DT album ranking

[jammindude]

I had to think about this one.   Like most people, my list changes sometimes depending on my mood.  But I don't imagine my #1 ever changing.

1. OCTAVARIUM  (I have been a fan since 1992, and I consider 8V to be the single best representation of what Dream Theater is on a single album.  Other than the lyrics for The Answer Lies Within being a bit, "kitchy", it's a PERFECT DT album.

2. Scenes From a Memory (Nearly 8V's equal, but not quite)

3. Images and Words (it was my first love, I couldn't possibly place it lower)

4. Awake (the last album that I felt like I was the only fan in the world LOL)

5. Train of Thought (MP wanted to do a metal masterpiece that was like Master of Puppets or Number of the Beast....I think they achieved their goal)

6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - (The title track and The Glass Prison are masterpieces....the rest is just OK)

7. The Astonishing - (Unlike most people, I think it should have been even bigger.  Too many ideas seem not finished. But the most ballsy thing they've done in a long time)

8. DT 12 - (I give TA the slight edge for being more ambitious, but this is the most cohesive album of the Genie era)

9. A Dramatic Turn of Events (an excellent statement after the loss of MP....but slightly derivative, and playing it a bit too safe)

10. Falling Into Infinity (still a good album, but Lines in the Sand (their weakest mini-epic) brings it down some.  It would have been better as a double album as originally hoped)

11. When Dream and Day Unite (this would be much higher if not for the horrible production)

12. Black Clouds and Silver Linings (Truly boring album.  Two half decent mini epics sandwiched with a lot of meh.  A mild improvement over it's predecessor, but not by much)

13. Systematic Chaos (I never listen to this album any more.  Other than The Dark Eternal Night, I can't think of a single song I care to revisit.  ITPOE is easily their worst and most forgettable epic.  Part 1 is good, part 2 is too hard to stifle laughter to bother with.   If it was a Spinal Tap album, it would at least have some comedy effect....but considering they were serious just brings it down)

[TheCountOfNYC]

My updated ranking, with my favorite and least favorite song from each album.


01: Scenes From a Memory (The Dance of Eternity/Through Her Eyes)

02: Images and Words (Take the Time/Surrounded)

03: Octavarium (Octavarium/I Walk Beside You)

04: The Astonishing (A New Beginning/The Walking Shadow)

05: A Dramatic Turn of Events (Breaking All Illusions/Build Me Up, Break Me Down)

06: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence/The Great Debate)

07: Awake (Scarred/Innocence Faded)

08: Train of Thought (Stream of Consciousness/This Dying Soul)

09: Black Clouds & Silver Linings (The Count of Tuscany/A Rite of Passage)

10: Dream Theater (Illumination Theory/The Bigger Picture)

11: When Dream and Day Unite (Afterlife/Status Seeker)

12: Systematic Chaos (Constant Motion/Prophets of War)

13: Falling Into Infinity (Trial of Tears/New Millennium)

[BowlCity]

Great

1. Six Degrees
2. Scenes
3. BC&SL
4. Self titled
5. Octavarium
6. Awake

Meh
7. Images
8. ADTOE
9. ToT
10. Systematic Chaos

Never again
11. The Ass-tonishing
12. Falling Into Impurity

Never listened to the debut.

[Podaar]

Uh oh. You'll probably want to repair those titles. Soon.

[BowlCity]

Nah

[Scorpion]

Haven't done a DT ranking in a while.

1. Six Degrees
2. Awake
3. Falling into Infinity
4. Train of Thought
5. Scenes from a Memory
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. Images and Words
8. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Octavarium
11. The Astonishing
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream and Day Unite

Images and Words keeps slipping in my rankings. Not quite sure why that is, but I almost never come back to it these days.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Haven't done a DT ranking in a while.

1. Six Degrees
2. Awake
3. Falling into Infinity
4. Train of Thought
5. Scenes from a Memory
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. Images and Words
8. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Octavarium
11. The Astonishing
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream and Day Unite

Images and Words keeps slipping in my rankings. Not quite sure why that is, but I almost never come back to it these days.

Perhaps your opinion could change if you see the tour this year?

[ToT-147]

Haven't done a DT ranking in a while.

1. Six Degrees
2. Awake
3. Falling into Infinity
4. Train of Thought
5. Scenes from a Memory
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. Images and Words
8. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Octavarium
11. The Astonishing
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream and Day Unite

Images and Words keeps slipping in my rankings. Not quite sure why that is, but I almost never come back to it these days.

Perhaps your opinion could change if you see the tour this year?

Except we're ranking the studio versions of the albums in this thread, not the live versions..

[metrojam]

1. Scenes from a Memory     
2. Images and Words     
3. Octavarium         
4. Six Degrees       
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events 
6. Awake
7. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
8. Train of Thought
9. When Dream and Day Unite         
10. Falling into Infinity
11. DT 12
12. Systematic Chaos
13. The Astonishing

[ToT-147]

1- Train of Thought   

2- Black Clouds & Silver Linings 

3- Octavarium 

4- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 

5- Systematic Chaos 

6- The Astonishing 

7- Dream Theater 

8- Metropolis pt 2: Scenes from a Memory 

9- A Dramatic Turn of Events 

10- Awake 

11- Images and Words 

12- When Dream and Day Unite 

13- Falling into Infinity 

[Kotowboy]

It's about that time isn't it...


