Awake

Awake
Studio album by Dream Theater
Released	October 4, 1994
Recorded	May – July 1994 One On One Studios (L.A.) Devonshire Studios (L.A.)
Genre	Progressive metal Progressive rock
Length	75:00
Label	EastWest
Producer	John Purdell and Duane Baron
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Sea of Tranquility link
Dream Theater chronology
Live at the Marquee (1993) Awake (1994) A Change of Seasons (1995)
Singles from Awake
"Caught In A Web" Released: 1994 "Lie" Released: 1994 "The Silent Man" Released: 1994

Awake is the third studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released in 1994. It is the last Dream Theater album to feature keyboardist Kevin Moore.

History

After the relative commercial success of Images and Words, the band went back to the studio in 1994 with the first timetable and most pressure they had experienced going into recording.

Shortly before the album's mixing, keyboardist Kevin Moore decided to quit the band to follow his own musical endeavors. Fans were outraged, and the band was left shocked by his decision. The band went on a hunt for a new keyboardist to replace Moore for the upcoming tour, and discovered Derek Sherinian, who offered to play keyboards for the band's upcoming tour.

Unfortunately, more occurrences affected the upcoming tour, such as when LaBrie suffered a terrible case of food poisoning after eating bad shrimp and ruptured his vocal cords while vomiting. Doctors advised LaBrie to rest his voice for a few months so he could regain his vocal abilities, but against their wishes he took part on the tour. Much criticism surfaced surrounding his voice as fans and critics alike noticed a dramatic change in the tone and range of his voice. He would not fully recover his voice until later tours.

Album Structure

Tracks 4-6 form a three-part suite titled A Mind Beside Itself. They are labeled as such inside the CD booklet; however, the back of the album cover lists them individually, with no mention of the phrase "A Mind Beside Itself." Each song is a separate index on the CD, and Dream Theater often treats them as individual songs at live concerts. They have, however, performed the suite 117 times live as of Osaka, Japan in 2004^{[citation needed]}. They were released on the live album Live Scenes from New York and are listed under the title "A Mind Beside Itself parts I, II and III" there.

Similarly, "The Mirror" and "Lie" can be said to be parts of a single song broken in half. They flow coherently into each other and have a very similar mood with the interlude in "The Mirror" repeating in an altered state as a solo section in "Lie". Despite each part being written by a different member, they share similar themes of betrayal, trust and loss of control. Additionally, the main piano melody of "Space-Dye Vest" is featured in "The Mirror."

The samples in "6:00" are taken from the John Huston film The Dead.

The samples in "Space-Dye Vest" are from the 1986 film, A Room with a View, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Canadian news/documentary program The Fifth Estate and from a news report following the O. J. Simpson freeway chase.

The track "Scarred" is not featured on the cassette version of the album.

Track listing

Chart performance

Albums^[1][2]

Singles^[3]

Credits

Band

• James LaBrie — Vocals
• Kevin Moore — Keyboards
• John Myung — Bass
• John Petrucci — Guitar
• Mike Portnoy — Drums & Percussion

Cover art references

Although not confirmed by the band to be an intentional effort, some elements on the cover art represent some of the tracks. Examples:

• Hour and minute on the moon, representing the song "6:00"
• The spider web beside the mirror, representing the songs "Caught in a Web" and "Voices"
• The big mirror on the ground, representing the song "The Mirror"
• The false reflection seen on the mirror, representing the song "Lie"
• The mirror's reflection in colour, representing "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream", and also the video of "The Silent Man"
• The old man statue, as shown on the music video, representing the song "The Silent Man"
• The night sky with the planet, representing the song "Space-Dye Vest"
• The background industrial city that has "Scarred" the land in the foreground

Other trivia

• In "6:00", the lyrics "Can't find the strength but he's got promises to keep, and wood to chop before he sleeps" allude to the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.
• The "honor of God" and the "6:00 on a Christmas Morning" lyrics are quotes from James Joyce's 'The Dead'
• "Space-Dye Vest" is the only song from the album that has never been played live, the reason being that it was largely composed by former keyboardist Kevin Moore, with the band noting that it would be "uncomfortable" to play the song without him.

Demo version

According to the liner notes of the Awake Demos 1994 CD released through YtseJam Records, some of these songs had different working titles, which are used for the band members to reference while recording and were never intended to remain as such on the final album. Those that were changed were originally titled as follows:

• "6:00" was called "Beachhouse Reality"
• "Caught in a Web" was called "Squid"
• "Innocence Faded" was called "Fresca"
• "The Mirror" was called "Puppies on Acid" (the early version of this song, consisting of the introduction up to where the vocals come in, appears on Images and Words: Live in Tokyo and Once in a LIVEtime and was sometimes used when performing live as an intro to "Take the Time" from their previous album Images and Words)
• "Lie" was called "Kittens on Crack"
• "Lifting Shadows Off a Dream" was called "Blowfish"
• "Scarred" was called "The Keymaster"

References