I agree it’s darker and heavier mainly due to JP starting to define and use 7 stringed guitars, Alison has women of Kev Moore’s best woken on it to my ears. Still my go to album over Scenes and Images.
Awake is my favorite, loved it ever since I first heard it and it hasn't been topped since. Kevin Moore is stellar and this was back when the songs took precedence over technicality.
For me it's the only Dream Theater album that I don't really like. I don't know why, It just sounds weird to me.. very sour, foggy, grungy type sound, there's a lot of reverb and stuff.. Idk it just puts me off for some reason. But I also know people who absolutely adore this album while hating everything else they've ever done, so... guess it's simply a matter of taste.
Their debut is seriously underrated in my ears. Sure, the production is rather weak, but the compositions are stellar, and Charlie is, at least to MY ears, an excellent singer! 👌
My 5th favorite DT release; tragically underrated. Folks can't seem to get past the production and Uncle Charlie's voice, but there is some *brilliant* songwriting here. They explored/experimented with stylistic elements they never revisited afterward. Awesome, awesome record.
So true. I still get goosebumps all over when Charlie goes into that "A father's benediction as his hopeful son departs" part in "Only A Matter Of Time". So insanely good.
It's interesting to see the contrast in personalities between the 2 brothers. Pete's more talkative and extroverted and Rich is more quiet and introverted (he also smiles more often..haha).
1. Scenes from a memory 2. Images and words 3. Awake 4. When dream and day unite 5. Falling into infinity 6. Six degrees of inner turbulence 7. Systematic chaos Honour mention: Black clouds ans silver linnings....My first DT show! Greetings!!!
Here’s my ranking 14. The Astonishing- Pete, you hit the nail 100% on the head. Every word you said about this album are my exact thoughts. And yes, this is the only DT album I don’t like. I tried, I really really did. 13. Systematic Chaos- I don’t dislike this album, but to me it’s one of their weaker efforts. To me, this album lacks a lot of emotion and soul. Every time I listen to it, it just sounds so...flat. I love some of the songs here, but there’s so many tracks in a row that just come off as lifeless to me. I don’t know, for this one or just rather pick out individual tunes, because listening to it straight through doesn’t do a whole lot for me. 12. When Dream and Day Unite- Even though it’s number 12, I do find it very underrated, and Pete, I’m happy you put this album pretty high up. I think people immediately discredit it because it’s not James Labrie, and I think that’s a mistake. The songs on here are pretty awesome, and Ytse Jam is my personal favorite instrumental they’ve ever done. Why is it so low? Because I just love Labrie that much. But for those of you that write this album off, give it another shot. 11. Dream Theater- I agree with what your brother said mostly. To me, while I enjoy listening to it, it’s just missing something. First of all, the album is just...too loud. It’s over produced and lacks a lot of the subtlety in their sound that is found on other albums. And I don’t think the tunes themselves are as strong as they could be. The Looking Glass, The Bigger Picture, and Behind the Veil are all great songs, and the other songs are pretty good too, but overall, this album doesn’t have the highs to me that most of the others do. And I really don’t like Illumination Theory at all. 10. Images and Words- Ok, let the hate train commence. I think this is a very good album, don’t get me wrong....but I’m not a fan of Metropolis, or Learning to Live. I know, heresy. But to me, they lack the soul and emotion that most other Dream Theater epics and mini epics have. The rest of the album is pretty great, even though Pull Me Under is just ok to me. But songs like Surrounded, Under a Glass Moon, Another Day...hell yeah. One last thing, the tone of this album just feels too light. I like a darker tone when it comes to Dream Theater. It has this 80s almost synth kinda vibe to it, and the tone doesn’t really work for me. Great album, I just personally find it overrated. 9. Falling into Infinity- I love the breezy feel this album has, and you have a bunch of really great ballads on here mixed in with some really badass tunes, and really fun funky songs like New Millenium. Yeah the tone of this album is a bit all over the place, but I personally find it a really fun listen, and I think it’s underrated. 8. Octavarium- I swear I didn’t plan for this to be number 8 lol. Honestly, this is the album that I have the least to say about. To me, it’s very “middle of the road”. The highs are insanely high with songs like The Root of All Evil and the title track (which, Pete, I completely disagree with you on), but some of the stuff in the middle can feel a little...generic at times. I think this album plays it very safe a lot of the times, which isn’t really a bad thing, but it does start to lose me slightly in the middle there (though Panic Attack is fantastic). Overall, a very solid album, a great listen, just not much to talk about. 7. Black Cpouds and Silver Linings- This song always sits higher in my mind, and then when I go and listen to it, as a whole it doesn’t fully work for me as well as I think it should. I don’t think there’s a weak song on here, and individually, every song works extremely well, but when listening to the album as a whole...the songs do feel really long and the album feels a bit bloated. But I do wanna say that A Nightmare to Remember is a top 5 DT song for me, and The Best of Times is a top 10 song. A Rite of Passage is also fucking badass. I love the songs on this album, but I think the whole is less than the sum of it’s parts. 6. Train of Thought- My thoughts on this album is very similar to Black Clouds and Silver Linings. A fantastic album...but to me it’s just hard to listen to all the way through. Endless Sacrifice is a top tier DT song, and In the Name of God is a top 5 DT song easily, maybe even top 3, I agree with Pete 100% on that song, it’s absolutely amazing. Not a huge fan of Honor Thy Father, but for the most part, this album kicks ass. 5. Scenes From a Memory- Maybe I’ll get some hate for this placement too. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love this album, I just feel like it works better when listened to straight through. I have a hard time connecting to these tracks listening to them individually. I feel like they only rework as well as they do as part of the story listened to in chronological order. And I think it’s amazing that they made an album that works so well in that way, I also think it holds the album back when it comes to individual tunes. I absolutely love Strange Deja Vu, Fatal Tragedy, The Dance of Eternity, One Last Time and Finally Free, but again...they work best in the context of the album. That’s why I have it a bit lower than top tier. Fantastic album, it’s just one I don’t go back to as much as the ones above it because of that reason. 4. Distance Over Time- This is an album thar has grown on me A LOT since it came out. This album is exactly what the band needed and was such a breath of fresh air for them. Yes, it does play it a bit safe, but unlike Octavarium where the safe songs kinda sound generic, this song does a lot with the shorter songs that they have here. This is like a very condensed, no bullshit prog metal album. From start to finish it’s great, there is not one second of filler, and I agree with Pete here in that the tunes are just...awesome. This album has a great sense of both melodic and heavy and it’s probably their most atmospheric probably...since Awake. Why isn’t it higher? Because I don’t think this album has any S tier songs on it. There’s no “In The Name of God” level stuff here. From start to finish, this is a tight, fantastic A tier album. Honestly no real complaints. And it’s probably the single easiest album to listen to all the way through of their entire discography. 3. Awake- This is what I wanted Images and Words to sound like. Far and away, this album has the best atmosphere, tone and production out of their entire discography to me. The album is just so dark, so melodic, so atmospheric, I LOVE the sound and the whole vibe. Then you have songs like Voices (one of my favourite DT songs), The Mirror and Scarred, all fantastic S tier songs. It’s not higher simply because I don’t really care for the first two tracks. I’ve grown to like 6:00 more than I used to, I like the chorus and can definitely appreciate it for what it is, but overall, the song doesn’t fully work for me. And I find Caught in a Web to just be kind of a dud to be honest. So I think it has a weak start. Not the biggest fan of Lie either. But the rest? S tier songs, A tier songs, and one B tier song. Fantastic album, but for me, the tone and atmosphere is really what makes it so amazing. 2. A Dramatic Turn of Events- In my opinion, this is the tightest, best written album in their entire discography. There is not one moment of weak writing here. This album is like a perfectly wrapped gift to me. Honestly...I don’t have a whole lot to say here. It’s almost a perfect album to me, and despite its length, I can listen to it all the way through with little to no problems. Amazing album. A lot of fantastic long songs to dive deep into, fantastic medium length songs, and some of the best ballads they’ve ever written, especially Beneath the Surface, which is a top 5 DT track for me. The best emotional song they’ve ever done. 1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence- Look...this album is just on another level for me. Psychology is my favourite subject matter, I was a crisis counsellor for a while, and I’ve always been so fascinated with psychology, so the sound and theme of this album just holds a special place in my heart. Yes, the songs are long, but I love them all. Not a single weak moment on here. One of my favourite albums of all time.
