# Dream Theater **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478 "2003-09-09T08:07:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/1 "2003-09-09T08:07:01Z")
Hey all, I’ve heard a little of this band, and they sound like a band I’d like to get into (I’m a big 70’s prog rock fan, and I hear these guys are the prog rockers of the 90’s.) Can anybody give me an idea of the “must-have” albums from these guys? ---
**Author:** ![Teine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Teine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teine)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/2 "2003-09-09T12:36:42Z")
The two albums of theirs that I like the most are Awake and Images and Words. I’m not as fond of their later albums, but they’re still pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Moon-Watcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/49beb7/32.png) [@Moon-Watcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moon-Watcher)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/3 "2003-09-09T14:06:44Z")
I think _Scenes from a Memory_ is also quite good, but the two **Teine** mentioned are essential. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/4 "2003-09-09T14:13:56Z")
On one of their albums they have a photo of the studio they recorded it in. As an poor audio engineer, let me say… _Hubba hubba_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/5 "2003-09-09T14:22:02Z")
I’d also like to suggest _A Change of Seasons_. You picked a great band to get into, as they’ve already got like 12 albums out. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/6 "2003-09-09T14:50:36Z")
I third the recommendation for _Images and Words_. I’ve heard a couple of their other ones and wasn’t that impressed, but I’ve been listening to _I & W_ pretty regularly since it came out in the early 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/7 "2003-09-09T14:58:01Z")
Good sugestions. You’ll like _A Change of Seasons_ if you’re into 70s and prog rock, as they do a bunch of covers (live) on that album. In fact, their rendition of Elton John’s **Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding** is what got me into them in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/8 "2003-09-09T15:25:14Z")
_Images and Words_ is a definite “must-have”. Opinions range on the other albums. _ACoS_ is pretty good but is half covers; _Awake_ is close to _IAW_ but a little darker, more hard-rock-ish. _Falling Into Infinity_ has some good songs but is a pretty radical departure from the older material. _SFaM_ is a bit of a “return to the roots” album and has many references to one of the _IAW_ songs. If you can find it, _When Dream and Day Unite_ (their first album, with previous lead singer) isn’t half-bad, but can be a little too 80s-synthpop for some people. There are bootleg/fan club CDs floating around that have all the tracks from that album, except with James LaBrie performing live, but it’s pretty rare. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/9 "2003-09-09T15:26:41Z")
_Falling Into Infinity_ is my favorite, but it’s a little heavier than their other stuff (not too much, though). The latest one, _Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence_, is also really good. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/10 "2003-09-09T17:58:11Z")
Pretty much what everyone said. DT is also one HELL of a live band. They never play the same setlist twice, which is why their bootlegs are so popular – you need 5 or 6 shows from each tour, just to get every song they played!!! They also have an increasing penchant for cover songs. At a few shows last year, they performed Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” and Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” albums _in their entirety_. ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/11 "2003-09-09T22:55:06Z")
Definitely _Images and Words_… _Awake_ is, IMHO, severely underrated. _Falling Into Infinity_ is a good prog album, but not a good Dream Theater album. _Scenes From a Memory_ is pretty much in the vein of the first two I mentioned. _Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence_ is a double length studio album: five songs on disc 1, one 42 minute compostion on disc 2, it’s kinda involved. Their first album _When Dream and Day Unite_ is probably just for diehards like me. I’ll second the comment about their live show… Gotta be the tightest band I’ve ever seen. You like new prog? check out Spock’s Beard, Porcupine Tree, Flower Kings, Pain of Salvation… there’s a lot out right now. It’s a great time to be a prog fan ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/12 "2003-09-09T23:03:32Z")
Oh yeah, and here’s a couple of really cool labels…enjoy [http://www.magnacarta.net/07.html](http://www.magnacarta.net/07.html) [http://www.insideoutmusic.com/](http://www.insideoutmusic.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dream-theater/200478/13 "2003-09-09T23:39:14Z")
I came upon some songs of theirs unsappunatim when I was looking for songs from the movie _Metropolis_ (the original, with the robots). I’d give them a good rating.