Great Albums

1. Octavarium
2. Scenes From A Memory
3. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
4. Images & Words

Good Albums

1. The Astonishing
2. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
3. Train of Thought
4. Falling Into Infinity

Ok Albums

1. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
2. Dream Theater
3. Systematic Chaos
4. Awake
5. When Dream And Day Unite

[MarkFitDT]

for me :-

1) Images and Words
2) Scenes from a Memory
3) Dream Theater
4) Six Degrees
5) The Astonishing
6) Octavarium
7) A Dramatic Turn of Events
8) Train of Thought
9) Falling Into Infinity
10 Awake
11) When Dream and Day Unite
12) Systematic Chaos
13) Black Clouds

Extremely difficult - the top 2 was easy as was the bottom 3 but there really is a hairs breath between the rest and can change day by day. Even the bottom 3 have some brilliant songs and better than what most bands produce but just below the usual DT level (imho of course)

[Renzo]

I'll go with:

1. Images and Words
2. Metropolis Part II
3. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
4. Octavarium
5. Awake
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
7. Train of Thought
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. Dream Theater
10. The Astonishing
11. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Systematic Chaos
13. Falling into Infinity

[CB]

Wow, 35 pages. I tried to post my ranking but I just can't. I'm totally baffled that you can rank those albums. My ranking would look different almost every day, my favourite songs are spread all over the albums and change as well. The only thing I'm quite sure of is that my 2 favourite albums now and for quite some time are SFAM and ADTOE.

[TheAtliator]

So if The Astonishing has the absolute best moments of Dream Theater's entire career, and also has the absolute worst moments of their career (in fact the only bad moments on any Dream Theater album) does that make it rank at the top or at the bottom? ...Or in the middle? 

[Phoenix87x]

1. I & W
2. Train of thought
3. Scenes from a memory
4. Awake
5. FII
6. WDADU
7. Self Titled
8. Dramatic turn of events
9. Six degrees
10. TA - I kind of wish it was just one cd instead of two, but hey, its still solid

11. Octavarium


12. SC



13.Black clouds

[Dream Team]

As a twist, I'll add what IMO is the most overrated/underrated of each album.

1. TA (overrated: Three Days, underrated: My Last Farewell)
2. I&W (Take The Time; Under a Glass Moon)
3. SDoIT (The Glass Prison; The Great Debate)
4. SFAM (Finally Free; One Last Time)
5. ADTOE  - would rate higher with better production (Bridges in the Sky; This is the Life)
6. Awake - (Space-Dye Vest; Lifting Shadows off a Dream)
7. WDaDU - (A Fortune in Lies; Only a Matter of Time)
8. DT12 (The Enemy Inside; Surrender to Reason)
9. ToT (Honor Thy Father; no real underrated tracks)
10. BCaSL (A Nightmare to Remember; Wither)
11. OV (Panic Attack; I Walk Beside You)
12. SC (most of them; Repentence)
13. FII (most of them; Take Away My Pain)

[Nachtmerrie]

1. SFAM
2. SDOIT
3. TOT
4. I&W
5. ADTOE
6. Awake
7. SC
8. FII
9. Octavarium
10. DT
11. BCASL
12. TA.
13. WDADU

[SeRoX]

1-Awake
2-I&W
3-SFAM
4-SDOIT
5-WDADU
6- FII
7-Octavarium
8-DT12
9-ToT
10- SC
11- ADTOE
12- BC&SL
13- TA

[Clancy Wiggum]

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Falling into Infinity
Images and Words
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
The Astonishing
Scenes from a Memory
Octavarium
Dream Theater
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Train of Thought
Awake
Systematic Chaos
When Dream and Day Unite

[JediKnight1969]

1. Scenes from a Memory
2. Images and Words
3. Awake
4. A Dramatic Turn of events
5. Falling into Infinity
6. Train of Thought
7. Systematic Chaos
8. Six Degrees of inner turbulence
9. Octavarium
10. Black Clouds & silver linings
11. The Astonishing
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream and Day Unite

[PixelDream]

Awake
Images & Words
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Scenes from a Memory
Octavarium
Falling Into Infinity
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater
The Astonishing
When Dream & Day Unite

[clitharj]

Controversial but........

