Official Dream Theater studio albums countdown thread! (number 1 revealed!)

[romdrums]

I believe I had Awake at my number 1 as well.  Still my favorite DT record.  At first, I was a little taken aback by how guitar centric it was, but it definitely felt like the logical next step from I&W.  This came out at the beginning of my senior year of high school, and it has been an important part of my musical identity ever since.  I loved what they did with the Puppies on Acid riff in turning it into The Mirror.  I loved how they set up the Space Dye Vest piano part in that song as well.  The drums sounded fantastic, and James was in great voice throughout.  And of course, there's JP's solo on Voices, which is still one of my favorite solos of his.  I also remember being devastated that Kevin Moore was leaving the band.  I felt he was DT's secret weapon, and whoever replaced him was going to have big, big shoes to fill, even if Kevin wasn't as present on Awake as he had been on the first two records.  They never recovered in terms of lyrics and songwriting, but Sherinian and later Rudess filled the keys department admirably. 

1. Awake
2.
3.
4. Distance Over Time
5. A View From the Top of the World
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. Train of Thought
8.
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Systematic Chaos
11. When Dream And Day Unite
12. Octavarium
13. The Astonishing
14. Dream Theater
15. Black Clouds and Silver Linings

[jammindude]

I had Awake at #4, but I'm a bit shocked that I was in line with the aggregate. To know that SDOIT will beat it is even more shocking (that album is so overrated).

Lie is the only wart on the album. Everything else is DT firing on all cylinders.

1. The Mirror
2. Lifting Shadows
3. Scarred
4. Voices
5. Erotomania

[pg1067]

04. Awake

...

Number 1 finishes: 8
Last place finishes: 0
Average finish: 4.5

My rankings:

1.
2.
3.
4. Awake
5. Octavarium
6. Train of Thought
7. Dream Theater
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. When Dream and Day Unite
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Distance over Time
12. Falling Into Infinity
13. A View from the Top of the World
14. Systematic Chaos
15. The Astonishing

My top 4 are the consensus top 4!!!  Now to see if the consensus has them in the same order I do.

Awake is a killer album.  I remember buying it when it was released and putting it on.  I was impressed right from start.  6:00, CIAW and Scarred blew me away right from the start, and I naturally took to LSOAD because of the bass intro.  It took me a while to warm up to Voices, but wow.  And SDV was a cool, quirky song.  Innocence Faded is a bit of an odd duck in that I liked it initially but have grown not to really care for it.  Lie was a bit odd.  I remember seeing the video and not yet knowing about KM leaving the band.  It also seemed like the keys were really in the backseat on this one, which was a little disappointing because one of the things that really appealed to me about I&W was how well they integrated keyboards into a metal band.  The less said about the Mirror the better.  I never really liked Puppies on Acid when they did it live, and the full song it evolved into remains a bottom 10 DT song.

Oh, that's bullshit! How's this not in the top 3?
...
Man, how the actual hell is this out of the top 3?

I mean...because not everyone likes it as much as you do and because DT released a lot of GREAT albums....

[Samsara]

To know that SDOIT will beat it is even more shocking (that album is so overrated).

Ironically, I had Six Degrees at #6. I agree that top 3 for that record seems high. It was a good record for sure. And risk-taking going with a double-LP after Scenes. But top-3 for DT all time? Eh...

[nobloodyname]

So virtually everyone who's posted so far had Awake in their top four of five. Not me. Number 11. I find it an oppressive sludge-fest. But I will say I think the individual songs are better than the sum of the whole.

I wonder if there's a a very direct correlation between when you became a fan and how you rated Awake, moreso than with other albums perhaps?

[WilliamMunny]

So virtually everyone who's posted so far had Awake in their top four of five. Not me. Number 11. I find it an oppressive sludge-fest. But I will say I think the individual songs are better than the sum of the whole.

I wonder if there's a a very direct correlation between when you became a fan and how you rated Awake, moreso than with other albums perhaps?

Oh, most definitely.

There are a number of forumers who've listed BC&SL or SC as favorites, and I'm sure their point of entry weighs into that. No different than how my age and 'point of entry' has greatly colored my appreciation of '90s Metallica or Collins-era Genesis.

