Dream Theater is one of those bands that took me a long time to appreciate, but now I can't imagine what life was like without them! Complex and progressive, their music echoes shades of every great progressive band I can think of. (Think of putting Pink Floyd, Rush, Yes and Metallica into a blender and hearing what comes out.) All five members of the band are incredibly talented, not only with their instruments but in writing songs as well (and you James LaBrie-haters can just KISS MY SHAVED ASS!!!)

This page was getting far too big to handle, so all the bootlegs, CDRs & other unofficial recordings have been moved to a separate page.

"When Dream and Day Unite"

1. "A Fortune in Lies" (5:13)
2. "Status Seeker" (4:18)
3. "Ytse Jam"--instrumental (5:46)
4. "The Killing Hand" (8:42)
5. "Light Fuse and Get Away" (7:24)
6. "Afterlife" (5:27)
7. "The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun" (8:05)
8. "Only a Matter of Time" (6:36)

This album was recorded with Charlie Dominici. His vocals don't have the power or range of LaBrie, but they are still pretty good (kinda sounds like LaBrie with a sinus infection), and the music is very Dream Theater-ish. I especially love the instrumental "Ytse Jam" (which is "Majesty" spelled backwards, the band's original name), and the ending coda in "Matter of Time" I can only describe in three words: TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME!!!!!

What's interesting about this CD is, I didn't even know it existed until after "A.C.O.S." came out, and when I finally bought it, I was listening to it, and I swear to God I've heard it somewhere before! Yet I have no idea where!! The only thing I could think of was if this friend of mine (who first got me into the band, see below) had played it for me, but he said he never bought the album, he listened to it and didn't like it because of the vocals. But I know I've heard it somewhere! Guess it will always remain a mystery.

"Images and Words"

1. "Pull Me Under" (8:11)
2. "Another Day" (4:22)
3. "Take the Time" (8:21)
4. "Surrounded" (5:28)
5. "Metropolis - Part 1 ("The Miracle and the Sleeper")" (9:30)
6. "Under a Glass Moon" (7:02)
7. "Wait for Sleep" (2:31)
8. "Learning to Live" (11:30)

"Pull Me Under" was the first Dream Theater song I ever heard, and it came from a friend who'd taped it off the radio and said, "You gotta hear this!" At first, I was puzzled because I wasn't sure if I should like it or not, because it sounded like so many other bands mixed together, which usually pisses me off. Of course, it grew on me in time! That is their draw, I guess. The album is much of the same, with musical passages drawing on multiple influences. "Metropolis" even has a riff taken straight from Metallica!

"Live at the Marquee"

1. "Metropolis" (9:36)
2. "A Fortune in Lies" (5:10)
3. "Bombay Vindaloo"--instrumental (6:48)
4. "Surrounded" (6:00)
5. "Another Hand - The Killing Hand" (10:30)
6. "Pull Me Under" (8:42)

A quickie live album that I put off buying for a long while. Notable for James LaBrie singing two songs from WDADU ("Fortune in Lies", "Killing Hand") plus a previously unreleased instrumental jam ("Bombay Vindaloo"). Apparently some import versions replace "Surrounded" with another song, but who cares. Not as slickly produced as Once in a LiveTime, and therefore highly recommended. :-)

"Awake"

1. "6:00" (5:31)
2. "Caught in a Web" (5:28)
3. "Innocence Faded" (5:43)
4. "Erotomania"--instrumental (6:45)
5. "Voices" (9:53)
6. "The Silent Man" (3:48)
7. "The Mirror" (6:45)
8. "Lie" (6:34)
9. "Lifting Shadows of a Dream" (6:05)
10. "Scarred" (11:00)
11. "Space-Dye Vest" (7:29)

There is so much about this album I love, it's hard to know where to start. Lyrically, the songs have no equal, especially "Voices" ("Thought disorder, dream control/Now they read my mind on the radio...Being laughed at and confused keeps us pleasantly amused") and "Space-Dye Vest" ("Never come near me again, do you think I really need you/And I'll smile and I'll learn to pretend/And I'll never be open again.") Both of those songs sound like they were written about me and me only. Hmm, I wonder if I should sue? :)

"A Change of Seasons"

