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8-Track: Dream Theater

It’s very well known that every band you enjoy has songs that define them. These songs may not necessarily be their best, but they are the most essential when

9 years ago

It’s very well known that every band you enjoy has songs that define them. These songs may not necessarily be their best, but they are the most essential when trying to understand where they came from, and how they got to where they are now. This is the idea of our new feature series, “8-Track”. Here’s the basic premise, in a nutshell: We choose a band that we know has a storied history, and identify the eight songs that define their strengths as a band, musically, lyrically, and conceptually. This is not merely a “Favorite Songs of (Insert Band Here)” list, though for some writers, there will be overlap with the two. This list is meant to show anyone discovering the band songs that really speak volumes of how they are as a band, and songs that are essential to their development and evolution as a band. With that being said, our first band is Dream Theater!

When talking about modern progressive rock and metal, you simply can’t get very far without at least acknowledging the ground laid by Dream Theater. Their use of complex and shifting time signatures, longform and non-traditional songwriting, and exploration of grand lyrical concepts and themes is a common denominator for both musicians and fans of the genre to the point that, depending on what circles you travel in, have either become scripture or a parody of itself. The amazing musicianship of Myung, Petrucci, Rudess, and Portnoy/Mangini, the latter of which being the current drummer, still remains largely unrivaled, with many attempting to copy or best it but falling far short. Aside from grand concept albums though, they are also known for select songs that really resonated with fans, including the songs in Portnoy’s 12 Step Suite, the three middle songs on Awake, and so on. This list was compiled by fans of the band, who, after countless spins through their entire discography over the years, have chosen songs that not only help highlight the band’s strengths, but also show why the band has become so successful, revered, and influential in the music world. Without further ado, let’s begin!

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Images And Words is definitely one of the best sophomore releases of any band. With a new singer and tons of new inspiration, the band created a masterpiece, filled with some of their most memorable tracks. LaBrie was new blood, and gave the band a much needed push to help live up to the hype and make an amazing record, and that they did. No track on this record, however, perfectly captures the band’s current state of mind better than the album’s closer, “Learning To Live”.

LaBrie really has room to explore his range on this track, which is notable for him perfectly hitting a high F#, the highest note he ever hit. It’s truly a feat for any singer to achieve, and he did is masterfully. Also, he perfectly sings the lyrics written by Myung, which is another cool aspect of this song. Myung wrote lyrics in the early days, but then stopped until their last album from 2013, where he contributed on one song. Myung is the unsung hero in this song, whose bass work is immaculate, and whose lyrics are spectacular. Perhaps the best part of this song is the little latin part in the middle, where Petrucci deals out an amazing solo on an acoustic guitar that would make any flamenco player proud.

The song is changing constantly, shifting time signatures, shifting moods, and ultimately shifting how the band would be looked at. This was the band’s longest song at the time, and would be the stepping stone to longer, more experimental tracks, some of which you’ll see in this list elsewhere. At the time, the album was met with universal acclaim, and that still has not changed 23 years later. This song in particular, however, is the one that spearheaded their experimental side, and ultimately sent them down a path of prog metal glory.

-Spencer Snitil

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Awake will have always have a special place in my heart; it was the album which started me on Dream Theater. I had never heard anything quite like it before, the deep, sonorous piano, the moving voice, the powerful guitars. It features one of my all time favorite musicians, Kevin Moore, a genius who doesn’t write, record or perform nearly as much as I would like him to. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since Awake but it’s perhaps the most timeless of Dream Theater’s albums: it still has the same power over me that it had when I first heard it.
“Space Dye Vest” is the quickest way to make me cry. It’s an odd track: samples range from an obscure Canadian TV show to Conan O’Brien and Moore’s piano is laden with such a strong effect that pierces right to your heart. LaBrie also deserves honorable mentions here: his voice is surprisingly restrained, devoid of his usual operatic overtones. That’s exactly what was needed her: a personal and ground level guide through the mazes of this bizarre track.

