| CD Reviews Last updated: 9.27.05 Dream Theater Awake Tracklist: 1. 6:00 (5:31) (Lyrics: Moore, Music: Dream Theater) 2. Caught In A Web (5:28) (Lyrics: LaBrie/Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) 3. Innocence Faded (5:42) (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) A Mind Beside Itself: 4. I. Erotomania (6:44) (Music: Dream Theater) 5. II. Voices (9:53) (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) 6. III. The Silent Man (3:47) (Lyrics, Music: Petrucci) 7. The Mirror (6:45) (Lyrics: Portnoy, Music: Dream Theater) 8. Lie (6:33) (Lyrics: Moore, Music: Dream Theater) 9. Lifting Shadows Off A Dream (6:05) (Lyrics: Myung, Music: Dream Theater) 10. Scarred (10:59) (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) 11. Space-Dye Vest (7:29) (Lyrics, Music: Moore) Total: 1:15:01 Introduction: Following their highly successful sophomore album, Images And Words, and their first live album, Live At The Marquee (released only in Japan and Europe), fans were eagerly anticipating their follow-up album. In 1994, Dream Theater released Awake, which features a rather large mix of songs. Not only have the band�s instrumental and vocal abilities improved, but also in a lyrical sense, the band has never been better. This is truly one of the band's best releases yet. Awake marked the end of the band�s relationship with Kevin Moore, as he left shortly after the album was completed to pursue an independent career. Derek Sherinian was brought in as his temporary replacement, but became a full time member. Kevin Moore�s contributions to Awake, however, are relatively high. Synopsis: Awake begins with the fast drumming intro to �6:00�, a song that Kevin Moore wrote, rumored to be about his thoughts on leaving the band. Moore provides some unique keyboard sounds that are very different from the ones used in Images And Words, with enjoyable results. LaBrie sings powerfully, Portnoy drums rapidly, and Myung and Petrucci provide heavy bass and guitar riffs, respectively. �6:00� is a very good song, and is a great opener. �Caught In A Web� opens up with heavy guitar and bass riffs, with a synth line playing in the background. LaBrie sings really well here, both in the verses and the catchy chorus (�Caught in a web/removed from the world/Hanging on by a thread/Spinning the lies devised in my head�). The addition of background vocals, also sung by LaBrie, is effective and adds more feeling to the already powerful vocals. Track number 3, �Innocence Faded�, contains some interesting lyrics and is also one of the slower songs on the album. LaBrie�s vocal range is displayed well here, and his voice can get relatively high on some parts, but it works out well. The guitar solo towards the ending is really good. Up next is the �A Mind Beside Itself� trilogy, which is made up of three songs: �Erotomania�, �Voices�, and �The Silent Man�. The instrumental �Erotomania� is up first. It�s made up of several different riffs, and also has an infectious keyboard sound too. The tempo of this song is crazy; going from fast to slow, then back up to fast again, then slow, and so on. During the middle section, Moore plays a synth line that shows up on a few other songs on the album as well. Petrucci also plays an insanely fast solo near the conclusion of the song. Part II of �A Mind Beside Itself� is �Voices�. In my opinion, �Voices� has some of the best lyrics on a Dream Theater song. The lyrics are intriguing, although the exact meaning of the song is not that clear, but that�s kind of good thing, because that makes the song is open for fans to interpret their own meaning of the song. Anyway, �Voices� opens up with an eerie intro, followed by heavy guitar and bass riffs and loud drumming. LaBrie singing the lyrics solely accompanied by a simple piano melody precedes the loud intro. The song gets silent, but then suddenly gets louder and faster once the chorus kicks in. The middle section features spoken dialogue by Prix-mo, which adds a bit of emotion to an already poignant song. Not to be left out, Petrucci delivers an amazing solo as well. Overall, �Voices� is an excellent song, and is one of the highlights of the album. The final part of �A Mind Beside Itself�, �The Silent Man�, is the shortest of the three, and is also the slowest one. The entire song is acoustic, and LaBrie�s singing here is