1. "A Change of Seasons" (23:08)
   • i. The Crimson Sunrise
   • ii. Innocence
   • iii. Carpe Diem
   • iv. The Darkest of Winters
   • v. Another World
   • vi. The Inevitable Summer
   • vii. The Crimson Sunset
2. "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding"--live (10:49)
3. "Perfect Strangers"--live (5:33)
4. "The Rover/Achilles Last Stand/The Song Remains the Same"--live (7:28)
5. "The Big Medley"--live: (10:33)
   • In the Flesh?
   • Carry On Wayward Son
   • Bohemian Rhapsody
   • Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin
   • Cruise Control
   • Turn it on Again

Originally I bought the promo version of this CD, which came with no insert sleeve, so I missed having the cute little boy on the cover! We couldn't let it stay like THAT, now could we! So finally I picked up the proper version from the used bins, though did I hold out for a copy that didn't have "LICENSED FOR PROMOTION ONLY" stamped across his little chest.

Anyway..."A Change of Seasons" is the band's pièce de résistance, no doubt about it. The song was only occasionally performed live for many years, but as bootlegs & concert tapes made their way around the world, legions of DT fans worldwide began SCREAMING for the band to lay down this track in the studio! And finally they did, proving once again how bootlegs can increase the fame & fortune of a band's career. :) Anyway, I won't say anything else except that the final section, "Crimson Sunset", has the most beautiful and heart-wrenching lyrics of any song they've ever done, and every time I hear them I get misty-eyed:

I sit down with my son, set to see The Crimson Sunset
Many years have come and gone,
I've lived my life but now must move on
He is my only one, now that my time has come
Now that my time is done, we look into the sun:
"Seize the day, and don't you cry
Now it's time to say goodbye
Even though I'll be gone, I will live on...live on."

(It's about death, you see...)

The last four tracks are from a special gig at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London, England, where they just jammed and played nothing but cover songs. I'm sure you already know who the original artists are, but here goes anyway: "Funeral" is by Elton John, "Strangers" is by Deep Purple, and "The Rover" etc. is a Led Zeppelin medley. The "Big Medley" covers artists in this order: Pink Floyd, Kansas, Queen, Journey, Dixie Dregs, and Genesis. Interestingly, the Kansas song is the one that sounds most faithful to the original! Oh yeah, these live tracks are the first to feature keyboardist Derek Sherinian, replacing Kevin Moore (who left to join Fates Warning.)

...of course, these weren't the ONLY songs played at that show...read on...

"Falling into Infinity"

1. "New Millennium" (8:20)
2. "You Not Me" (4:58)
3. "Peruvian Skies" (6:43)
4. "Hollow Years" (5:53)
5. "Burning My Soul" (5:29)
6. "Hell's Kitchen"--instrumental (4:16)
7. "Lines in the Sand" (12:05)
8. "Take Away My Pain" (6:03)
9. "Just Let Me Breathe" (5:28)
10. "Anna Lee" (5:51)
11. "Trial of Tears" (13:07)
    • i. It's Raining
    • ii. Deep in Heaven
    • iii. The Wasteland

The band recorded something like twenty-five songs for this album but only half of them made it onto disc. Let it be said that DT is nothing but PROLIFIC when it comes to songwriting...in fact, I do believe they have more "unreleased" songs than actual, official releases! (Many of these rare tracks are available as MP3's -- some links to them can be found at the official Dream Theater page.) All I can say is, they have the potential for one HELL of a box set someday...

Anyway, about this album...well, there was no way in hell they were going to match the stupendousness of Awake, but this one is definitely a respectable followup. There's more of a hard-rock edge to the songs here, and really sounds quite different (dare I say "commercial"??) than anything they've done before. The trademark DT progressive sound can be heard quite clearly on "Trial of Tears", and the "Burning My Soul"/"Hell's Kitchen"/"Lines in the Sand" suite; on the other hand, there's a few annoying, drippy ballads (especially "Take Away My Pain" and "Anna Lee") that you have to suffer through.