[javidt]

#3

Scarred gives me chills every time the guitar solo begins.
I love the LSOAD spacey intro.
And I could go on and on...

Really good album I suppose I didn't rank it higher because I became a DT fan in 2000.

Anyway, the fact that an album as good as Awake is only at #4 shows how strong the band discography is.

[devieira73]

 

It's a great album, no doubt. At the time, it was so cool to see DT returning for its more keyboard oriented style. Indeed, the awful drum mix and recording are the biggest problems of the album, but the resemblance with I&W is something that tarnish a bit this album for me. I know it was expressly denied by JP (of course), but I'm convinced that DT did so on purpose and I totally understand the reasons behind it - mainly, to make sure (as possible) the album would be a success after MP leaving. And it was and still is!
Let's hope for an anniversary edition with a great remix and re-recorded drums sometime in the future!

I am not going to touch the "it is I&W Part 2" silliness, because it is just that. 

At the time, I read some posts/messages about it and, listening to the songs, I was really convinced about a lot of the structural similarities between OTBOA/PMU, TITL/AD, LNF/UAGM, Outcry/Metropolis and FFH- BAI/WFS-LTL. LNF, Outcry and BAI, in addition to the structures, even have the same vibe as their counterparts, with a more over the top isntrumental mindset. To me it's a bit to much to be mere coincidence, but I also don't see it as a self-plagiarism.

Although I put this as a snag in my opinion about the album, it was only in the sense of thinking that the other DT albums have more originality in the compositional aspect than what we see on ADTOE, but I wasn't refering in any way to the quality of the album or the songs mentioned in particular. In fact, on the other hand, I found it pretty incredible that they made songs of a very high level, which sounded effectively different and new, apparently starting from well-established structures. And also, just to be clear, for me it's no demerit for a band of DT's size to sometimes make some artistic decisions that dialogue with the business needs at a given moment. The band is their dream and career too. Anyway, it's just my personal opinion.

[Dublagent66]

15  When Dream and Day Unite
14  Dream Theater
13  The Astonishing
12  A View from the Top of the World
11  Distance over Time
10  Black Clouds and Silver Linings
  9  Systematic Chaos
  8  Falling into Infinity
  7  Octavarium
  6  Train of Thought
  5  A Dramatic Turn of Events
  4  Awake
  3   
  2   
  1

[Dream Team]

Awake has aged badly for me, and it was not a favorite even back in the day. Always preferred the other Big 3. Only ever listen to Lifting Shadows and Scarred from this record. Good lyrics and concise song-writing, yes; but it ranked around 11th for me. There's a lot of 5/6 minute punchy rockers on Awake that get a lot of praise but IMO they've written so many greater ones of that type since then. Glad to see I'm far from the only one who feels that way.

[Ben_Jamin]

#04 - Awake (My Ranking: #06)

I discovered this album one day while rummaging through my dads small cd cabinet drawer. When I found it, I immediately went into my room and put this on my stereo. I had heard The Mind Beside Itself suite already from the LSFNY dvd I borrowed from my uncle, and then there's the songs that were on the LIT/5YIALT dvd.

The album has a certain tone and style that does recall the 90's to me. If I were to put it into a moment on the album it would be the intro/outro to Lifting Shadows Off A Dream. The keyboard sound, the bass harmonics, and the guitar has this atmosphere of being in a cold, star lit night. The artwork with the darkened city in the background is this put into picture form.

I feel what does give this album it's sort of cold tone is Kevin Moore's choice of Keyboard patches, also the way the drums are mixed, especially the snare. The snare sounds ice breaking and snappy.

This album, while being my #06, does have my most favorite songs from the band, Scarred and The Mind Itself Suite (I just can't seperate the three songs). I have always loved Space Dye-Vest from the moment I first heard the song. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend a show for the leg they finally played it live. But having it on video and audio is fine enough for me. At least, we have a pro-quality release of it.


Favorite: Scarred
Least: Lie


Ranking:
15. When Dream And Day Unite
14. Falling Into Infinity
13. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
12. A Dramatic Turn of Events
11. Dream Theater
10. Train of Thought
9. Systematic Chaos
8. Distance Over Time
7.
6. Awake
5. A View From The Top Of The World
4.
3. Octavarium
2. The Astonishing
1.

