Dream Theater: Images of Excellence

Dream Theater epitomize progressive rock. Although I dislike comparisons, this band incorporates elements of such great progressive rock icons as Rush, the Dixie Dregs, Yes, Kansas and others into a sound all their own. Many times all these elements are present in the same song. As the band blasts their way through abrupt, complex, but well executed time changes, one thing becomes apparent. Each member of this band is a virtuoso. The eight songs featured on their Atco debut, Images And Words, their second album overall, clock in at almost an hour — one of the shortest hours ever spent listening to music.

The initial stages of what would become Dream Theater began to take shape while bassist John Myung, keyboardist Kevin Moore and guitarist John Petrucci were still in high school. “The main core of the band started early, when John, Kev and myself were playing in high school bands,” Petrucci begins. “When we were in our senior year, we had a band that was pretty much the same thing, except we didn’t have Mike [Portnoy], our drummer, or our new singer. I left to go to Berklee [College of Music] with John and that’s where we met Mike. When we came back two semesters later, we said ‘The hell with school! We have to do this!’ That was around 1986-87.”

A deal was signed with Mechanic Records based on a few demos. The band had never really played extensively live. Once signed, they realized their name, Majesty, was already taken and changed the moniker to Dream Theater.

Their debut album, When Dream And Day Unite, was an adventurous undertaking and quickly generated a large cult following, mainly based on word of mouth. Notable metal magazine Kerrang gave the release a prestigious 5K review and the limited number of shows the band performed were met with enthusiastic responses. During this time the band suffered some serious setbacks, what Petrucci describes as the “Dark Periods” of Dream Theater.

“We had two tours set up, one with Crimson Glory and one with Fates Warning. We didn’t get tour support [from the label], so we couldn’t tour. That was one of the reasons that led us to leave the label.”

Problems with Mechanic were not the only things contributing to Dream Theater’s Dark Periods. “We kind of knew from the beginning that [our original singer] wasn’t going to be there the whole time,” Petrucci continues. “He kind of came from a different world. Live, he didn’t gel with us. People would see him and say, ‘The band’s really good, but the singer doesn’t fit.’...Imagine Elton John or Billy Joel trying to sing Queensryche,” Petrucci adds, laughing. “It just didn’t work, he was in the wrong band.”

It took the band well over a year to finally become separated from their Mechanic deal. During this time, over 200 singers were evaluated. Petrucci explains the long, frustrating process, and how the band kept things in perspective: “During that time we were constantly jamming and writing. That’s something we do constantly no matter what.”

The perfect vocalist for Dream Theater’s unique brand of music was found in Canadian James LaBrie. “It took us a year-and-a-half to find a new singer,” Petrucci says. “It was just hell. Certain singers we actually worked with for weeks and months at a time we thought were going to be it, but weren’t. The way we hooked up with James was through Voivod’s manager. Voivod is a Canadian band who was also on Mechanic. They heard through the label that we were looking for a singer and hooked up James with our tape.”

Finally, with a new singer on board, their old label behind them, and three years of consistent playing, the new lineup was ready to again search for a record deal. Derek Oliver, the reviewer who gave the band a 5K review for Kerrang, was now an A&R representative for Atco Records and signed the band near the end of 1991. They began recording almost immediately, producing the quintessential Dream Theater album.

Images And Words is a brave foray through the history of rock and roll. It is original, but contains elements ranging from the 1970’s “art rock” movement of Genesis and Rush to the modern metallic sounds of Metallica. However, the band sounds like none of the above.

The first single, “Pull Me Under,” received only marginal success with metal and AOR radio, partly, in this writer’s opinion, due to the fact that a five-minute edit was used. (Unfortunately, radio programmers scoff at anything over the traditional three-and-a-half minute composition.)

Dramatic is a good word to sum up Images And Words. Every song lives up to that adjective. The 12-minute “Learning To Live” covers everything from jazz to metal and serves as the perfect initiation for a new listener.

“Another Day” should be released as the next single. This song could be a huge commercial radio hit. While containing the classic elements of Dream Theater, this is the most “radio friendly” track and could help the band cross over and make a connection with the mainstream audience.

“‘Another Day’ is one example of where I had written something that was simple on guitar, with a vocal line,” Petrucci explains. “I presented it to the band and they were very open to it. I didn’t just hand out the parts. It was like ‘How can we make this into Dream Theater?’ The band worked on it and we ‘Theaterized’ it.”

A cameo appearance also helps this track to shine above the rest. “We had a really big vision of having soprano sax on that song,” Petrucci offers. “When we recorded, totally out of coincidence, at Beartracks, Jay Beckenstein of Spyro Gyra, just happened to own the studio and he played on it, which was a major honor. He’s an incredible sax player. To see someone of that caliber just improvise solos on a song we wrote was just amazing. I can’t wait to get to that level of musicianship. It’s complete command of the instrument.”

Dream Theater do not apologize for breaking traditional rules. They thrive on it. Drummer Mike Portnoy sums it up pretty well, “We start a song and wherever it goes, we go. We never set out to write an involved, 10-minute song. But sometimes it takes that long to fully get an idea across. If you listen to our tunes, I don’t think you’ll find any dead weight in them. [So] why should we limit ourselves to being expressed in four minutes?”

Dream Theater brings the Images And Words tour to Flash’s this Saturday, October 17.