Scenes
Images
ADTOE (pushing 2nd place)
The astonishing
Six degrees
BCASL
DT12
SC
Octavarium (root and octave apart)
FII (although hells kitchen is my favorite DT track)
TOT
Awake (vastly overrated by most on this forum)
WDADU

[wrighty]

Newbie's ranking:

1. SFAM
2. SDOIT (particularly title track/2nd disc)
3. The Astonishing
4. Octavarium
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Black Clouds
7. Images & Words
8. Train of Thought
9. Awake
10. Falling into infinity
11. Systematic Chaos
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream and Day unite

And if 'A Change of Seasons' were to count I'd put it at 7.5

[Peter Mc]

Don't hold me to this but here goes

Images & Words
Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory  (top 2 are set in stone)
Awake
When Dream And Day Unite
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Falling Into Infinity
The Astonishing
Dream Theater
A Dramatic Turn Of Events
Systematic Chaos
Train Of Thought
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Octavarium

[BeardedGentlemanHistorian]

1) SFAM
2) TOT
3) 8VM
4) IAW
5) SDOIT
6) BC&SL
7) DT12
8) Awake
9) ADTOE
10) SC
11) TA
12) FII
13) WD&DU

Ranking the albums was a tough thing to do and to be perfectly honest if I tried again next week the list would probably be different. The only ones that have never changed for me are my top two and putting WD&DU at the bottom.

[lucasembarbosa]

In no particular order:

Hors concours/godlike:
ACOS

Top-tier:
IAW
FII
Awake
SFAM

Awesome:
SDOIT
8V
ADTOE
TA

Good:
DT12
BC&SL
TOT

Meh:
SC
WDADU

[Jarlaxle]

1 - SDOIT
2 - 8VM
3 - SFAM
4 - ADTOE
5 - TOT
6 - I&W
7 - FII

Dramatic Dropoff

8 - SC
9 - BCSL
10 - DT12

Another Significant Dropoff

11 - WDADU
12 - Awake
13 - ACOS

Never been able to finish.

14 - TA

Those first 7 albums are all incredible, 8-10 are pretty good but have a few snooze moments, but also the odd amazing section, 11-13 are largely snooze fests with the odd good part, and TA, unfortunately, just isn't my thing. I appreciate what they tried to do, but it doesn't strike a chord with me, perhaps because my interest in DT has fallen to almost 0, starting from when BCSL came out.

[kaos2900]

1- SFAM
2- Awake
3- 6DOIT
4- 8VM
5- ADTOE
6- I&W
7- TOT
8- DT12
9- BC&SL
10- FII
11- TA
12- WDADU
13- Systematic Chaos

[BanksD]

The best ones:

Scenes From a Memory
Six Degrees
Awake
Images and Words

Not the best ones but still pretty great ones:

Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
Falling Into Infinity

Not Bad but only have a few songs I like:

DT12
ADTOE
BC&SL

Not particularly good ones:

The Astonishing
WDADU
Train of Thought

[IDontNotDoThings]

Time for an update! (parentheses are how much the albums have changed in ranking since my previous list)

Among the best of all-time:
#1. Images & Words
#2. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Amazing:
#3. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
#4. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
#5. Systematic Chaos
Really good:
#6. Train Of Thought (+1)
#7. Awake (+2)
#8. The Astonishing (+2)
I wish there were higher but DT's just too good:
#9. Octavarium (-3)
10. Dream Theater (+3)
Okay I guess:
11. A Dramatic Turn Of Events (-3)
12. When Dream & Day Unite (-1)
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh:
13. Falling Into Infinity (-1)

Edits: I'm indecisive about formatting

[Sycsa]

Albums that I really like and listen to without skipping more than 1-3 songs:
I&W
Awake
Scenes
Dream Theater (the highs of this album don't compare to the highs of many of the other albums I listed below, but the album wins on consistency)

Albums where I like more than half the runtime:
FII
ToT
ADToE
SDoIT

Albums where I like 2-3 songs:
Octa (title song excluded sans for Jordan's Moog solo)
SC
BC&SL
The Astonishing

Albums I pretty much never listen to:
Tempted to put TA here, since the couple of songs that I like make up about 10% of the runtime
WDaDU

[Renzo]

I admit my ranking has been changing in all of these weeks so here's my updated version:
1.Images and Words (10/10)
2.Scenes from a Memory (9,5/10)
3.The Astonishing (9/10)
4.Black Clouds (9/10)
5.Six Degrees (8,5/10)
6.Awake (8/10)
7.Octavarium (8/10)
8.Dream Theater (8/10)
9.Train of Thought (7,5/10)
10.A Dramatic Turn of Events (7,5/10)
11.When Dream and Day Unite (7,5/10)
12.Systematic Chaos (7/10)
13.Cleaning Out The Closet (6,5/10)
14.Falling into Infinity (6/10)
15.The Majesty Demos (5,5/10)

FII is the only album I am not into it and I would have rated higher The Majesty Demos if it had a re-recording with a better quality and LaBrie on vocals.

[The Walrus]

As of the time of this post:

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Images & Words
3. Octavarium
4. The Astonishing
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Awake
7. Scenes From A Memory
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. Train of Thought
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream and Day Unite

[The Silent Cody]

I feel that I was doing it before, but what the hell it changes anyway so I'll do it one more time

1. Images & Words
2. Awake
3. Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From A Memory
4. Train Of Thought
5. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
6. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
7. Systematic Chaos
8. Octavarium
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
11. When Dream And Day Unite
12. DT12
13. The Astonishing

As I remember FII was right after BC&SL not so long ago. First three is practicaly the same all the time....