Alright listening to this now. Awake is tied with Six Degrees as my #1 album. It was also my introduction to DT, so it gets points for that, but I actually didn't love it as much as I do now until I heard the whole discography and revisited it afterwards. I love the vibe of this album, it shows the band going for something more atmospheric and also has the perfect variety of song lengths. This is the only time they were able to write shorter songs that were just as good as the long ones. Metropolis and Astonishing are kind of exceptions, but work differently as concept albums. Songs like Innocence Faded and 6:00 just stand on their own as great songs. So I can listen to every song on its own and enjoy it for what it is, but then when I listen to the entire album it's extra special. Exactly what an album should do.
This has to be my favorite JLB vocal performance. I was listening to Voices in the car yesterday and it blew my mind how great JLB sounded on that song. He is able to switch seamlessly between raspy, clean, dramatic, soulful, and powerful. It's a performance at the level of Bruce Dickinson. Even just tiny details like the way he sings the first verse compared to the second. I think the rough voice suits the material well and the tone of his voice is more tolerable than it is on I&W (not that the vocals are bad on that album). But I also like that he only uses the raspy vocals when it's appropriate. Compare this to Bruce in the early 90s when he switched up his vocal style, which totally worked on certain songs, but he used it on songs where his traditional operatic sound would've been much more effective. Same could be said about Russell Allen recently, though he's fixed that on Underworld.
Definitely sounds like a 90s metal album, but I think it has aged much better than I&W and albums by other bands from this period.
Unfortunately this isn't like I&W where every song is amazing, but that's to be expected when not nearly every song is an epic tour de force. They're stretching out a bit more this time. Some of it works, some of it doesn't, but when it works it's more than worth the very few clunkers on this song. Caught In A Web is our first time hearing John Petrucci play a 7 string, so we get some pretty heavy chugging. It's a good song but doesn't excite me the way others do. Erotomania is a fun, but they have much better instrumentals. Not bad but also toward the bottom of my rankings for this album. I do really like when they preview The Silent Man in the middle of the song, though. An early example of a DT nugget. The Silent Man is nice, but the first of many DT ballads that sound nice but just seem like filler. Does have John Myung on guitar though and is a much needed break in all the heaviness. It functions well where it's placed.
As for the highlights, I love 6:00, I almost feel like the drum intro is MP's way of apologizing for the I&W drum sound.
Innocence Faded is very 80s Rush inspired, with a bit of Dixie Dregs at the end. They haven't abandoned their ability to write solid melodies, but they still retain the dark sound of this album. I love the way they bring it all down with the pre chorus, I wish they would play more with dynamics nowadays. The guitar solo at the end is awesome.
I already mentioned JLB on voices, but that whole song is so great. I remember being disappointed with it the first time I heard it, expecting one of DT's more "active" epics. After getting my fill of Octavarium, The Glass Prison, Metropolis, and similar epics, I came back to this one and appreciated it a lot more. Instead of doing Metropolis Part 2 with this song, they did something much more atmospheric and cinematic. The way this song builds up for the full ten minutes, climaxing at JP's solo, is incredible. And again, that song alone has to be JLB's best vocal performance ever. Voices is also extremely Queensryche influenced IMO.
Similar to I&W, it seems like the album was divided with the vinyl mentality, despite being CD length, with The Mirror being the start of Side 2. It actually does work out on the vinyl versions, as I'm pretty sure The Mirror starts the second disc. Anyway, seeing the whole second half of this album played live a few years ago was magical, as that stretch of songs is the best part of the album and is what puts it so high in my rankings. Anyway, The Mirror has JP on the 7 string again and this time he means business. I love how they were able to take one chord, one rhythm, and make it interesting. Really clever stuff. This is probably the heaviest DT song of the 90s and one of their best attempts at doing straight up metal. Also really great lyrics from MP. It seems strange to me that they didn't play it very often in the MP days, it's perfect for the live setting. And the Space Dye Vest preview is really cool. More nuggetz! Really great Myung sound on this song too.
Lie gets a lot of flack by DT fans but I really like it. Very groovy and weird song. There's a lot of cool rhythmic stuff, like the interaction between the vocals and instruments during the "mother mary quite contrary" bit. The slow 6/8 part in the middle is also great and I love the way it reprises The Mirror. I actually slightly prefer Lie to The Mirror. This is also before JP started going crazy with rhythm guitar overdubs. I love the way there are no rhythm guitar parts under a lot of his solos on this album, particularly Lie. You can really hear the keyboards and bass and the whole thing doesn't make my head hurt. I liked that they went back to that a bit on DT12 and I hope it continues.
I have similar feelings as Knick on Lifting Shadows. It's a really moody song with great atmosphere. There are a lot of things going for it. But something is missing. It's the only song I'll feel bad voting for, but something has to go.
Scarred is my #2 Dream Theater song. Getting to see it live was such a great experience. It's dripping with atmosphere in the same way as Voices, but there are also a lot of exciting twists and turns. It's like you get the best of both worlds, the twists and turns of Metropolis (minus the wacky instrumental section, which I don't miss) and the atmosphere and darkness of Voices. I really like the way this song builds up twice. First in the beginning and then again during the "do you feel" section. Again, I admire them for not attempting to write Learning To Live again. They could've easily done that (and they did 20 years later), but instead they took a risk and did something totally different. I have a hard time explaining what I like so much about this song. It has a great mood, great riffs, lyrics, and one of the best keyboard/guitar tradeoffs in DT history. JP's solo in particular is probably his best. It's just so emotive, like the rest of the song. Scarred moves me in a way that no other DT song does, Octavarium included.
It's also the best lyrical contribution from Petrucci.
Space Dye Vest is a great way to close the album. Give us something different. I also love how they essentially reversed I&W here. On I&W the ballad proceeds the epic, here it's the opposite. Anyway, it's a haunting song. I'm a big fan of Kevin Moore's solo stuff, Chroma Key and OSI to be specific, and that's basically what this is. So it works for me. JLB really does a great job on it too. Very cool way to end the album.
Love the samples, they give this album an identity.
Overall, a difficult album to assess. There are several songs that are weaker than everything on I&W, but there are also a couple that are better than anything on there and I feel that the album as a whole is just a more rewarding experience. Plus the weaker songs are still good and work in context of the album. Especially The Silent Man.
Since I ranked I&W, I'll do this one too:
Scarred
Voices
Space Dye Vest
6:00
Lie
The Mirror
Innocence Faded
Lifting Shadows
Erotomania
Caught In a Web
The Silent Man
From I&W I'll be voting for Pull Me Under and Another Day.
Of course, I've just re-listened to it and ... "Mary Jane", "Caught in a Web", "Spider in the window...", "Your Venom's not family here..." ...
SPIDER-MAN CONFIRMED!
http://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=11883.msg390787#msg390787
BTW, a very tiny detail but something I've been noticing. Somebody in the DT thread mentioned awhile back that Petrucci is always panned to the speaker that is opposite his typical side of the stage. He definitely is on these early albums, but I think it changed at some point. I was listening to one of the more recent DT songs and he seemed to be panned to the right. I wonder if that change happened when they started self producing? Too lazy to check right now, but I'll listen for it as we go through the discography.
