Which do you prefer?

For me, it's definitely Images And Words.  Sounds incredible, LaBrie's voice at his best, no filler....

what bump? It's a new poll. 

No need to do that. 

 

Same here, especially the opening song with its awesome drumming and abrupt ending.

 

Pull Me Under

 

Honestly I would rank a Dramatic Turn of Events slightly above scenes

It had already disappeared off the first page thanks to our new friend bumping other old threads!!!

you can make a comment but don't bump it, usually we bump threads that have been away a while and are worth being given another chance, that's all. 

post Kevin Moore DT don´t click on me

Whereas for me Awake is way below I&W.  I would put Awake well down my list of DT albums....

I agree, the Moore albums are my favorite. 

I got into DT with A Change of Seasons, and worked backwards, so my next two purchases were Awake and Images and Words. Some of the music on those two albums is fantastic, and Kevin Moore is absolutely my favourite DT keyboard player. Buuuuut..... I can totally see why someone would have A Dramatic Turn of Events as their favourite. For me, it’s the most reminiscent of Images and Words era DT, but I strangely prefer it. Dramatic is top five DT for me, and Images and Words is not.

In fact, despite Images and Awake being two of my first three DT purchases, neither would feature in my top five DT studio releases, and Awake would only if I didn’t include Seasons (since it is considered an ep).

So, while I agree that in general the first recordings one hears from a band tend to remain among the most favourite, it isn’t always the case.

For the record, not including Seasons, my top five DT albums are probably:

Six Degrees

The Astonishing

Falling Into Infinity

Dramatic Turn

Awake

The Astonishing?  Just wow......
 

Octavarium

We all hear things with such different ears....

After BC&SL they have been lost, nothing to do with Portnoy leaving, just lost no direction. There are some/a few good songs but the rest are easily forgettable.

I'm pretty much done with James's vocals and Jordan's wonking on the synths.

And I love saying this..."The Astonishing was an astonishing FLOP!" 

Six Degrees easily my fave, especially because of the Suite on Disc 2.  Its the only DT disc, so far, that got repeated plays after I bought it.

Images & Words, very close 2nd.

Scenes from a Memory: a slow grower that's still in the process of growing on me.

Awake a decent album, but only 6:00 memorable for me (so far).

In my view the band found their direction after Portnoy left. Their last two featuring Portnoy lack direction. Mangini is a fantastic drummer, better suited to the Dream Theater style. We're never going to agree about The Astonishing. This is the Dream Theater album I play most these days. Their latest one is fantastic as well. Portnoy is better suited to bands like Transatlantic and Flying Colors. Now you can have the best of both worlds rather than follow a band with internal frictions. 

I agree. I think the albums prior to Portney leaving were the directionless ones. A Dramatic Turn of Events was a dramatic return to form, and easily one of the beat albums they’ve released, in my opinion. I think the following, eponymous, album is perhaps a little more disappointing, and is one of my least favourite DT albums. But in a way it’s no different to the classic “sophomore slump” that new bands hit. In a way, the band was new again after Portney left, and Dramatic Turn was an absolute belter of a “debut” that was always going to be difficult to follow. The Astonishing was the return to form on the third album, asserting the band’s confidence. And Distance Over Time is hardly a shabby album.

I think if Portney hadn’t left the band, DT would pretty much have slowly faded away. If they carried on, it would be a sad case of being one of those bands who don’t know when to quit, or a case of a band that doesn’t need to quit, but has to rely on their older material. Portney leaving gave the band a new lease on life, and yes, a new direction. The same can be said for Portney. Leaving DT was not just best for DT, but also for Portney. It was a win-win situation as far as my ears are concerned.

Yeah, we’re never going to agree here, but it just goes to show how differently we all hear music. DT sounded to me like they’d lost their “passion and whatever” in the albums before Portney left, and they were, to me, far more “by numbers” (a phrase I’m not a fan of, so am using only because I am comparing how you feel to me) than what came after he left. For me, Portney leaving was a fight or flight moment for DT, and seemed to put some new fire in their belly. A Dramatic Turn of Events was a brilliant kick in the pants for a band I had started to lose interest and faith in. 

Regarding Portney’s exploits outside DT, I’m not a fan, but I never really was. Some I enjoy more than others, but ultimately for me, I like Portney best when he plays with DT. That may seem somewhat contradictory to what I wrote above, but it honestly isn’t. DT were becoming, for lack of better words, boring and uninspired, and that was taking its toll on Portney. He needed to take a break from that band, and concentrate on other projects. I think if the band had agreed to go on hiatus, then when they came back, they would have come back stronger, so in a way it’s a shame they could not come to an agreement. But if they had done that, I don’t think we’d ever have seen something like The Astonishing, and I love that album.

As for James LaBrie, he’s easily one of the most important parts of DT for me. The music is all very much technical w**kery, and LaBrie give it a human voice, and it’s a perfect match. I can’t think of any other prog metal singer that would work as well, and provide the contrast and particularly quality LaBrie brings to the band. And I’ve never understood what people don’t like about his voice either. I love the sound and tone of his vocals. He’s easily one of my favourite prog metal vocals, and if talking about prog metal as PA describes it (separate from other prog metal genres where incredible vocalists like Maynard J Keenan reside), he’s probably my favourite prog metal vocalists - with only Warrel Dane coming to mind as possibly coming close.

