AWAKE

When I first heard this album, shortly before it was released, I liked it a lot more than I do these days. Mostly because back then, when new prog was all but impossible to locate in the U.S., Dream Theater was possibly the only prog on a major label that wasn't just released as a loss leader. Echolyn and Altered State were both in the latter category.

Listening to Awake now, it's still good. There are quite a few proggy moments, even a couple of pure prog songs, but not enough to completely satisfy me. This band has done much better albums since.

And poor John Myung. He is an excellent bassist, certainly up to par with the skills of the other band members. Yet he is consistently mixed down, buried under the barrage of sound created by Portnoy and Petrucci.