In the 1990s: Dream Theater, Marillion, Swans

I did the 2010s up, and now is the 1990s. When considering each of these bands various releases from the 1990s, which of these bands that released its first studio album in the 1980s has been strongest for you? I'd be interested to hear about your particular favourite releases too (love reading the more detailed answers) as well as any thoughts you think pertinent or of interest.

Here are the studio albums from the 90s for each as well as a couple of the live albums from each.

Dream Theater studio:
- Images and Words (1992)
- Awake (1994)
- Falling Into Infinity (1997)
- Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory (1999)

Dream Theater lives:
- Live at The Marquee (1993)
- Once in a LiveTime (1998)

Marillion studio:
- Holidays in Eden (1991)
- Brave (1994)
- Afraid of Sunlight (1995)
- This Strange Engine (1997)
- Radiation (1998)
- marillion.com (1999)

Marillion lives:
- Made Again (1996)
- Unplugged at the Walls (1999)

Swans studio:
- White Light From the Mouth of Infinity (1991)
- Love of Life (1992)
- The Great Annihilator (1995)
- Soundtracks for the Blind (1996)

Swans lives:
- Omniscience (1992)
- Swans Are Dead (1998)

Dream Theater makes a much a stronger showing here than in the last poll -- probably generally thought as as its best decade.

Not surprisingly, I vote with Swans again. I have not listened to Love of Life as much as the other three albums, but I adore those others. And I still tend to think of Soundtracks for the Blind as Swans masterpiece, with Helpless Child as its central masterpiece. I also love those live. Omniscience is not one that is very well-known, is taken from its 1992 tour, and is out-of-print and never been re-issued. It's one of my very favourite Swans albums and I find it sad that such an album is out-of-print and has not been re-issued (at least it's on youtube). And it has fantastic version of the song "Love of Life" on it. I'd like to own that one with a signed copy on vinyl.

By the way, any of you get to see any of these bands in concert in the 90s, and if so, how was it?

DT

By the slightest margins, I'm going with DT mainly because 'Awake' is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Ok, NOW I'm picking Dream Theater  Definitely my favorite decade of theirs

Marillion, but I love all 3 of them! 

Don’t know Swans, but between DT and Marillion this is quite tough….but it’s DT, as I&W and SFAM are such strong albums v Brave, and the weaker DT albums are stronger than the weaker Marillion ones….

Listened to DT a ton in the '90s, up till SFAM.

Swans are on tour here in the UK in August. I must get to one of those gigs.

I don't mind if people vote without being familiar with all, as what is strongest "for you" can be so dependant on what you know. I do hope some people take some time to try to familiarise themselves with all a bit, at least, and maybe try to turn people onto music, or just educate them (Lewian mentioned not knowing Marillion for the period) -- even if one doesn't end up liking the music, I still find value in that sharing experience. Sharing is caring. ;) I've been rather surprised that Swans 90s output is not better known and appreciated by members of this community.

My three favourite Swans studio albums from the 90s are Soundtracks For the Blind, White Light From the Mouth of Infinity, and The Great Annihilator. While Swans Are Dead is commonly a particularly lauded live album by Swans, I love Omniscience (partially because it tends more to the gentle and delicate -- love that Gira and Jarboe mix).

Here are the first two tracks from Swans 90s albums that I really loved (Blind was on a solo Gira album, Michael Gira is the person behind Swans, and was not originally on White Light, but on later releases.





Such a fantastic band (or Gira project) in my opinion. My top seven studio Swans albums would be (in chronolologial order):

Children of God (1987)
White Light From the Mouth of Infinity (1991)
The Great Annihilator (1995)
Soundtracks for the Blind (1996)
The Seer (2012)
To Be Kind (2014)
The Glowing Man (2016)

And Omniscience from 1992 is my most listened to Swans live album (despite Swans never re-releasing it and it being long out-of-print. I'm the only here I have known to comment on it, so it may be just me here).

While I know many are reluctant to listen to music outside of the context of the albums, if others want to share some of their favourite tracks off albums by any here, and talk about their favourite albums, I would appreciate it and check out the music. I like for polls often to be interactive in that way, and that I and others discover, re-discover music, maybe deepen appreciation, and just get more of communal feel for each other's specific tastes. I do like threads often to act like listening rooms for a more communal and interactive experience.




Edited by Logan - July 16 2023 at 11:25

love all three bands but this poll idea is bizarre (voted Dream Theater)