1 - A Change of Seasons (I know, it’s not a full length release but it’s one of the best songs ever written IMO) 2 - Metropolis Pt.2 3 - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 4 - Falling Into Infinity 5 - Awake 6 - Images and Words 7 - Train of Thought 8 - When Dream and Day Unite 9 - Black Clouds & Silver Linings 10 - Systematic Chaos 11 - Octavarium 12 - Distance over time 13 - A Dramatic Turn of Events 14 - Dream Theater 15 - The Astonishing ... also agree, Derek Sherinian was by far a better fit for the band.
I'm a hardcore D. T. fan and I found The Astonishing way way higher on my list, it is a fucking great epic album, of course it doesn't have the proggier heavier D. T. trademark sound, but the songs are fantastic.
Dream Theater. At 17 years old now, I can say without a doubt that unless an absolute miracle happens, there will NEVER be another band that even compares to Dream Theater for me. I’ve been a huge fan since I found them all the way back in fifth grade, and I have been absolutely obsessed with them! I can’t praise Dream Theater enough! Amazing list Pete! Also, Six Degrees is my favorite album, and I REALLY hope they do another double album (it would be their third after the Astonishing) and another immensely long piece like the Six Degrees track!
Mr Pete Pardo, if I ever win the lottery you will get a nice donation, my friend. You have single-handedly turned me into not only a Dream Theater fan, but a Thin Lizzy fan. I can't thank you enough and if I wasn't disabled I'd love to donate but such is life. THANK YOU PETE PARDO for your passion in music and helping me maintain mine. You are a rarity.
1. Scènes from a Memory 2. Train of Thought 3. When Day and Dream Unite 4. Images and Words 5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 6. Awake 7. Systhematic Chaos 8. Octavarium 9. Black Clouds and Silver Linings 10. A Change of Seasons Great ranking Pete and still waiting for Fates Warning!
I am such a casual fan. I only have about six of their albums. I do remember in 1993 I worked at a Peaches record store in Florida. One of the girls I worked with had a Dream Theater tattoo on her leg. I said, "You got a tattoo of a band that will be forgotten about in 10 years?" Boy, was I dumb.
Just wanted to say congrats on 30 thousand subs!!! Keep up the great work! I try to catch every show even if I'may not be a fan of what ever band your talking about, but always great information. Thanks again!
Seems everyone has a different take, here's mine : 14, The Astonishing 13. When day and dream unite 12. Dream Theater (2013) 11. A dramatic turn of events 10. Systematic chaos 09. Distance over time 08. Black clouds and silver linings 07. Six degrees of inner turbulence 06. Scenes from a memory 05. Octovarium 04. Falling into infinity (one of the best sleeper albums ever) 03. Images and words 02. Awake 01a. A change of seasons (maybe their best song ever) 01. Train of thought
It’s cool that you and your brother both dig Dream Theater. This is one of those bands that I’m in the process of discovering because of the channel. This is a band that takes time and a lot of listening. I started where I start with a lot of bands. The live album. I have my homework. Thanks!
Great show! You're brother is as cool as you are! Keep on keeping on! My favorites are: 1. Awake 2. Train Of Thought 3. Images and Words For me it boils down to their sound. When JP played Ibanez his guitar sound was absolutely perfect, and I really like Kevin Moore on keyboards. Also their "pure" metal album Train Of Thought is crazy good. I really wish they did another one like it. LaBrie's vocals are just great in it - even though you'd think his voice wouldn't really fit the more aggressive stuff.
16 The Astonishing 15 Dream Theater 14 Systematic Chaos 13 A View From ... 12 Black Clouds & Silver Linings 11 Octavarium 10 A Dramatic Turn of Events 09 Distance over time 08 A Change of Seasons 07 Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory 06 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 05 A Train of thought 04 Falling into infinity 03 Awake 02 Images & Words 01 When Dream and Day Unite
I absolutely love all of Dream Theater's albums including Astonishing. I love how prolific and consistent this band has been with all lineups over the past 30 plus years. I'm from Long Island originally and remember hearing about them when they were called Majesty. Great time to be alive! I'm quite proud of Dream Theater for being the Long Island prog/metal band to do what Zebra tried to but couldn't. And that's to have a long career with stacks of amazing albums. Now with Rush no more, Dream Theater is the head of the spear for prog rock/metal My top 5 Dream Theater albums: 1. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence 2. Scenes From a Memory 3. Awake 4. Images and Words 5. A Dramatic Turn of Events The top 2 are interchangeable and are to me of a period that is my personal favorite. That 1999-2002 era. I agree with Pete about how some albums/songs/eras of a band are synchronicity to stuff going on in our lives personally. So they are more near and dear. September 11th just happend, so when 2 of my favorite bands Rush and Dream Theater put out new albums Vapor Trails and Six Degrees in 2002, they lifted my spirits like nothing else! Great time to be alive!
vinnykster So similar to my list! Six Degrees will always be my favorite album by them unless they are able to make a literally perfect album, which I wouldn’t doubt their ability to do tbh, they’ve been my favorite band since I was in 5th grade!
1. Metropolis Part 2 - Scenes of a memory, (Best Track: Finally Free) 2. Six Degrees of Inner turbulence (Best Track: The Glass Prison) 3. Images and Words (Best Track: Metropolis Part 1) 4. Train of Thought, (Best Track: Endless Sacrifice) 5. Systematic Chaos (Best Track: In The Presence of Enemies) 6 Black Clouds and silver Linings (Best Track: The Count of Tuscany) 7. Awake; (Best Track: Space Dye-Vest) 8. Octavarium (Best Track: These Walls) 9. Distance Over Time (Best track: At Witts End) 10 , Falling into Infinity. (Best Track: Lines in the Sand) 11. Dream Theater (Best Track: Illumination Theory) 12. Dramatic Turn of events (Best Track: Breaking all Illusions) 13. Astonishing (Best Track: Our New World) 14. When Dream and Day Unite (Best Track: Yste Jam)
Very fun video, I enjoyed this a lot. I was gonna rank them myself and then I got a headache lol. I’d have have mull over it for quite a while. Anyway, great stuff as always
Pete, it was great seeing your brother Rich here. He seems really cool, just like you. I have a lot of Dream Theatre catching up to do. So I can't agree or disagree. However, when I decide to take the plunge, I'll start with one of your 3 favorites!
I've been on board from the first time I heard "Pull Me Under" on the radio. I was floored by the way it evolved. Blooming into a maelstrom of emotions before storming off into the distance. I had been a huge Fates Warning fan so I was aware of the group through James' and Kevin's appearances on consecutive Fates albums and was looking for their arrival. Boy was I in for a treat! 14) When Dream and Day Unite 13) The Astonishing 12) Falling Into Infinity 11) Octavarium 10) A Dramatic Turn of Events 09) Systematic Chaos 08) Dream Theater 07) Distance Over Time 06) Black Clouds & Silver Linings 05) Metropolis Pt. 2 04) Train Of Thought 03) Six Degrees Of Inner Separation 02) Awake 01) Images and Words
Great show and really cool rankings! Dream Theater is one of my all time favorite bands. My current ranking, this is constantly changing except for the bottom 2: 14: Falling into infinity 13: When dream and day unite 12: Black clouds and silver linings 11: Systematic chaos 10: The Astonishing 09: Distance over time 08: Dream Theater 07: Six degrees of inner turbulence 06: A dramatic turn of events 05: Train of thought 04: Octavarium 03: Images and words 02: Awake 01: scenes from a memory
Stopped watching at "I don't listen to the title track" about Octavarium. Dudes! That one is a masterpiece! After that, I realized that even we were to agree on the order of the list, it would be for all the wrong reasons. From the mention of songs it seems like you guys really dig the songs I'm not into, and vice versa. And this is probably what makes Dream Theater such an awesome band.
I found Dream Theater in 93 when I bought the "Images and Words" CD from the cover art alone. Never heard of them, took a chance and have been hooked ever since. Fun to watch your rankings. I also didn't like "Octavarium" when it first came out, but after my 30th listen, it's grown on me and it's a "go to" more often than I realize. Only one I can't get through is "The Astonishing." They're in heavy rotation in my favorites list.
I've been a die-hard fan since around 2006. Here's my list: 15. The Astonishing 14. Dream Theater 13. When Dream and Day Unite 12. Distance over Time 11. A Dramatic Turn of Events 10. Falling Into Infinity 9. A Change of Seasons 8. Train of Thought 7. Octavarium 6. Systematic Chaos 5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 4. Black Clouds and Silver Linings 3. Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory 2. Awake 1. Images and Words
Great show! Cool to see you and your brother sharing the love of this great band. On any given day my ranking might differ, but I totally agree with The Astonishing being at the bottom.
