Awake (Dream Theater album)

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".[2] "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."[3]

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.[2] 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.[3] Awake featured Petrucci's use of 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'."[4] 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.[5]

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.[6][7] John Purdell and Duane Baron, whose credits included Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tears (1991), were hired to produce the album.[6] The band, which had a difficult relationship with David Prater, who produced 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."[7] Awake is the band's only studio album to date that was not recorded on the east coast of the United States.

Larry Freemantle, who had designed the cover of Images and Words, provided the artwork for Awake. As with Images and Words, the band instructed Freemantle to include several lyrical references in the cover, such as a clock showing the time 6:00, a mirror and a spider in the middle of a web. "The band were very definite about what they wanted, and where they wanted it," Freemantle said. "The mirror was to be buried in the sand with a factory in the background, so it was just a case of putting it together."[21] Access Images, the company Freemantle had used for Images and Words, had broken up, meaning that he had to put the cover together using stock images himself. "It was done really quickly and I always felt frustrated with that sleeve as I lost too much time on it," Freemantle said. "I was always up against deadlines on certain things and it got away from me."[21]

Awake was released on October 4, 1994, through East West Records.[3][18] LaBrie considered the album's title to be "the perfect word to describe the album's lyrics. What we're basically talking about is the awareness of your existence - becoming closer and more in touch with yourself and ultimately discovering what works best for you as an individual as you try to get through life."[21] Portnoy dedicated the album to his biggest inspiration, Frank Zappa, who died in 1993.[22]

The album sold 36,160 copies the first week it was released.[23] "Lie", the album's lead single, was released in late September. The accompanying music video featured the band, then a four-piece, playing the track at various locations in New York City, including the Brooklyn Bridge, Tribeca and a tunnel in Manhattan (which had to be temporarily closed in order to complete the shoot). It was hoped that "Lie" would be as successful as "Pull Me Under" had been, but the single failed to make an impact on the charts.[18] "Caught in a Web" and "The Silent Man" were the album's second and third singles respectively. Portnoy was keen to direct the music video for "The Silent Man", but East West only offered him a co-directing credit with Pamela Birkhead. On the day of the shoot, Portnoy became violently ill, and when not needed to perform rested in his tour bus bunk.[24]

Derek Sherinian was hired to play keyboards on the Waking Up the World tour in October 1994, but was not made a full member of the band until February 1995.

With Moore no longer a member of Dream Theater, the band needed to find a replacement keyboardist for the forthcoming world tour in support of Awake. Before the tour started, the band had a headlining concert on September 9, 1994, at the Foundations Forum in Burbank, California. The album was to be unveiled in a live setting for the first time.[25] Jordan Rudess's audition impressed the band, with Portnoy claiming that it had "blown his mind"[26] and that Rudess was the "best keyboard player we'd ever seen".[26] Rudess accepted the band's offer to perform with them at the Burbank show, but decided against joining the band for the entire tour. At the same time, he had received an offer to perform with the Dixie Dregs for shorter runs of shows and had a job with Kurzweil. Rudess also had a young family and was unsure if Dream Theater "was just going to be a flash in the pan".[27] "I decided I would be better off going with the Dregs, continuing with Kurzweil, and being around for my family as much as possible," Rudess said.[27] The show was not a success; the band were nervous of playing without Moore and were out of practice from not having played live for some time.[28] Rudess eventually joined Dream Theater as a full band member in 1999.[29]

The band held another round of auditions and were impressed with Derek Sherinian. Sherinian, who studied at Berklee College of Music the year before Petrucci, Portnoy, and Myung did, had previously played with Alice Cooper and Kiss and enjoyed similar music to the other members of Dream Theater.[30] He was offered the position on a trial basis at the beginning of October 1994, giving him just two weeks to learn two hours of highly complex music.[31] "It's one thing going in to play for an artist with hit songs that you've heard since you were a kid, and the songs are ingrained in your mind," Sherinian said. "It was another thing altogether going in with music you've never heard before that is totally off the charts as far as technical prowess... But it is amazing what one will do to ascend... when I was in New York at the rehearsals, I would play the songs at night over and over on a loop so that I would be subliminally programmed and it would ingrain it in my head."[32] Sherinian was officially asked to join the band as a full member in February 1995.[33]

The US leg of the Waking Up The World tour began on October 20, 1994, and finished on December 9.[32] Over Christmas, LaBrie went on holiday to Cuba with his wife, where he had violent food poisoning.[34] Upon his return home he consulted an ears, nose, and throat specialist, who told LaBrie that he had ruptured his vocal cords, advising him not to sing for six months to a year. "I was in total shock and devastated," LaBrie said. "On the US leg I had been so psyched and couldn't wait to blow everyone away around the rest of the world. We weren't in a position for me to take a six-month break so I had to keep touring."[35] LaBrie was able to continue performing, but his voice became unpredictable. "It was absolutely miserable, and it was an extremely dark and depressing period for me," he recalled. "Literally every fucking night on the European leg, I wouldn't know if my voice would be there or if it would cooperate... I didn't feel that my voice really started to come back until maybe the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence tour in 2002. That's when I started to feel my range and strength coming back."[36]

The Great Hanshin earthquake struck Japan while Dream Theater were touring there.[37] Although none of the band was injured, they seriously considered calling off the tour, but only ended up canceling one show. The band held a minute's silence at every show in Japan in memory of those who had died.[38] During the soundchecks for the Japanese shows, the band rehearsed a series of cover songs. These were performed at a special covers-only show in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London. The show, performed to an invitation-only audience of three hundred, featured guest musicians such as Barney Greenway, Steve Hogarth, Steve Rothery and Steve Howe.[39] A selection of covers and medleys performed by Dream Theater at this show were released on A Change of Seasons.[40]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[41]
Guitar World	Favorable[42]
Q	Favorable[43]
Rock Hard	[44]

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, which was eventually topped by 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings, which peaked at No. 6.[1] The album peaked in the top 20 in four countries.[45][46][47][48] 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.[49][50]

Awake received acclaim from music critics. 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"."[43] 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."[42] Metal Hammer dismissed Awake as "musical masturbation":[21] "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".[21] The album has since sold nearly 400,000 copies.

Later reviews were more favorable. Reviewers praised the album's production, noting the album is darker and heavier than previous Dream Theater releases.[51][52][41] The musicianship of the band has been praised. Phil Carter of AllMusic highlighted Petrucci and Portnoy's performances;[41] Metal Storm praised LaBrie and Portnoy;[51] 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."[52] Carter ranked "Lie", "Scarred", "Caught in a Web" and "Space-Dye Vest" as the best tracks.[41] Metal Storm praised "6:00" and the "A Mind Beside Itself" suite.[51]

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.[53] In 2005, Awake was ranked number 390 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[54] In July 2014, the album was ranked number 1 in Guitar World magazine's list of "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994".[55]

• Wilson, Rich (2009). Lifting Shadows: The Authorized Biography of Dream Theater (Classic ed.). London: Essential Works. ISBN 978-1-906615-02-4.