favorite Dream Theater album?

[Sduibek]

I know we've done this before, but wanted to ask again now that Systematic Chaos has been out for a bit.

You can pick Studio or Live albums; I don't mind either way.

For me, I think if taking into account the album as a whole (listening beginning-to-end in one sitting) as well as the tracks individually, it's a tie between Scenes From A Memory and Train Of Thought. Images And Words is good, as well as 6DOIT, although they don't get nearly as much play time from me. Well, except Glass Prison. I love that track

EDIT: Actually, I think after TOT (1st pick) and SFOM (2nd pick) for me, Awake would be 3rd. I just pulled it up in Foobar and I had forgotten how many rocking tracks are on this album! I have it playing now


What say you?

[fuzydice]

Really tough decision. Probably 'Awake' or 'Scenes From A Memory.'

[gp_hebert]

Images And Words, no contest. Great blend of 80s metal and progressive rock with good melodies, tasty riffing, operatic vocals, and superb musicianship.

I wish they'd still make music like that, but nowadays, they're too busy copying Muse, Metallica, U2 and whatever they listen to.

[elliot42]

Ooh... too hard to decide. My most listened to albums would have to be 6DOIT, the climax of the guitar solo in Blind Faith at ~8:30 is always eargasmic. Followed by Awake, Train of Thought, Scenes from a Memory, Systematic Chaos and Images and Words.

^^ That looks like a good order for me. Pretty much all the albums get some play time now and then; the Live albums don't get so much time, but I do love Instrumedly on Budoken, especially when they break out into some Liquid Tension Experiment

[Kui4ever]

Awake is my favorite one.

[PWilson]

Scenes From a Memory, no contest.

[Gurck]

Here and on other forums, Scenes from a Memory is almost unanimously the favorite. Am I the only one who thinks it's their weakest conceptual effort and the middle of their lowest point as a band? The albums preceding and succeeding it are my next two least favorites (Falling into Infinity, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence).

My favorite would have to be Images and Words, but I also think their last 3 studio efforts were great.

[Sduibek]

Originally Posted by Gurck

Here and on other forums, Scenes from a Memory is almost unanimously the favorite. Am I the only one who thinks it's their weakest conceptual effort and the middle of their lowest point as a band? The albums preceding and succeeding it are my next two least favorites (Falling into Infinity, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence).

My favorite would have to be Images and Words, but I also think their last 3 studio efforts were great.

I think most of FIF is just bad. Mediocre songwriting/lyrics/vocals, wierd instrumentals, and some boring tracks. I think all around is was just a bad production/release on DT's part. I like only 1 or 2 tracks from that.

I love Awake and I&W, but they don't get as much playtime from me as the more "Metal" DT albums.

That being said, why do you like Octavarium and Systematic Chaos so much? As with FIF, I feel that all around these are mediocre releases. See my DT Rant thread if you want They (DT) are great at "true" Prog Rock (whatever you interpret that to be), and Prog Metal, but these new albums are not really either. They lack the energy and dedication of the older works... it's like they've gotten tired of making solid contributions to the genres, but are still going through the motions. Or maybe they've just been influenced by softer and less technically-talented artists in the last few years. Hard to say for sure.

Why don't you like SFOM? It's amazing.. cool vocals, cool story, cool that it is a "one song" album... just really nice. It's like a DT version of Dark Side. Well not really, but you know what I mean. From a conceptual standpoint I think it came from the same creative ballpark. I like 6DOIT for many of the same reasons. Also, Glass Prison rocks. The guitar solo and later half of Blind Faith is pretty awesome, and I like Misunderstood. Lastly, the final track on that CD is a good "ballad" of theirs.

Maybe you just don't like the "more rocking / Metal" DT albums?

[Patu]

Images and Words is the best.

Train of Thought and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence are very good also.

Anyways none of their albums is bad or even close to bad. They're all very good to IMO.