[SeRoX]

1- Awake
2-
3-
4-
5- The Astonishing
6- Falling into Infinity
7- A View from the Top of the World
8- When Dream and Day Unite
9- Octavarium
10- Train of Thought
11- A Dramatic Turn of Events
12- Systematic Chaos
13- Distance over Time
14- Dream Theater
15- Black Clouds and Silver Linings

It's sad to see Awake couldn't make Number 1 or at least top 3. This is their peak for me. Everything is amazing about it. I love Moore's dark sound and I think this touch is album's signature.

Favoruites
1- Scarred
2- Voices
3- The Mirror

[Samsara]

I love Moore's dark sound and I think this touch is album's signature.

I agree entirely. The darker vibe on that album, to me, is a perfect compliment to I&W. I know some in the band shit on "Space Dye Vest," but I felt that was a great closer to the record and that whole darker vibe.

[The Realm]

Awake - number 5 for me. I'm a bit surprised it didn't make it to number 3 in the aggregate. It is a great album and upon release I absolutely loved it, the dark atmosphere and music is just tremendous. However, today this album has not aged well for me, glad to see I am not alone with this feeling. It also may be controversial to say but I don't enjoy James vocal performance on most of the album either. He tried too hard to add this artificial grit sound to some of the heavier songs and to my ears especially today, this vocal sound doesn't work for me.

[TAC]

Bam! Four 3's in a row!!

[TAC]

04. Awake

Number 1 finishes: 8
Last place finishes: 0
Average finish: 4.5

I had Awake at #4.

I remember being a bit thrown whe this came out. It wasn't until the 4th track, Erotomania, that I get interested. 6:00 and CIAW are still relative outliers for me and I've come to really like Innocence Faded. Scarred (#3) and Spave Dye Vest (#5), are two of my Top 5 tracks.


15. Falling Into Infinity
14. Dream Theater
13.
12. Distance Over Time
11. Systematic Chaos
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
9. Octavarium
8. Train Of Thought
7. The Astonishing
6. A View From The Top Of The World
5. When Dream and Day Unite
4. Awake
3.  A Dramatic Turn Of Events
2.   
1.

[KevShmev]

I love Moore's dark sound and I think this touch is album's signature.

I agree entirely. The darker vibe on that album, to me, is a perfect compliment to I&W. I know some in the band shit on "Space Dye Vest," but I felt that was a great closer to the record and that whole darker vibe.

I think Portnoy was the only who said anything bad about Space Dye Vest, and that was only because he was hurt that Moore declined his offer to play with the band again.  LaBrie, Petrucci and Rudess (who wasn't in the band at the time) have had very positive things to say about it, and Myung rarely speaks, so there ya go. 

[pg1067]

I think Portnoy was the only who said anything bad about Space Dye Vest, and that was only because he was hurt that Moore declined his offer to play with the band again.  LaBrie, Petrucci and Rudess (who wasn't in the band at the time) have had very positive things to say about it, and Myung rarely speaks, so there ya go. 

Hmmm...where have we heard this sort of thing before?


I always crack up at the video footage (on 5YIAL, I think) of JP playing SDV while MP (?) stands there spraying something (I assume it's string lubricant) on his strings.

[geeeemo]

Awake is 13 for me. I don't dislike it, I just like others more. When I was a few months into my DT discovery, I found Awake in my husbands cd collection. What!? He wasnt even into DT really. He had I&W, but had long forgotten about this. I felt like I hit the jackpot! (Funny, I could stream it any time lol) I was really into it for a while. Not all the songs but Mirror, Lie, Voices..and wtheck was SDV?..I always skipped 6:00, but then one day I let it run, and fell in love with it.
When I hosted my first DT USA pre-show meet-up, this was the album I played.

For now though, I am loving other things more. I am not a fan of Erotmania or Innocence Faded. But, I must admit when I listened a couple of weeks ago, I gave special attention to Scarred. Its a favorite of so many. I liked it more than I remembered and will be listening to it more for sure!

