When Dream and Day Unite is a perfect example of why albums need to be judged within the context of when they were released, especially when the band that made a particular album makes a paradigm shift later in their careers, resulting in their earlier works sounding very different then what they later became known for, and it also raises the point of how much having a certain name attached to a record can effect the expectations a listener can have of it. I would be willing to bet that if most people in this forum heard that album without knowing that it was Dream Theater, they would enjoy it much, much more then hearing it as DT's first album. WDADU has all the elements that shaped DT's core sound, but those elements are in a form on that album that is much closer to the band's influences and are therefore far removed what is now considered to be Dream Theater's signature sound. Rush, Maiden, Queensryche, Fates Warning; all these bands and more are present on WDADU to an extent unknown on later DT albums for the simple fact that John, Jon, Mike and Kevin were all so much younger and inexperienced when they made this record. Consider; WDADU was recorded in the late summer of '88, meaning that all the members in the band, except for Charlie, were only 21. Add on to that the fact that this was their first attempt at a professional recording, as well as the fact that all of the material on WDADU was written between '86-'88, the songs on WDADU are among the first serious compositions made by the band that would later be known to the world as Dream Theater. In many ways, the material on WDADU is the crème de la crème of the songs written by DT from their Majesty days. Considering how young the guys were when they wrote it, it's pretty damn good! I cannot think of any other group of guys between the ages of 19 and 21 who wrote material this advanced in such an early stage of their careers. I sometimes wonder if DT fans today would like WDADU more if the album had been released under the name Majesty, simply because the assumptions and expectations for the album change with the name, and fans would simply view the music as "Pre-Dream Theater, not
really DT". But with that Dream Theater name on the record cover, everyone assumes it to be cut from the same cloth as I&W, Awake, Scense and the others; and those fans are usually shocked to hear a very, very different version of the same band.
Another thing that needs to be pointed out is that WDADU does not stray far from the sound of the prog-metal scene of the 80's/early 90's for the simple fact that this is what prog-metal sounded like at the time. Listen to any prog-metal album from '83-'88 and you will probably hear something not too dissimilar from WDADU. Early Queensryche, early Fates Warning, Watchtower, Crimson Glory; all these bands sounded similar to this album at that point in time because the prog-metal scene was in it's infancy. Images and Words, Empire, Parallels and other albums that would later define and expand the term "prog-metal" didn't exist yet, and bands like Pain of Salvation, Symphony X, Opeth, Redemption and others were still a long way off from establishing (and therefore contributing) to the genre. In '88, Queensryche had
just released Operation: Mindcrime, Fates Warning had
just begun to branch out of their stylistic shell by experimenting on the No Exit album, Savatage was
just beginning to hit their stride with Hall of the Mountain King, and Majesty (DT) had just started recording their first real album! This natal from of prog-metal was
all there was to the genre at the time, so to expect DT to magically be different then the bands around them, including many of their biggest influences who were in their prime at the time, is simply ridiculous.
Of course the album has it's short-comings especially on the technical side of things, but by and large, this was out of the band's control. They only were given
three weeks to record
and mix the entire album, on a very tight budget. Considering the severe limitations, they did pretty well. Yes, it is a shame that the album sounds as dry as it does, but you have to take it for what it is. The same goes for Charlie. The mix is part of the problem with his voice, but there is also the simple fact that he was singing material that for the most part was written before he was even in the band (Status Seeker being the main exception, although the band did allow Charlie to go back and completely rewrite the lyrics and vocal melodies to Afterlife). Charlie is
not a bad singer by any means, his solo material, and his recent live appearances from 2004 onward prove this. But on WDADU, he was simply doing his best to live up to the band's extremely particular expectations about what they wanted the vocals they had written to sound like. That is no fault of his, and he certainly doesn't not deserve to be given as much shit as he gets for this record.
The reason I don't like the album is because it has an extremely corny metal vibe to it. Songs like Afterlife sound like they could be Sonata Arctica (check out 8th Commandment). Sonata Arctica is fun little power metal band, but DT should never have to sink to their level.
The melodies on practically the whole album are very poorly constructed, especially the vocal melodies. The production is terrible. Dominici is terrible.
By DT standards, there is little that this album has to offer. (in real world standards, WDADU dominates, don't get me wrong)
In all honesty, I can understand why a person would like the album, but I cannot see how a person could rank this album above any of the others.
Don't suffer from the common case of liking the oddball element simply because you think no one else does. I see this constantly, in people that say WDADU is their favorite album, in people that say Gimli is their favorite character in LOTR, in people that say their "political ideals" are different from the norm, etc. Stop lying to yourself, and let yourself like what you really like, without thinking about societal consequences. Remember, you're unique. Just like everybody else.
Wow, that wasn't arrogant or condescending in the least bit....
First of all, DT wasn't sinking to anyone's level. Sonata Arctica (a perfectly fine and talanted band, btw) did not exist at the time, and besides, DT, in '88-'89 were in their early 20's just like Sonata Arctica was when they were getting their start. First albums by any band tend to be closer to their influences simply because the artists involved are younger and less mature, and have therefore had little time to actually develop their own style. The kind of prog-metal Majesty/Dream Theater played in their early days is pretty much the kind of music many prog-metal band's start out making (just check out Circus Maximus' debut). It's kind of like the root of the genre, and while some bands do start out making something significantly different from the get go (Evergrey, Symphony X), most take their lead from the bands that came before. And as for it being "cheesy metal", it
is early prog-metal. I think a lot of people these today forget just how close to their Rush/Iron Maiden roots a lot of prog-metal bands were in their early days, and how a lot of young bands stay close to those roots when they are writing their first songs and recording their first demos and albums. There is nothing wrong with this, and there are some bands that perhaps should have stayed closer to their roots rather then taking their musical experiments a bit too far (Queensryche, in particular, comes to mind).
As for your accusation that people like WDADU just to "be different", I find that assumption highly laughable. Some of us really like that kind of old-school prog-metal, and some of us actually like it more then what passes for prog-metal today. It is a personal taste, and just because it is the minority view does not make it wrong in any way. Some may actually have memories of first hearing of Majesty back in the late '80's, and some may remember where they were the first time they were when they heard Operation :Mindcrime, and some are younger fans who just happen to like the music because even though they weren't there when it came out, it strikes a chord, and there is really nothing else in the world of music that sounds quite the same. Those early prog-metal records had a youthful exuberance, composed of equal parts ambition, talent, arrogance, naivete, and balls. Compared to the trends at the time of glammed-out hair metal and I'm-heavier-then-you! thrash, early prog-metal really stood out as something unique and different, and even those of us who grew up in the 80's/early 90's and didn't listen to bands like Queensryche at the time can still appreciate just how musically advanced it was for the time and place in which is was made, standing far above then-contemporary standards of metal. Personally, I wish there were more bands that sounded like WDADU-era Dream Theater, and I really strongly feel DT had something special in those early days that they have now forgotten. Not to say their recent efforts are bad, but something about WDADU simply sounds more earnest and genuine, as if they accomplished more
because they had less to work with, and perhaps the music meant more to them because at the time
it was all they had. Neither I nor anyone else who loves this album is lying to themselves just so we can look cool and be different. It has nothing to do with the album being "oddball", and everything to do with that form of old-school prog-metal simply resonating more with us, artistically and emotionally, then whatever trends the genre as a whole is following today.
Topic: WDaDU Appreciation (Read 24769 times)
