1)
Dream Theater,
Images & Words (1992)
This is probably no surprise here now that we’re at the end of the list. Of all the previous top 50’s, I&W has shown up seven times (I’m actually surprised it hasn’t shown up more). One could argue that modern day prog-metal started here, and that most current artists were influenced somehow by this release by a then unheralded band called
Dream Theater, with a new lead singer. My first introduction to DT was actually
A Fortune In Lies and
The Killing Hand, which were enough to thoroughly pique my interest, and I went out and got I&W. It was 1996, so there were only a few of choices available in the bin at the local CD shop, and this is what I chose. Man, good thing I did (because it took me a while to appreciate
Awake). This album is about as close to absolute perfection as an album can get (for me). Just look at the DT Survivor history (and 2009 song and album rankings in the Archive section)…
Learning to Live, Metropolis Pt 1, and
Take The Time consistently in the Top 10… and the painful woes that other songs keep getting left out because only the Top 3 per album make the finals.
UAGM and
Surrounded would be in DT’s Top 25 as well if not for the sheer awesomeness of I&W. I ran a Survivor a couple of years ago about DT’s best individual “moments”… things like the best guitar solo (live/studio), best unison, best instrumental section, best riffs etc… I&W’s songs showed up 33 times - more than any other album. Moments such the instrumental from
Metropolis, the
Surrounded guitar solo from
Chaos in Motion, the
UAGM guitar solo, Kevin’s keyboard solo from
Take The Time … So many memorable moments come from this album. And JLB’s vocals leave me in amazement. You know all of the great lines:
So try another daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
I think it's time for a chaaaa-eeeeee-aaaaaaaaaaange
You can find all you need in your miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind
His shadow slowly fading from the waaaa-AAAAA-aaaa-AAAA-aaaaa-AAAAA-aaaaaal
I'm asleep but I'm so afraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiid
I hear kindness beauty and truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuth
whoa whoa, whoa; WHOA WHOA, WHOA ; WHOA WHOA WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
Whether in the studio, or from the early 90s live albums, he was the best on these songs. It sits atop the DT Album Power Game (remember, I wrote this a couple of months ago when the album poll was current). It’s DT’s most well rounded album… prog, rock, metal, ballads – no single style dominates. Creative, powerful, emotional, rhythmic, passionate, exciting, and every other desirable trait one can think of. What more is there to say really? You’re here at DTF, you know all about this disc.
Fav Songs – All of them … but Surrounded, Metropolis Pt 1, Take The Time and Learning To Live are "especially special".
And there you have it folks, another happy ending. Hope I was able to take some of the fogey’s down nostalgia lane, and maybe even inspire some of the younglings go have a go with something you didn’t know before.