Great Show, once more. Nice to "meet" your brother. I haven't listened to a lot of DT yet. It's interesting to hear you talk about their stuff. Will you do Ayreon some time?
Great video Pete! The order changes slightly from time to time, but these are my top five: 5.) Six Degrees 4.) Awake 3.) Metropolis Pt. 2 2.) Images and Words 1.) Train of Thought
My favourite bands for the past 22 years, great take on their discography. My humble view: 15. Octavarium 14. Black Clouds & Silver Linings 13. Systematic Chaos 12. The Astonishing 11. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 10. Train of Thought 09. Falling into Infinity 08. Distance over Time 07. Dream Theater 06. A Change of Seasons 05. A Dramatic Turn of Events 04. When Dream and Day Unite 03. Awake 02. Images and Words 01. Scenes from a Memory
I always respected these guys, but never really got into them. I had their first two at one point, but that's about it. Maybe I'll dive back in after seeing your lists. Thanks, Pete & Rich!
I say that most great bands have spent their best material by their fourth album. Most. Dream Theater is an exception. The Astonishing has a great start, bringing to mind a combination of 2112 and the Wall. I agree that it's too long. Self titled was great. Octavarium great too. Individually, Illumination Theory, an awesome epic! Count of Tuscany.
My top ten was extremely hard to make. As of today... 1. Train of Thought 2. Metropolis pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory 3. Images and Words 4. A Dramatic Turn of Events 5. Octavarium 6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 7. Awake 8. Black Clouds & Silver Linings 9. Systematic Chaos 10. Falling Into Infinity
Awake for me is number 1. I never forget driving at night from São Paulo to the countryside (Im brazilian) in a pretty dark road listening to this album, which is very dark and progressive...just an epic driving
Dream Theater - One of the greatest progressive metal band of all time! I have all of the albums! My Top 5 DT albums - 1. Images and Words 2. Scene From A Memory 3. Systematic Chaos 4. Distance Over Time 5. Train of Thought .
Mine: 14. The Appalling 13. Falling into Infinity 12. Octavarium 11. A Dramatic Turn of Events 10. Dream Theater 9. Train of Thought. 8. Systematic Chaos 7. Distance Over Time. 6. Black Clouds and Silver Linings 5. When Dream and Day Unite 4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 3. Awake 2. Images and Words 1. Scenes From a Memory
@@jaredts3785 Same as Pete's; the songs. And the so called bad points don't bother me at all. The production is fine. Not as good as the others, but not a deterrent. And I had this one first, so I wasn't a Labrie guy having to go back and hearing the much different Charlie. He doesn't bother me either. I prefer Labrie, but not greatly.
Saw the anniversary tour last year, my second time seeing them. First was as an opening act on Iron Maiden's Final Frontier tour. Awesome band, awesome video. ✌
Hey Pete here is my Top Ten of the great Dream Theater; 1.Metropolis scene from a Memory 2.Images and Words 3.Octoviarium 4.Six Degrees of inner Turbulence 5.Awake 6.Train of Thought 7.Distance over Time 8.Black Clouds and Silver Linings 9.Dramatic turn of Events 10.Dream Theater You really can't go wrong with any of the other albums in their collection. Thank you Pete.
I've seen Dream Theater twice and they are a fantastic live band, 3 solid hours of pure epicness. In terms of their greatest album, for me it's 'Scenes From A Memory' which i consider to be their '2112' , it's an epic masterpiece from start to finish.
Good job, Rich! This is one of my 5 favorite bands but I always wondered how much bigger they would've been had they had a non-divisive singer. Someone like a Geoff Tate, who is beyond reproach. LaBrie is like Geddy Lee, an acquired taste and his high notes can really grate on my ears. Anyhoo, here's my list: 15. The Astonishing - just so hard to get thru 14. Octavarium - Never fell for this one, a few solid tracks, nothing more 13. Black Clouds & Silver Linings - The Count of Tuscany saves this from the #14 slot 12. Self-Titled - I do like this one, but others are just a tad better 11. A Change Of Seasons - Really love this but unfair to list any higher (it's 1 song + covers) 10. Awake - I know, but other than The Mirror, the other songs don't excite me 9. Distance Over Time - They did a great job with this one! 8. Falling Into Infinity - This has grown on me over the years; Lines In The Sand....man! 7. Six Degrees of IT - Too much music, not all great, esp after The Glass Prison on "side 1" 6. A Dramatic Turn OE - Some really great tunes here, esp the opener; needed better production 5. When Day And Dream Unite - Great songs, I like Charlie, bad production 4. Train Of Thought - Uber heavy, great production, great songs. 3. Systematic Chaos - Surprise! The songs and musicianship are great, despite a few annoying spots 2. Scenes From A Memory - Their crowning achievement and it hurts not to have this at the top, but... 1. Images & Words - This is just too damn good. One of the pantheon albums for me.
I was really surprised (but hey, this is the beauty of this kind of show) that neither of you liked Octavarium. It blows my mind every time I listen to it. I love the live version in Score. Anyway, thank you guys, excellent show. Love your channel.
Your brother seems like a nice guy! Pretty good for being a first at this type of thing. I reccon most people needs to do this quite many times before being 100 % natural. I have four Dream Theater albums and liking them all. The latest "Distance Over Time" isn't a bad start at all.. Quite melodic and quite easy-listening (I would assume) compared to many of their other albums. My favorite is the same as you guys. I like the others when I heard them first - That one I loved directly!
This is so awesome. I gotta brother too that I got into live music and a lot of music in general, so think it’d be awesome if we could somehow get together and rank bands, albums, shows, concerts ✊🏿🤘🏾🤎🖤
Congratulations Pete what an excellent video and choices, ive been a dream theater fan since the beginning and I noticed that you like Derek S. playing and for me also he fits DT better than JR its just his personality and very cool guy he is not to mention hes a master on keyboards, in your selection I was suprised that your first pic was Scenes from a Memory because thats my favorite albums. Thumbs up 👍 for you.
Great show Pete. I like these more lengthy videos. Anyway my top 10 (i don't really care for the rest of their discography, sorry). I'll add that the show they made in Rome in 2000 for Metropolis 2 is one of the best live shows i've ever seen. 1 Metropolis 2: Scenes from a Memory 2 Awake (highly underrated album imho) 3 Images and Words (i just hate the sound of the drums, but the songs are all great) 4 A Change of Seasons 5 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence 7 Octavarium 8 Falling into Infinity 9 Train of Thoughts 10 When Dream and Day Unite
It takes courage to say many of the things that were said in this video. That's why I enjoy so much so much this kind of rankings from people that are not hardcore stubborn fans of certain band. I find myself agreeing with many points with albums that I would rank different.
I honestly dont think the Astonishing was too short, if it were up to me, it would be like 9 hours released over 3 albums. If they took more time to really establish the setting, and add some character building to make the payoff all the more sweet, it could have been really special. But, I really love the ambition, and it had some moments that gave me goosebumps. I hope they try another big concept album, with a similar epic length story, and learn from the mistakes they made with the Astonishing.
Great show and cool to meet your younger brother, great addition to the show Pete !! Dream Theater is a band I’ve been into since Images after hearing/seeing the Pull Me Under Video on MTV. I’ve seen them live at least 10x, however, I’ve found ever since Portnoy left I’ve just had less interest in what they were doing and that started even before Mike left so it’s not based on his non involvement. I just started to be less enthused with “another Prog Metal album” but then again I started listening to more extreme, death, Black, experimental music the last 10 years and lost some level of interest in the newer DT material probably as a result. I think it came down to not digging James vocals as much anymore ! That said I’ve seen some killer shows by them up through the Silver Clouds album (also saw The Astonishing tour as a friend gave me free tickets) and they rank high as a favorite live act for me !!! Here’s my rankings for the 10 cds I own. 1 Awake 2 Images and Words 3 Scenes From a Memory 4 Train of Thought 5 Falling Into Infinity 5.5 A Change of Seasons 6 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 7 Systematic Chaos 8 When Dream and Day Unite 9 Black Clouds Silver Linings 10 Octavarium The last 4 releases I do not own, listened to most of them, but as I said above, just wasn’t compelled to grab any of them. After seeing the Astonishing I know I’ll never bother picking that one up. The rest I may grab at some point, but I won’t be going out of my way to do so.
Dream Theater have quite a strong and consistent string of albums. I agree with the top three except Images & Words will always be my favourite. Brilliant album. Falling into infinity has aged so well for me as I’ve had the opposite turn with Octavarium. I don’t listen to the album often but Octavarium is one of my top DT songs. Great episode.
