Music / Images and Words

"There's no more freedom,
The both of you will be confined,
To this mind."

Images and Words is Dream Theater's second album released in 1992. After firing their previous singer Charlie Dominici, the band got James LaBrie, making his debut with Dream Theater on this album.

Regarded as a landmark of Progressive Metal, Images and Words still remains the band's most commercially successful album and is regarded as a '90s classic. How good is it? In April of 2013, it won Loudwire's fan-voted March Metal Madness award for best metal album of all time. It also has their only top 10 hit: "Pull Me Under".

You can more read more about it on The Other Wiki.

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Personnel:

• James LaBrie - Vocals
• John Petrucci - Guitar
• John Myung - Bass
• Kevin Moore – Keyboards
• Mike Portnoy – Drums

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Tracklist:

1. "Pull Me Under"
2. "Another Day"
3. "Take the Time"
4. "Surrounded"
5. "Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper"
6. "Under a Glass Moon"
7. "Wait For Sleep"
8. "Learning to Live"

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This album provides examples of:

• Added Alliterative Appeal: "Take the Time"
• Album Title Drop: From "Wait for Sleep".
  She shuts the doors and lights and lays her body on the bed,
  where images and words are running deep
• Alliterative Title: "Take the Time"
• Audience Participation Song: "Take the Time" was this for the album's tour.
• Careful with That Axe: There a few good examples in this album, most notably the scream during the build-up of "Learning to Live"—it's the F# just below soprano C, and is one of the highest notes James has ever reached in his entire singing career.
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Just look at the picture used for the cover of the "Another Day" single.
• Continuity Nod: The final section of "Learning to Live" directly repeats the main piano riff from "Wait for Sleep".
• Echoing Acoustics: The electronically-triggered snare and kick, imposed on Mike Portnoy by producer David Prater.
• Epic Rocking: As usual for Dream Theater. On this album alone, there is "Learning to Live" (11:30), "Metropolis Pt. 1" (9:32), "Take the Time" (8:21), "Pull Me Under" (8:14), and "Under a Glass Moon" (7:03).
• Grief Song: "Another Day" was written after John Petrucci's father was diagnosed with cancer.
• Longest Song Goes Last: The album closes with "Learning To Live" (11:30).
• One-Steve Limit: When Kevin James LaBrie joined the band before this album, he used his middle name as his stage name to avoid confusion with Kevin Moore.
• Power Ballad: "Another Day".
• Rule of Three: "Metropolis Pt. 1" references three "eternal dances": death, deceit, and love.
• Uncommon Time: Every song after "Another Day", at some point.

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