"Hollow Years" (CD single, Japanese import)

1. "Hollow Years"--radio edit (4:16)
2. "Hollow Years"--LP version (5:55)
3. "You or Me"--"You Not Me" demo (6:25)
4. "The Way It Used to Be" (7:48)
5. "Burning My Soul"--live (8:19)
6. "Another Hand/The Killing Hand"--live (13:28)

"Hollow Years" is one of the band's most pathetically syrupy ballads ever (of course, Dream Theater is kinda like sex and pizza...even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.) But that doesn't matter...the real gems here are the live songs and the early version of "You Not Me", showing how much better THAT song would have been if the record company didn't force them to let Desmond Child rework it! "Burning My Soul" is also an early version, with "Hell's Kitchen" in the middle, and "Killing Hand" simply blows away the Live at the Marquee recording. Both live tracks are only available on the Jap import, which doesn't command as high a price as some of their earlier singles (such as "Lie", which regularly sells in the $45-60 range) but is QUITE rare...it shows up on eBay about once every two months or so.

"Once In a LiveTime"

The production quality of this double live CD is absolutely spectacular (which makes me wonder how much of it was overdubbed, since I've heard some bootleg DT live material in which James LaBrie sounds like crap.) No matter, the band puts forth an incredible show, with most of the songs running together, forming quite an aural experience. The band shows off their multitudinous musical influences by including bits and pieces of other songs here and there:  "Take the Time" ends with the famous "Free Bird" riff by Lynyrd Skynyrd and a quick bit of Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick"; "Peruvian Skies" includes brief riffs from Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" and Metallica's "Enter Sandman" (awesome!!); and one of the songs on the first CD (can't remember which) includes the Star Wars theme song! "Puppies on Acid" is basically the opening riff to "The Mirror" from Awake (it's been a staple of their shows since long before that CD's release.) This album simply leaves one screaming for more, but since each CD is over 77 minutes long, I can't really gripe about that.

"Los Angeles, CA - 5/18/98" ("official" bootleg)

At long last, Mike Portnoy finally gained permission from his record company to form Ytsejam Records and release several live shows & demo collections as "official bootlegs". (It boggles the mind why any musician would have to ASK PERMISSION to release his own fucking music...but this ain't the time or place for that rant.) What we've got here is a very fine live show from the Falling Into Infinity tour -- the mix is a bit rough, but still at the high end of bootleg quality. Most importantly, Bruce Dickinson joins the band during the first encore to breeze through a Deep Purple cover and a medley of Iron Maiden songs. Ray Alder of Fates Warning also guests on "Pull Me Under", and there's a couple rare DT tracks on here as well, namely "Speak to Me" and "New Millennium".

NOTE: Since this is an "official" release that the band actually gets PAID FOR, this particular live show is NOT available trade. Sorry, folks. Oh, and I haven't bothered with the other two Ytsejam releases yet; someday I might, though.

"Metropolis Pt.II: Scenes from a Memory"

ACT ONE
1. Scene One: "Regression" (2:06)
2. Scene Two: I. "Overture 1928"--instrumental (3:37)
3.                     II. "Strange Deja Vu" (5:12)
4. Scene Three: I. "Through My Words" (1:02)
5.                        II. "Fatal Tragedy" (6:49)
6. Scene Four: "Beyond this Life" (11:22)
7. Scene Five: "Through Her Eyes" (5:29)
   ACT TWO
8. Scene Six: "Home" (12:53)
9. Scene Seven: I. "The Dance of Eternity"--instrumental (6:13)
10.                        II. "One Last Time" (3:46)
11. Scene Eight: "The Spirit Carries On"(6:38)
12. Scene Nine: "Finally Free" (11:59)

During the month between this album's release and when I finally got around to buying it, I had read literally hundreds of glowing, positive reactions on various webboards and review sites across the Net, all praising it as the ultimate masterpiece, the best progressive album ever created, etc. etc. So it was probably inevitable that, on first listen, it was a bit of a letdown. You know, you build these things up in your head, thinking of the most majestical music you can imagine, and it turns out to be...well, Dream Theater. Pretty good, without a doubt, but their best? So I made a road tape of it...and I can safely say that this is an album that simply GROWS on you. The majestically symphonic opening of "Overture 1928/Strange Deja Vu"; the early Queen-like vocalizations of "Fatal Tragedy"; the mystical, Eastern rhythms of "Home"; the Pink Floyd-esque coda of "Finally Free". Oh yeah, it's just too fuckin' awesome for words. The best CD of the 90's by far, and perhaps the entire MILLENNIUM as well!!!

