Images & Words (vs) Awake

[Vajra]

These are the two albums that most DT fans consider to be the golden age of DT, so I decided to see which one reigns supreme.

For me, it goes like this... each song rated out of 10.

I&W:
Pull Me Under - 9
Another Day - 7
Take the Time - 9
Surrounded - 8.5
Metropolis - 9
Under a Glass Moon - 9
Wait for Sleep - 8.5
Learning to Live - 9

Awake:
6:00 – 7.5
Caught in a Web – 8.5
Innocence Faded - 8
Erotomania - 6
Voices – 8.5
The Silent Man – 7.5
The Mirror - 9
Lie – 6.5
Lifting Shadows Off a Dream - 7
Scarred – 8.5
Space-Dye Vest  - 8.5

So on average, I find I&W to be a better album.

[Jamesman42]

IaW has my favorite song (Metropolis) and 7 other amazing songs (well, PMU is less than amazing, but it sets the TOOONE)

[Metabog]

Awake.

[Gadough]

EASILY Images and Words. Awake is one of my least favorite DT albums.

[Adami]

Awake.

[Jamesman42]

Awake is a great album, nearly as good as IaW, but the only song I am not fond of is Lie, especially right after the bridge. First half of the song is cool, though.

IaW just has that magic touch to it, a brilliant mix of prog, metal, and heart.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Very good matchup. Images and Words is my 3rd favorite album and Awake is my 4th

[The Letter M]

IAW

Question to the Awake-lovers, had "A Change Of Seasons" been on IAW, would that have swayed your vote to it instead?

-Marc.

[BRGM]

My Choice is Awake, I really enjoy the mirror, and A Mind beside itself has something special too, Space Dye Vest is pretty cool as well, and that melody in the beginning of Innicence faded is great! Oh and Lifting shadow rocks and the intro to Scarred kicks ass...

I&W does only have Wait for sleep and the metropolis instrumental section and a couple of great moments in Learning to live.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Awake by a gigantic margin.

[pogoowner]

Images and Words. It's close, though.

[Jaffa]

Images and Words.  

Why, I couldn't really explain.  Both albums have songs I love.  The difference is, Awake also has songs I don't love, whereas I&W... it's one favorite after another for me.  

[wolfking]

Awake.

[krands85]

Easy choice for me, Images and Words is my favourite album by anyone. Awake is probably only my 5th favourite DT album - it's very good, consistent with no songs that I don't really like, but there's no real stand-out songs for me that make my top 20 favourite DT tracks.

As for ratings out of 10, Awake doesn't have any 9s or 10s, but everything is probably between 6-8.

Images and Words:

Pull me Under - 8
Another Day - 7.5
Take the Time - 9.5
Surrounded - 7
Metropolis Part 1 - 10
Under a Glass Moon - 8.5
Wait for Sleep - 6
Learning to Live - 10

[Infinite Cactus]

Awake. But they are both top 2 for sure.

Pull Me Under - 8.5
Another Day - 8
Take the Time - 10
Surrounded - 10
Metropolis - 10
Under a Glass Moon - 8
Wait for Sleep - 8
Learning to Live - 8

Awake:
6:00 – 9
Caught in a Web – 9
Innocence Faded - 10
Erotomania - 8.5
Voices – 9.5
The Silent Man – 8
The Mirror - 8.5
Lie – 10
Lifting Shadows Off a Dream - 10
Scarred – 10
Space-Dye Vest  - 8.5

[Vajra]

Awake. But they are both top 2 for sure.

Pull Me Under - 8.5
Another Day - 8
Take the Time - 10
Surrounded - 10
Metropolis - 10
Under a Glass Moon - 8
Wait for Sleep - 8
Learning to Live - 8

Awake:
6:00 – 9
Caught in a Web – 9
Innocence Faded - 10
Erotomania - 8.5
Voices – 9.5
The Silent Man – 8
The Mirror - 8.5
Lie – 10
Lifting Shadows Off a Dream - 10
Scarred – 10
Space-Dye Vest  - 8.5

I'm curious, what about Innocence Faded and Lifting Shadows do you find makes them a 10? Not criticising your choices at all, I'm just geniunely curious, since while those songs are good, I never found them to be near-perfect.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Mine:

Images:
Pull me Under: 8
Another Day: 2
Take the Time: 7
Surrounded: 9
Metropolis: 10
Under a Glass Moon: 10
Wait for Sleep: 4
Learning to Live: 9.5

Awake:
6:00: 10
Caught in a Web: 8
Innocence Faded: 7.5
Erotomania: 10
Voices: 10
The Silent Man: 9
The Mirror: 7
Lie: 9
Lifting Shadows Off a Dream: 9
Scarred: 10 (wanna put 11)
Space Dye Vest: 10

[energythief]

~Images and Words~
Pull Me Under: 10
Another Day: 8
Take the Time: 9
Surrounded: 9.5
Metropolis Pt 1: 10
Under a Glass Moon: 10
Wait for Sleep: 10
Learning to Live: 9.5

~Awake~
6:00: 6
Caught in a Web: 6
Innocence Faded: 7
Erotomania: 9
Voices: 10
The Silent Man: 8
The Mirror: 8.5
Lie: 9
Lifting Shadows Off a Dream: 7
Scarred: 9
Space Dye-Vest: 10

I&W: Average rating of 9.5
Awake: Average rating of 8.1

I&W wins!

