subsequent tours and live albums. It´s fair enough you want to alter the original vocal melody lines a little bit during a live performance...but please don´t purposedly make them worse than the original.

So if I´d have to describe "Live at the Marquee" with one word, it would be inconsistent. Inconsistent in the quality of the material and inconsistent in the vocal performance. As the sound production isn´t saving anything either, "Live at the Marquee" is upon conclusion a bit of a mixed bag. I´d still say there are more positive features than negative ones here though, and a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn´t all wrong.

adg211288 Every artist has at least one album, possibly several, that the majority of their fans will proclaim blasphemy of other fans if they refuse to be sheep and say they don't like it. For US progressive metal band Dream Theater they have three albums this could be said of. They are Images and Words (1992), Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999) and the subject of this review, Awake (1994). The other two are pretty damn fine progressive metal records that are rightly held up as classic examples of their genre. Then there's Awake.

I don't like Awake.

There, I said it, may the God of Prog strike me down for being a heretic.

(The author of this review takes a moment to look around, waiting for a lightning bolt to smite him. Nothing happens, so he continues writing).

It's true, I do not like Awake. I do not hate Awake either, but there's a big difference between not hating something and actually liking it. Awake exists in a void between these two extremes, a void that we could know by various names like 'the middle of the road' or as the kids of today might say; 'meh'. It is an album that does have a few highlights like Lie and the acoustic The Silent Man is also pretty nice, but most of it is fairly average fare for Dream Theater, bland and worse than bland, also pretty soulless. Like the sound of a band who doesn't know quite how they should follow up Images and Words and just went through the motions for a follow-up.

I have owned Awake for a long time now. I don't recall exactly where or when I bought it but I reckon it was in either 2007 or 2008. Over a decade certainly. It was certainly after I'd bought at least Images and Words, Metropolis and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) – the latter of which was my first Dream Theater album. I loved all of those releases. Then Awake inevitably came onto my radar. I was aware of it's reputation. I was excited to get a hold of a copy. And then I listened to it.

And it just wasn't very good.

I spent the next couple of years intermittently returning to Awake and hoping that it would click. It never did. And prior to this review I reached a point where I did not feel inclined to play Awake ever again. It has in fact been over ten years since I last played the album in full. This is more than Falling into Infinity (1997), it's follow-up, which I can honestly say I don't think I have ever listened to more than once (though I do intend to revisit that album soon). Today I finally got up the courage to listen to Awake again. And nothing has changed. It's still not very good, has only a few highlight moments that still pale next to those from other Dream Theater albums and it still comes across as soulless pap. It's also still not bad, also still not an album I actively dislike or hate (unlike their The Astonishing (2016)). Awake just...is.

The kindest thing I've ever really felt I could say about it is, as stated, that it's not an actively bad album. But in a twist of fate that's perhaps also the worst thing I can say about it as well. We can have a good laugh at a bad album then write it off and forget about it. Awake instead falls into the worse category of (almost) total mediocrity. At least with an out and out bad album you can pinpoint exactly what's wrong with it. But you'll still remember it, if for the wrong reasons. They say bad publicity is better than no publicity. For me that can also be applied to music: a bad album is still better than a forgettable album. Awake for me is a very forgettable album, yet technically has nothing wrong with it on paper.

I do not think that I will ever be able to understand why Awake remains so highly regarded among Dream Theater's work. I know from when I was first discovering the band that there is a faction of fans out there who remained really hung up on the Kevin Moore era of Dream Theater, so maybe that's why. Who knows? I certainly don't care at this point. For me there is absolutely no way that Awake should be mentioned in the same breath as Images and Words and Metropolis. Except of course, to distance it from them.

martindavey87 ‘Tokyo, Japan 10/28/95’ is the second release in Dream Theater’s live series of official bootlegs. Recorded in 1995 (the clue’s in the title!), it shows a fairly young band who, while playing immaculately, are still polishing off and refining their live shows.

With only three studio albums and one EP under their belts at this point, the set list seems fairly limited by today’s standards, especially as the band don’t play anything from their debut, and miss two pretty important tracks from their seminal ‘Images & Words’ album. Still, it’s a look back at the band in their early days, and the set is pretty solid nonetheless. There’s a fair bit of “jamming” added in which does get a little tedious, especially as some of the placements of these sections seem a bit jarring, but again, this is something the band will refine over time.

The sound is okay. The band themselves sound great and everyone is perfectly balanced in the mix. Unfortunately the audience are barely audible, which, considering this is a live album, is a little bit of a shame. Vocalist James LaBrie trying to get the crowd to sing only for the listener to receive near-silence in response is a bit of a letdown.

But otherwise, this is a decent enough release. The performances from all involved are fantastic, including LaBrie, who struggled enough live as it was, even before his infamous food poisoning incident, and there are a few added in extras that make this worth having for fans, such as an acoustic guitar version of piano ballad ‘Wait for Sleep’. While this pales in comparison to the bands later official live albums, it’s still cool to hear them in their earlier days, making this a worthy addition to any fans collection.

martindavey87 Aw man... poor James LaBrie. I can’t help but feel that this release is some kind of dig at the fella. Perhaps he’d upset Mike Portnoy or maybe he lost a bet or something? The fact is, this official bootleg by Dream Theater is a pretty substandard album thanks in part to LaBrie’s absolutely horrendous vocals which falter and diminish more and more as the set drags on.

It’s been well documented the issues LaBrie had after rupturing his vocal chords whilst touring in the mid-90’s, but damn, the number of times his voice cracks or wobbles or he just flat out can’t sing like he use to, is painful to hear. But props to the guy for never giving up, since stuff like this must have been a HUGE knock to his confidence.