Super surprised to see “A Dramatic Turn of Events” so low; On the Backs of Angels, Build Me Up, Break Me Down, Lost Not Forgotten, Bridges in the Sky (amazing song!!), Outcry, Breaking All Illusions… album has a handful of amazing compositions! Arguably their best with Mangini imo. My personal ranking: 15: The Astonishing 14: When Dream and Day Unite 13: Falling Into Infinity 12: A View From the Top of the World 11: Self Titled 10: Systematic Chaos 9: Distance Over Time 8: A Dramatic Turn of Events 7: Black Clouds and Silver Lining 6: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 5. Octavarium 4. Train of Thought 3. Images and Words 2. Scenes from a Memory 1. Awake
I was expecting a higher ranking for Black Clouds, which is a top to bottom fantastic album (dark and heavy, great hooks). Hey Pete, how about ranking the albums of UK prog metal band Threshold? I love their work, especially the albums with Mac Mc Dermott on lead vocals.
Surprised not as many Images & Words for #1. Literally every song single worthy. There are albums that come close to that feat (awake, SFAM ) but fall short.
Awesome video! Here's my ranking of the 14 studio albums: 14. The Astonishing 13. Octavarium 12. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence 11. Systematic Chaos 10. Distance Over Time 9. Falling Into Infinity 8. Dream Theater 7. Black Clouds And Silver Linings 6. Awake 5. When Dream And Day Unite 4. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory 3. Train Of Thought 2. A Dramatic Turn Of Events 1. Images And Words
My List: 1.Black Clouds and Silver Linings 2.Systematic Chaos 3.A Dramatic Turn of Events 4.Metropolis Part II 5.A View from the top of the world 6.Train of Thoughts 7.Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance 8.Dream Theater Self Titled 9.Distance over Time 10.Awake 11.Images and Words 12.The Astonishing 13. Debutalbum Dreams and Day 14.Octavarium 15.Falling into Infinity ........and Yes I know Prog-metal very well and for me this List is correct!
A Change Of Seasons is the song that got me into Dream Theater. I knew DT before, but wasn't really into it, but A Change Of Seasons made me fall in love with DT. Amazing song, absolutely love it! I think I listen to it every day, just listened to it a few hours ago. Love it!
My List: 1.Black Clouds and Silver Linings 2.Systematic Chaos 3.A Dramatic Turn of Events 4.Metropolis Part II 5.A View from the top of the world 6.Train of Thoughts 7.Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance 8.Dream Theater Self Titled 9.Awake 10.Images and Words 11.The Astonishing 12. Debutalbum Dreams and Day 13.Octavarium 14.Falling into Infinity ........and Yes I know Prog-metal very well and for me this List is correct!
1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 2. Images and Words 3. Train of Thought 4. Awake 5. Scenes from a Memory 6. Octavarium 7. When Day and Dream Unite (Got a first pressing on vinyl.) 8. Systematic Chaos 9. Falling Into Infinity (The parts are better than its whole, still underrated) 10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings 11. Distance Over Time 12. A Dramatic Turn of Events 13. Dream Theater 14. The Astonishing Just my personal opinion about my favorite band. Got no probs with people who like the newer stuff than I do.
My Top 15 Dream Theater Albums. 15. The Astonishing 14. A Dramatic Turn of Events 13. Black Clouds and Silver Lining 12. Octavarium 11. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 10. Dream Theater 9. Distance Over Time 8. Systematic Chaos 7. Train of Thought 6. A Change of Seasons 5. Falling Into Infinity 4. Awake 3. Metropolis 2: Scenes from a Memory 2. When Dream and Day Unite 1. Images and Words Yeah, When Dream and Day Unite is a Pretty Great Album. I'm Glad Pete Likes It.
My current ranking: 14. The Astonishingly Awful 13. Self Titled 12. When Dream and Day Unite 11. Distance Over Time 10. Falling Into Infinty 9. Awake 8. Octavarium 7. Scenes From a Memory 6. A Dramatic Turn of Events 5. Images and Words 4. Black Clouds 3. Systematic Chaos 2. Six Degrees 1. Train of Thought
15.- The Astonishing 14.- Distance Over Time (a very solid album. I think the others are better) 13.- A View from the Top of the World 12.- When Dream and Day Unite (underrated, Afterlife is great) 11.- Falling into Infinity 10.- Dream Theater 9.- Octavarium 8.- Train of Thought 7.- Systematic Chaos 6.- A Dramatic Turn of Events 5.- Images & Words 4.- Metropolis. Pt,2. Scenes from a Memory 3.- Black Cluds & Silver Linings 2.- Awake 1.- Six Degress of Inner Turbulence (one of my favourites albums of all time)
A big DT fan..i love to hear everyone rank there favorite albums finding fans in STL area are far and few ..going a little off the topic....I rank there live from New York my number 2 favorite live album of all time right behind Exit..Stage left
1. Scenes from a memory 2. Images and words 3. Six degrees of inner turbulence 4. Awake 5. A dramatic turn of events 6. Black clouds and silver linings 7. Train of thought 8. Distance over time 9. Octavarium 10. Dream Theater 11. Systematic Chaos 12. Falling into infinity 13. The Astonishing 14. When dream and day unite
1. 6 degress 2. Awake 3. ToT 4. Change of Seasons 5. Falling Into Infinity 6. Scenes From A Memory 7. Octavarium 8. A Dramatic Turn... 9. Images and Words 10. The rest.
I can't rank DT albums because I only have a Handfull. I do however have an awesome memory of seeing them live in Albuquerque, NM ON 9/13/04 opening for Yes which turned out be Jon Anderson's final tour and very close to his final show. I drove down from KC to visit a friend and he got us tickets for ZZ Top who played the night before at the same venue as Yes/DT. It was their Train of Thought tour. They played for an hour. We had seats on row six. They played Machine Messiah coupled with Learning How to Live. Both bands were hot. They let us right up to the stage. It was an outdoor Amphitheater that is connected to Sandia Casino. After Yes finished all of us at the stage had our hands stretched out to give the band hi fives or handshakes. The guys in the band all leaned down like they were all gonna give us hi fives but they ran their hands by us just out of reach of us. I guess they didn't want germs. They all seemed very appreciative of our enthusiasm. I did however get copies of both bands performances taped by someone with good equipment because both shows sound decent for an audience recording.
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For me Awake is their greatest moment, just a monster of an album from start to finish.
I agree it’s darker and heavier mainly due to JP starting to define and use 7 stringed guitars, Alison has women of Kev Moore’s best woken on it to my ears. Still my go to album over Scenes and Images.
Awake is my favourite Dream Theater record ever. I would put Images and words and Scenes from a memory as the following best works.
Awake was my first DT album and still my favorite .Totally agreed
Awake is my favorite, loved it ever since I first heard it and it hasn't been topped since. Kevin Moore is stellar and this was back when the songs took precedence over technicality.
Agreed. Most of their albums are good or at least decent, but Awake is something else man.
Listened to "Awake" just a couple of hours ago. #1 on my list.
Mine too and not even close imo
Absolutely. It's a masterpiece.
Yah great album. I remember sneaking out to buy it at midnight lol. Wow that was a long time ago when that was a thing.
For me it's the only Dream Theater album that I don't really like. I don't know why, It just sounds weird to me.. very sour, foggy, grungy type sound, there's a lot of reverb and stuff.. Idk it just puts me off for some reason. But I also know people who absolutely adore this album while hating everything else they've ever done, so... guess it's simply a matter of taste.
Awake is my favorite, only one that even comes close is Metropolis Part II
Their debut is seriously underrated in my ears. Sure, the production is rather weak, but the compositions are stellar, and Charlie is, at least to MY ears, an excellent singer! 👌
There's a video of Charlie guesting on Metropolis Pt 1 and I prefer his vocals on that song to James'
couldn't agree more😎
My 5th favorite DT release; tragically underrated. Folks can't seem to get past the production and Uncle Charlie's voice, but there is some *brilliant* songwriting here. They explored/experimented with stylistic elements they never revisited afterward. Awesome, awesome record.
Agreed the music is awesome! I remember they played a few on that Tokyo live video. Man watched that so many times as a kid
So true. I still get goosebumps all over when Charlie goes into that "A father's benediction as his hopeful son departs" part in "Only A Matter Of Time". So insanely good.
It's interesting to see the contrast in personalities between the 2 brothers. Pete's more talkative and extroverted and Rich is more quiet and introverted (he also smiles more often..haha).
Yes, we are very different!
1. Scenes from a memory
2. Images and words
3. Awake
4. When dream and day unite
5. Falling into infinity
6. Six degrees of inner turbulence
7. Systematic chaos
Honour mention: Black clouds ans silver linnings....My first DT show!