[Cool Chris]

A little surprised, and a lot disappointed, in this. When I saw DT had a follow up to I&W - which I still thought was their debut - I thought "There's no way they are going to top that." Well damn if they didn't surpass it. It was a lot to take in, but I loved it from the first listen. In 1992, I&W was everything my tastes had led me to at that point in my musical journey, and Awake was the next extension of that. I often say Awake and I&W are #1 and #1a for me, but doing this exercise made it clear Awake is the clear #1.

1   Awake
2   
3   A Dramatic Turn of Events
4   
5   Train of Thought
6   A View from the Top of the World
7   Systematic Chaos
8   Octavarium
9   
10   Dream Theater
11   The Astonishing
12   Distance over Time
13   Black Clouds and Silver Linings
14   Falling into Infinity
15   When Dream and Day Unite

[KevShmev]

Awake didn't finish behind number 3 by much, I will say that.

The handful of heathens who ranked it in their bottom 5 are to blame. 

[jammindude]

Just a moment to chime in that Lifting Shadows was already amazing. But that extended intro from the 98 fan club CD? PERFECTION!!!! I almost passed out from too many goosebumps. I consider that to be the definitive version now.

[The Letter M]

Coincidentally, today is Awake's 28th birthday! And it placed 4th on October 4th! Weird...

Anyways, given that it is its birthday, I may give it a spin tonight before bed!

-Marc.

[Mladen]

Coincidentally, today is Awake's 28th birthday! And it placed 4th on October 4th! Weird...

Anyways, given that it is its birthday, I may give it a spin tonight before bed!

-Marc.

That's fantastic. 

[KevShmev]

03. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Number 1 finishes: 16
Last place finishes: 0
Average finish: 4.2

The anticipation of this album was pretty high. Following the awesomeness of Scenes of a Memory, the question was: could the band keep the momentum going and follow up such an iconic record with another great one?  I would say they did.  Some of the songwriting here, especially on the first disc, is some of their most adventurous songwriting to date.  No, I don't think this is a top 3 album by the band, but I ranked it 4th by a pretty comfortable margin.

My top 5 songs from the album:
1. Misunderstood
2. Disappear
3. The Glass Prison
4. Blind Faith
5. Solitary Shell

[wolfking]

Number 7 for me.  Second disc let's it down but the first disc is where it's at.

Quite surprised at top 3 and especially 16 people having it at the top.

[WilliamMunny]

I had 6 Degrees at number 1 (along with a bunch of other voters)—to me, this is the band at their absolute peak. The album synthesizes everything I love about DT and features what I feel is the best production of any metal record I've ever heard. MP's drums have never sounded better.

[Podaar]

This is my #1, and not just for Dream Theater. For my tastes, this is my favorite album ever.

15   When Dream and Day Unite
14   Dream Theater
13   Black Clouds and Silver Linings
12   The Astonishing
11   Systematic Chaos
10   A View from the Top of the World
9   Distance over Time
8   Falling into Infinity
7   
6   A Dramatic Turn of Events
5   Train of Thought
4   Octavarium
3   Awake
2   
1   Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

[Lonk]

15. Black Clouds and Silver Lining
14. Dream Theater
13. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Systematic Chaos
11. Train of Thought
10. Falling Into Infinity
9. A View From the Top of the World
8. The Astonishing
7. Octavarium
6. Distance Over Time
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
4. Awake
3. ??
2. Six Degrees of Inner Turburlence
1. ??

Had this album at #2. Few years ago, it would have been #4 but it has grown a lot on me. Misunderstood used to be one of my least favorite DT song, and even that has grown on me. Just a great album all around, and disc 2 is just phenomenal.

[hefdaddy42]

This is my # 4.

It has a song that does nothing for me (The Great Debate) and another that doesn't do a whole lot (Misunderstood), but everything else is pretty much gold.  I also love the attitude of experimentation they took with this album.  Also, other than Falling Into Infinity, one of my favorite SOUNDING DT records.

Excellent, excellent, excellent.

[TAC]

Also, other than Falling Into Infinity, one of my favorite SOUNDING DT records.

It does sound good, I'll give it that.

