Album Description: First Ever Best-Of Spanning 1991-2005 22 Songs On 2CDs Featuring Rare Radio Edits, 3 New Re-Mixes, and Liner Notes After recently celebrating the band's 20-year anniversary, Dream Theater returns with its first-ever best of collection. Spanning 1991-2005, the two-disc set contains rare single edits, B-sides, and a trio of new remixes that spotlight that band's nonpareil musicianship, complex arrangements, and amazing songwriting. Referring to Dream Theater's first and only major radio hit, "Pull Me Under," the compilation's tongue-in-cheek title is a testament not only to the band's sense of humor but also highlights the acclaimed New York-based quintet's ability to make music and cultivate a legion of fans on its own terms, without help from radio or MTV. The collection features more than two hours of progressive hard rock from James LaBrie (vocals), John Myung (bass), John Petrucci (guitar/vocals), Mike Portnoy (drums/vocals), and Jordan Rudess (keyboards). " 22 songs spanning 14 years including 3 newly remixed versions of tracks from their 1992 breakout album. " Images And Words by Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin). " Divided into Disc 1, "The Dark Side" (metallic) and Disc 2, "The Light Side (melodic). " "The Dark Side" stand-outs include new remixes of "Pull Me Under" and "Take The Time" plus rare single edits of "Lie," "Home," and "Misunderstood." " "The Light Side" highlights includes a remix of "Another Day," an alternate mix of "Through Her Eyes," a single edit of "Solitary Shell" and "To Live Forever," a rare U.K.-only b-side from the single "Lie."
Great Introduction to Dream Theater! If you're new to Dream Theater, go ahead and start with this CD. But trust me, you're going to want to buy the individual albums as well. My favorite is still Images and Words.
No Metropolis!? C'mon!!! How could this be DT's best album without Metropolis? It just doesn't make sense. It's even worth eliminating a couple of songs for. I know they couldn't put everything particularly epics like "A change of seasons" and "Octavarium". AS a DT fan, I can even live without "Lines in the sand" and "Blind faith" on this, but Metropolis... In my opinion, the best albums are for non-fans. The song represents what DT is about. To anybody who doesn't know DT, the very first song I'd play is Metropolis. People can get the right idea about the band from the song. I'm quite sure DT fans out there agree with me on this. (I can't believe MP missed this one) And what is "Misunderstood" doing in the disc 1?
Even though this release is filled with edited or remixed versions of DT songs, it's still a nice package THE BAND: James LaBrie (vocals), John Petrucci (guitars), John Myung (bass), Jordan Rudess (keyboards), Kevin Moore (keyboards on 7 songs), Derek Sherinian (keyboards on 2 songs), Mike Portnoy (drums & percussion).
THE DISCS: (2008) 22 songs on 2 discs clocking in at approximately 138 minutes (79+ minutes on disc-1, 58+ minutes on disc-2). Included with the discs is a 14-page booklet containing band photos, a 2-page intro regarding song choices from drummer Mike Portnoy, 4-pages of historic text about the band from author Rich Wilson who wrote DT's authorized biography ("Lifting Shadows"), and what songs came from which albums and year released. This compilation follows DT from 1992-2005. Remastered sound. Label - Atlantic / Rhino.
ALBUM REPRESENTATION: Images And Words (3 songs), Awake (3), Falling Into Infinity (2), Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory (3), Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (4), Train Of Thought (2), Octavarium (4), B-Side to "Lie" (1). No songs from DT's debut (with Charlie Dominici on vocals) When Dream And Day Unite (1989), A Change Of Seasons (1995), or Systematic Chaos (2007).
COMMENTS: For me, this Dream Theater compilation has been a long time coming. With nine studio albums, why not put out a "Best Of" compilation? Though the band's music receives very little airplay... they've amassed a nice following in the world of progressive rock music. The musicians here are consummate pros at their instruments - Petrucci and Portnoy are Gods in their respective fields. THE GOOD: Most of the fan favorites are here in all their remastered glory - including "Pull Me Under" (the Hit), "Take The Time", "Another Day", "Lie", "Peruvian Skies", "As I Am", "Through Her Eyes", "Misunderstood", "The Root Of All Evil", "Solitary Shell", etc. To me, Disc-1 (the metallic side) rocks harder and shows off Petrucci's guitar (as the rest of the band tries to keep up with him (and of course they do). Disc-2 (the melodic side) is geared more toward the story being told, LaBrie's singing, and song structure. THE NOT SO GOOD: You can't tell from the back cover track listing, but once you open the liner notes you'll notice - 8 of the 22 songs are either edited versions or 2007 special 'remixes'. When I first opened the booklet and read this, the acid in my stomach began to rise and I cringed... another 'Greatest Hits' package marred by gimmicky studio tricks. After dozens of spins though, the slight changes in the songs are now somewhat acceptable, and the edited versions are not as bad as I thought (since so many of DT's songs are close to the double-digit number in minutes) - I'm okay with it. The 4 'remixes' are decent on the first few spins... but after weeks of listening, I find myself longing for the original studio versions. The drums (specifically the snare) on their remix of "Pull Me Under" sounds tinny and downright cheap. The song selection is very good. In my opinion, however, several classics are missing - "Caught In A Web", "The Mirror", "Metropolis (Part I)", "Fatal Tragedy", a great jam in the "Overature 1928" and "New Millennium" (the heaviest track from "Falling Into Infinity" - one of my personal favorites in their entire library). I totally dig the ultra crunchy marathon DT songs... of which the album "Train Of Thought" has many. My heart tells me that "Train Of Thought" is underrepresented here... however, with 5 of the 7 songs lasting 10 minutes or longer, I understand why more songs are not here. Skipping past all tracks from DT's debut is understandable, but I think a song or two from "Systematic Chaos" (2007) could have made it onto disc-2 with its 20+ minutes of unused space... perhaps their new label (Roadrunner Records) had something to do with that. Even a live track or two would have been a bonus here. And lastly, I wish the writing on the slim binder side of the cover was larger - my 20/20 vision can barely read the verbage from only a few feet away. OVERALL: A very good introduction to Dream Theater's music catalog despite some minor flaws. Like any decent mix, it's great to have so many wonderful songs all in one place. Looking for a single studio album to start with - I'd recommend "Images And Words" or "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory". As Mike Portnoy stated in the CD liner notes - this "Greatest Hit" collection is hopefully "something that will lure the listeners in and inspire them to dig deeper..." In my opinion, it should (4.5 stars).
