It’s a very special episode of TII as we belatedly celebrate Brian’s 94th birthday! Since it’s his special day, he got to pick the topic – and he decided that he wanted to pose a question. If you were stranded on a desert island (he also said “have you ever seen a desert with an island? I digress…”) – what ten albums would you want with you? On this episode, we give OUR list of must-have desert island albums!

We return from seeing JP absolutely tear down the House of Blues in Cleveland, Ohio with Dave LaRue and Mike Portnoy and give our thoughts on an incredible performance! This got us thinking… what are some of our favorite all-instrumental records? We each give a list of albums we think everyone should check out!

Coming off of the critical and commercial success that was Distance Over Time, Dream Theater were under pressure to deliver a follow-up that lived up to its predecessor’s standards. Their offering was 2021’s A View From The Top Of The World… how did it fare? Did it live up to the lofty fan expectations or was it a letdown? We give our thoughts on DT’s most recent studio release!

It’s 1994… you walk into the record store to buy Awake… and the clerk tells you that you CAN’T buy it! You HAVE to buy something else… what records are you buying? We give OUR choices for what we’d buy when we can’t have what we really want – the new Dream Theater record!

In our third episode discussing bands that influenced Dream Theater, we dig into one of the best-selling rock records ever (and the album Jon lists as the most influential of his life) – Van Halen’s 1984! From Panama to Hot For Teacher to Jump – the band’s only #1 single! – this record is jam-packed with phenomenal tunes and, of course, is one of the absolute highlights of Eddie Van Halen’s recorded work!

From Kevin Moore to Derek Sherinian to Jordan Rudess, Dream Theater has had an embarrassment of riches at the keyboard post throughout their career. On this episode, we dig into their discography to detail our favorite keyboard passages! Be they mellow, dark, classical, or a sound like a snarling pig, we cover them all!

You know him, you love him… he’s Rich Wilson – the author of Dream Theater’s authorized biography Lifting Shadows (if you haven’t gone back and watched/listened to our interview with him about the book; what are you waiting for??) – and he’s back on TII with us to dig into one of DT’s most well-received records – Octavarium!

It’s time for Album Cage Match #5! This time we pit the record that started it all… 1989’s When Dream And Day Unite versus 2007’s Systematic Chaos! Will the band’s stellar debut take the title, or will one of DT’s most eclectic releases take the title? Let’s find out!

In our second episode discussing bands that influenced Dream Theater, we dig into the seminal record of Rush’s career (and Brian’s favorite album) – Moving Pictures! Most Rush fans agree that this is the best record the band ever released – we go track by track and give our thoughts on this prog masterpiece!

Brian is off, but leaves the show in very capable hands as our good friend Adam Rishaug joins Jon to dig into one of DT’s top two most popular records… 1999’s Scenes From A Memory! Whether you prefer this one or Images and Words, there’s no denying that this album is a masterpiece from start to finish – and we dive into it track by track! Adam takes it one step further and digs into the story itself, so if you love this record but have never been sure what's happening in the story - this is DEFINITELY the episode for you!