Greetings!!!
Awake is definitely my all time favourite from Dream Theater
Amazing album. Also Images and Words. I’m not as huge into Scenes from a memory as others seem to be but I like it as well.
Here’s my ranking
14. The Astonishing- Pete, you hit the nail 100% on the head. Every word you said about this album are my exact thoughts. And yes, this is the only DT album I don’t like. I tried, I really really did.
13. Systematic Chaos- I don’t dislike this album, but to me it’s one of their weaker efforts. To me, this album lacks a lot of emotion and soul. Every time I listen to it, it just sounds so...flat. I love some of the songs here, but there’s so many tracks in a row that just come off as lifeless to me. I don’t know, for this one or just rather pick out individual tunes, because listening to it straight through doesn’t do a whole lot for me.
12. When Dream and Day Unite- Even though it’s number 12, I do find it very underrated, and Pete, I’m happy you put this album pretty high up. I think people immediately discredit it because it’s not James Labrie, and I think that’s a mistake. The songs on here are pretty awesome, and Ytse Jam is my personal favorite instrumental they’ve ever done. Why is it so low? Because I just love Labrie that much. But for those of you that write this album off, give it another shot.
11. Dream Theater- I agree with what your brother said mostly. To me, while I enjoy listening to it, it’s just missing something. First of all, the album is just...too loud. It’s over produced and lacks a lot of the subtlety in their sound that is found on other albums. And I don’t think the tunes themselves are as strong as they could be. The Looking Glass, The Bigger Picture, and Behind the Veil are all great songs, and the other songs are pretty good too, but overall, this album doesn’t have the highs to me that most of the others do. And I really don’t like Illumination Theory at all.
10. Images and Words- Ok, let the hate train commence. I think this is a very good album, don’t get me wrong....but I’m not a fan of Metropolis, or Learning to Live. I know, heresy. But to me, they lack the soul and emotion that most other Dream Theater epics and mini epics have. The rest of the album is pretty great, even though Pull Me Under is just ok to me. But songs like Surrounded, Under a Glass Moon, Another Day...hell yeah. One last thing, the tone of this album just feels too light. I like a darker tone when it comes to Dream Theater. It has this 80s almost synth kinda vibe to it, and the tone doesn’t really work for me. Great album, I just personally find it overrated.
9. Falling into Infinity- I love the breezy feel this album has, and you have a bunch of really great ballads on here mixed in with some really badass tunes, and really fun funky songs like New Millenium. Yeah the tone of this album is a bit all over the place, but I personally find it a really fun listen, and I think it’s underrated.
8. Octavarium- I swear I didn’t plan for this to be number 8 lol. Honestly, this is the album that I have the least to say about. To me, it’s very “middle of the road”. The highs are insanely high with songs like The Root of All Evil and the title track (which, Pete, I completely disagree with you on), but some of the stuff in the middle can feel a little...generic at times. I think this album plays it very safe a lot of the times, which isn’t really a bad thing, but it does start to lose me slightly in the middle there (though Panic Attack is fantastic). Overall, a very solid album, a great listen, just not much to talk about.
7. Black Cpouds and Silver Linings- This song always sits higher in my mind, and then when I go and listen to it, as a whole it doesn’t fully work for me as well as I think it should. I don’t think there’s a weak song on here, and individually, every song works extremely well, but when listening to the album as a whole...the songs do feel really long and the album feels a bit bloated. But I do wanna say that A Nightmare to Remember is a top 5 DT song for me, and The Best of Times is a top 10 song. A Rite of Passage is also fucking badass. I love the songs on this album, but I think the whole is less than the sum of it’s parts.
6. Train of Thought- My thoughts on this album is very similar to Black Clouds and Silver Linings. A fantastic album...but to me it’s just hard to listen to all the way through. Endless Sacrifice is a top tier DT song, and In the Name of God is a top 5 DT song easily, maybe even top 3, I agree with Pete 100% on that song, it’s absolutely amazing. Not a huge fan of Honor Thy Father, but for the most part, this album kicks ass.
5. Scenes From a Memory- Maybe I’ll get some hate for this placement too. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love this album, I just feel like it works better when listened to straight through. I have a hard time connecting to these tracks listening to them individually. I feel like they only rework as well as they do as part of the story listened to in chronological order. And I think it’s amazing that they made an album that works so well in that way, I also think it holds the album back when it comes to individual tunes. I absolutely love Strange Deja Vu, Fatal Tragedy, The Dance of Eternity, One Last Time and Finally Free, but again...they work best in the context of the album. That’s why I have it a bit lower than top tier. Fantastic album, it’s just one I don’t go back to as much as the ones above it because of that reason.
4. Distance Over Time- This is an album thar has grown on me A LOT since it came out. This album is exactly what the band needed and was such a breath of fresh air for them. Yes, it does play it a bit safe, but unlike Octavarium where the safe songs kinda sound generic, this song does a lot with the shorter songs that they have here. This is like a very condensed, no bullshit prog metal album. From start to finish it’s great, there is not one second of filler, and I agree with Pete here in that the tunes are just...awesome. This album has a great sense of both melodic and heavy and it’s probably their most atmospheric probably...since Awake. Why isn’t it higher? Because I don’t think this album has any S tier songs on it. There’s no “In The Name of God” level stuff here. From start to finish, this is a tight, fantastic A tier album. Honestly no real complaints. And it’s probably the single easiest album to listen to all the way through of their entire discography.
3. Awake- This is what I wanted Images and Words to sound like. Far and away, this album has the best atmosphere, tone and production out of their entire discography to me. The album is just so dark, so melodic, so atmospheric, I LOVE the sound and the whole vibe. Then you have songs like Voices (one of my favourite DT songs), The Mirror and Scarred, all fantastic S tier songs. It’s not higher simply because I don’t really care for the first two tracks. I’ve grown to like 6:00 more than I used to, I like the chorus and can definitely appreciate it for what it is, but overall, the song doesn’t fully work for me. And I find Caught in a Web to just be kind of a dud to be honest. So I think it has a weak start. Not the biggest fan of Lie either. But the rest? S tier songs, A tier songs, and one B tier song. Fantastic album, but for me, the tone and atmosphere is really what makes it so amazing.
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events- In my opinion, this is the tightest, best written album in their entire discography. There is not one moment of weak writing here. This album is like a perfectly wrapped gift to me. Honestly...I don’t have a whole lot to say here. It’s almost a perfect album to me, and despite its length, I can listen to it all the way through with little to no problems. Amazing album. A lot of fantastic long songs to dive deep into, fantastic medium length songs, and some of the best ballads they’ve ever written, especially Beneath the Surface, which is a top 5 DT track for me. The best emotional song they’ve ever done.
1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence- Look...this album is just on another level for me. Psychology is my favourite subject matter, I was a crisis counsellor for a while, and I’ve always been so fascinated with psychology, so the sound and theme of this album just holds a special place in my heart. Yes, the songs are long, but I love them all. Not a single weak moment on here. One of my favourite albums of all time.
At a glance I think this ranking is wild, but it was interesting to read the justifications. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
1 - A Change of Seasons (I know, it’s not a full length release but it’s one of the best songs ever written IMO)
2 - Metropolis Pt.2
3 - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4 - Falling Into Infinity
5 - Awake
6 - Images and Words
7 - Train of Thought
8 - When Dream and Day Unite
9 - Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10 - Systematic Chaos
11 - Octavarium
12 - Distance over time
13 - A Dramatic Turn of Events
14 - Dream Theater
15 - The Astonishing
... also agree, Derek Sherinian was by far a better fit for the band.
Sherinian is in no way, shape or form a better fit than Jordan Rudess. Jordan’s playing dovetails Petrucci and Myung’s perfectly
I'm a hardcore D. T. fan and I found The Astonishing way way higher on my list, it is a fucking great epic album, of course it doesn't have the proggier heavier D. T. trademark sound, but the songs are fantastic.
Dream Theater. At 17 years old now, I can say without a doubt that unless an absolute miracle happens, there will NEVER be another band that even compares to Dream Theater for me. I’ve been a huge fan since I found them all the way back in fifth grade, and I have been absolutely obsessed with them! I can’t praise Dream Theater enough! Amazing list Pete!
Also, Six Degrees is my favorite album, and I REALLY hope they do another double album (it would be their third after the Astonishing) and another immensely long piece like the Six Degrees track!
Mr Pete Pardo, if I ever win the lottery you will get a nice donation, my friend. You have single-handedly turned me into not only a Dream Theater fan, but a Thin Lizzy fan. I can't thank you enough and if I wasn't disabled I'd love to donate but such is life. THANK YOU PETE PARDO for your passion in music and helping me maintain mine. You are a rarity.
