My gateway album was I&W, when one of my mates lent it to me on cassette. Loved it and geez did it get thrashed. At the time, Awake hadn’t been out long, so I went and bought those on CD and loved Awake even more. It just felt a bit darker and more mature. Back in those days, I didn’t have much access to the internet which was still fairly new, so I was pleasantly surprised when a while later, I went into the record store and there was a new DT cover, which of course was A Change of Seasons. Those three albums got thrashed. A couple of years later, the local record store would put up on its coming soon board, and while I would constantly check it, I was pumped when I saw FII due soon. Picked that up on day 1, and have loved that album ever since. Seemed to balance Awake’s dark tone with this earthy, watery feel and a little bit more accessible. A couple of years later again, the same thing happened on that coming soon board, and this time it was Scenes. I’ll never forget putting in that album for the first time and hearing those recurring riffs from Metropolis. I was completely blown away.
To this day, wile Images was my gateway and I still love it, Awake, FII and Scenes are still my favourites. They are sonically varied enough (and interestingly all have different keyboardists). I actually really enjoy the MM era albums too, but those three always remain special to me…