..:: audio-music dot info ::..


Main Page      The Desert Island      Copyright Notice
 Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz


Dream Theater: Awake

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: East-West Records
Released: 1994.10.04
Time:
 74:56
Category: Progressive Rock
Producer(s): John Purdell, Duane Baron
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.dreamtheater.net
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2016
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] 6:00 (Dream Theater) - 5:31
[2] Caught in a Web (Dream Theater) - 5:28
[3] Innocence Faded (Dream Theater) - 5:42
[4] A Mind Beside Itself: I. Erotomania (Dream Theater) - 6:44
[5] A Mind Beside Itself: II. Voices (Dream Theater) - 9:53
[6] A Mind Beside Itself: III. The Silent Man (J.Petrucci)3:47
[7] The Mirror (Dream Theater) - 6:45
[8] Lie (Dream Theater) - 6:33
[9] Lifting Shadows Off a Dream (Dream Theater) - 6:05
[10] Scarred (Dream Theater) - 10:59
[11] Space-Dye Vest (K.Moore) - 7:29

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


James LaBrie - Lead Vocals, Cover Concept
John Petrucci - Guitar, Backing Vocals, Cover Concept
Kevin Moore - Keyboards, Co-Lead Vocals on [11], Cover Concept
John Myung - Bass, Cover Concept
Mike Portnoy - Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals on [7], Cover Concept

John Purdell - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
Duane Baron - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
Greg Cathcart - Assistant Engineer, Assistant Producer, Mixing Assistant
Mike Stock - Assistant Engineer, Assistant Producer, Mixing Assistant
Ed Miller - Mixing, Mixing Assistant
Ryan Arnold - Mixing, Mixing Assistant
Ted Jensen - Mastering
Rich Kern - Programming on [11]
Larry Freemantle - Art Direction
Donald May - Art Direction
Dan Muro - Cover Concept
Dennis Keeley - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1994 CD EastWest - 7567-90126-2
2014 LP EastWest - ETR-90126

Recorded in May-July 1994, at the One on One Studios and Devonshire Studios in North Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Mixed July-August 1994 at Larrabee Sound Studios, L.A., CA , Unique Studios, NYC, NY.
Mastered at Sterling Sound, NYC, NY .
Pre-Production at Prince Enterprises, NYC, NY, Full Blast Rehearsal Studios, L.A., CA.



Dream Theater's third studio release, Awake, marks a definite change in the band's tone. From the moment the guitars enter on "6:00," the first track, a darker sound is immediately evident, and it continues through the entire 75 minutes of the disc. The complex song structures, marked by arrangements that would give many good players fits, are very impressive. Drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci, in particular, reach new heights with their instruments, but keyboardist Kevin Moore and bassist John Myung hold up quite well, adding to the prog metal sound with their own contributions. There are several good tracks here, but the best are the crunch-heavy "Lie," the 11-minute "Scarred," the thought-provoking "Caught in a Web," and the deeply personal, moving "Space-Dye Vest." This disc also marks keyboardist Moore's last recording with the band; he left not long after to pursue other musical directions. The heavy guitar sound may turn some off, but Dream Theater's musical ability can't be denied.

Phil Carter - All Music Guide



Some rock & roll purists consider the term "progressive rock" an oxymoron. After all, rock & roll is supposed to be about feeling, not thinking. Prog rock bands miss the point by taking the soul out of a musical form that's purposely crass and anti-intellectual. All the precise, long-winded arrangements, keyboard flourishes, wailing vocals, and overorchestration of groups like Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and, to a degree, Rush suck the soul out of something that should be less head and more body. Dream Theater, though they possess many of the same characteristics as these bands, still manage to maintain a human element in their music. Awake is at times self-indulgent and pompous, but songs like "Lie," a passionate crusher that finds guitarist John Petrucci launching riff after thunderous riff in a cacophonous volley of crunch, ring true with real passion and base emotion. It's the depth and tonality his guitar brings to the music that keeps Dream Theater from falling into the Styx-isms they often veer dangerously close to. A very solid record for those who don't mind thinking while rocking.

Adem Tepedelen - Amazon.com



After first hearing Panic Attack from Rock Band 2, I became introduced to Dream Theater and later acquired their second album Images and Words and was immediately blown away by their mix of metal, progressive rock, and jam band-like instrumentation. I slowly but surely acquired every other album by the band (becoming a massive Dream Theater fan), and Awake was one of the last I obtained. While most critics and first time listeners often hold the consensus that Images and Words was the band's best effort (yours truly included) several hardcore fans consider this to be the band's magnum opus that was at first lost and underappreciated amidst the rise of grunge music upon its release. Recent reviews have been kinder to this album and almost every fan considers Awake to be at least one of the top three releases by the band. Upon listening to this album for the first time, I realized its potential to be their best but felt that it lacked top-to-bottom consistent quality. However after further listens, Awake still stacks up to be one of Dream Theater's best, even if some songs are better than others.