Awake is everything for me. Fantastic band especially live!!
1. Scènes from a Memory
2. Train of Thought
3. When Day and Dream Unite
4. Images and Words
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
6. Awake
7. Systhematic Chaos
8. Octavarium
9. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
10. A Change of Seasons
Great ranking Pete and still waiting for Fates Warning!
I am such a casual fan. I only have about six of their albums.
I do remember in 1993 I worked at a Peaches record store in Florida. One of the girls I worked with had a Dream Theater tattoo on her leg. I said, "You got a tattoo of a band that will be forgotten about in 10 years?"
Boy, was I dumb.
Just wanted to say congrats on 30 thousand subs!!! Keep up the great work! I try to catch every show even if I'may not be a fan of what ever band your talking about, but always great information. Thanks again!
Seems everyone has a different take, here's mine :
14, The Astonishing
13. When day and dream unite
12. Dream Theater (2013)
11. A dramatic turn of events
10. Systematic chaos
09. Distance over time
08. Black clouds and silver linings
07. Six degrees of inner turbulence
06. Scenes from a memory
05. Octovarium
04. Falling into infinity (one of the best sleeper albums ever)
03. Images and words
02. Awake
01a. A change of seasons (maybe their best song ever)
01. Train of thought
I like your nr 1! ToT is so heavy and awesome 🤘
It’s cool that you and your brother both dig Dream Theater. This is one of those bands that I’m in the process of discovering because of the channel. This is a band that takes time and a lot of listening. I started where I start with a lot of bands. The live album. I have my homework. Thanks!
I’m just finding you guys. Glad I did. It’s nice seeing a DT list by actual DT fans.
Great show! You're brother is as cool as you are! Keep on keeping on!
My favorites are:
1. Awake
2. Train Of Thought
3. Images and Words
For me it boils down to their sound. When JP played Ibanez his guitar sound was absolutely perfect, and I really like Kevin Moore on keyboards. Also their "pure" metal album Train Of Thought is crazy good. I really wish they did another one like it. LaBrie's vocals are just great in it - even though you'd think his voice wouldn't really fit the more aggressive stuff.
Yep, he is!
16 The Astonishing
15 Dream Theater
14 Systematic Chaos
13 A View From ...
12 Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11 Octavarium
10 A Dramatic Turn of Events
09 Distance over time
08 A Change of Seasons
07 Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
06 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
05 A Train of thought
04 Falling into infinity
03 Awake
02 Images & Words
01 When Dream and Day Unite
Thank you both for your ranking the studio albums/CD's of Dream Theater! I love Dream Theater!! Take Care.🎤🎸🎵🥁
I absolutely love all of Dream Theater's albums including Astonishing. I love how prolific and consistent this band has been with all lineups over the past 30 plus years. I'm from Long Island originally and remember hearing about them when they were called Majesty. Great time to be alive!
I'm quite proud of Dream Theater for being the Long Island prog/metal band to do what Zebra tried to but couldn't. And that's to have a long career with stacks of amazing albums.
Now with Rush no more, Dream Theater is the head of the spear for prog rock/metal
My top 5 Dream Theater albums:
1. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
2. Scenes From a Memory
3. Awake
4. Images and Words
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
The top 2 are interchangeable and are to me of a period that is my personal favorite. That 1999-2002 era. I agree with Pete about how some albums/songs/eras of a band are synchronicity to stuff going on in our lives personally. So they are more near and dear. September 11th just happend, so when 2 of my favorite bands Rush and Dream Theater put out new albums Vapor Trails and Six Degrees in 2002, they lifted my spirits like nothing else! Great time to be alive!
vinnykster So similar to my list! Six Degrees will always be my favorite album by them unless they are able to make a literally perfect album, which I wouldn’t doubt their ability to do tbh, they’ve been my favorite band since I was in 5th grade!
1. Metropolis Part 2 - Scenes of a memory, (Best Track: Finally Free)
2. Six Degrees of Inner turbulence (Best Track: The Glass Prison)
3. Images and Words (Best Track: Metropolis Part 1)
4. Train of Thought, (Best Track: Endless Sacrifice)
5. Systematic Chaos (Best Track: In The Presence of Enemies)
6 Black Clouds and silver Linings (Best Track: The Count of Tuscany)
7. Awake; (Best Track: Space Dye-Vest)
8. Octavarium (Best Track: These Walls)
9. Distance Over Time (Best track: At Witts End)
10 , Falling into Infinity. (Best Track: Lines in the Sand)
11. Dream Theater (Best Track: Illumination Theory)
12. Dramatic Turn of events (Best Track: Breaking all Illusions)
13. Astonishing (Best Track: Our New World)
14. When Dream and Day Unite (Best Track: Yste Jam)
Very fun video, I enjoyed this a lot. I was gonna rank them myself and then I got a headache lol. I’d have have mull over it for quite a while. Anyway, great stuff as always
Good to see the difference in perspective between two people ranking the same albums. Great format, hope there’s more like this
Really great video. Enjoyed watching you guys discuss this throughly.
Pete, it was great seeing your brother Rich here. He seems really cool, just like you.
I have a lot of Dream Theatre catching up to do. So I can't agree or disagree. However, when I decide to take the plunge, I'll start with one of your 3 favorites!
Love your stuff!! I’ve struggled a bit to get into DT, but I’m going to spend more time with em now.
Was glad to see you guys show some love for Train of Thought. Its in my top 3. I actually have the same top 3 you guys did!
I've been on board from the first time I heard "Pull Me Under" on the radio. I was floored by the way it evolved. Blooming into a maelstrom of emotions before storming off into the distance. I had been a huge Fates Warning fan so I was aware of the group through James' and Kevin's appearances on consecutive Fates albums and was looking for their arrival. Boy was I in for a treat!
14) When Dream and Day Unite
13) The Astonishing
12) Falling Into Infinity
11) Octavarium
10) A Dramatic Turn of Events
09) Systematic Chaos
08) Dream Theater
07) Distance Over Time
06) Black Clouds & Silver Linings
05) Metropolis Pt. 2
04) Train Of Thought
03) Six Degrees Of Inner Separation
02) Awake
01) Images and Words
Great show and really cool rankings! Dream Theater is one of my all time favorite bands. My current ranking, this is constantly changing except for the bottom 2:
14: Falling into infinity
13: When dream and day unite
12: Black clouds and silver linings
11: Systematic chaos
10: The Astonishing
09: Distance over time
08: Dream Theater
07: Six degrees of inner turbulence
06: A dramatic turn of events
05: Train of thought
04: Octavarium
03: Images and words
02: Awake
01: scenes from a memory
Hey Pete, caught us Dream Theater fans by surprise Thank you. Here are my Top ten list
1.Images and words
2.
When Day and Dream Unite is underrated. Amazing album
Best Track: Status Seeker
Stopped watching at "I don't listen to the title track" about Octavarium. Dudes! That one is a masterpiece! After that, I realized that even we were to agree on the order of the list, it would be for all the wrong reasons. From the mention of songs it seems like you guys really dig the songs I'm not into, and vice versa. And this is probably what makes Dream Theater such an awesome band.
Stopped watching because of that? Come on man..
Hi, Rich! Always fun when Pete guests his family.
I found Dream Theater in 93 when I bought the "Images and Words" CD from the cover art alone. Never heard of them, took a chance and have been hooked ever since. Fun to watch your rankings. I also didn't like "Octavarium" when it first came out, but after my 30th listen, it's grown on me and it's a "go to" more often than I realize. Only one I can't get through is "The Astonishing." They're in heavy rotation in my favorites list.
Awesome.enjoyed each of your takes on the DT studio albums
I've been a die-hard fan since around 2006. Here's my list:
15. The Astonishing
14. Dream Theater
13. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Distance over Time
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events
10. Falling Into Infinity
9. A Change of Seasons
8. Train of Thought
7. Octavarium
6. Systematic Chaos
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
3. Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
2. Awake
1. Images and Words
How can you rank the self-titled album lower than the debut (where they were barely adults) ? Illumination Theory, Enigma machine, ... come on man !
@@holtimt agree with you! S/t should be way higher IMO
Great show! Cool to see you and your brother sharing the love of this great band. On any given day my ranking might differ, but I totally agree with The Astonishing being at the bottom.
Great Show, once more. Nice to "meet" your brother. I haven't listened to a lot of DT yet. It's interesting to hear you talk about their stuff.
Will you do Ayreon some time?
