1. Images and Words (best non-conceptual album)//Metropolis pt.2 (best conceptual album) 2. Awake 3. Six Degrees... 4. Octavarium 5. Train of Thought 6. Black Clouds And Silver Linings 7. Distance Over Time 8. Systematic chaos 9. A view 10. A dramatic turn... 11. Self-titled 12. Falling into Infinity 13. When day... 14. Astonishing
1: Images and Words 2: Metropolis part 2 3: Awake 4: A change of seasons 5: Systematic chaos My top 5. Nice video! And I think their most underrated is When dream and day Unite
Solid list my friend, we've got the same top 3! I didn't know whether to include A Change of Seasons because I think technically that's an EP? But I do love that one, I'd say that's their best epic (even better than Octavarium or the Count of Tuscany) And agreed on When Dream and Day Unite! The songs are so good on that one. Only a Matter of Time and the Killing Hand blow me away.
Octavarium and panic attack are so good. Wish I liked the rest of the album as much. It would've replaced systematic chaos. And yeah you're right a change of seasons is just an ep but I think it's the best 20 minute + song they ever made. Love it!
15.- The Astonishing (the only one I don't like) 14.- A View From the Top of the World 13.- Distance Over Time 12.- Dream Theater 11.- When Dream and Day Unite 10.- Falling into Infinity 9.- Octavarium 8.- Train of Thought 7.- A Dramatic Turn of Events 6.- Systematic Chaos 5.- Images & Words 4.- Black Clouds & Silver Linings 3.- Metropolis, Pt.2: Scenes from a Memory 2.- Awake 1.- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
A noble effort at an impossible task. I found your (Corey) remarks about Images vs Scenes interesting, mostly because I would say much the same when comparing Images with Awake. I've always viewed those albums as related, with Images being the choice for a "song by song" listen while Awake is my preference for a "beginning to end" experience. I think my own list looks more like your drummer's list, with Octavarium being much higher.
Awake is definitely a great beginning to end experience as well! The whole album is very cohesive. I thought Jeff made a good point when he said there was something almost hypnotic about it. But yeah, looking back on this the only thing I second guess now is not putting Octavarium higher, that album really is such a masterpiece!
My top is 1. Scenes From a Memory 2. A Dramatic Turn of Events 3. Images and Words 4. Awake 5. Distance Over Time 6. Systematic Chaos 7. The Astonishing 8. Octavarium 9. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 10. Train of Thought 11. Dream Theater 12. Black Clouds and Silver Linings 13. A View From The Top Of The World 14. When Dream and Day Unite 15. Falling into Infinity
OK. Just finished. Great video! Lots of fun yelling at you guys for where you put each album ;) It's a little sad how the top albums on your lists are older ones though. I will say that every Surreal album for me has topped the last one, so keep trending that way with yours please! I can't wait to get my pre-ordered cd! It's also not lost on me that all three of our lists are dominated by Portnoy albums at the top (no I don't want to start a drummer debate, I like Mike Mangini but I do feel like Portnoy plays with more feeling/passion than Mangini, but I think Mangini may be the nicer guy....) Wouldn't it be great if the next Dream Theater Album was all of our new number one on this list? Here's hoping... I do have the newest one at number 7 though, so that's pretty good. It speaks to me most out of all the Manigini era albums.... I hope they keep going! What a hard band to do a list like this with! Anyway, here's my list (probably different than most and also, unlike you guys, I was 22 when I first heard Pull Me Under and bought Images and Words, so I've been listening a bit longer than you and I'm also not as musically trained as you, so my rankings are based on how each album speaks to me and I did it as if I was on a desert island and I had to pick one each time - ie: which ONE DT album would you want if you could only have one, that's number one, now take that one away and then which one would you want if you could only have one, that's number two etc.) I assume that's how you did it too, but for some reason felt I needed to say it. Sorry! OK, here it is. 1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 2. Octavarium 3. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory 4. Images & Words 5. Falling Into Infinity 6. Awake 7. A View from the Top of the World 8. When Dream & Day Unite 9. Black Clouds & Silver Linings 10. Train of Thought 11. Systematic Chaos 12. Distance Over Time 13. Dream Theater 14. A Dramatic Turn of Events 15. The Astonishing And as mentioned, even the lower albums on the list are still great albums! One song I'd like to call out because the album was low on all of our lists and because I don't think you mentioned the song when discussing the album is "Forsaken" this is one of my favorite and most aggressive/raw feeling of all the DT songs ever written. i love, love, love the guitars and the way the piano interplays with the guitars in this song! Thanks again and have a great day! Oh, and what band is next? Spock's Beard?... Coheed and Cambria?.... Frost*?.....
