Lie (Dream Theater single)
| Awake | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Dream Theater | ||||
| Released | October 4, 1994 | |||
| Recorded | May–July 1994 | |||
| Studio | One on One Studios and Devonshire Studios in North Hollywood, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | Progressive metal, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 74:56 | |||
| Label | East West | |||
| Producer | John Purdell, Duane Baron | |||
| Dream Theater chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Singles from Awake | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Guitar World | Favorable |
| Q | Favorable |
| Rock Hard |  |
Awake is the third studio album by American progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater, released on October 4, 1994 through East West Records. It was the last Dream Theater album to feature keyboardist Kevin Moore, who announced his decision to leave the band during the recording of the album.
Much of the material for Awake was written in writing sessions between February and April 1994, during which Dream Theater were under pressure from their record label to produce an album as successful as Images and Words (1992) with a single similar to "Pull Me Under". The label wanted the band to produce a more metal-oriented album, hoping it would be easier to market. John Purdell and Duane Baron produced, engineered and mixed the album. The album's cover, designed by the band, features numerous references to the album's lyrics.
Released at the height of the popularity of grunge music, Awake initially received mixed reviews; more recent reviews regard the album as one of the band's finest. The album peaked at 32 on the US Billboard 200, the highest position a Dream Theater album would reach on that chart until 2007's Systematic Chaos, which peaked at 19. "Lie", "Caught in a Web" and "The Silent Man" were released as singles but failed to be as successful as "Pull Me Under" had been. The band's record label considered the album a commercial failure, which would lead to the band being pressured to write more radio-friendly songs on their subsequent studio album.
There is no title track on the album, but the lyric awake appears in the songs "Innocence Faded" and "The Silent Man".
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". "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."
...
Wikipedia