[DreamerTV]

1   Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2   
3   Awake
4   
5   Octavarium
6   Distance over Time
7   A View from the Top of the World
8   Falling into Infinity
9   Train of Thought
10   The Astonishing
11   Dream Theater
12   When Dream and Day Unite
13   A Dramatic Turn of Events
14   Systematic Chaos
15   Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Damn this thing's going fast...

I remember vividly thinking, while listening to it on my grandparents bed in their house in Sicily, there should have been some printing mistake with my copy of Six Degrees.
Somehow James sounded different, and so did the entire band. Maybe it was because at that point - i purchased the album on summer of '02 - i was a fan since about a year and a half, but i really questioned whether i was listening to the same band who did I&W, Awake and Scenes - i had not heard FII at that point.
I was really confused by it, to the point where i wasn't getting it, especially the first disc. But the whole vibe was so interesting to me that i ended up putting this as my favourite album by any band i was, or am today, aware of.

Regarding the others i haven't commented about: especially regarding those from the MM era, but even all those past ToT really, there are choises they've made i really can't connect with. And they're becoming weirder - i.e. the main chorus of transcending time, or its instrumental section. They're not interesting to me, they're just weird choices which drags down cool songs.
I was surprised, well not that much actually, by where ADTOE ended up in my rank. Thing is can't stand most of its songs, BAI being one of the few i reaaaaallly like. At the time i was enthusiast by the general positive vibe surrounding the band, and the tour after that release was amazing - probably on of the best gig of theirs i've seen.

[nobloodyname]

Number one for me. Dream Theater at their most creative, majestic, peerless best. Simple as that.

Oh, and the artwork is their best by some distance.

[jammindude]

I had SDOIT at #6 and I think that's actually too high. Sometimes I think it's better than it actually is because the title track is so amazing. But disc 1 is disappointing.

Basically this album has two AMAZING songs (SDOIT and TGP)
Two pretty good songs (BF and Misunderstood)
And two not so great songs (TGD and Disappear)

But being as that the really great songs take up more than half the album, it ends up with a higher rank.

I pull out my single disc version of this from time to time. I hate the ending of Misunderstood so I use the radio edit version:

The Glass Prison
Blind Faith
Misunderstood (radio edit)
Disappear
SDOIT

I like this a lot better. But even then, I will often skip Disappear.  This would have made a fantastic 70min album if they had just chopped off the 2nd half of disc 1. (Starting with that horrible ending to Misunderstood) But we got what we got.

[krands85]

This is my biggest divergence from the consensus by a wide margin. I have it 12th, please don't hurt me  It's not like I hate any of the songs, I've just never been able to connect with the album in the same way so many others have.

Where the album suffers for me is that it only has one song that I think is really great - The Glass Prison (and I probably don't even like that quite as much as I used to). Having a few really strong songs tends to elevate an album in my rankings - even if there are a few clunkers - compared to one where all the songs are at least decent, but there's only one real standout.

15. When Dream and Day Unite
14. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13. Falling Into Infinity
12. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
11. Dream Theater
10. The Astonishing
9. Systematic Chaos
8. A View from the Top of the World
7. Distance Over Time
6. Awake
5. Octavarium
4.
3. A Dramatic Turn of Events
2. Train of Thought
1.

As mentioned, TGP is my favourite, a cracking way to start the album and the 12 step suite. Such great energy and just pure  Another song that's well overdue a return to the live set. The Great Debate and Blind Faith are next in my rankings, I remember really like the former when I was first getting in to the band, but countless other songs from the discography eventually overtook it. The latter feels like one I should really love, but for some reason I don't.

Disappear is a lovely, touching song. It's never going to be one of my favourites, but it's a shame they only ever played it live a couple of times. Misunderstood is my least-favourite from the first disc, it's certainly an interesting track, but it just goes on for too long.

I like the concept of disc 2 and it has some really good section, but like with the album as a whole, I've never fully connected with it. About to Crash (Reprise) is probably my favourite part.

In writing about all these albums - especially the lower ranked ones - I've felt like I'm being harsh on most of them and that they could probably be higher up my list and that's the case again here. But of course, you can't move everything up a spot or two or you'll be back where you started!