536. Dream Theater / Images And Words. 1992. 4/5

Dream Theater was another of those bands that began in high school, and then progressed to a higher plane through sheer force of will after their school years. Their debut album was filled with songs that they had written in those years, and it is said that based on the glowing reports of their demo album, where most of those songs originated from, they had expected a similar reaction to their first album. This wasn’t the case, and along with the clashes with lead singer Charlie Dominici the band made some changes, with James LaBrie coming in on vocals to join John Petrucci on guitar, Mike Portnoy on drums, John Myung on bass and Kevin Moore on keyboards.
The progressiveness of the band’s material seemed to have been an obstruction to the success of their first album, which seemed a little strange given what was being produced in 1989. But here in 1992 they were up against greater odds, the influence and dominating factor of grunge. Their style wasn’t unique, but it did incorporate different styles from bands such as Rush and Yes through to Queensryche and Metallica, and on that debut album it hadn’t quite caught the imagination.
The band initially wanted to record “Images and Words” as a double album, but their new record company was against the idea, meaning that some of the songs recorded for the album missed out. One of those was “A Change of Seasons” that was eventually re-recorded and released as an EP.
When you first listen to this album, there is quite a lot to take in, and yet comparatively to their first album it feels a lot simpler and more engaging. The opening track is brilliant, still one of the band’s best. “Pull Me Under” really acts as a great introduction point to new fans, presenting everything that is so fantastic about the band. The moody opening of guitar bass and keys with the drums kicking in to provide the impetus, followed by the amazing vocals swimming in kicks the song and album off in perfect fashion. It is the song I play to anyone who wants to know what Dream Theater is like. It is also the band’s only top ten single on the US charts, albeit a shortened version, and became the joke of the band’s eventual greatest hits album in the title “Greatest Hit... and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs)”.
The band’s ability to switch from heavy progressive to light progressive is highlighted on this album throughout, sometime within a song itself, and at other times between the tracks. “Another Day” is a more serene track compared to the opener, but though it dials back in intensity it doesn’t lose any of its flavour or joy as a result. Indeed, it fits the template of the album that a song like this doesn’t on heavier bands albums. Then we are back into the much harder tempo of “Take the Time” where LaBrie’s ability to infuse attitude into those high range vocals is perfectly positioned along with Portnoy’s ridiculous off timing drum fills and cymbal touches is still amazing.

“Surrounded” delves back to the quiet and reserved, dominated through the beginning of the song by Moore keys and LaBrie vocals before rising towards the end. It is complemented towards the end of the album with the short serve of “Wait For Sleep” which was the only song on the album written exclusively by one member, this one by Kevin Moore. Both of these songs showcase what the band does well in its lighter moments, and though they aren’t my cup of tea when it comes to music genres they both fit the way the album has been constructed in the best way.
“Metropolis - Part 1: “The Miracle and the Sleeper” has a natural build through the lengthy time span of the song, riding the wave once again of Moore’s keyboards through to the hardening of the drums and guitars, and concluding with LaBrie’s wonderful vocals delivering the final lines. It is a terrific track, one that must have led the listeners back in those days to wonder why it was Metropolis Part 1” and if that meant there was a Part 2 coming somewhere down the line. That of course came to fruition in an amazing way. “Under a Glass Moon” comes at you in the same way, dominated a bit more with Portnoy’s relentless drumming that never ceases to amaze. The closing track “Learning to Live” covers all of the equations of the Dream Theater repertoire, a smashing of heavy from Petrucci and Portnoy to the sallow of Myung and Moore, while LaBrie changes his inflection as the mood of the song comes and goes in waves. It’s 11 minutes plus runtime is a pretty usual thing for the band, and it acts as an excellent closer to the album.

Dream Theater was another band that I was slow to cottoning onto, so my first discovery of this album didn’t come until the turn of the century. And, perhaps like most who have found this band or this album, it is the opening stanza of the opening track that drags you in. That amazing strength of “Pull Me Under” is what got me, that sensation that you will get with the very best albums or tracks where you think “bloody hell, what the hell is THIS?!” And the album, like the majority of Dream Theater albums, has its share of the heavy and light, the sings where Portnoy and Petrucci dominate and star, and those where Moore and LaBrie take centre stage, and all the while Johnny Myung does his amazing stuff up and down his bass guitar, no matter what kind of song is being played. And while my preference of their material has always been the guitar heavy tracks that have the drive along with the bass and drums and the harder attitude in James LaBrie’s vocals, the complementing songs here are amenable to the track list.
What still amazes me about this album is that it was able to find a successful window in a year that had such a different space in regards to the music that was being released. To have successfully produced the music that the band loved, without amending their style to follow the path that music at the time was trending, is a credit to the band and their belief in what they were doing. Listening to it 30 years later since its release, and a tick over 20 years since I first heard it myself, those influences I mentioned earlier, from bands such as Yes and Rush and Queensryche and even contemporaries like Fates Warning are so solid in the music here. And for me, this album lay the platform for Dream Theater to construct from, to develop their own style further. Some of those future albums are better than others, but Images and Words still truly holds its own in the Dream Theater catalogue.