After the magical and dream-like Images and Words, the band was pressured to try and put out a more commercial and radio-friendly album. Therefore, Awake has in some aspects more of a straightforward hard rock/heavy metal feel, but still retains several elements of progressive time changes, instrumentation, and emotional lyrics. The album starts off very strong with the first three tracks 6:00, Caught in a Web, and Innoncence Faded, which definitely show off the album's more rock/metal tendencies. 6:00 features an excellent drumfill opening and snapping snare, which is a consistent drum technique used by Mike Portnoy throughout the rest of the album, resulting in Awake to be considered one of Portnoy's best. Caught in a Web has a heavier and more grinding guitar that is also more fast-paced and slighty more intense than 6:00, but also contains an extremely catchy chorus. Innocence Faded has a very upbeat melody and features one of James LaBrie's finest vocal performances, hitting an F5 similar to that of Learning to Live. Awake as a whole shows off LaBrie's range, often using an aggressive rasp while occasionally going softer and melodic to soaring at the top of his lungs. All in all, the first three songs succeed as being very catchy and memorable and displaying the band's move to a heavier sound. The next three songs form the Mind Beside Itself Suite and are all connected together. It is unfortunately here that the album starts to lag a tad bit. It starts off with the instrumental Erotomania. While it retains the upbeat rock sound present in the three previous songs and features excellent instrumenation (especially a particular drum fill by Portnoy) it just doesn't measure up the same way to later instrumentals the band has been known for, such as Overture: 1928, The Dance of Eternity, or Stream of Consciousness. However, Erotomania is still quite an impressive example of musicianship. The next part of the suite is Voices, which is the first nine minute-plus song on the album. Voices has intersting lyrics about mental illnesses and diseases with interesting instrumentation and a heavy feel. However, upon listening to it the first time I felt it drawn-out and not that interesting despite the instrumentation. But Voices eventually grows on you and the chorus becomes more and more catchy with every listen. It is ultimately a track that can be appreciated for being forward without too much grandeur. The next song is The Silent Man, which is a particularly unique track being an entirely accoustic power ballad. While certainly different from what the band had done before, it unfortunately fell victim to the same fate as Voices the first time around: just not that interesting. But with continued and further listens, The Silent Man grows on you and can be better appreciated for its emotion captured in such simplicity. Though A Mind Beside Itself falters in some areas and doesn't continue the strong beginning of the first three tracks, they are by no means "bad" songs and become more entertaining if given time and patience.

Things pick up a tad with The Mirror, a sort of precursor to the Twelve-Step Suite about Mike Portnoy's alcoholism. One of the heaviest and most grinding songs on the album, it also features some interesting organ-sounding keyboards and a strong mix of high and aggressive vocals by James LaBrie. While still not quite as good as the opening songs, The Mirror definitely does keep the ball rolling and leads up to perhaps the highest point of the album: Lie. Probably the heaviest song on the album, Lie is also very catchy and has an extremely memorable chorus. LaBrie makes an intresting use of using hushed vocals during the verses and his aggressive rasp in the choruse before the song ends with an extended guitar solo which features a brief reprisal of The Mirror. Lifting Shadows Off a Dream is another truly unique track, being a sort of ambient and tranquil power ballad while also using deep bass and melodic keyboards. The penultimate song is Scarred. While, like Voices, it doesn't live up to other nine-plus minute songs the band has been known for, it is much more solid than Voices, starting off quiet and tranquil before picking up in aggression and speed in the verses, without sacrificing any of its ambience, before reverting to a melodic and tranquil chorus. It is also heralded as perhaps LaBrie's best performance on the album, as he shows off the dynamics of his range most prominently in this song. Scarred may not be the feat of musicianship that Learning to Live was, but keeping in mind that it is more straightforward and direct than Learning to Live, Scarred still succeeds in most parts as being an "epic" track. And with that, you would think the album had come to a satisfying conclusion. But there's one more surprise left.