[j]

Awake is a great album, nearly as good as IaW, but the only song I am not fond of is Lie, especially right after the bridge. First half of the song is cool, though.

Boy you don't like the solos at the end?

Anyway I can't choose.  They're DT's two best albums, but for such different reasons it's hard to compare them.

-J

[KevShmev]

Question to the Awake-lovers, had "A Change Of Seasons" been on IAW, would that have swayed your vote to it instead?

Hard to say, since the addition of A Change of Seasons would have put I&W just over 80 minutes, so would it have been a double disc, meaning more songs would have been added, or would they have done a bit of trimming to fit it all on one disc? 

Anyway, my pick IS Awake, but both albums are perfect from start to finish.  Awake is just a little more perfect.

[ricky]

i can't pick. they are two totally different albums, with totally different sounds. i love them both <3

[The Letter M]

Question to the Awake-lovers, had "A Change Of Seasons" been on IAW, would that have swayed your vote to it instead?

Hard to say, since the addition of A Change of Seasons would have put I&W just over 80 minutes, so would it have been a double disc, meaning more songs would have been added, or would they have done a bit of trimming to fit it all on one disc? 

Actually, at the time of IAW, wasn't ACOS only about 20 minutes long (or less)?? That being the case, the album would not have been any longer than 75-77 minutes, about the same length as Awake.

-Marc.

[Metrovarium]

Images and Words most definitely. I like Awake, but there are a few songs I'm not too fond of on that album, while Images and Words has no song I dislike at all - my enjoyment for the album has actually been growing recently. My ratings for the album would look like this:

Pull Me Under: 8.5
Another Day: 8.5
Take The Time: 9.5
Surrounded: 9
Metropolis: 9.5
Under A Glass Moon: 10
Wait for Sleep: 9.5
Learning to Live: 10

[Infinite Cactus]

I'm curious, what about Innocence Faded and Lifting Shadows do you find makes them a 10? Not criticising your choices at all, I'm just geniunely curious, since while those songs are good, I never found them to be near-perfect.

It's cool, didn't take it that way, glad you asked. For me, Lifting Shadows really just hits me a certain way, I really like the imagery created by the atmosphere and lyrical side of the song. I used to not like it as much but it just paints a really beautiful picture in my mind. As far as Innocence Faded, its similar in that it I find the atmosphere of the verses very beautiful. The vocal melodies are incredible in terms of display of range and creativity. You get James crooning softly and then punching you in the balls. The chorus is catchy and I think it would have had better luck as the single instead of The Silent Man(I also feel this way about CIAW.) Lastly, the outro. You see, my favorite band is Van Halen hands down. And that outro just reminds me of if DT were VH (plus Journey). Its incredible, its technical and yet still has a melodic quality you can almost sing. Other than that I don't really know. I mean hell I like CIAW more than Learning to Live. So what do I know. If you saw my top ten you might shit with confusion.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

3 I&W songs in my top 25 and 2 Awake songs in my top 25.

[Global Laziness]

Question to the Awake-lovers, had "A Change Of Seasons" been on IAW, would that have swayed your vote to it instead?

Yes. As much as I love Awake, A Change of Seasons is my favourite song. Including it on the already excellent and close-second place album Images and Words would definitely tip the scales.

[Mr. Beale]

Easily Awake.

[Jamesman42]

Awake is a great album, nearly as good as IaW, but the only song I am not fond of is Lie, especially right after the bridge. First half of the song is cool, though.

Boy you don't like the solos at the end?

Anyway I can't choose.  They're DT's two best albums, but for such different reasons it's hard to compare them.

-J

I dunno...they're cool and all, but they don't do much for me besides show me stuff JP can already do.

[Jamesman42]

@OP: This thread inspired me to go listen to some DT...it's been a while.

[wammabe]

This is completely impossible for me to answer. If I ever made a list of top favorite DT albums, Awake and I&W would be in the same place.

[snapple]

Awake, by a small margin.

Awake feels more like a proper album to me, whereas Images and Words has 8 of Dream Theater's best songs...without much to bind them together.

[mittinagus]

Images & Words is perfect from start to finish...

Tin

[Jirpo]

Images and Words is maybe my fave album of all time!

[BanksD]

1. Images and Words
2. SFAM
3. Awake


I&W it is

[ResultsMayVary]

I love both, but Awake has more songs that I absolutely LOVE (plus it has more tracks than IAW), which makes it win for me.