"Through Her Eyes" (CD single)

1. "Through Her Eyes"--radio edit
2. "Through Her Eyes"--alternate album mix
3. "Home"--live (14:15)
4. "When Images and Words Unite"--live (total=15:53)
   • "Pull Me Under"
   • "Under a Glass Moon"
   • "A Fortune in Lies"
   • "Only a Matter of Time"
   • "Take the Time"

The "radio edit" is pathetic -- somehow they managed to make the song even more slow and boring than the original version, which is quite a mean feat!! (No wonder DT has never been able to break into the mainstream, if they keep releasing shitty ballads as singles...don't they remember that their only bonafide hit, "Pull Me Under", was a HEAVY song???) The "alternate" mix sounds basically the same as the album version, except with a pretty sax solo at the end, which actually improves the song a bit. The live tracks, recorded 11/12/99 in Belgium, are a mixed bag -- "Home" is decent", but James's voice is totally blown out on the "WIAWU" medley. The bootleg versions I have sound WAY better!! The Japanese import of this single also has a 6-minute edit of "Home", someday I'll have to upgrade to that version.

"Live Scenes from New York" (3CD, original art)

Talk about disturbing irony. This triple live set, with cover art of the New York City skyline on fire, was released on September 11th, 2001!!! Needless to say, the CD was immediately pulled from the shelves, and reissued with new artwork a few weeks later. As it happened, I was actually at the record store that day, and had NO IDEA that a new Dream Theater album had just come out...gaahh!!! Luckily, a few less scrupulous vendors ignored the recall and contined to sell copies -- I got mine from Cheap CDs (which turned out to be quite a reliable vendor, as I'd never ordered from them before.) The original artwork was re-released several months later, packaged with a t-shirt (hmm, can we say "clearing out the inventory?") so it's hardly uncommon anymore, and the current eBay price isn't much higher than what you'd pay for it brand new.

Ok, now the music. Well, this is basically the "soundtrack" to the live DVD that was released earlier that year, and it's soooo nice to hear top-notch production on all these songs that until now was only available on bootlegs! :) We get a complete live rendition of Scenes from a Memory, plus a second live set featuring "A Mind Beside Itself", "Learning to Live", and "A Change of Seasons". They pulled out all the stops for this 7/30/00 Roseland show, including backup singers, a live narrator, and a soprano sax player on "Another Day". There seems to be a minimum of overdubs, as you can definitely hear a few sour notes here and there, but otherwise the performance is stellar.

"Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence"

What's a band to do after releasing one of the most brilliant concept albums of all time? Well, as far as DT is concerned, the answer appears to be obvious...release a double album of Really Long Songs. In the biz, we call this "Topographic Oceans" syndrome. (Naah, that's too harsh...there's really only a couple tracks here in desperate need of SongTrim™.)

Disc one quickly kicks into high gear with "The Glass Prison" (the only full song I downloaded prior to the album's release), one of the heaviest songs in DT's catalog. Many purists have ripped on the nu-metal overtones, particularly the brief incidence of "record scratching" in the middle...well, for crying out loud, Dream Theater is a PROGRESSIVE band, which theoretically means incorporating a wide range of styles and sounds into their music, right?? All those other modern prog-metal bands (Shadow Gallery, Symphony X, Vanden Plas, etc.) seem to forget that, and basically clone the styles that DT and other classic prog bands have created -- it's almost like "progressive" has become merely a description for "progressive-like", in other words, copying a sound that was highly original thirty years ago but is no surprise to anyone now. TRUE progressive music, to use the strict definition of the term, doesn't even sound like classic prog anymore, and could more accurately be applied to original alternative & industrial music like Tool, Nine Inch Nails, etc. And in any case, this one song is FAR better than the entire collected works of Korn, Limp Bisquick, Puddle of Mudd and Static-X combined!!! How does that strike you, eh?

Whoops, sorry 'bout the rant. Anyway...things take a much quieter tone in the next two tracks. "Blind Faith" opens with a moody keyboard tone similar to Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter", ultimately segueing into a fast-paced wankfest that unfortunately goes on a bit too long. "Misunderstood" features a gorgeous melody but is waaayy too long (I've heard a 5-minute edit that's far more concise.) Then we get "The Great Debate", a long jamfest that sounds for all the world like a grudge match between Rush and Tool in a dark alley, liberally sprinkled with news soundclips about stem cell research (ooh, topical!) The final track, "Disappear", could have been left off the album entirely...it's a pointless, monotonous drone that just might be the worst DT song ever.

