Favorite 3 Dream Theater Albums, Portnoy era

Our polls can only have 10 items, so I've kept it to studio albums from Portnoy's era.

My picks were Train of Thought, Scenes from a Memory, and 6 degrees (although I really only mean the second disc). My opinion is that ToT and Scenes carry the most amount of emotional energy, although Images & Words comes close at times.

Train of Thought
I&W
Awake

I like Six Degrees but it's bloated.

I haven’t listened to enough of these to form a strong opinion.

Black Rider wrote:Train of Thought
I&W
Awake

You like Awake? I might have to give it another spin. I was so disappointed with it that after 6 months or so I snapped the CD in half and trashed it.

I find it to be their most metal album after Train and it's production is as good as they've ever had. I was surprised how much it was trashed at the time of release but it's different than I&W and I think that disappointed people.

Most metalheads I know love Awake. Maybe it’s been more positively assessed in recent years?

And who snaps a CD of perfectly good music in half, you monster????

I've only snapped a few in my lifetime, so that gives an indication of how awful I think it is!

From my memory the production was thin. I had never heard Images and Words at the time so I didn't have that to compare it to.

Obviously we have differing opinions! I'll give it another spin in the next week or two. Because, Black, you're probably more correct than me--you've listened to ALOT more music and I agree with your opinions more than others.

I knew a friend of a friend who bought St. Anger when it was released, put it in his car CD player, and a few minutes later rolled down the window, ejected the CD, and threw it from his car.

Funny Dream Theater story: 

Years ago I was working security and was driving around to our properties. I was in one of the housing complexes and pulled up by the dumpsters. Lying in front of the dumpster on the ground was a sleeve of CDs someone had thrown away. Since it wasn’t in the dumpster, I flipped through it. I found little of interest, except for two CDs: Spock’s Beard’s V and DT’s Systematic Chaos. I snagged them and then told my boss in case the guy hadn’t meant to throw them away and came looking for them. Turns out the Spock’s Beard was a little too banged up to work, but the DT worked great.

Sevenoneself wrote:I've only snapped a few in my lifetime, so that gives an indication of how awful I think it is!

From my memory the production was thin. I had never heard Images and Words at the time so I didn't have that to compare it to.

Obviously we have differing opinions! I'll give it another spin in the next week or two. Because, Black, you're probably more correct than me--you've listened to ALOT more music and I agree with your opinions more than others.

That's a lot of words to call me old.
The production is more like the prog albums of old like Yes or Rush, let's the instruments breathe if that makes sense.

1. Black Clouds & Silver Linings

2. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

3. Awake

DT were one of my absolute favorite bands for a long time. I'm still a big fan, but the songs/albums just don't seem to be as memorable/arranged as well since Portnoy left.

Agreed. I honestly don't think it's because of Portnoy leaving, I think they were on that trajectory already. But it is noteworthy that the cut-off happened at his departure.

My votes goes to Awake, Images and Words & Octavarium.

Glad this poll only includes Portnoy stuff cuz I just haven't been able to get into the band since he left.  Having a tough time deciding which three - I got the first two as I&W and Metropolis, but the third could go to Octovarium, Awake, or even Six Degrees.  They all have their ups and downs. Awake seems to have the most good songs, but I love the epic track on Octavirium and the two rockers.  Six Degree has the amazing tracks The Great Debate and The Glass Prison: two of their best long tracks, but I don't care for the title track and all it's parts except for one. 

Oh wait, I forgot about Falling Into Infinity which is a personal fav.  The ballads are terribad but it has great epic songs (one with Doug Pinnick). There's good rockers, a killer instrumental, and the incomparable Peruvian Skies.  New Millennium might be their best, most inventive song.  That's the pick.

It seems like Mike Mangini is obsessed with being a great technical drummer but Portnoy is obsessed with rock music.  He just knows how to write songs and his side life is just being a fanboy to so many other bands in almost every genre of rock.

Superjuice wrote:Glad this poll only includes Portnoy stuff cuz I just haven't been able to get into the band since he left.  Having a tough time deciding which three - I got the first two as I&W and Metropolis, but the third could go to Octovarium, Awake, or even Six Degrees.  They all have their ups and downs. Awake seems to have the most good songs, but I love the epic track on Octavirium and the two rockers.  Six Degree has the amazing tracks The Great Debate and The Glass Prison: two of their best long tracks, but I don't care for the title track and all it's parts except for one. 

Oh wait, I forgot about Falling Into Infinity which is a personal fav.  The ballads are terribad but it has great epic songs (one with Doug Pinnick). There's good rockers, a killer instrumental, and the incomparable Peruvian Skies.  New Millennium might be their best, most inventive song.  That's the pick.

It seems like Mike Mangini is obsessed with being a great technical drummer but Portnoy is obsessed with rock music.  He just knows how to write songs and his side life is just being a fanboy to so many other bands in almost every genre of rock.

I might start a poll on individual songs sometime soon, b/c, like you've noted, there's good and not-so-good on every album. 

Doug Pinnick NAILED the vocals on Lines in the Sand. I have a hard time listening to it live b/c nobody sings it like him.

I also love the song Octavarium; I think it's one of their best mid-length concept songs. Have you seen the live version with the cartoon character animation during the crazy instrumental part near the end?

I like New Millennium b/c Myung plays a chapman stick on that song. Very cool.

Images and Words is the only one I like.

Forgot one:

Superjuice wrote:Forgot one:

Well darn it! I don't think I've listened to anything on this album other than the title track and I did totally forget it when creating the poll.

Sevenoneself wrote:

Superjuice wrote:Forgot one:

Well darn it! I don't think I've listened to anything on this album other than the title track and I did totally forget it when creating the poll.

I've always considered it an EP.
It's basically just a 23 minute studio track with some live cover songs tacked on.

TZ75 wrote:Images and Words is the only one I like.

Yup. Me too.

I saw DT last week. I sorely miss Mike's charm

Images & Words will always be my fave DT album

oldschooldoom wrote:I saw DT last week. I sorely miss Mike's charm

Images & Words will always be my fave DT album

I watched part of that bootleg you posted. Looked generic and toned down (small drumset, no amps on stage, etc.). There were only a few songs on the setlist that excited me. So I won't be going to the concert that's near me (3.5 hrs away is near to me).

Sevenoneself wrote:

oldschooldoom wrote:I saw DT last week. I sorely miss Mike's charm

Images & Words will always be my fave DT album

I watched part of that bootleg you posted. Looked generic and toned down (small drumset, no amps on stage, etc.). There were only a few songs on the setlist that excited me. So I won't be going to the concert that's near me (3.5 hrs away is near to me).

I was underwhelmed. But I did stand and record PULL ME UNDER