Images and Words

Images and Words is the second studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released in 1992 through Atco Records. It is the first Dream Theater release to feature James LaBrie on vocals. The album maintains its position as the band's most commercially successful studio album to date, and the song "Pull Me Under" has the distinction of being the only top 10 hit (radio or otherwise) the band has ever had. This particular song has also had more recent success as it has appeared in the 2008 video game Guitar Hero World Tour.

Although there is no title track on this album, the phrase images and words appears in the song "Wait for Sleep".

History

After Charlie Dominici's departure from the band, the band auditioned nearly 200 people across the nation before James LaBrie sent the band an audition tape. LaBrie was formerly in the Canadian glam metal band Winter Rose, but saw potential in the band, and thus decided to audition. After a short jam session, the band chose him as their lead singer, and he has manned the post ever since.

With LaBrie on board, the band was signed to a seven-album contract by Atco, and shortly after began recording their new album in late 1991. The lead single, "Pull Me Under", gained the band considerable commercial success with its airplay on MTV and radio, garnering them a top 10 hit on the radio charts. When the album was released, it sold at a steady pace, helped by their relentless touring across the world.

Images and Words was played in its entirety on several occasions during the European leg of the "Chaos in Motion" tour, in celebration of its 15th anniversary. It was performed on June 6, 2007 in Bonn, Germany, and was released as The International Fan Clubs CD 2007. On July 7, 2012, the twentieth anniversary of the album's release in 1992, Dream Theater performed three songs from Images and Words as the encore of their concert in Austin, Texas: "Pull Me Under", "Another Day", and "Metropolis—Part I" (in addition to "Surrounded", which was performed during the main set).

In 2013 the album was reissued on vinyl.

Reception

Upon release, the album was met with universal acclaim and many critics and fans cite this album as a landmark release for the progressive metal genre. The album later received an RIAA certification of gold, the band's only studio album to date to do so. On April 9, 2013, Images and Words won Loudwire's fan-voted March Metal Madness award for best metal album of all time. Music critic Piero Scaruffi includes the album at #8, just after Fear Factory's Demanufacture (1995) and before Sepultura's Roots (1996), in his classification of the best metal albums of all time.

The song "Under a Glass Moon" was awarded the 98th best guitar solo by Guitar World magazine. In October 2011, Images and Words was ranked number 7 on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1992.

Trivia

• In 1991, James LaBrie appeared as a guest artist on "Life in Still Water" of Fates Warning's 1991 album Parallels. In the liner notes the band thanks "Dream Theatre"; Dream Theater later responded by thanking Fates Warning as "Fatez Warning" in the liner notes of Images and Words.
• "Take the Time" includes a sample from Frank Zappa's 1979 song "Dancin' Fool", specifically Zappa saying "Wait a minute...", as well as Kurtis Blow's 1980 song "Christmas Rappin'", in which Blow says "Hold it now..."

Track listing

All music composed by Dream Theater, except where noted.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
1.	"Pull Me Under"	Kevin Moore	8:14
2.	"Another Day"	John Petrucci	4:23
3.	"Take the Time"	Petrucci, Moore, Mike Portnoy, John Myung	8:21
4.	"Surrounded"	Moore	5:30
5.	"Metropolis—Part I: "The Miracle and the Sleeper""	Petrucci	9:32
6.	"Under a Glass Moon"	Petrucci	7:03
7.	"Wait for Sleep" (music by Moore)	Moore	2:31
8.	"Learning to Live"	Myung	11:30
Total length:			57:04

While originally credited to "Dream Theater" in the liner notes, it has since been confirmed by Mike Portnoy that everyone except James LaBrie was involved in writing the lyrics for the song "Take the Time".

Personnel

Dream Theater

• James LaBrie – lead vocals
• John Petrucci – guitar, background vocals
• Kevin Moore – keyboard
• John Myung – bass
• Mike Portnoy – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Jay Beckenstein – soprano saxophone on "Another Day"

Production

• David Prater – mixing production
• Doug Oberkircher – engineering, mixing
• Steve Regina – engineering assistance
• Ted Jensen – mastering

RIAA certifications

These statistics were compiled from the RIAA certification online database.

• Gold – February 2, 1995

Chart performance

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1992	Billboard Top Heatseekers	2
1993	Billboard 200	61

Singles

Year	Title	Chart	Position
1992	"Pull Me Under"	Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	10
1993	"Take the Time"	Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	29
1993	"Another Day"	Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	22

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