I Listened To Every Dream Theater Album In Chronological Order

[la szum]

No reason why?

Actually, I wanted to see if I could challenge my own assumptions about what I thought I knew about the DT catalog.
They seem to get a lot of love (except for poor James!), and many believe they have maybe become a caricature of
their own greatness and have lost their edge just a bit. Even Ola Englund asked John in a recent "Coffee with Ola"
episode if John ever felt like he or the band was repeating itself.

So I started to listen to an entire Album every day. Sometimes two. I only took days off when I had band practice. It's
kind of revelatory. I liked albums and songs I didn't think I would, and sort of had to revise what I thought was peak
Dream Theater.

This is my post-listening ranking. Take it for what it's worth. And please no James jokes. Those are as tired and worn
out as the old men that spew them. Save it for reddit!


1. Images And Words: Without it there would be no Dream Theater catalog. It holds up. Big time!

2. Falling Into Infinity: Listening to it again now. Has some of John's best tones and playing on it, and the songs are diverse. Lines In The Sand!

3. Octavarium: This one surprised. The writing and arrangements are as tight as any album in their catalog.

4. Scenes From A Memory Pt. 2: They should have stopped making concept albums right here. A classic!

5. Train Of Thought: This is HEAVY Dream Theater. Punishing. Brutal. Brilliant.

6. Black Clouds And Silver Linings: Portnoy's last album with the band. Enough said.

7. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence: Has a 42 minute entire 2nd Disc song. How much more Dream Theater can you get. Indulgence at its finest!

8. Awake: I remember liking this more than I did this time around. It felt phoned in in places and disjointed. Kevin Moore's last album.

9. Dream Theater: Apart from The Astonishing the back end of their catalog is fucking great. I wanted to NOT like it. This is where my assumptions caved!

10. Distance Over Time: The production alone on the last few albums alone is worth the effort. Also, James and Auto-tune.

11. A View From The Top Of The World: Any other band and these albums would be higher

12. A Dramatic Turn Of Events: Mangini's first album with the band. Can really notice the drums pulled back in the mix and the keys more forward. Meh.

13. Systematic Chaos: Sorry, but my least favourite Portnoy on drums album. Just felt like a lot of wankery. Systematic Chaos indeed!

14. When Dream And Day Unite: Very Rushy. Very cool. Just a little too indebted to their Heroes, and not yet having found their own voice. Still cool.

15. The Astonishing: Why? Just aiming too high here. Missed the mark. The ONLY Dream Theater album I probably will never listen to again. Just a slog.

 

[JT]

I was going to chastize you for skipping that first album I'll take Too-Rushy over a lot of their other output. But you are indeed a brave soul for doing this particular challenge

 

[la szum]

I expected a chilly reception, but not this chilly.

 

[JT]

I expected a chilly reception, but not this chilly.

Nah man it's a cool challenge. I should actively listen to music more. And in bigger chunks vs. a song from whoever here and there.

 

[Gearzilla]

I Listened To Every Dream Theater Album In Chronological Order​

 

[DrewJD82]

My list wouldn’t be too far away from that. I just grew to love Awake more as time went on than I did when I first got it (it was my first DT album).

FII has always been high up my list and it’s been really funny seeing that album go from being roasted to becoming a fan favorite.

I should give Octavarium a listen again. I haven’t listened to it in it’s entirety since the day it came out, but I really love some of the songs on there. That was definitely my cut off point with them, though. I thought at the time it was just me growing out of that kind of music but when the next couple albums came out, well, when Portnoy quit and made his statement about wanting to take time off because things had gotten stale, I was in full agreement.

The biggest changes on my list would be Awake and Distance Over Time being higher up on the list. I really dig DOT and it was the first time I was listening to a DT album with a smile on my face in a very, very long time.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Wow!! I'm one of the biggest DT fans, and I don't think I could've done that. At least not every day, even with days off. Major props for your notes too! I would've needed to take notes as I listened, just to be able to keep things straight in my mind. And I definitely would've needed to use headphones to hear the nuances you mentioned.

What about A Change Of Seasons? Even though it has cover tunes...

That said...,
I love Systematic Chaos!
Your word for Awake: Disjointed, is perfect. I hear that too.
I too hear several "ideas" repeated, like using the root & octave along with the b7 and b9: As I Am, Untethered Angel, Home, In The Name of God, and probably a few others.

Maybe I should do the LTE albums.

 

[la szum]

Nah man it's a cool challenge. I should actively listen to music more. And in bigger chunks vs. a song from whoever here and there.

Man, I traded ALL social media (other than this place and another forum) for listening to music. Mental health win!

I start EVERY morning with music. No TV. No claptrap.

