| CD Reviews Last updated: 11.10.05 Dream Theater Images And Words Tracklist: 1. Pull Me Under (8:11) (Lyrics: Moore, Music: Dream Theater) 2. Another Day (4:22) (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) 3. Take the Time (8:21) (Lyrics, Music: Dream Theater) 4. Surrounded (5:28) (Lyrics: Moore, Music: Dream Theater) 5. Metropolis, Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper (9:30) (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) 6. Under a Glass Moon (7:02) (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) 7. Wait for Sleep (2:31) (Lyrics: Moore, Music: Dream Theater) 8. Learning to Live (11:30) (Lyrics: Myung, Music: Dream Theater) Total: 56:55 Introduction Dream Theater had a respectable debut with When Dream and Day Unite, but the album had some shortcomings. Fast-forward to three years later to when Dream Theater released their second album, titled Images And Words. Gone is former vocalist Charlie Dominici, and in his place is James LaBrie. With a new vocalist at the helm, Dream Theater went on to create an excellent album that easily surpasses their debut effort. Images And Words is an album that is one of progressive metal's finest. Synopsis Images And Words starts off with �Pull Me Under�. To date, this is Dream Theater�s biggest hit, thanks to heavy MTV and radio airplay. It�s a heavy song that has a catchy riff and an even catchier chorus. The song�s lyrics, penned by Kevin Moore, were actually inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet. Next up is �Another Day�, a great ballad that contains a nice keyboard line, powerful vocals, and some catchy saxophone parts courtesy of Jay Beckenstein. The song's lyrics describe John Petrucci's father's battle with cancer. �Take The Time� is an excellent track that shows off the talent of each of the band members. The whole band plays extremely well, with Petrucci playing fast riffs, Myung going crazy on the bass, Portnoy providing quick drumming, and LaBrie showing off his wide vocal range. The song also features a kick ass keyboard solo by Kevin Moore. "Take The Time" is also the only Dream Theater song to date that has lyrics credited to the entire band. �Surrounded� is up next. It's a beautiful, uplifitng type song that includes a lot of excellent keyboard parts. In my opinion, this song has some of James�s best singing on the entire album. Kevin Moore also wrote the lyrics to this song. Next up is �Metropolis, Pt.1: The Miracle And The Sleeper�. This is one of my favorite Dream Theater songs. Fans go crazy when the band plays this live. The song flows together exceedingly well. John Myung has a crazy bass solo, and Petrucci and Moore share an excellent simultaneous guitar/keyboard solo. The lyrics are also intriguing and have an epic feel to them. After "Metropolis" ends, �Under A Glass Moon� kicks in. LaBrie shows off how high his vocal range get get to. The song also features yet another awesome solo courtesy of John Petrucci. �Wait For Sleep� is a slow and haunting ballad that only features keyboards and vocals. LaBrie sings really well here. This track is kind of an intro to the next song. The album closes with the epic opus �Learning To Live�, which has outstanding lyrics penned by John Myung and a superb performance from the entire band. Kevin Moore has a very cool keyboard solo here, which features a rendition of the main piano part of �Wait For Sleep� right before it. LaBrie�s vocals shine once again. Overall, "Learning To Live" is a really great closer to the album. Highlights �Take the Time�, �Metropolis, Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper�, �Learning to Live� Bottom Line Images And Words proves to be an outstanding album. If you�re a fan of Dream Theater, you should already own this album. If you don't, definitely go and check it out; you�re missing out on some of their best work. I would definitely recommend this album to someone who wants to get into the band. Final Grade: 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. |
| Images And Words Album line-up: James LaBrie - Lead and background vocals Kevin Moore - Keyboards John Myung - Bass John Petrucci - Guitars Mike Portnoy - Drums and percussion Additional Personnel: Jay Beckenstein - Soprano sax on "Another Day" Release Year: 1992 Label: ATCO Records Produced by: David Prater |
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