All great points Joel! I was just talking about this a couple nights ago with our first drummer for Surreal (his name is Kyle, the one from the Breath Taken video). I think the reason the Portnoy albums are so much higher is because the whole band was contributing more. John Myung was writing songs, James was writing songs, Portnoy obviously was too... now it's more Petrucci running the show. And of course he's brilliant but I think the more input you get the more magical the end result turns out. That's always been my theory anyway And shouting along is all part of the fun. When I was researching I thought some of the other people's lists were absolutely crazy 😂 (one list had Metropolis Pt. 2 in the middle of the pack... what!?) but I'm glad you enjoyed the video and you've got a solid list too! I'd probably switch ADTOE and AVFTTOTW just 'cause that's my favorite of the Mangini era, but to each their own!
15. When Dream And Day Unite 14. Dream Theater 13. The Astonishing 12. Falling Into Infinity 11. Distance Over Time 10. A View From the Top of the World 9. Black Clouds and Silver Linings 8. A Dramatic Turn of Events 7. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 6. Systematic Chaos 5. Train of Thought 4. Octavarium 3. Awake 2. Scenes From a Memory 1. Images and Words
15. The Astonishing 14. Distance over time 13. Dream Theater 12. A view from the top of the world 11. When dream and day unite 10. Systematic Chaos 09. Falling into infinity 08. Black clouds and silver linings 07. Train of Thought 06. Octavarium 05. A dramatic turn of events 04. Images and words 03. Six degrees of inner turbulence 02. Awake 01. Scenes from a memory
I wish I didn't have to inclde The Astonishing anywhere on this list but 🤷🏼♂🤷🏼♂... I rather trade it for A Change Of Seasons but that was an EP, however if it was possible it would be somewhere in between 5 or 6. 01.- Images & Words 02.- Metropolis, Pt.2: Scenes from a Memory 03.- Awake 04.- Octavarium 05.- Train of Thought 06.- Falling into Infinity 07.- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 08.- A View From the Top of the World 09.- Systematic Chaos 10.- Distance Over Time 11.- Dream Theater 12.- Black Clouds & Silver Linings 13.- When Dream and Day Unite 14.- A Dramatic Turn of Events 15.- The Astonishing
@@SurrealOfficial Black Clouds was a hard decision to make. It has its great moments but a very missed opportunity with The Shattered Fortress which ended up being an ordinary cut and paste rifs fest 😖 I mean, we all getting that it's the conclusion of the whole 12 steps suite but come on!!! It felt like bringing unfinished homework to school and finish it before the class starts 🤣
15. Distance over time 14. When day and dream unite 13. Astonishing 12. Dream theater 11. A view from the top of the world 10. Falling into infinity 9. Systematic Chaos 8. Train of thought 7. Black clouds and silver linings 6. Octavarium 5. Awake 4. A dramatic turn of events 3. Six degrees of inner turbulence 2. Scenes from a memory 1. Images and words
My top 5 is easy: 1. Metropolis part 2 2. Images and Words 3. 6DOIT 4. Awake (I think I would put Awake equal to 6DOIT but it's just the concept of the title track of 6DOIT is great but the music are equal) 5.Octavarium (it got my favorite song so it's 5 but if it didn't it would probably be seventh)
My top 5: 1: Images And Words 2: A Dramatic Turn Of Events 3: Metropolis PII 4: Six Degrees 5: Awake I feel like DT since after A Dramatic Turn has been much less about great songs and more about 32nd note unison runs and virtuosity. I feel it should always be about the songs and less about the wanking.
