![]() ![]() On their 1992 album Images And Words, Boston progressive metal band Dream Theater included the fan favourite song ‘Metropolis-Part 1’, causing speculation about the existence of a sequel. ‘6:00’ has some impressively fast riffing, ‘Space-Dye Vest’, contributed by outgoing keyboardist Kevin Moore, is a nice closer, and ‘The Silent Man’ is a memorable acoustic piece.īut at 75 minutes, there’s not enough substance on Awake to hold my interest, and I usually just cherry pick the highlights. More importantly, it doesn’t have as convincing pop hooks as Images and Words – while ‘Innocence Faded’ has a memorable chorus, often a song’s refrain is simply shouting the title at a higher pitch than the rest of the song. 2: Scenes From a Memory, although 21st century records like Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and 2005’s Octavarium are also well regarded.Īt 75 minutes, Awake is nearly twice as long as Images and Words, and it doesn’t have enough strong material to justify the doubling in running time. Awake tends to be their third most acclaimed album after 1992’s breakthrough Images and Words and 1999’s concept behemoth Metropolis Pt. I own three Dream Theater albums, and to me that’s perfect for this band – I feel like owning any more would reveal a lack of substance behind the facade and destroy the mild affection that I have for them. I don’t know that I recommend Images And Words per se – there are music fans to whom it just won’t appeal – but I enjoy its blending of pop hooks and progressive shredding, served with an extremely hearty dollop of cheese. On the negative side of the ledger, ‘Another Day’ drifts a little close to adult contemporary with its saxophone solos, and the closer ‘Learning To Live’ could have been trimmed. ‘Surrounded’ turns a beautiful piano piece into a full blown rocker before dropping back into ballad mode. Of the more accessible songs, the simplistic structure of opener ‘Pull Me Under’ works when coupled with the group’s blazing chops. ‘Take The Time’ effortlessly explores difficult rhythms, while Petrucci’s solo in ‘Under The Glass Moon’ was designed to be so technically challenging as to be impossible to copy. The centrepiece of Images And Words is the ten minute ‘Metropolis-Part 1’ a complex progressive piece full of insane instrumental breaks, memorable melodies and an involved story-line that was later expanded to create 1999’s album Scenes From A Memory. But the primary reason for the success of Images And Words is that the group have some straightforward, memorable tunes on occasion, balancing the more intricate and demanding pieces. LaBrie’s high pitched vocals can be off putting, but he fits in nicely to the sound of the band even if he does come across as soulless at times (it doesn’t help his credibility that he doesn’t write any of the lyrics) the purity of his voice on this record is often gorgeous. Dream Theater’s biggest draw-card is the member’s impressive instrumental abilities if you could prove that intricate solos and riffs automatically equated to good music, and there are music fans for whom this is certainly true, Dream Theater would be top of the pile. Unplugged isn’t without its good qualities, but I just don’t find Clapton interesting enough to be able to sit through it.Īfter their debut bombed, Boston’s progressive-metal Dream Theater recruited high pitched and operatically trained James LaBrie, launching this grandiose mixture of terminally uncool progressive rock, hair metal and AOR balladry. Most of the highlights are clustered in the second half of the album, and it’s a test of endurance getting to them through boring blues songs like ‘Hey Hey’ and the watered down version of ‘Layla’. Conversely the highlight of Unplugged is ‘Running on Faith’, the other song with the least blues influence, which has a touching gospel feel.Įlsewhere Unplugged works when there’s a sense of fun ‘Alberta’ is a light-hearted Huddie Ledbetter piece filled with rollicking piano, while ‘San Francisco Bay Blues’ pulls out a showstopping kazoo solo. Despite its overplay and inherent sappiness it’s not as terrible as its reputation warrants, even if it does reinforce the album’s adult contemporary flavour. ![]() Of course, the famous song from Unplugged is ‘Tears in Heaven’, a tribute to Clapton’s infant son who fell from his apartment. ![]() But with Eric Clapton, who is just about the least charismatic lead vocalist in existence, fronting Unplugged, it’s difficult to get excited about this popular live album. There’s a classy and restrained performance from his backing band, with dual acoustic guitars and classy bluesy keyboard noodling. Clapton also avoids his early career the notable exception is a reworking of ‘Layla’, which lacks the power of the original in this format. Jumping on the bandwagon of MTV Unplugged Specials, this live album thankfully steers clear of Clapton’s 1970s AOR hits, and sticks to mostly traditional blues songs. ![]()
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