Trying to decide which artist/band to go to next.

 

[la szum]

I think James does great work in the studio. I know he has had struggles live in recent years, but who
wouldn't??

This challenge really led to me appreciating him more.

 

[JT]

Man, I traded ALL social media (other than this place and another forum) for listening to music. Mental health win!

I start EVERY morning with music. No TV. No claptrap.

Trying to decide which artist/band to go to next.

I applaud your efforts. I am on FB but am actively "on there" about 3 days a year. Just doesn't suit me. I can't say I am currently able to follow your TV example, however I know it's a ridiculous timesuck but I do enjoy me a good story.

 

[la szum]

My list wouldn’t be too far away from that. I just grew to love Awake more as time went on than I did when I first got it (it was my first DT album).

FII has always been high up my list and it’s been really funny seeing that album go from being roasted to becoming a fan favorite.

I should give Octavarium a listen again. I haven’t listened to it in it’s entirety since the day it came out, but I really love some of the songs on there. That was definitely my cut off point with them, though. I thought at the time it was just me growing out of that kind of music but when the next couple albums came out, well, when Portnoy quit and made his statement about wanting to take time off because things had gotten stale, I was in full agreement.

The biggest changes on my list would be Awake and Distance Over Time being higher up on the list. I really dig DOT and it was the first time I was listening to a DT album with a smile on my face in a very, very long time.

Octavarium was a total shocker to me. It feels like one of their more cohesive albums. It just flows. I think a lot of heavy editing
in a Prog Rock context can be a good thing.

 

[la szum]

FII has always been high up my list and it’s been really funny seeing that album go from being roasted to becoming a fan favorite.

I listened to FII again today. It has the widest array of tones from John. It's a tonal buffet! Soooooo tasty!

He even has some 80's clean tones, some funk tones, some sludgy Dual Rec inspired tones. His playing is
total fire on that album, too.

 

[la szum]

I applaud your efforts. I am on FB but am actively "on there" about 3 days a year. Just doesn't suit me. I can't say I am currently able to follow your TV example, however I know it's a ridiculous timesuck but I do enjoy me a good story.

No judgment here. I just did it for me. Total selfishness!

 

[DrewJD82]

I listened to FII again today. It has the widest array of tones from John. It's a tonal buffet! Soooooo tasty!

He even has some 80's clean tones, some funk tones, some sludgy Dual Rec inspired tones. His playing is
total fire on that album, too.

Yeah, pretty big departure for his tones but man, so many great moments on that album and that doesn’t even get into Sherinian’s tones and playing!

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Nice post!

I used to really enjoy listening to Dream Theater (I think Octavarium was the last album I bought so Im quite out of the loop now). I've since really moved away from that kind of stuff. I'm not sure how long I'd last now but I'm quite curious to try something similar and listen through on fresh ears.

 

[TubeStack]

Great post, @la szum !

As I mentioned in the other thread, I love doing this from time to time with a band and its catalogue. It's a really cool way to immerse yourself in their music and track the growth/development (and sometimes decline). I've done it with Zeppelin, The Police, ZZ Top, AC/DC, The Beatles, Van Halen, among others. Also became a hardcore Rush fan this way. Highly recommended!

Also, super cool to read your notes, even though I've only ever heard the first DT album!

 

[MindCrime]

I'm a major DT fan!! But for me, AWAKE is still a masterpiece. I have several of their DVDs with Portnoy & Mangini.

I also have Johns' Rock Discipline DVD. As far as I'm concerned...they're all master musicians !

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

SFAM was my introduction to DT. I really got totally in to it. Went back for the previous albums, and found a lot to like. But I always found the lyrics to be pretty bad. Like they were trying too hard to be high concept.
I really never got in to any of their other studio albums much. I had them all through the first Mangini album. But I found I really just like watching their live videos.

That's not unusual for me. Although there are many studio albums by my favorite artists that I've logged a lot of time with, live albums and especially live videos have always been my favorite.

 

[la szum]

Haha! The only one I want a Participation Trohpy for was The Astonishing. That took effort, perseverance, and stamina.

 

[la szum]

Great post, @la szum !

As I mentioned in the other thread, I love doing this from time to time with a band and its catalogue. It's a really cool way to immerse yourself in their music and track the growth/development (and sometimes decline). I've done it with Zeppelin, The Police, ZZ Top, AC/DC, The Beatles, Van Halen, among others. Also became a hardcore Rush fan this way. Highly recommended!

Also, super cool to read your notes, even though I've only ever heard the first DT album!

That's awesome! I recall you mentioning this.

Not sure where I am going to go next. I have about 12-14 hours to decide.