Like I say, we all hear things differently. It’s nice to be able to discuss the differences here, though. In other places, there’s no way such disagreement could be so civil and polite! 😄

Agree, the albums prior to Portnoy leaving, especially the last two were just extremely messy and all over the map with Portnoy being seemingly incessant as far as throwing his terrible vocals on top of every song. Literally every time he opens his mouth between those two records it detracts from whatever song its on. He tries to do some guttural growls on some songs and just ends up sounding like a cartoon bully tough guy voice. He can pull of backing vocals but on those albums sometimes it feels like he's battling James for lead vocals. But yeah, Dramatic Turn of Events was a major return to form packing some of their best songs ever, they finally dropped the cringe worthy and dated elements of 2000s metal. Self titled, I know its the low hanging fruit but man that drum sound gets so distracting, Illumination Theory is a brilliant song though, honestly maybe my favorite DT epic. The Astonishing I just cannot convince myself to like, but I really enjoy Distance Over Time and it's not too far behind Dramatic Turn of Events in my rankings

I really feel that on Dramatic Turn Of Events they push some of the structures and fills to their limits and there's times where its just balls to the wall, however they still got those catchy and melodic hooks, look no further than Bridges in the Sky which is a top 3 DT song for me. They're currently recording the newest album and last I heard Drum parts were done and Keyboard parts were nearing completion, they all sound super enthusiastic about it so i'll excitedly wait here with bated breath hoping they can get a top shelf release in the 2020s

But that is why Portnoy originally suggested a hiatus, not a continuation of what was going on. He (I have to assume) was feeling really tired and probably bored with DT probably 2-3 yrs before he left. These feelings don't happen over night, I think he was being very honest when he approached the band with the idea of a long (I think he suggested a 5yr break) hiatus, you have to appreciate that of him.

I can only imagine the frustration, stress and anguish he was feeling leading up to this I mean it was a band he started, you don't just walk away unless there is no other choice from a creative view. So I don't think it was an option he gave himself to stay if the rest of the band said no we are not taking a break, because to your point, he knows it would have gotten worse than it is now, so your reasons are what he was probably feeling and did not want to happen, but IMO some of it has.

I am sure today he is way more comfortable with the departure and the work that he has done, most of it with Neal Morse, and he has continued being a major force in metal/prog and as a drummer. I think he has been much more creative these past 10yrs than Petrucci/DT have been.

I'm a big DT fan, always will be but just like people prefer Gabriel era Genesis vs post Gabriel, I much prefer Portnoy era DT....There is just better cohesion then vs now.

I think a main reason the rest did not want to have a break is that I don't think Labrie had any other band options to record with to earn a living, I can only guess he thought who/what was he going to do for 5yrs on his own, a valid concern.......Yea we will never know what would have happened had they took a break, but had one of them not suggested a break and continued and try to work it out, it would have gotten worse than it is now.

Oh, we are actually incomplete agreement, I think. You’ve perhaps inferred something from the above post I didn’t mean, which is potentially clarified in a later post I made (which I will quote below). It is pretty clear to me (and yes I am inferring, because I have no real knowledge) that Portney was feeling tired/bored/frustrated in the couple of albums before his departure, as you say, it would not have been an overnight decision, and it had to be building up for sometime. A hiatus would have done the band wonders, and I am sure had they gone with it, they would have come back and blown us away.

But for whatever reason (and your suggestion it had a lot to do with LaBrie is not one I’d considered, but which has merit), the band didn’t go ahead with the hiatus. And it really hasn’t harmed either the band or Portney. Both have gone on to do what they want, and in DT’s case, they’ve made some of their freshest albums in some time, I’m not in camp Portney or camp Mangini, and it confuses me that people seem to feel the need to take one side or another.

Anyway, here is what I posted after the post you quoted, which perhaps shows you that you and I are probably singing more or less from the same hymn sheet.

nick_h_nz wrote: Yeah, we’re never going to agree here, but it just goes to show how differently we all hear music. DT sounded to me like they’d lost their “passion and whatever” in the albums before Portney left, and they were, to me, far more “by numbers” (a phrase I’m not a fan of, so am using only because I am comparing how you feel to me) than what came after he left. For me, Portney leaving was a fight or flight moment for DT, and seemed to put some new fire in their belly. A Dramatic Turn of Events was a brilliant kick in the pants for a band I had started to lose interest and faith in.  Regarding Portney’s exploits outside DT, I’m not a fan, but I never really was. Some I enjoy more than others, but ultimately for me, I like Portney best when he plays with DT. That may seem somewhat contradictory to what I wrote above, but it honestly isn’t. DT were becoming, for lack of better words, boring and uninspired, and that was taking its toll on Portney. He needed to take a break from that band, and concentrate on other projects. I think if the band had agreed to go on hiatus, then when they came back, they would have come back stronger, so in a way it’s a shame they could not come to an agreement. But if they had done that, I don’t think we’d ever have seen something like The Astonishing, and I love that album.

For the most part we agree, yes........Except on their new albums and especially The Astonishing, that's an overblown mess, other than that we are in same camp.

Yes we all hear music differently, which is a wonderful thing......BTW it's spelled Portnoy 

And yes, I’m well aware I’m in the minority for liking The Astonishing as much as I do! 🤪

All I gotta say is mad respek for this. I too would choose Falling before Images and Words and Im happy I dont have to be embarrased about it anymore thanks to you! 

I actually can't stand the astonishing but again, I genuinely love you can be honest about your taste like this eventhough you lived through the early days...

A kindred spirit!

you mean the Falling Into Infinity demos and yes, those are great. 

DT played Raise the Knife live, it's on the Score live album. A pleasant surprise IMO. 

1 - Distance Over Time

2 - Octavarium

3 - Image & Words

4 - Train of Thought

5 - Awake or Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Dream Theater is at its best when they try to make shorter albums focused on songwriting, IMO, hence DoT and I&W being my favorites.

"Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory" has always seemed to me to be the pinnacle of DT's creativity, from then on they have not managed to structure an album that comes close to it, although SDoIT's "The Glass Prison" is probably one of the best introductions of their discography, and back "Images And Words" and "Awake", despite being extraordinary, are one step below