Top 5
1. Awake
2. Train of Thought
3. Six Degrees
4. Metropolis pt 2
5. Systematic Chaos
Great video Pete!
The order changes slightly from time to time, but these are my top five:
5.) Six Degrees
4.) Awake
3.) Metropolis Pt. 2
2.) Images and Words
1.) Train of Thought
This was great to watch! Thank you for this
My favourite bands for the past 22 years, great take on their discography. My humble view:
15. Octavarium
14. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
13. Systematic Chaos
12. The Astonishing
11. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
10. Train of Thought
09. Falling into Infinity
08. Distance over Time
07. Dream Theater
06. A Change of Seasons
05. A Dramatic Turn of Events
04. When Dream and Day Unite
03. Awake
02. Images and Words
01. Scenes from a Memory
I always respected these guys, but never really got into them. I had their first two at one point, but that's about it. Maybe I'll dive back in after seeing your lists. Thanks, Pete & Rich!
The live albums are better by far
Same here. A few good songs but this band doesn’t really do it for me. I do keep trying though.
Awake is a must listen, along with Scenes.
I am astonished by "The Astonishing"
Hey, thanks so much, I loved this video :) please could you do a ranking of Queensryche albums?
Love DT, cool to see your picks, Distance Over Time is in my top 5 easily. It just keep growing on me
I was lucky enough to see Metropolis PT 2 album performed by DT live in Bristol UK, and the suport band was Porcupine Tree! One of the best gigs ever!
I say that most great bands have spent their best material by their fourth album. Most. Dream Theater is an exception. The Astonishing has a great start, bringing to mind a combination of 2112 and the Wall. I agree that it's too long. Self titled was great. Octavarium great too. Individually, Illumination Theory, an awesome epic! Count of Tuscany.
Been a fan since 1989. saw them in Glasgow 1st time in 1993. They're still awesome.
My top ten was extremely hard to make. As of today...
1. Train of Thought
2. Metropolis pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
3. Images and Words
4. A Dramatic Turn of Events
5. Octavarium
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
7. Awake
8. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Falling Into Infinity
Love your work, thanks !
Just listened to your ranking of 10 songs from Zappa. Great !
Would love to see your ranking of Frank Zappa albums.
You're brother does an admirable job. He needs to hold up the album cover higher and keep it there longer so we can all see it too.
Awake for me is number 1. I never forget driving at night from São Paulo to the countryside (Im brazilian) in a pretty dark road listening to this album, which is very dark and progressive...just an epic driving
I love that 2 voices format. Great collaboration!
Dream Theater - One of the greatest progressive metal band of all time! I have all of the albums! My Top 5 DT albums - 1. Images and Words 2. Scene From A Memory 3. Systematic Chaos 4. Distance Over Time 5. Train of Thought .
Excellent show, need to do the Live albums too sometime .
Mine: 14. The Appalling
13. Falling into Infinity
12. Octavarium
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events
10. Dream Theater
9. Train of Thought.
8. Systematic Chaos
7. Distance Over Time.
6. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
5. When Dream and Day Unite
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
3. Awake
2. Images and Words
1. Scenes From a Memory
I think that's the highest I've ever seen someone rank WD&DU. I'd like to hear your reasoning! (I'm bored, yes)
@@jaredts3785 Same as Pete's; the songs. And the so called bad points don't bother me at all. The production is fine. Not as good as the others, but not a deterrent. And I had this one first, so I wasn't a Labrie guy having to go back and hearing the much different Charlie. He doesn't bother me either. I prefer Labrie, but not greatly.
The Appalling. That is hilarious!!! Lol.
Overall a really good ranking, but Octavarium is WAY too low imo. But to each their own. Also, I can tell you really don't like the Astonishing lol
Saw the anniversary tour last year, my second time seeing them. First was as an opening act on Iron Maiden's Final Frontier tour. Awesome band, awesome video. ✌
Hey Pete here is my Top Ten of the great Dream Theater;
1.Metropolis scene from a Memory
2.Images and Words
3.Octoviarium
4.Six Degrees of inner Turbulence
5.Awake
6.Train of Thought
7.Distance over Time
8.Black Clouds and Silver Linings
9.Dramatic turn of Events
10.Dream Theater
You really can't go wrong with any of the other albums in their collection. Thank you Pete.
@Dio Dio octavarium from 2005.
I've seen Dream Theater twice and they are a fantastic live band, 3 solid hours of pure epicness. In terms of their greatest album, for me it's 'Scenes From A Memory' which i consider to be their '2112' , it's an epic masterpiece from start to finish.
I was just about to suggest Dream Theater in your last vid. :D
Good job, Rich! This is one of my 5 favorite bands but I always wondered how much bigger they would've been had they had a non-divisive singer. Someone like a Geoff Tate, who is beyond reproach. LaBrie is like Geddy Lee, an acquired taste and his high notes can really grate on my ears. Anyhoo, here's my list:
15. The Astonishing - just so hard to get thru
14. Octavarium - Never fell for this one, a few solid tracks, nothing more
13. Black Clouds & Silver Linings - The Count of Tuscany saves this from the #14 slot
12. Self-Titled - I do like this one, but others are just a tad better
11. A Change Of Seasons - Really love this but unfair to list any higher (it's 1 song + covers)
10. Awake - I know, but other than The Mirror, the other songs don't excite me
9. Distance Over Time - They did a great job with this one!
8. Falling Into Infinity - This has grown on me over the years; Lines In The Sand....man!
7. Six Degrees of IT - Too much music, not all great, esp after The Glass Prison on "side 1"
6. A Dramatic Turn OE - Some really great tunes here, esp the opener; needed better production
5. When Day And Dream Unite - Great songs, I like Charlie, bad production
4. Train Of Thought - Uber heavy, great production, great songs.
3. Systematic Chaos - Surprise! The songs and musicianship are great, despite a few annoying spots
2. Scenes From A Memory - Their crowning achievement and it hurts not to have this at the top, but...
1. Images & Words - This is just too damn good. One of the pantheon albums for me.
Now I will need to check-out this band!
I agree Dream Theater is awesome, some albums though were pretty rough to get into from time to time, but once I did, it was kick ass
I was really surprised (but hey, this is the beauty of this kind of show) that neither of you liked Octavarium. It blows my mind every time I listen to it. I love the live version in Score. Anyway, thank you guys, excellent show. Love your channel.
nice show, Pete! Nice to meet your brother too, man!
Your brother seems like a nice guy! Pretty good for being a first at this type of thing. I reccon most people needs to do this quite many times before being 100 % natural. I have four Dream Theater albums and liking them all. The latest "Distance Over Time" isn't a bad start at all.. Quite melodic and quite easy-listening (I would assume) compared to many of their other albums. My favorite is the same as you guys. I like the others when I heard them first - That one I loved directly!
train of thought it what got me into guitar and music. I cover this dying soul solo on my youtube channel.
Tremendous job RICH/. Thank you
This is so awesome. I gotta brother too that I got into live music and a lot of music in general, so think it’d be awesome if we could somehow get together and rank bands, albums, shows, concerts ✊🏿🤘🏾🤎🖤
Congratulations Pete what an excellent video and choices, ive been a dream theater fan since the beginning and I noticed that you like Derek S. playing and for me also he fits DT better than JR its just his personality and very cool guy he is not to mention hes a master on keyboards, in your selection I was suprised that your first pic was Scenes from a Memory because thats my favorite albums. Thumbs up 👍 for you.
Great show Pete. I like these more lengthy videos. Anyway my top 10 (i don't really care for the rest of their discography, sorry). I'll add that the show they made in Rome in 2000 for Metropolis 2 is one of the best live shows i've ever seen.
1 Metropolis 2: Scenes from a Memory
2 Awake (highly underrated album imho)
3 Images and Words (i just hate the sound of the drums, but the songs are all great)
4 A Change of Seasons
5 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence
7 Octavarium
8 Falling into Infinity
9 Train of Thoughts
10 When Dream and Day Unite
Favoriites - Scenes, Images and Words, ADTOE, and Distance Over Time
Least Favorites - The Astonishing (by a mile) and When Dream and Day Unite
It takes courage to say many of the things that were said in this video. That's why I enjoy so much so much this kind of rankings from people that are not hardcore stubborn fans of certain band. I find myself agreeing with many points with albums that I would rank different.
I honestly dont think the Astonishing was too short, if it were up to me, it would be like 9 hours released over 3 albums. If they took more time to really establish the setting, and add some character building to make the payoff all the more sweet, it could have been really special.
But, I really love the ambition, and it had some moments that gave me goosebumps. I hope they try another big concept album, with a similar epic length story, and learn from the mistakes they made with the Astonishing.