The final song is the last work of Kevin Moore, who left just as the album was completed: Space-Dye Vest. This song is without a doubt the band's most bizarre and uncharacteristic song (the song has never been performed by the band live and was acknowledged that it would not have made the album if the band knew Kevin was leaving). It is largely a dark and melancholic piano ballad that becomes increasingly more haunting with low piano keys and hushed vocals and becomes increasingly bizarre with various sound clips of movies about love and obsession to complement the lyrical content (it's about how Moore fell in love with a magazine model wearing the famous vest) and it is quite a while before the rest of the band joins in, while the piano and keyboards remain dominant. At first, I was taken aback by the song and was upset that this was chosen to close the album rather than Scarred because it seemingly had no place on the album. But it will eventually grow on you after a few listens and is honestly a very interesting and haunting piece of music. Still, it's kind of a weird way to end the album and ulitmately leaves me with mixed feelings.

6:00, Caught in a Web, Innocence Faded, and Lie are ultimately strong enough tracks to hold up the album. However, while the rest of the album remains somewhat hit-and-miss, songs such as Erotomania, The Mirror, Lifting Shadows Off a Dream, and Scarred are also very solid. This is not necessarily the best album to listen to songs just by themselves (accept the first three and Lie), but if one listens to Awake from beginning to end without interruption, the pieces all come together well and ends up being one of Dream Theater's most solid releases. Even if I will continue to have somewhat mixed feelings about Voices, The Silent Man, and Space-Dye Vest (which are not bad, just "kinda good" and "what the hell?"), the quality of excellent combined with solid outweighs (for the most part) the songs that are somewhat lacking. Fans of Images and Words may need to give Awake a few listens before they truly appreciate its quality, but it ultimately pays off. While not their most consistently strong albums, Awake remains an essential Dream Theater release.

Rating: 9/10

octavarium, April 24th, 2012
© 2002-2016 Encyclopaedia Metallum



Awake is the third studio album by American progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater, released on October 4, 1994 through East West Records. It was the last Dream Theater album to feature keyboardist Kevin Moore, who announced his decision to leave the band during the recording of the album.

Much of the material for Awake was written in writing sessions between February and April 1994, during which Dream Theater were under pressure from their record label to produce an album as successful as Images and Words (1992) with a single similar to "Pull Me Under". The label wanted the band to produce a more metal-oriented album, hoping it would be easier to market. John Purdell and Duane Baron produced, engineered and mixed the album. The album's cover, designed by the band, features numerous references to the album's lyrics.

Dream Theater auditioned for keyboardists to replace Moore for the upcoming world tour and eventually hired Derek Sherinian. He had just two weeks to learn two hours of complex music before the tour started. Sherinian initially took up the position on a trial basis and was asked to become a full member during the tour. After the first leg of the tour, vocalist James LaBrie suffered a violent case of food poisoning, severely damaging his vocal cords. His singing became unpredictable, leading LaBrie to become depressed for much of the tour. His voice only started recovering on the tour for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence in 2002. The Great Hanshin earthquake hit while the band was touring in Japan.

Released at the height of the popularity of grunge music, Awake initially received mixed reviews; more recent reviews regard the album as one of the band's finest. The album peaked at 32 on the US Billboard 200, the highest position a Dream Theater album would reach on that chart until 2007's Systematic Chaos, which peaked at 19. "Lie", "Caught in a Web" and "The Silent Man" were released as singles but failed to be as successful as "Pull Me Under" had been. The band's record label considered the album a commercial failure, which would lead to the band being pressured to write more radio-friendly songs on their subsequent studio album.

There is no title track on the album, but the lyric awake appears in the songs "Innocence Faded" and "The Silent Man".

After a month-long break, Dream Theater started working on their third studio album in February 1994. The band's two-month writing sessions were located at Prince Studios, New York City. The lack of a leader within the band increased tensions in what were already tense sessions. Keyboardist Kevin Moore noted at the time that "there are arguments that last forever because there's nobody to come in and draw the line". "When it came to the music, you had [guitarist] John Petrucci and I playing the roles we still kind of play, and Kevin was also a forceful element," drummer Mike Portnoy said. "In those days, [bassist] John Myung was a little bit more out of his shell, so the bass was a bit more predominant in the band. The fighting never came to blows, but there was a lot of bickering over every single element, like the fine details of what the third note on the sixty-fourth bar should be."