nothing short of excellent. Backing vocals from John Purdell add some additional emotion. The chorus is very memorable (�When there is reason/Tonight I�m Awake/When there�s no answer/Arrive the Silent Man�). The middle section features the melody from Erotomania that I mentioned would show up in other songs, and it before Petrucci�s short guitar solo, which is accompanied by a depressing cello piece. �The Silent Man� is definitely one of Dream Theater�s more accessible songs for most, especially for non-fans, but it�s a very good song on the whole. Next up is �The Mirror�, which features a heavy intro. Most fans will know this intro as a slightly modified version of �Puppies on Acid�, an instrumental Dream Theater previously played foregoing another song. �The Mirror� is a song about alcoholism, and is a predecessor of sorts to the songs �The Glass Prison� and �This Dying Soul�, two songs also about alcoholism appearing on subsequent albums. Mike Portnoy also penned those songs. �The Mirror� flows right into next song, �Lie�. Out of all the songs on the album, �Lie� is probably the most �metal� song of the bunch. It features a really heavy guitar and bass riffs, piercing drumming, and very powerful vocals, although the keyboards end up taking a backseat. Upon inspection, the lyrics are irate: �I wanna talk about lifelong mistakes/and you can tell your stepfather I said so.� After a fast outro, the song suddenly comes to a halt, slowing things down a bit for the next song. �Lifting Shadows Off a Dream� is another Myung penned song. And like his previous song (�Learning to Live� from Images And Words), the song features very poetic, somewhat cryptic, lyrics: �Lifting shadows/off a Dream once broken/She can turn a drop of water/into an ocean�. LaBrie sings the lyrics with deep feeling. And there�s an excellent guitar solo here too. �Scarred�, the longest song on the album, begins with a jazz-like intro, with Myung playing a low bass line with Portnoy silently hitting a cymbal. Then Moore comes in with Petrucci, who plays a solo with that signature Petrucci sound. This song is very progressive, going from that jazz-like intro I mentioned, to the heavy sound found in the verses, to the fast keyboard and guitar solo, to the slow sound heard in the chorus. The song slowly fades away with some fast drumming and gloomy synth line, which moves into the final song, �Space-Dye Vest�. �Space-Dye Vest� can somewhat be considered the �swan song� of the Kevin Moore era. And it�s a fitting end to this era as well; this is absolutely one of the, if not the, most beautiful and moving Dream Theater songs to date. Most of the song is simply James singing the striking lyrics to emotional keyboard melodies. Around the 3:17 mark, the percussion slowly comes in, with mesmerizing samples playing with the song. The song comes to an emotional close with depressing verses (�And I�ll smile and I�ll learn to pretend/And I�ll never be open again/And I�ll have no more dreams to defend/And I�ll never be open again�) with a slow synth line, which is followed by the lone sound of the main piano melody of the song. Some will say that this song is not like Dream Theater�s style, and I somewhat agree, but it is without a doubt one of their best songs. Highlights: �Voices�, �Lifting Shadows Off A Dream�, �Space-Dye Vest� Overall: While Awake is a bit of a departure from the music of Dream Theater during the Images And Words era, the band has successfully transcended to a bit of a heavier, more experimental theme, but without losing their sound or lyrical abilities. With songs that cater to everyone�s needs, ranging from heavier songs, to softer, melodic songs, Awake is a very recommended album. It�s one of my favorite releases from this highly talented quintet. Final Score: A+ Any questions, comments, submissions, or anything related to the site should be e-mailed to me: shadowdragonxx [at] hotmail [dot] com. Don't take anything from the site without permission. |
| Awake Album line-up: John Petrucci � Guitar John Myung � Bass Kevin Moore � Keyboards Mike Portnoy � Drums and Percussion James LaBrie - Voices Additional Personnel: John Purdell (Backup vocals on �The Silent Man�) Prix-mo (Dialogue on �Voices�) Release Year: 1994 Label: EastWest Produced by: John Purdell and Duane Baron |
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