Images & Words - a new DT fan's view

[ytserush]

Then along comes Dream Theater and puts out THE PERFECT ALBUM. It had everything I loved about music.
The Progressiveness of Classic Rush.
The Power of Iron Maiden.
The Vocal Prowess of Helloween

Other than substituting "Steve Perry" in for "Helloween", this is how I usually describe the 90's version of Dream Theater.   Rush meets Maiden with Steve Perry singing (which is a good thing).

That's funny! My first reaction to Images and Words was Dream Theater does Journey (Another Day, Surrounded.)

Of course I was on a steady diet of When Dream and Day Unite for almost three years at that point so this was a totally different polished sound that I wasn't sure I liked. Took some getting used to that's for sure.

[King Postwhore]

Then along comes Dream Theater and puts out THE PERFECT ALBUM. It had everything I loved about music.
The Progressiveness of Classic Rush.
The Power of Iron Maiden.
The Vocal Prowess of Helloween

Other than substituting "Steve Perry" in for "Helloween", this is how I usually describe the 90's version of Dream Theater.   Rush meets Maiden with Steve Perry singing (which is a good thing).

At the time I was looking for Rush meets heavier.  Man was I blown away by I&W.

[TAC]

At the time I was looking for Rush meets heavier.   

Who wasn't??

I had been looking for Rush Meets Heavier since 1982!

[Calvin6s]

At the time I was looking for Rush meets heavier.   

Who wasn't??

I had been looking for Rush Meets Heavier since 1982!

Although I was buying Rush CDs and going to Rush concerts with friends (they were the instigator, but they knew I liked them enough to go if asked), I wasn't looking for Rush Meets Heavier.  I was looking for Queensryche and Fates Warning with more keyboards and even less orthodox songwriting.  And I wanted the guitars to be even more aggressive, like Metallica/Megadeth (not all the time, but when it called for it).

Actually, my prog rock background was more in early Genesis than Rush.

[chaossystem]

It's funny you use the term "Rush meets heavier!" I was a fan of Rush for more than ten years before I stumbled onto Dream Theater, but I wasn't even THINKING about them, or at least not that much when I first heard DT. As I have said before, I was really into the prog bands, such as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons, Kansas, etc. But I also really liked some metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Queensryche, Dio, Megadeth and others. So I was thinking how great it would be if there was a band that could combine those two styles, but before about 1994 or so, I had no idea that such a thing actually existed. Needless to say, I, too, was blown away when it happened. But I never really made the connection to Rush until I read and heard other people (including members of DT, of course) talking about it. Then I was like "Oh...yeah! I SEE it now..." but-and I have also said THIS before-I my opinion at least, DT takes what Rush does or did and ads a lot more depth and dimension to it.

[King Postwhore]

At the time I was looking for Rush meets heavier.   

Who wasn't??

I had been looking for Rush Meets Heavier since 1982!

You shut your hole.

[Stadler]

Then along comes Dream Theater and puts out THE PERFECT ALBUM. It had everything I loved about music.
The Progressiveness of Classic Rush.
The Power of Iron Maiden.
The Vocal Prowess of Helloween

Other than substituting "Steve Perry" in for "Helloween", this is how I usually describe the 90's version of Dream Theater.   Rush meets Maiden with Steve Perry singing (which is a good thing).

That's funny! My first reaction to Images and Words was Dream Theater does Journey (Another Day, Surrounded.)

Of course I was on a steady diet of When Dream and Day Unite for almost three years at that point so this was a totally different polished sound that I wasn't sure I liked. Took some getting used to that's for sure.

It shouldn't surprise you then to know that "Surrounded" is one of my ten most favorite DT songs ever.  Just LOVE that song, studio, live, whatever (and the "Mother"/"Sugar Mice" interpolations just elevate it even farther, in my view).

[ytserush]

Then along comes Dream Theater and puts out THE PERFECT ALBUM. It had everything I loved about music.
The Progressiveness of Classic Rush.
The Power of Iron Maiden.
The Vocal Prowess of Helloween

Other than substituting "Steve Perry" in for "Helloween", this is how I usually describe the 90's version of Dream Theater.   Rush meets Maiden with Steve Perry singing (which is a good thing).

That's funny! My first reaction to Images and Words was Dream Theater does Journey (Another Day, Surrounded.)

Of course I was on a steady diet of When Dream and Day Unite for almost three years at that point so this was a totally different polished sound that I wasn't sure I liked. Took some getting used to that's for sure.

It shouldn't surprise you then to know that "Surrounded" is one of my ten most favorite DT songs ever.  Just LOVE that song, studio, live, whatever (and the "Mother"/"Sugar Mice" interpolations just elevate it even farther, in my view).

I love those arrangements too. An absolute favorite. How those songs never killed radio I'll never know. Especially when compared with what was killing radio then.





It's When Dream and Day Unite's fault that it took me a few months to get into Presto.  I knew I'd like it if given the chance, but I couldn't pry When Dream and Day Unite out of the CD player.  For obvious reasons it had a passion and energy that Presto will never have. (That mid-life crisis of a tour didn't help as most Rush tours usually do. I think that was the tour that went seven songs in before you heard anything new.)