Now comes disc two, the much talked-about 42-minute suite. First of all, it's really just eight songs spliced together (and it's even tracked that way), but that's the only remotely negative comment I can make. This song is GODLIKE!! The Overture crashes open with an orchestral movie-theme score that's highly reminiscent of late-era ELP (especially the ELPowell version.) Those overtones continue into "About to Crash", which is a fine piece despite having a chorus obviously clipped from Fates Warning's "Something for Nothing". The next two parts take a much heavier, more aggressive route, especially "The Test That Stumped Them All" which comes straight out of Master of Puppets-era Metallica. Part 5 switches gears to the slower side of prog-rock, akin to Marillion or Gabriel-era Genesis (although I do get a bit annoyed by the chorus, since I keep wanting to follow up the line "I'm just a poor girl" with "I need no sympathy...." I've also heard that this part has strong Radiohead influences, but of course there's no way I would know that.) "Solitary Shell" is a direct pastiche of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill", featuring one of the most beautiful melodies I've heard on any DT album. Then comes the standard Pink Floyd-ish finale, which is a tad bit anticlimatic but heck, it works for me anyway.

Overall, just a few minor flaws (especially "Disappear") prevent this album from surpassing Scenes from a Memory as the best Dream Theater album ever, but hey, it's definitely a respectable follow-up, and one that grows on you with each listen. Congratulations to the boys for creating yet another masterpiece!

"Train of Thought"

1. "As I Am" (7:47)
2. "This Dying Soul" (11:27)
   
   • IV. Reflections of Reality (Revisited)
   • V. Release
3. "Endless Sacrifice" (11:24)
4. "Honor Thy Father" (10:14)
5. "Vacant" (2:57)
6. "Stream of Consciousness"--instrumental (11:16)
7. "In the Name of God" (14:14)

I've mentioned many times how I use Perpetual Motion as a gauge of new CD releases -- if the board's bitterly divided between those who love it and those who hate it with a passion, I just know it's gonna be great. So I got quite worried when the majority of PM reviews were favorable...not completely ga-ga, but worrisome enough. And as it turned out...

...well, maybe I should recuse myself from reviewing this CD. Because there's some serious Metallica-worship going on here, from the "Black Album" especially. And as good as Metallica once was, anything remotely resembling them gets my gander up these days. So let's devise a new format for this review, entitled: "What Metallica song does each track sound like?" Here we go:

• "As I Am" - "Enter Sandman" in the verses, "Wherever I May Roam" in the chorus. Solid piece of work, though.
• "This Dying Soul" - a sequel to "Glass Prison", so it starts of sounding not like Metallica, but a nu-metal song of your choice. :) But around the 8-minute mark, it launches into a total cover version of "Blackened", same tempo and everything! (Put the two songs together and see for yourself!)
• "Endless Sacrifice" - took me a while, but I finally figured out that this one's "King for a Day" remixed.
• "Honor Thy Father" - sounds like St. Anger, heaven help us! Sorry, I just can't get past that nappy guitar tone and the over-processed vox. Keep in mind that a lot of people pick this as the BEST song on the album, so maybe I'm missing something here.
• "Vacant/Stream of Consciousness" - "Vacant" is basically the piano ballad intro to a massively wankish Liquid Tension Experiment jam, doesn't sound like Metallica at all. Well, maybe "Orion".
• "In the Name of God" - the only "true" DT song here, and along with "As I Am" the only track that sounds fully realized, instead of being taped from an off-the-cuff jam session. Kinda has a "Sad But True" vibe, though.

Really most of this album sounds like it was written & recorded in a matter of weeks (and for all I know, that's true...it sure did come out fast!) and could've used a LOT more work. That's all I have to say really. (Oh, except that the titles may fool you into thinking there's a pro-Christian theme going here. It's not, really. Not even close.)

And what the hell's up with the CREEPY DISEMBODIED EYEBALL on the cover?!?

videotapes:
• "Live in Tokyo" (dubbed)
• "5 Years in a Livetime"

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