Corey, you forgot to mention Take Away My Pain when talking about Falling Into Infinity, another great track on that album. Plus that's the only album with Sherinian. I saw them at The Chance theater in Poughkeepsie NY on that tour and Sherinian was the most entertaining keyboard player they've had in my opinion. Jordan and Kevin are both great, but Derek was the best showman in my opinion. PLUS! you get a guest appearance by Dug Pinnick.... I mean come on! I rank that album even higher than you did. I can't see that one being last on anyone's list... Sorry Jeff. I disagree. I'm only half way through... can't wait to see which albums are on top! Great video guys!
I love Take Away My Pain. It's such a cool song, and still in their kind of "catchy" realm. And "Forsaken" is my favorite off Systematic Chaos so I can't believe I didn't mention that either! There's so many great songs I didn't shout out in the moment, it's hard to remember them all on the fly when they have so much great material!
I think rather than saying "Best to Worst" perhaps it should be "Favorite to Least Favorite"... as any of us would be pleased have ever played on the "worst album" by Dream Theater. Ha!
Lines in the Sand is my least favorite of James LaBrie DT songs. Desmond Child completely ruined that song. Otherwise I enjoy FII. I&W and Metropolis Pt2 are probably 1&2 with BCSL and ToT vying for a close #3 for me. I don’t know, gotta put Octavarium at least in the top 5!. My main complaint about VFTTOTW is the very narrow vocal range that James brings. Very disappointing vocals for such great musical songs.
Right? Despite its issues Falling Into Infinity is a really diverse and interesting album, I don't know why it's last place on so many people's lists. And totally agree on A View From the Top of the World. I didn't know if it was a range thing (I'll have to go back and listen again) but as I told Jeff in the video, that one and Distance Over Time had the weakest vocal melodies for me, which is the thing I care about the most!
First DT album is always going to be a special one! Interesting point about it hitting hard or not at all... I know that it just didn't land for me the way they wanted it to!
I definitely put SFAM #1 (by a mile - Live Scenes from New York is maybe better), Awake #2, Images & Words #3. I put When Dream and Day Unite #15 (I wish I could rank it lower; I utterly despise the vocals - not because of "not Labrie", because they're beyond awful) and Falling into Infinity #14. I actually like The Astonishing a lot, for the pure "we wish we could do 2112" cheesiness of it. I doubt I could really rank the rest; while there are standout tracks on each album, to me, they largely all sound the same.
I totally understand putting SFAM as #1! I’m a little surprised you’d put Awake higher than I&W but as you saw in the video I’m a huge fan of that one too! Regarding WDADU I totally hear you on vocal quality, bad vocals can really ruin the entire experience. I think for me I’d rather hear amazing songs sung poorly than less inspired ones sung well (I’m looking at you Distance Over Time). But I do get why some people would put it last! What I don’t get as much is the hate for FII, why would that be 14 for you? Genuinely curious. Looks like we have similar thoughts on The Astonishing. There’s something to be said for the ambition, scope, concept, and cheesy fun of it!
@@SurrealOfficial FII is boring. It's as close to formulaic "can we get this on the radio" as anything they ever did. Awake is above Images & Words because of "Lifting Shadows Off a Dream" and "Space Dye Vest". The former is probably one of my top 10 tracks of all time, across all genres. The latter I just find astonishing (pun intended) in how the track is put together, in that elements of it that should be entirely un-musical are woven into a beautiful track. Oh, and someone mentioned A Change of Seasons. That's officially an EP and not an album, but I'd probably rank it #4 if it was an album.
@@tanstaafl2 If you love Space Dye Vest, you should dig into Kevin Moore's other projects "Chroma Key" and OSI (Office of Strategic Influence). Awesome stuff!!!!
@dwexelblat try listening to "Another Hand - The Killing Hand" on the live album "Live at the Marquee" this version made me want to go back listen to When Dream and Day Unite and I appreciate it a lot more now... I don't like the vocals on it much either, but the music is redonkulus....
I stopped listening to DT with Mike P left. I bought the self titled and stopped one minute into the opening track. Drum production SUCKED! I tossed it into the trash and that’s it.
Oh man Mark you’re missing out! Yeah it took a couple albums with Mangini to lock in the drum production, but there’s some really great stuff on a Dramatic Turn of Events once you get past that!