Lastly, was Petrucci really into Sunn O))) at the time of recording this track? His guitars are insanely fuzzy, filled with a rich, feedback tone that I don’t think he’s used ever since. It’s the perfect touch for this track, adding flesh and muscles to this otherwise sparse creation. The overall result is a track that I feel will echo through time, sticking with me for as long as I need a place and a time to weep silently for the sadder things in life. It has become a sort of companion, a friend that’s always there for me.

-Eden Kupermintz

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Confession time: Falling Into Infinity is my favorite Dream Theater album. I think I’ve said this on the blog before, but it bears repeating: the blend of Sherinian’s industrial-like keyboards, LaBrie approaching the height of his singing career, Portnoy’s metallic sound, Petrucci still curbed by actual songwriting and some of the most memorable playing from Myung. What’s not to like? Despite a few hiccups in the beginning of the album, the tracklist is masterful.

I’m here today to speak about the best track from that album, by far: “Trial of Tears”. It is the epitome of 90’s Dream Theater: its blend of groove, Rush and technicality is so bewilderingly effective that I’ve been listening to it regularly since I discovered it 13 years ago. Divided into three acts, each one has its own distinct and masterful strong point; the first is the emotional opening, setting us up with the somber and personal tone of the track. While it doesn’t have the best lyrics, they get the job done, introducing us to the “protagonist”.

The second act is where things get interesting: its ending has the best Myung-keyboard collaboration in the band’s history. Sure, Rudess is the iconic keyboardist of the band, but Sherinian had a few tricks up his sleeves and this is one of the best. But the third act is where it’s all at: it opens with one of the best vocal/lyrical passage the band have ever written:

“Still awake
I continue to move along
Cultivating my own nonsense
Welcome to the wasteland
Where you’ll find ashes, nothing but ashes
Still awake
Bringing change, bringing movement, bringing life
A silent prayer thrown away,
Disappearing in the air
Rising, sinking, raining deep inside me
Nowhere to turn,
I look for a way back home”

All that’s left is for the ending climax to cash in on the emotional baggage so carefully constructed. This is one of the most complete Dream Theater out there: from start to finish, all parts are completely devoted to the overall mission of the track. It has a cohesion that many later, long tracks lack. It is a hidden gem in a hidden album, often overlooked and for no good reason.

-Eden Kupermintz

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When I was in high school, I spent entire weekends trying to learn how to play the guitar solo in this song. I slaved over it like no other guitar solo I’ve ever heard in my life. A lot of kids who play guitar obsess over established classics like “Eruption” or “Stairway to Heaven” when it comes to adding solos to their repertoire, but Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page never grabbed my attention the way John Petrucci did. I wanted to be able to sweep pick like him. I wanted to do scale runs as fast as he did. I wanted to be a goddamn machine like him. “The Spirit Carries On” was my Eruption, my holy grail, my Shangri-La.

Paradoxically, this is one of Dream Theater’s simplest songs. It’s a lackadaisical, “sway-back-and-forth” kind of jam that bears a passing resemblance (okay, maybe more than passing) to Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse.” “The Spirit Carries On” represents the moment in Scenes From a Memory’s convoluted story in which the narrator accepts that he’s, uh, the reincarnation of a girl who got murdered in 1928 and has been haunting his dreams. I think. Thankfully, the album is a lot more sure of itself on a musical level than it is lyrically, and “The Spirit Carries On” is a brilliant little foray into radio-friendly power balladry for Dream Theater. The band was never really BAD at writing poppy songs, but the ineffable, yet inescapable cheesiness that permeates their music prevents anything they’ve ever done from feeling like a legitimate ploy for radio play. “The Spirit Carries On” is accessible and inviting without even attempting divest itself from the musical quirks and hallmarks that make Dream Theater who they are.

Of all the songs in Dream Theater’s catalog, I think “The Spirit Carries On” is their catchiest. Its easy, repetitive melody and gradual dynamic buildup make it a real earworm. Labrie’s vocals soar above the music and the lyrics (written by Petrucci) are concise and unpretentious singalong fare.

“If I die tomorrow, I’ll be alright,
because I believe that after we’re gone,
the spirit carries on!”

Yeah! Let’s see those lighters, people! But put ‘em down during the guitar solo, because Petrucci just might melt your face.