The success of Dream Theater's previous album, Images and Words, particularly the single "Pull Me Under", put pressure on the band to produce a similarly successful follow-up album. "Somebody once said that you have your whole life to prepare for your first album and have about two months to prepare the follow-up, and that was very much the situation we faced in early 1994," Portnoy noted. The popularity of alternative metal and groove metal meant that the band's record label, East West, were keen for the band to create a heavier, darker album. Awake saw Petrucci use a seven-string guitar for the first time, establishing a more riff-based writing style. "This style would further cement the fusion of metal and progressive music, which is what Dream Theater are known for," Petrucci said. "I think it paved the way for many of our strongest and heaviest later songs like 'A Change of Seasons', 'The Glass Prison' and 'The Dark Eternal Night'." Vocalist James LaBrie described his vocals on Awake as "more varied and a lot more aggressive" than on Images and Words to the extent that people may think the band had a new singer for the album.

The recording sessions for the album began in May 1994 at One On One Studios in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, with overdub work done at Devonshire Studios in Los Angeles. John Purdell and Duane Baron, whose credits included Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tears (1991), were hired to produce the album. The band—who had a difficult relationship with David Prater, the producer on Images and Words—enjoyed working with Purdell and Baron. "I think everyone felt we were able to express ourselves a lot more genuinely," Petrucci said. "The experience from the road, learning more about our sound and what we like and don't like enabled us to be more prepared. The producers were totally into capturing that and being patient with us. So everybody walked away being completely satisfied with their performances and their sounds."

Towards the end of the recording sessions, Kevin Moore announced to his bandmates that he was leaving the band. Petrucci, who was childhood friends with the keyboardist, found the news particularly hard to take. Myung noted that the announcement "didn't come out of the blue". LaBrie noticed changes in Moore at the end of the Images and Words tour. "He seemed to be more distant and wrapped up in himself... It wasn't that he was rude or unpleasant with anyone," he said. "But when Mike, John Petrucci and John Myung were in the rehearsal studio putting together the music for Awake, he wasn't there as he had been in the past. And when he was there, the guys told me he'd be sitting reading a magazine when they were trying to work out riffs." "After the record was recorded in Los Angeles, he returned to New York, sold his belongings, packed everything into his station wagon and said 'I'm moving away from Long Island,'" Dream Theater's co-manager Jim Pitulski recalled. "So I asked him where he was moving to, and he said, 'I'll let you know when I get there.' He really had no idea what he was doing and he just started driving across the country. I kind of admired that."

Moore stated that he decided to leave because his approach to writing music had changed. He had become more interested in writing and recording his own material. Myung said that Moore left the band out of "peace of mind and what he wanted to do musically that he couldn't do in the band". The band's business manager, Rob Shore, suggested that the idea of prolonged touring was a contributing factor in Moore's decision. Describing Moore as "a very private person", Portnoy thought that he might have left because "the whole machine of the music business just wasn't his cup of tea". When Moore announced his decision to leave, he was single, while LaBrie was married, Portnoy and Petrucci had girlfriends and Myung, according to Portnoy, "was kind of in his own world". Portnoy speculated that any resentment or jealousy Moore felt because of this may have influenced his decision. After leaving Dream Theater, Moore continued to release music, musically far-removed from his work with the band.

Awake was mixed at Unique Studios, New York City. When mixing, Purdell and Baron were initially joined by the remaining members of the band. "We were all in the studio when it first started and it was just unfair to the producers," vocalist James LaBrie said. "Obviously each guy was focusing on his instrument, so it was like 'Wait, I want me up more!' So they were trying to please everyone and you just can't do that." The band had to be banned from the mixing sessions to allow Purdell and Baron to mix the album to a high enough standard. "The one great thing, though - even though we were out of the studio - was that they were aware of what we wanted and didn't want," LaBrie said. "When David Prater mixed Images and Words it was really unfortunate because he forgot to bring some sections out and he really didn't understand what we wanted from the final music. When Duane and John went in, they knew everything that needed to be there and how we wanted it to be represented."

Awake peaked at 32 on the Billboard 200, remaining in the charts for six weeks. This would remain the band's highest-charting release in the US until Systematic Chaos in 2007, was eventually topped by 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings, which peaked at No. 6. The album peaked in the top 20 in four countries. Derek Oliver, Dream Theater's label representative, considered the album to be a commercial failure. This led to the band once again working with David Prater on A Change of Seasons and to the record label putting increasing pressure on the band to make songs on their next studio album, Falling into Infinity, more commercial and radio-friendly.
In spite of the plentiful redeeming features on Awake, press reviews were generally subdued. It must of course be remembered that it was released just as the shoegazing, miserable purveyors of the fad known as grunge were taking hold. The British press in particular seemed dazzled by the work of Kurt Cobain and his cohorts, and anything that wasn't based around three chords or packed with lyrics championing depression as a lifestyle choice was in for a hard ride.
Rich Wilson, Lifting Shadows
Upon release, Awake received mixed reviews. Q wrote that "fans of Marillion may well love this, and even the sceptical listener can enjoy the crunching, radio-friendly choruses of 'Scarred' and 'Caught in a Web'." Guitar World ranked the album as one of the top ten releases of the year, stating that "this shred party left me punch drunk and, for once in my life, fully Awake." Metal Hammer dismissed Awake as "musical masturbation": "Progressive rock is basically a very adolescent notion of what 'grown up' music might sound like - more notes, longer solos and, best/worst of all, convoluted concepts... Their propensity for pomposity extends to the ballad 'Silent Man', which would probably like to be Queensrÿche's 'Silent Lucidity' but in fact sounds like Stryper on a particularly pious day". The album has since sold nearly 400,000 copies.