[Meliboeus]

Train of Thought, probably only for Stream Of consciousness, i really love that song

[Sduibek]

Originally Posted by Meliboeus

Train of Thought, probably only for Stream Of consciousness, i really love that song

Heck yeah dude. Everyone i've played that for, even people that don't listen to Prog Rock or Metal, likes it. That has to count for something

[RationalGaze]

Scenes from a Memory and Train of Thought.

The last three tracks off SFAM take me on a wonderful emotional trip. I also think that Finally Free is one of the best album closures.

I love the raw and bassy sound of ToT. I think ToT has a unique sound in terms of production in the entire DT discography.

Awake and I&W are a close too.

Inspite of Falling into Infinity being one of their weakest albums, that album has some of their best tracks. Peruvian Sky, Hells Kitchen and Lines in the sand (I like to think of these two as one track) and especially Trial of Tears are just awesome songs. I think that album is worth buying for those songs alone.

[Bryan T]

I haven't listened to DT in about 10 years. "Awake" would probably get my vote. I'm an odd (ex-?) DT fan, as "Space Dye Vest" is probably my favorite song from them. I have followed Kevin Moore's career post-DT much more closely than I've followed DT.

Bryan

[PWilson]

I'll have a good listen to Stream of Conciousness. ATM, it's Endless Sacrifice that really grabbed me on ToT. Love that song. But I listen to it often, and I can't stand Honour Thy Father (a lot of songs have become favourites of mine by virtue of being directly after the first song on an album that really grabs me, and gets some repeat play. Not so with HTF).

I actually think Octavarium is a very strong album. Riding on the back of the brilliant complexity of These Walls, most of the songs on the album complement it somewhat. Sure there's a bit of fluff in the shape of I Walk Beside You, but overall I really like the changeups and tempos on Oct. I found Systematic Chaos a lot weaker overall.

SFaM is my favourite for multiple reasons. I love, love, love the recurring riffs that keep bringing me back (to my home, heh). I love the entirity of Overture 1928, and bits of it are repeated throughout the album to tie it all together. It's got some great mixes of heavy and soft, esp in songs like Home. And then just like RationalGaze said, I still get goosebumps when I'm in the zone listening to the ending of that album. I find some of Jordan's jams a bit overlong, but there's no way a minor thing like that dethrones the album for me.

[Gurck]

Originally Posted by Sduibek

I think most of FIF is just bad. Mediocre songwriting/lyrics/vocals, wierd instrumentals, and some boring tracks. I think all around is was just a bad production/release on DT's part. I like only 1 or 2 tracks from that.

I love Awake and I&W, but they don't get as much playtime from me as the more "Metal" DT albums.

That being said, why do you like Octavarium and Systematic Chaos so much? As with FIF, I feel that all around these are mediocre releases. See my DT Rant thread if you want They are great at "true" Prog Rock (whatever you interpret that to be), and Prog Metal, but these new albums are not really either. They lack the energy and dedication of the older works... it's like they've gotten tired of making solid contributions to the genres, but are still going through the motions. Or maybe they've just been influenced by softer and less technically-talented artists in the last few years. Hard to say for sure.

Why don't you like SFOM? It's amazing.. cool vocals, cool story, cool that it is a "one song" album... just really nice. It's like a DT version of Dark Side. Well not really, but you know what I mean. From a conceptual standpoint I think it came from the same creative ballpark. I like 6DOIT for many of the same reasons. Also, Glass Prison rocks. The guitar solo and later half of Blind Faith is pretty awesome, and I like Misunderstood. Lastly, the final track on that CD is a good "ballad" of theirs.

Maybe you just don't like the "more rocking / Metal" DT albums?

Hrm, that's really not how I meant it to sound, I don't have a way with words I guess. I like all their stuff, they're one of the best bands out there currently. I only meant that I liked their first few and last few albums more. And yes, it's partly the rock/metal sound, but there are also some religious and political themes in those middle albums, and I'm just not down with that. If you want specifics you'll have to give me a few days to go over those albums, I've really only listened to each a few times.