-Ben Robson

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On the brink of the millennium, a new beast was created from the ashes of an old one. After yet another lineup change behind the keyboard position and a relatively commercially unsuccessful album, the future of the band was clouded in doubt. Scenes From a Memory was the ray of sunlight that pierced through that veil, dispersing any doubt as to the future of this great band. Sporting the newly added Jordan Rudess on keyboards, back when he was in a more supporting role, it featured some of the best produced and composed tracks in the band’s career. Its brilliant live DVD also added to its appeal, featuring a memorable show in the band’s home-town of New York.

“Finally Free” is arguably the most ambitious track on the album. Bringing all the threads of the by-now well known concept of the album, it’s large not only in scope but also in execution: LaBrie has never sounded larger, swimming over one of the best solos Petrucci has ever played. The track channels not only the theme of the album but also its recurring musical elements: tidbits from the preceding tracks are woven into a whole that’s larger than the sum of its parts.

A special place must be given to Rudess’s exceptional supporting role on this track. The string parts emanating from his keyboard are exceptional, tying the whole track into something which can be understood and made sense of. They are truly the glue that tie the band together on this track and it’s easy to see why he quickly became such an integral part of the band. “Finally Free” is the crowning glory of what is arguably the most widely acclaimed Dream Theater album ever. And with good reason.

-Eden Kupermintz

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Where do we begin with this album? Arguably the band’s most ambitious, the double album combined 2 discs and over 90 minutes of music to create two humongous beasts. One one hand, you have the brilliant first disc, featuring some of the band’s most memorable tracks. On the second disc, you have a brilliantly executed collection of eight songs combining as one large concept, a performance you can see on their Score 20th Anniversary DVD that shows just how fantastic the entire second disc truly is. For now, however, we’re going to focus on a song on their first disc, and arguably one of their most important.

“The Great Debate” is a neutral song about stem cell research, asking a lot of general questions while not bending to one side any more than the other. It is over 13 minutes long, and once the music starts, it doesn’t slow down until the very end. The entire song builds up as one giant crescendo, moving from the ambient intro into some amazing guitar riffs and into what would be considered the chorus, since the song really doesn’t have one. Portnoy’s drumming is the real standout part of this song. As a drummer myself, I can play the entire song, but it’s definitely one of the hardest to execute well, particularly due to its length, the stamina you must have, and also its complexity. This song has all of that and more, brimming with pure prog metal excellence.

The song never got as famous as the album’s opener, “The Glass Prison,” but I tend to think they belong in the same conversation. However, “The Great Debate” has some really flawless guitar work both at the beginning and the end, over some really haunting and epic keyboard ambiance. Not many Dream Theater songs have that, and I think it makes the song unique. To me, it’s the only Dream Theater song that’s constantly building up to a climax, and the only Dream Theater song that reaches that climax towards the last two minute or so into the song. “The Great Debate” is one of the band’s hallmark track from their most ambitious album, and still retains its original intensity and intrinsic value.

-Spencer Snitil

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Octavarium was something of a turning point for Dream Theater. It was their eighth and final album with Atlantic Records, rife with elaborate musical easter eggs and bald-faced nods to the band’s various influences (“Never Enough” is very nearly a cover of Stockholm Syndrome by Muse and “I Walk Beside You” features almost as much slobbering over U2 as Tim Cook did at the iPhone 6 release). Most notably, Octavarium was really the last time Dream Theater truly expanded their sound – their subsequent albums featured an increasing number of retreads, often seemingly deliberate. For me, post-Octavarium Dream Theater has always felt distinct from the band that released those first eight albums.

The album’s sprawling, 24-minute title track, then, represents the final thrust of what I’ve always considered Dream Theater One-Point-Oh. The eighth track on a record packed with numerological nods to the musical octave and the number eight, “Octavarium” is ushered in with plenty of pomp and circumstance. Thankfully, it delivers on the implicit promise of the album – it’s a fantastic celebration of just about everything that was ever worth loving about Dream Theater. It opens with an extended, dreamy Jordan Rudess odyssey, prominently featuring sweeps and swirls from his then-novel Continuum keyboard. In true Dream Theater fashion, this beautiful display of technique and grandeur goes on for just a LITTLE too long before the track finally reveals its explosive fanfare – one of Dream Theater’s most memorable melodies.