More recent reviews have been more favorable. Reviewers praised the album's production, noting the album is darker and heavier than previous Dream Theater releases. The musicianship of the band has been praised. Phil Carter of AllMusic highlighted Petrucci and Portnoy's performances; Metal Storm praised LaBrie and Portnoy; Murat Batmaz of Sea of Tranquility praised all the performances, but singled out Moore's contribution as "immense" and complimented him on "a lucid layer of atmosphere around [the album] built by none other than Kevin Moore." Carter ranked "Lie", "Scarred", "Caught in a Web" and "Space-Dye Vest" as the best tracks. Metal Storm praised "6:00" and the "A Mind Beside Itself" suite.

In a 1995 Guitar World interview, Chuck Schuldiner praised Awake and the band Dream Theater in general, claiming that "their music is very complex, but they definitely have hooks, which is crucial to making music listenable", citing them as an influence on the more progressive nature of his band Death's later material as opposed to the stagnant death metal scene at the time. In 2005, Awake was ranked number 390 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. In July 2014, the album was ranked number 1 in Guitar World magazine's list of "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994".

wikipedia.org



Vier Jahre Kompositionszeit hatten DREAM THEATER für ihr barockes Underground-Phänomen 'When Dream And Day Unite' zur Verfügung, und in immerhin drei Jahren wurden die Melodie-Giganten des epochalen Science-Fiction-Nachfolgers 'Images And Words' bis auf den letzten Hundertstelmillimeter ausgefeilt. Daß die Jungs auch mit einem relativen 'Schnellschuß' jeglicher Konkurrenz um Lichtjahre voraus sind, beweist ihr neuester Output, der in nur knapp fünf Monaten rausgehauen wurde. Hat man den übermächtigen Schatten des letzten Scheibchens erst einmal beiseitegeschoben und sich den - anfangs etwas gewöhnungsbedürftigen - Tracks geöffnet, erschließt sich einem ein schier geniales Kunstwerk, das vor brillant gefertigten Details nur so strotzt, auch wenn 'Awake' stilistisch genausowenig mit 'Images And Words' vergleichbar ist wie 'Images And Words' mit dem Debüt. Trotz der gewohnt hymnischen Hooks roher und experimenteller als zuletzt, teilweise wie eine Jamsession aufgebaut, mit einem gelungenen Spagatschritt zwischen modernen Vibes'n'Grooves und traditionellen Versatzstücken, die an die späten Siebziger/frühen Achtziger erinnern. So zum Beispiel die ideenreichen Keyboards von Kevin Moore, der leider direkt nach Beendigung der Aufnahmen seinen Ausstieg bekanntgegeben hat, weil er angeblich ein Industrial-Projekt gründen will. Möglicherweise werden die Jungs daran live zu knacken haben, auf 'Awake' zieht der Rick Wakeman der Neunziger jedenfalls noch einmal alle Register seines einmaligen Könnens. Natürlich haben sich auch Kollegen wieder selbst übertroffen. Bandmotor Mike Portnoy dürfte erneut Hundertschaften von etablierten Drummern in die Depression treiben, Sänger James LaBrie zeigt, daß er's auch 'nen Streifen härter bringt, und angesichts der klassisch gefärbten Wahnsinnsgitarren von John Petrucci müßte selbst ein Mann wie Yngwie zugeben, daß er von dem Amerikaner mit Karacho auf der linken Spur überholt worden ist. Alles in allem ein Werk, das - wie schon seine Vorgänger - die Spitze dessen darstellt, was im HM-Bereich künstlerisch und technisch möglich ist.

Matthias Breusch
RockHard Magazine
 

 L y r i c s


Currently no Lyrics available!

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


Currently no Samples available!