Happy 30th, Awake!

[RoeDent]

Awake was released on October 4, 1994, 30 years ago today!

[Zydar]

Great! I'll remember to spin it tonight.

When I got into the band I bought I&W and Awake at the same time. I loved I&W instantly, but Awake took quite a while to grow on me. Now I'd rank it as a Top 5 DT album. It's kind of like I&W's tougher older brother, with a more dark and sinister vibe. James is at his best as a vocalist, JMs rumbling bass is great, I love the clear mix of the album. When I saw them in 2014 they played 5 songs from it, including Space Dye Vest, as they were celebrating the 20th anniversary. 

[CraftyCaleb2483]

*Pointedly ignores this day*

[MirrorMask]

Happy birthday, Awake!!! 

Happy 3 decades to the album that contains the song that took me only four months to appreciate, and that eventually started in 1999 the avalanche effect of making me interested in DT and eventually a fan for life, The Mirror.

The album that contains a top 3 song for me, Voices, which is to me the perfect example of how a prog metal epic should be.

The album all killer no filler, with songs heavy as fvk without needing a million notes to achieve that effect.

The album that while being dark and broody manages to have some mellow moment, offering both an acoustic and a piano ballad.

The album with a great variety of short songs, long songs, heavy songs, mellow songs, and an instrumental.

The album with nuggets before nuggets were even a thing!

The album that I don't name as my favorite only because Scenes from a Memory exists, and it's downright impossile to have a clear favorite between Awake and its illustrous predecessor.

Happy birthday you beautiful, beautiful Awake!!!!!! 

[emtee]

After only knowing I&W and loving it, I was totally confused and discouraged with Awake. Very slowly it began to click...months and maybe longer. And then one day I absorbed its greatness and was floored by it. It's one of the 3 biggest one-eighties that has ever happened to me. To this day it is my favorite prog metal album.

[Xaves]

Happy 30th to one of my favorite DT albums. After listening to Images I decided to listen to even more and Awake was my second album. Man this album has some serious bangers on it. Top 5 DT album for me by far

[Awaken]

Happy 30th to the first DT album I was on board with for the release cycle.  Which at the time meant, you walk into a record store (they existed EVERYWHERE) and it was on the shelf.  hahahaha.

[KevShmev]

30 years?!?!?!

[emtee]

Haha! 

[Xaves]

30 years?!?!?!

  Even James is surprised

[Zydar]

"Look in the mirror, my friend"

[dualpalmpilots]

I first got into Dream Theater 20 years ago, shortly after Train of Thought was released. I started consuming their back catalogue ravenously as a 14 year old kid. Any time I had cash from mowing neighborhood lawns, all I wanted to do was spend it on a new CD. And I don't know where Awake fell in my "chronology," but I remember exactly where I picked it up: Circuit City. My parents were shopping for a new desktop and I was browsing the music section. I popped Awake into the walkman on the way home, and after many listens, it became my favorite Dream Theater album.

You guys have already said a lot about what makes this one great. But for me, it's the lyrics!

[Polarbear]

HBD Awake!

Still one of my favorite albums by DT!

[brakkum]

Killer album, with one of the most under-appreciated DT songs, Scarred

[HOF]

Still think of this as DT's strongest all around album. James sounds amazing on it, the songwriting is really good throughout, has that heavy vibe but also just a ton of atmosphere. Just really great production values. The most emotional DT album probably. 6:00, Lifting Shadows off a Dream, and Scarred are among my favorite DT tracks (6:00 is probably still my favorite), but everything is good (even if I am not often in the mood to listen to Voices, The Mirror, or Lie these days). Innocence Faded is another underrated DT track, The Silent Man is great, and Space Dye Vest is the perfect finale to the KM era. Great stuff.

[pg1067]

Tuesday, October 4, 1994:  I was a few weeks shy of my 27th birthday.  I was living in my first apartment with the woman I'd end up marrying (I think we were engaged by that point).  Friends had premiered two weeks earlier.  Bill Clinton was nearly two years into his first term as president.

I had already heard Lie via the MTV video and thought it was kinda meh.  I'm sure I already had tickets for the upcoming show on December 8 with Fates Warning and DT on the same bill!  Any misgivings I had about the album were quelled upon hearing 6:00 open the album.  I always have loved 6:00 and Caught in a Web.  Innocence Faded not so much.  Erotomania was cool.  Voices did NOT click with me immediately, but I liked The Silent Man (even the fiancee liked that one).  Unfortunately, the album took a pretty big dive with The Mirror, which I recognized from when they had played Puppies on Acid at the last show I had seen in June 1993.  Then came Lie, and the album started to rebound with Lifting Shadows off a Dream.  Scarred was my immediate favorite and remains in my top 10.  I quickly learned the bass intro.  Space-Dye Vest was interesting.  Weird, but good.  I don't think I had any idea that Kevin Moore had left the band until I showed up at the concert two months later.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Happy 50th Anniversary to my least favorite-turned-middle-favorite Dream Theater album!

I've come a long way on Awake in 2024 alone, I'll never forget the good times

[KevShmev]

I first got into Dream Theater 20 years ago, shortly after Train of Thought was released. I started consuming their back catalogue ravenously as a 14 year old kid. Any time I had cash from mowing neighborhood lawns, all I wanted to do was spend it on a new CD. And I don't know where Awake fell in my "chronology," but I remember exactly where I picked it up: Circuit City. My parents were shopping for a new desktop and I was browsing the music section. I popped Awake into the walkman on the way home, and after many listens, it became my favorite Dream Theater album.

You guys have already said a lot about what makes this one great. But for me, it's the lyrics!

The lyrics definitely elevate it like no other Dream Theater record, IMO.  (I generally find DT to be pretty hit or miss lyrically, but almost every song on Awake is a bit hit lyrically)

[CodyWanKenobi]

Such a killer album. HBD Awake. 

[MirrorMask]

The lyrics definitely elevate it like no other Dream Theater record, IMO.  (I generally find DT to be pretty hit or miss lyrically, but almost every song on Awake is a bit hit lyrically)

Another good point 

[HOF]

The lyrics definitely elevate it like no other Dream Theater record, IMO.  (I generally find DT to be pretty hit or miss lyrically, but almost every song on Awake is a bit hit lyrically)

Lyrics from KM and JM helped a lot, but JP was also at the top of his game lyrically on Awake (and FII too).

[dualpalmpilots]

JP's lyrics are absolutely underrated on this one. The vulnerability was really something.

[Dave_Manchester]

Happy birthday to a masterpiece. If I remember correctly someone once made a thread on here asking which album is each member's finest hour, and for me this is John Petrucci's. From front to back a stunning combination of technique, melody and emotion.

[frogprog]

Awesome album!!

[Ben_Jamin]

Dang....30 years.

Got to give props for the album that has my all time number one Dream Theater song with Scarred.      

[MetropolisWatches]

Probably their best album ever (along with Images and Words, of course).