“Octavarium” is divided into five unique movements, each of which seamlessly flows into the next in a way that sets the track apart from Dream Theater’s other uber-long epics. “Someone Like Him” is a gentle, uneasy diversion driven by piano and James Labrie’s airy vocals. The next movement, “Awakenings,” features one of John Myung’s few significant standout bass grooves and bizarrely follows the story of a lesser-known Robin Williams movie of the same name. “Full Circle” is where the band starts to really hit it off here – the time signatures start to get wonky, Mike Portnoy starts showing off (his goofy lyrics in this movement – like “Jack The Ripper Owens Wilson Phillips” – are emblematic of both his weird sense of humor and occasionally groan-worthy writing style). The track steadily ascends into a long Moog synth flourish that comes across as joyous Yes worship, followed by a buzzing, dizzy guitar line, and reaches a driving, metallic climax in which James Labrie screams “Trapped inside this Octavarium!” over and over again in a decidedly silly voice. Dream Theater are many things – subtle has never been one of them.

The track slows down upon reaching its final movement, “The Razor’s Edge,” a swell of synth strings and mighty, operatic vocal proclamations (“This story ends where it begannnnnnn…”) that culminates in what might, in retrospect, be my favorite John Petrucci guitar solo. It’s Gilmour on steroids – slow, bendy, contemplative, with just a few well-timed speedy bursts that drive up the tension until it’s all gloriously released in a repeat of the song’s fanfare theme. The little french horn ornamentation that closes the affair is pure, delightful Dream Theater excess. “Octavarium” is an exceedingly well-crafted showcase for every member of the band at their best, exemplifying the over-the-top nature of their music without ever feeling gratuitous or self-important. To me, this is Dream Theater’s best composition, and a moment in their discography I still like to revisit years removed from my teenage prog metal obsession. It’s 24 minutes I’m never upset about losing.

-Ben Robson

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To some, Dream Theater died when Mike Portnoy left the band back in September of 2010. After a search for a new drummer spanning the likes of the masterful Marco Minnemann to the technically precise Derek Roddy, Dream Theater brought Mike Mangini into the band. The following year, A Dramatic Turn of Events was released. Overall, the album was average at best for Dream Theater. Flash forward two years after a relentless tour schedule. Dream Theater begins writing and recording their self-titled album, Dream Theater. This time around Mike Mangini had free reign on the drums and was quite accustomed to drumming for Dream Theater. Dream Theater has slowly but surely creeped into my top three favorite Dream Theater albums of their career.

One track that stands out to me on the album is “Behind the Veil.” For only clocking in at 6 minutes and 53 seconds, this song packs in a lot of content and dynamics. Even though the first half of the song is the standard verse-bridge-chorus-repeat formula, Dream Theater keeps things fresh by introducing variations to the riffs at the repeat. To me, the first half of the song harkens back to an Awake-era Dream Theater with its groove-based verse, minimalistic bridge, and powerful chorus. James LaBrie sounds really does sound great on the chorus of this track. He is not singing as high as he used to but he has found the sweet spot in his voice that is both powerful and well-supported. The chorus in “Behind the Veil” is easily my favorite chorus on the album.

The second half of the song features a unison section with guitars and keys as well as ripping solos by both Rudess and Petrucci. Right after Petrucci’s solo, the song goes into a live, jam-band type feel with a hard hitting groove and a little bit of extra guitar soloing. This small section shows just how comfortable the group has become since Mangini joined the band. It just sounds like the band is having fun together once again.

“Behind the Veil” isn’t as flashy as “The Glass Prison” or “Under a Glass Moon” but it holds its own in terms of memorability. I often find myself humming along to the chorus or playing through the solo section in my head. Dream Theater was definitely worth the honor of being the self-titled album. Petrucci, Myung, LaBrie, Rudess, and Mangini were able to channel aspects of the band’s 30-year-long career into one, cohesive album that captured the band’s signature sound. If you are a fan of Dream Theater’s ballads or even glanced over the self-titled album, “Behind the Veil” is a great place to start.

-Nick Budosh

Heavy Blog

Published 9 years ago