IMAGES AND WORDS

Images and Words is Dream Theater at their best, and that's high praise indeed. I would give this one 4 and 1/2 stars if half stars were allowed. This album consists of well-written and entertaining music, which should be what matters in any genre.

As for songwriting, Kevin Moore seems to have been "instrumental" (pun very much intended!) in this one. He had a big part in the lyrics. Although the music was apparently composed by the band, the keyboards play a large part in Images and Words. Wikipedia and Dark Lyrics are my sources for this info, btw. Images and Words contains some of DT's best melodies and most memorable songs.

Several of them are at the beginning: "Pull Me Under', "Another Day", "Take the Time", "Under the Glass Moon". "Learning to Live" is not a favorite of mine; it's simply too long. The lyrics on Images and Words are frustratingly vague. The band makes a point of letting us know that the lyrics are apparently dream-based, so understandably they're not going to tell a linear narrative. To demonstrate, this is a sample from "Take the Time": "The unbroken spirit, Obscured and disquiet, Finds clearness this trial demands." Huh?

I'm not a huge fan of keyboard-driven rock; I would never choose to listen to ELP. However, it's a given that "Images and Words" is brilliantly performed by all the band members. I am a church choir singer, and I am a James LaBrie fan. If you have the skills, you should use them IMO. For those listeners who thinik that LaBrie oversings, he is more subtle here than on other Dream Theater releases. There are no bad songs on Images and Words. There are some of their most popular and memorable songs here, and that's what earns Images and Words 4 and 1/2 stars.