Besides that, while the musicianship is fantastic as you’d always expect from this band, the only other notable reason that this recording was put out there was because it features the legendary Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden on vocals for a number of songs, (and Ray Alder of Fates Warning too! But that pales in comparison), and to be fair if I was joined on stage by Bruce Dickinson I’d probably want everyone to hear it too.

But even that is mildly entertaining, as it’s literally just a fun jam, and nothing overly memorable. But for what it’s worth, that’s probably the only major selling point of this release. Hell, even the front cover is a shot of Dickinson jamming with the band, leaving poor James LaBrie standing in the background with whatever shred of dignity and self-respect he had left slowly fading away.

Poor LaBrie.

rdtprog It seems like it was just yesterday that the Luna Park DVD was released. Now it's another one from the Boston Opera House less than a year later. The show is divided in three acts. The first act is tracks from the last two albums and the song "A Trial of Tears" from "Falling to Infinity". The second act is 5 songs from the "Awake" album to celebrate his 20th anniversary and the third act is the encore celebrating again "Scene from a Memory" with his 15th anniversary. On those 2 albums, the band use the same pattern by starting to play the technical, fast and heavy songs like "The Mirror", "Lie", "Overture 1928" and "Strange Déjà Vu" and finishing with the slower and emotional songs like "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream", "Space Dye Vest" and "Finally Free".

"The Illumination Theory", the most progressive and the epic song of the last album is played with an orchestra in the second act which is the perfect fit with this song that contains an irresistible classical break in the middle. The picture is crystal clear and the camera work more satisfying than the "Luna Park" DVD. As for the sound, I had to crank up the volume very high to get the full sound. Again, I wish we could hear John Myung louder, but that's what happens on live recording, it rarely match the sound quality of a studio release. James Labrie's voice is in nice shape as well as all others members. It's another nice addition to your Dream Theater collection. 3. 8 stars.

AtomicCrimsonRush I always look forward to putting this DVD on as I know I am going to get the best of both worlds; symphonic orchestrated music and full on Dream Theater prog. I agree with some reviewers that the setlist is not exactly mind blowing but it nevertheless spans the 5 year history. It is interesting the way the orchestra blends into the metal sound, similar to the Metallica S&M concert, or indeed Kiss Alive IV. It is always of interest when metal meets symphony. The DVD "Score" is very well produced, sharp editing throughout and excellent sound quality. There is nothing wrong with the visuals at all, with the band members sharing the spotlight, but the problem lies in the setlist itself. There are too many omissions and some opportunities wasted in the early part of the concert.

It opens with some deadset oddities such as The root of all evil, I walk beside you, Another won and Afterlife. It isn't until Under A Glass Moon that it really takes off showing the power of that brilliant track and Petrucci's amazing guitar solo. Later we are treated with The spirit carries on and the entire suite of Six degrees of inner turbulence; absolutely flawless and indispensable on the live stage. After an ovation the band belt out Vacant, The answer lies within, Sacrificed Sons and the masterpiece epic Octavarium that is quintessential to the band. The Encore: Metropolis Pt. 1 is a brilliant way of ending the concert to a rapturous crowd.

Disc 2 is packed with some hit and miss Bonus material including a mammoth 20th Anniversary Documentary, that has some fascinating info on the band and the way that not everything goes to plan on a tour. Portnoy has too much to say and now it is a bitter taste now he has scarpered and been replaced. The Octavarium Animation is terrific, and the live performances are always a treat including Another Day (Tokyo - 1993), The Great Debate (Bucharest, Romania - 2002) and Honor Thy Father (Chicago - 2005).

The DVD comes with high recommendations due to the visual quality, and overall package. Ignore the early part of the set and just enjoy DT at their absolute best in the middle half of the concert accompanied by masterful orchestration. A must for all DT fans and one of the best DT DVDs available to this point in time.

AtomicCrimsonRush One of the first DVDs I saw of Dream Theater before the onslaught of DVDs that have come since. This is an early performance and of considerable interest as a result. These were the glory days of Dream Theater ramming prog down the throats of the hungry Budokan fans. It is an incredible performance best seen than heard though the audio experience offers much as a type of Dream Theater concoction of the best of the earlier years. The CD is good listening but the visual persentation is incredible. There are a few odd surprises scattered in the mammoth set list but the classics are here and played to perfection. Beyond This Life is a huge epic clocking 19:37, and with some dynamic lead guitar from Petrucci. The Test That Stumped Them All is always a killer track live and sounds fresh and powerful with huge bass runs of Myung and Portnoy's slamming percussion.

Endless Sacrifice is an 11 minute gruelling journey into prog excess with a wild keyboard section from Rudess. The Instrumedley to follow features some awesome musicianship. LaBrie is in fine form on soaring vocals, and shines on such compositions as the 14 minute Trial Of Tears and New Millennium. It is always a pleasure to experience a Jordan Rudess keyboard solo and it is as inventive here as ever. There are some amazing songs such as Solitary Shell, Stream Of Consciousness and quintessential Pull Me Under. The set closes with epic 16 minute In The Name Of God. So overall this is a great set with power metal and tons of instrumental breaks. It is progressive and packed to the gills with mind bending virtuoso solos and material from some of their best albums. It was the "Train of Thought" tour so there is plenty from that album as well as "Six Degrees" and "Images and Words" among others.

The special features are wonderful featuring 'Riding The Train Of Thought" a Japanese Tour Documentary of about half an hour, and John Petrucci Guitar World segment, Jordan Rudess Keyboard World, and a Mike Portnoy Drum Solo clocking 12 minutes. The Dream Theater Chronicles - 2004 Tour Opening Video is okay showing the video the crowd saw in the opening, and Instrumedley with multi-angles is lots of fun. Overall it is a fantastic DVD concert, and all Dream Theater fans must have it.