Falling into Infinity

Untitled

Falling into Infinity is the fourth full-length studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater, released in 1997.

History

Falling into Infinity is the last studio album on which keyboardist Derek Sherinian appears. Due to graphic artist Storm Thorgerson's insistence on not working with other people's fonts, this became the second of the two Dream Theater albums (after their debut, When Dream And Day Unite) to not contain the classic Dream Theater font in the title.

Track listing

1. "New Millennium" – 8:20 (music by Dream Theater, lyrics by Portnoy)
2. "You Not Me" – 4:58 (Dream Theater, Petrucci/Child)
3. "Peruvian Skies" – 6:43 (Dream Theater, Petrucci)
4. "Hollow Years" – 5:53 (Dream Theater, Petrucci)
5. "Burning My Soul" – 5:29 (Dream Theater, Portnoy)
6. "Hell's Kitchen" – 4:16 (Dream Theater, instrumental)
7. "Lines in the Sand" – 12:05 (Dream Theater, Petrucci)
8. "Take Away My Pain" – 6:03 (Dream Theater, Petrucci)
9. "Just Let Me Breathe" – 5:28 (Dream Theater, Portnoy)
10. "Anna Lee" – 5:51 (Dream Theater, LaBrie) (referenced on Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in songs)
11. "Trial Of Tears" – 13:07 (Dream Theater, Myung)
    1. "It's Raining"
    2. "Deep In Heaven"
    3. "The Wasteland"

Credits

Band

• James LaBrie – vocals
• John Myung – bass, Chapman Stick
• John Petrucci – guitars, backing vocals
• Mike Portnoy – drums, backing vocals
• Derek Sherinian – keyboards, backing vocals

Guests

• Desmond Child - lyrics on "You Not Me"
• Doug Pinnick - backing vocals on "Lines in the Sand"

Miscellanea

• Before recording of this album commenced, lead singer James LaBrie fell violently ill from food poisoning during a trip to Cuba, and actually ruptured his vocal cords due to excessive vomiting. His voice was significantly weakened from the incident.
• Falling into Infinity was originally conceived as a double album, though the label refused the idea. One of the songs that was removed was a twenty-minute epic known as "Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes from A Memory." The idea was expanded and became Dream Theater's next album.
• During their final show of the 20th Anniversary Tour in early 2006, the band performed songs from each of their records. However, for this album, the band chose to perform "Raise the Knife", an unreleased demo recorded during the recording sessions of this album, instead of performing one of the songs that did make the final cut of the record.
• In Japan, a limited edition of Falling Into Infinity comes with a bonus 3" CD that contains demos of "Take Away My Pain" and "Speak To Me"
• "Take Away My Pain" is dedicated to John Petrucci's father who died of cancer in 1996. Previously, John Petrucci wrote "Another Day" accounting his father's struggle with cancer.
• Hell's Kitchen is a New York City neighborhood where Avatar Studios, the recording studios for this album, are located. It was also originally performed as a jam during live performances of "Burning My Soul" before the album was released and was reworked as the instrumental track for the album.
• New Millennium was originally a jam song first called "Caught In Alice's 9-Inch Tool Garden"., then "Caught in Alice's New Nine-Inch Millennium Tool Garden", performed live with the lyrics of "Caught in a Web". The name comes from the obvious influences by Alice in Chains, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, and Soundgarden..
• "Peruvian Skies" contains portions of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.
• iTunes lists the track Anna Lee as Falling Into Infinity in its digital, online store. It also lists the album twice, with one being only a partial album.
• The working titles for some of the songs on Falling Into Infinity (according to the FAQ on www.mikeportnoy.com) are: "Lines in the Sand" was "Cat's Tail", and "Burning My Soul" was "Carnival of Clams".

Chart performance

Billboard 200:

• Falling into Infinity - #52

UK Album Chart:

• Falling into Infinity - #163

Billboard Mainstream Rock Singles:

• Burning My Soul - #33
• You Not Me - #40