My first album was the Astonishing, which I listened to yesterday , I really like it
Great show and cool to meet your younger brother, great addition to the show Pete !! Dream Theater is a band I’ve been into since Images after hearing/seeing the Pull Me Under Video on MTV. I’ve seen them live at least 10x, however, I’ve found ever since Portnoy left I’ve just had less interest in what they were doing and that started even before Mike left so it’s not based on his non involvement. I just started to be less enthused with “another Prog Metal album” but then again I started listening to more extreme, death, Black, experimental music the last 10 years and lost some level of interest in the newer DT material probably as a result. I think it came down to not digging James vocals as much anymore ! That said I’ve seen some killer shows by them up through the Silver Clouds album (also saw The Astonishing tour as a friend gave me free tickets) and they rank high as a favorite live act for me !!!
Here’s my rankings for the 10 cds I own.
1 Awake
2 Images and Words
3 Scenes From a Memory
4 Train of Thought
5 Falling Into Infinity
5.5 A Change of Seasons
6 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
7 Systematic Chaos
8 When Dream and Day Unite
9 Black Clouds Silver Linings
10 Octavarium
The last 4 releases I do not own, listened to most of them, but as I said above, just wasn’t compelled to grab any of them. After seeing the Astonishing I know I’ll never bother picking that one up. The rest I may grab at some point, but I won’t be going out of my way to do so.
Dream Theater was s special band, certainly came around at a good time if you were not into all the grundge stuff.
Very good point
Dream Theater have quite a strong and consistent string of albums. I agree with the top three except Images & Words will always be my favourite. Brilliant album. Falling into infinity has aged so well for me as I’ve had the opposite turn with Octavarium. I don’t listen to the album often but Octavarium is one of my top DT songs. Great episode.
I saw them in the early 90's a tiny tiny club in Davie, FL call the Plus 5. That was my introduction to their music. I've seen them a few times since
You two should do a top 10-15 Dream Theater songs
Congratulations from Córdoba Argentina!! Please a top ten of Queensryche!!
Super surprised to see “A Dramatic Turn of Events” so low; On the Backs of Angels, Build Me Up, Break Me Down, Lost Not Forgotten, Bridges in the Sky (amazing song!!), Outcry, Breaking All Illusions… album has a handful of amazing compositions! Arguably their best with Mangini imo.
My personal ranking:
15: The Astonishing
14: When Dream and Day Unite
13: Falling Into Infinity
12: A View From the Top of the World
11: Self Titled
10: Systematic Chaos
9: Distance Over Time
8: A Dramatic Turn of Events
7: Black Clouds and Silver Lining
6: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. Octavarium
4. Train of Thought
3. Images and Words
2. Scenes from a Memory
1. Awake
I was expecting a higher ranking for Black Clouds, which is a top to bottom fantastic album (dark and heavy, great hooks). Hey Pete, how about ranking the albums of UK prog metal band Threshold? I love their work, especially the albums with Mac Mc Dermott on lead vocals.
Surprised not as many Images & Words for #1. Literally every song single worthy. There are albums that come close to that feat (awake, SFAM ) but fall short.
Awesome video! Here's my ranking of the 14 studio albums:
14. The Astonishing
13. Octavarium
12. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
11. Systematic Chaos
10. Distance Over Time
9. Falling Into Infinity
8. Dream Theater
7. Black Clouds And Silver Linings
6. Awake
5. When Dream And Day Unite
4. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
3. Train Of Thought
2. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
1. Images And Words
My List:
1.Black Clouds and Silver Linings
2.Systematic Chaos
3.A Dramatic Turn of Events
4.Metropolis Part II
5.A View from the top of the world
6.Train of Thoughts
7.Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance
8.Dream Theater Self Titled
9.Distance over Time
10.Awake
11.Images and Words
12.The Astonishing
13. Debutalbum Dreams and Day
14.Octavarium
15.Falling into Infinity
........and Yes I know Prog-metal very well and for me this List is correct!
A Change Of Seasons is the song that got me into Dream Theater. I knew DT before, but wasn't really into it, but A Change Of Seasons made me fall in love with DT. Amazing song, absolutely love it! I think I listen to it every day, just listened to it a few hours ago. Love it!
מהאלו שאתה חייב להגיב כי יש ישראלי
My List:
1.Black Clouds and Silver Linings
2.Systematic Chaos
3.A Dramatic Turn of Events
4.Metropolis Part II
5.A View from the top of the world
6.Train of Thoughts
7.Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance
8.Dream Theater Self Titled
9.Awake
10.Images and Words
11.The Astonishing
12. Debutalbum Dreams and Day
13.Octavarium
14.Falling into Infinity
........and Yes I know Prog-metal very well and for me this List is correct!
1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Images and Words
3. Train of Thought
4. Awake
5. Scenes from a Memory
6. Octavarium
7. When Day and Dream Unite (Got a first pressing on vinyl.)
8. Systematic Chaos
9. Falling Into Infinity (The parts are better than its whole, still underrated)
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
11. Distance Over Time
12. A Dramatic Turn of Events
13. Dream Theater
14. The Astonishing
Just my personal opinion about my favorite band. Got no probs with people who like the newer stuff than I do.
My Top 15 Dream Theater Albums.
15. The Astonishing
14. A Dramatic Turn of Events
13. Black Clouds and Silver Lining
12. Octavarium
11. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
10. Dream Theater
9. Distance Over Time
8. Systematic Chaos
7. Train of Thought
6. A Change of Seasons
5. Falling Into Infinity
4. Awake
3. Metropolis 2: Scenes from a Memory
2. When Dream and Day Unite
1. Images and Words
Yeah, When Dream and Day Unite is a Pretty Great Album. I'm Glad Pete Likes It.
My current ranking:
14. The Astonishingly Awful
13. Self Titled
12. When Dream and Day Unite
11. Distance Over Time
10. Falling Into Infinty
9. Awake
8. Octavarium
7. Scenes From a Memory
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
5. Images and Words
4. Black Clouds
3. Systematic Chaos
2. Six Degrees
1. Train of Thought
Love The Joke at 14.
That Album Is Horrible!
@@planetbarrett6055 I have no clue why they made a disney album but ok...
15.- The Astonishing
14.- Distance Over Time (a very solid album. I think the others are better)
13.- A View from the Top of the World
12.- When Dream and Day Unite (underrated, Afterlife is great)
11.- Falling into Infinity
10.- Dream Theater
9.- Octavarium
8.- Train of Thought
7.- Systematic Chaos
6.- A Dramatic Turn of Events
5.- Images & Words
4.- Metropolis. Pt,2. Scenes from a Memory
3.- Black Cluds & Silver Linings
2.- Awake
1.- Six Degress of Inner Turbulence (one of my favourites albums of all time)
A big DT fan..i love to hear everyone rank there favorite albums finding fans in STL area are far and few ..going a little off the topic....I rank there live from New York my number 2 favorite live album of all time right behind Exit..Stage left
1. Scenes from a memory
2. Images and words
3. Six degrees of inner turbulence
4. Awake
5. A dramatic turn of events
6. Black clouds and silver linings
7. Train of thought
8. Distance over time
9. Octavarium
10. Dream Theater
11. Systematic Chaos
12. Falling into infinity
13. The Astonishing
14. When dream and day unite
Rich's dodgy computer background effects look like an early Dream Theater album cover. Great homage!
1. 6 degress
2. Awake
3. ToT
4. Change of Seasons
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Scenes From A Memory
7. Octavarium
8. A Dramatic Turn...
9. Images and Words
10. The rest.
I can't rank DT albums because I only have a Handfull. I do however have an awesome memory of seeing them live in Albuquerque, NM ON 9/13/04 opening for Yes which turned out be Jon Anderson's final tour and very close to his final show. I drove down from KC to visit a friend and he got us tickets for ZZ Top who played the night before at the same venue as Yes/DT. It was their Train of Thought tour. They played for an hour. We had seats on row six. They played Machine Messiah coupled with Learning How to Live. Both bands were hot. They let us right up to the stage. It was an outdoor Amphitheater that is connected to Sandia Casino. After Yes finished all of us at the stage had our hands stretched out to give the band hi fives or handshakes. The guys in the band all leaned down like they were all gonna give us hi fives but they ran their hands by us just out of reach of us. I guess they didn't want germs. They all seemed very appreciative of our enthusiasm. I did however get copies of both bands performances taped by someone with good equipment because both shows sound decent for an audience recording.
Rich. WELCOME to the SOT family. If your half the man / your brother is/ your a half of a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs !!!!