Dream Theater

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I would be interested what in common is considered to be Dream Theaters best studio album so far. At the moment I spend time going through all their albums. 2009 til present is what I could listen to yet, the earlier ones will follow soon. My first thoughts: "The Astonishing" is an album I personally really don't like. All the "operaesque" mood to it isn't really mine. On the other hand I thought "Black Clouds & Silver Lining" is a nice piece in its entirety, and also "Distance Over Time" is great. So, what to expect of the earlier albums? And what's your opinions?
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Images & Words or Metropolis, pt 2: Scenes From a Memory are generally considered their best works. I agree with both. I&W is easily the best, imo.

My second favorite is Train of Thought, which is also their most “metal”.
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Yeah, this exactly. Add Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Awake plus maybe Train of Thought and you have a consensus top 5 there.

Personally I too have TOT as #2.
 
My Dream Theater Top 5:

1. Awake
2. Images & Words
3. Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory
4. Falling Into Infinity
5. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
 
My top 5

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Systematic Chaos
3. Train of Thought
4. Metropolis, Part 2: Scenes from a Memory
5. used to be A Dramatic Turn of Events, but lately I'd be just as inclined to put Black Clouds and Silver Linings here.

Honorable mentions go to both Falling Into Infinity and Octavarium, both of which are definitely not as great as the above, but I feel I love them much more than the general DT fan.

On the other hand, I'm weird and perverted and I dislike Images and Words and Awake very much, so there.
 
Mine looks like this:

1. Images & Words
2. Train of Thought
3. Octavarium
4. Metropolis pt. 2
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Honorable mentions to Awake and Black Clouds & Silver Linings.
 
It's interesting that I'm not the only one not liking "The Astonishing". This Andrew Lloyd Webber-style to the whole album confuses me.
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
It's very much a hit or miss album. For most people it's a miss and one of, if not their worst album.
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Interesting. A friend of mine who had seen Dream Theater several times live yet also told me an interesting thing: He said that James LaBrie is a hit or miss himself, depending from show to show. Mate of mine said there's some evening where James can sing, some others he cannot... Could anybody confirm that?
 
Dick Brucinson said:
Interesting. A friend of mine who had seen Dream Theater several times live yet also told me an interesting thing: He said that James LaBrie is a hit or miss himself, depending from show to show. Mate of mine said there's some evening where James can sing, some others he cannot... Could anybody confirm that?
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Well, he's a very controversial figure. To me, he's one of my idols and absolute favorite singers of all time. To many others on this forum he completely sucks. :D

His live performances were always pretty inconsistent night to night, although he obviously had his peaks and lows too.
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
Well, he's a very controversial figure. To me, he's one of my idols and absolute favorite singers of all time. To many others on this forum he completely sucks. :D

His live performances were always pretty inconsistent night to night, although he obviously had his peaks and lows too.
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Also interesting. How would people reason their opinion when saying he sucks? What makes him a controversial figure? Can you tell a bit more? I like his performances on those records I've listened to yet a lot.
 
Dick Brucinson said:
Also interesting. How would people reason their opinion when saying he sucks? What makes him a controversial figure? Can you tell a bit more? I like his performances on those records I've listened to yet a lot.
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There isn't really any doubt that his studio performances were always at least solid and at their best excellent, the controversy comes from his live performances and the contrast between him and his ever-so-perfect bandmates. In LaBrie's defence it must be remembered how active DT has been as touring act and especially how lengthy their concerts have historically been (often 3 hours). Singing voice gets worn out and cannot be replaced unlike guitar strings and drumsticks.

When you go to youtube and search for DT live performances it's very likely that you'll find videos of him singing out of tune, out of breath or with terrible intonation in high ranges. That obviously depends on the era of the band. His worst years have easily been the last few, since 2015-ish. His form always seemed to alternate every other tour. Interesting stuff.

To summarize, it's mostly about him being the only imperfect part in an otherwise flawless band. It's really unfair and he has to deal with haters.

Edit: I forgot to mention his mid-90s food poisoning incident which caused severe damage in his vocal cords and took years to heal properly. He had to adjust his singing a bit after it.
 
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MrKnickerbocker said:
I am intrigued. We have the same top five. And yet, Black Clouds is bottom tier for me.
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Honestly the only albums I'm not fairly into are: The Atonishing, When Dream and Day Unite, Self Titled and Falling Into Infinity. Basically all of the other albums I quite enjoy I've been meaning to do a discography run through again, although T.A. will not be included.

I'm also a sucker for power ballads so Wither and Best Of Times I really like
 
If you want James at his finest, listen to Live at the Marquee. It‘s the first record I heard by them in 93, first track Metropolis... it was like a revelation, I couldn‘t believe how awesome they were.
 
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