Alternative track numbers?

[toashen]

Dream Theaters albums are perfect the way they are, but what track number changes would make sense and even improve the album's flow?

How about Images and Words opening with Metropolis?

[robwebster]

I always thought this'd work...

1. In the Presence of Enemies
2. Repentance
3. Forsaken
4. Constant Motion
5. The Dark Eternal Night
6. Prophets of War
7. The Ministry of Lost Souls

ITPOE makes a lot of sense as a first track, so I like that. However, it's really hard to follow up 26 minutes of heavy epic. You can't one-up that. So, do the opposite, and withdraw to something very soft and creepy. Which then swells up at the end to give way to Forsaken, until many of the rest of the tracks follow the same basic order as the original. TDEN into Prophets of War isn't a particularly difficult shift to get your lugs around, and TMOLS seems "right" as a closing track. Maybe even extend it past the fadeout.

[wolfking]

Octavarium

1. TROAL
2. I Walk Beside You
3. Panic Attack
4. The Answer Lies Within
5. These Walls
6. Never Enough
7. Sacrificed Sons
8. Octavarium

I just hate TALW as the second track.


Images and Words

1. Pull me Under
2. Take the Time
3. Another Day
4. Under a Glass Moon
5. Surrounded
6. Metropolis
7. Wait for Sleep
8. Learning to Live


Systematic Chaos

1. The Ministry of Lost Souls
2. Constant Motion
3. Forsaken
4. Prophets of War
5. The Dark Eternal Night
6. Repentance
7. In the Presence of Enemies

[ZKX-2099]

I almost made this thread...

[Perpetual Change]

1.) Constant Motion
2.) Forsaken
3.) The Dark Eternal Night
4.) Repentance
5.) In the Presence of Enemies pt. I and II.

I know... Something's missing!

[Jamariquay]

Hm. I'll do Awake.


1. 6:00
2. The Mirror / The Mirror (Reprise)
3. Erotomania
4. Voices
5. Lifting Shadows Off A Dream
6. Caught In A Web
7. Lie (edit)
8. Scarred /
9. Innocence Faded (outro jam)
10. Space-Dye Vest
11. Eve

Full version of The Mirror. CIAW segues into Lie (radio edit) like in OIALT. Scarred segues into the outro of Innocence Faded like they did a few times on... World Tourbulence? I can't remember. Eve is included, and I never much cared for The Silent Man.

Just as a disclaimer, I'm perfectly fine with Awake the way it is, I just wanted to try something different.

[toro]

SC

1. In the Presence of Enemies pt.1
2. Constant Motion
3. Forsaken
4. Repentance
5. The Dark Eternal Night
6. Prophets of War
7. The Ministry
8. of Lost Souls (I always thought that this song would be great as a 2 part suite, the instrumental part being  actually an instrumental song)
9. In the Presence of Enemies pt.2

[LCArenas]

I'll do SC.

1. ITPOE, I&II
2. Repentance
3. Constant Motion
4. Prophets of War
5. Forsaken
6. The Dark Eternal Night
7. The Ministry of Lost Souls

[perfey]

Of all DT:s albums I think that only SC is the only one that could have a different track listing. But I think it's alright as it is.

I always thought this'd work...

1. In the Presence of Enemies
2. Repentance
3. Forsaken
4. Constant Motion
5. The Dark Eternal Night
6. Prophets of War
7. The Ministry of Lost Souls

ITPOE makes a lot of sense as a first track, so I like that. However, it's really hard to follow up 26 minutes of heavy epic. You can't one-up that. So, do the opposite, and withdraw to something very soft and creepy. Which then swells up at the end to give way to Forsaken, until many of the rest of the tracks follow the same basic order as the original. TDEN into Prophets of War isn't a particularly difficult shift to get your lugs around, and TMOLS seems "right" as a closing track. Maybe even extend it past the fadeout.

Agreed, I think this change to the track list would work best.

[TheVoxyn]

1.) Constant Motion
2.) Forsaken
3.) The Dark Eternal Night
4.) Repentance
5.) In the Presence of Enemies pt. I and II.

I know... Something's missing!

I know what, the best song on the album.

[ZKX-2099]

1.) A Nightmare To Remember
2.) Wither
3.) A Rite Of Passage
4.) The Best Of Times
5.) The Shattered Fortress
6.) The Count Of Tuscany

Just think The Shattered Fortress should be in the 2nd half of the CD

1.) 6:00
2.) Caught In A Web
3.) Innocence Faded
4.) Lifting Shadows Of A Dream
5.) Scarred
6.) The Mirror
7.) Lie
8.) Space Dye Vest
9.) Erotomania
10.) The Silent Man
11.) Voices

Get the ballad out of the way early with moving Lifting Shadows up and I think have The Mirror Lie and Space Dye Vest together would work because of the different reprisals in them. I don't see any reason why switching The Silent Man and Voices would mess with the A Mind Beside Itself series.

1.) Pull Me Under
2.) Under a Glass Moon
3.) Another Day
4.) Take The Time
5.) Surrounded
6.) Metropolis
7.) Wait For Sleep
8.) Learning To Live
9.) A Change Of Seasons

[The Letter M]

1.) Constant Motion
2.) Forsaken
3.) The Dark Eternal Night
4.) Repentance
5.) In the Presence of Enemies pt. I and II.

I know... Something's missing!

I know what, the best song on the album.

"Prophets Of War"? 

-Marc.