The True Purpose Behind This Album... First off, I would like to say that Dream Theater is one of the greatest bands of all time! If it weren't for them, I'd still be stuck listening to the mainstream crap that's being played today. On to the review....
I've been reading a lot of reviews about this compilation and trying to decide whether to purchase this album or not. I already have all of their studio albums (minus "When Dream and Day Unite") so purchasing this album wasn't really necessary. But there are remixes of songs as well as edited versions...and also an unreleased song. Well, after hearing a short clip from the "Pull Me Under" remix, I decided to buy the album.
A couple of issues to address...what many, many people fail to realize is that this is NOT supposed to be a "Best of..." album...obviously because they left out their more epic songs there are best known for. As stated by Mike Portnoy himself, the point of this album is to lure new fans in as well as give a little something to existing fans. Personally, I'm thankful that this band takes extreme consideration to their fans by adding additional content like the remixes and edits...otherwise this WOULD be pointless to buy for the existing fan. But the main goal is to give a little taste of what Dream Theater is about and (here's what most people fail to realize) give the new curious listener the opportunity to dig deeper to buy their other albums. Think about it...this is basically a musical appetizer and the existing catalog is the main course. You don't to fully indulge yourself before hitting up the main dish! So putting all the more epic songs in this compilation album will ruin the listener's appetite to learn more about the band's songs. For example, if Dream Theater decided to put, say, "Dance of Eternity", "A Change of Seasons", "Octavarium", and the like into the compilation album, what's left for the new listener to look forward to when buying their other albums? I think this album is used most effectively when being introduced by an already existing fan. If a newbie were to pick up this album, none of the aforementioned information might be apparent. So if you're trying to get your friends into this amazing band (and you should!) get this album and give them a little taste...
From what I've heard so far (I've only listened to most of "The Dark Side" and haven't gotten to the other disc yet) I am very pleased at what I am hearing. First of all, the remixes? Completely blown away!!! Just from hearing the short clip of "Pull Me Under" in the trailer I could already tell a world of a difference! I did a brief comparison between the original and remixed versions of the song and was just amazed at the improvement of the sound quality. Even though it was a classic (still is, of course!) a facelift was definitely refreshing. I personally fail to see how an avid listener of Dream Theater can't hear the difference; it's so obvious (my personal opinion)! To start, the drums don't sound so "80's" anymore, the new sound of snare drum was what first amazed me...so tight and crisp! The guitars sounded heavier and the vocals were clearer! This was just from listening in my car so I'm sure if I listened through headphones I can find other aural nuances I didn't notice in the original.
The Edits....I'll be honest, I was a little shocked about hearing shortened versions of "Home" and "Misunderstood" I was completely thrown off! A lot of the repeated riffs and been shortened..."Home" especially was weird to listen to, I felt like I was listening in fast-forward. But keeping in mind the goal of this album, I thought it was clever to remove some elements from the edited songs (for instance, "Home" starts right away at the heavy part completely skipping the acoustic guitar parts in the beginning and REALLY shortening the music before the vocals come in...from what I remember, they also removed the spoken part ["I remember the first time she came to me..."] and the slow part in the middle with the sitar/keyboard solo as well as the casino/orgasm solo, lol!)
Ok, I REALLY think I went overboard on the review...just felt like I had to address the issue of the misconception of the album...Hope this helps anyone and go help find more fans!
Not the very best of, but a great compilation. This is a great set, as would be any set by Dream Theater, but for this to be a 5 star release, it would need to be the VERY best of, not just 22 cool songs.
So why isn't it the very best? If you haven't heard much Dream Theater before, this is a great place to start, but for the sake of a review, I'll list off my personal Dream Theater 'Best of' 2 Disk Compilation. Strangely, it is TOTALLY different from the products set. Ultimately, this is a best of set of opinion. And that's what favorite songs come down to. Opinion. So you won't be disappointed with the official release unless Dream Theater turns out to be not for you. Chances are though, you'll like the light side or the dark side alone, if not both. If you're looking for further insight into great Dream Theater songs to get ahold of ahead of, or along with this album or are wondering what select few tracks would be good to start with to get your feet wet, this list of what would be on my own Dream Theater best of will help you out. Note it is entirely different than the actual release. I truly feel these are all superior tracks to what is found here. I give this release 4 stars because no Dream Theater set is a bad one, and the official one up for purchase here is good. It won't dissapoint.
Dream Theater songs better IMO than songs on this set. [When Dream and Day Unite] The ones who helped to set the sun The killing hand
[Images and Words] Metroplolis (seriously, WHY isn't this on here?) Wait for sleep (at 2 minutes, they totally could have fit it in there)
[Awake] Scarred 6-00 Innocence Faded
[Fallling into Infinity] Speak to me Anna Lee Take away my pain
[Scenes from a memory] Overture 1928 Fatal Tragedy (dear god how is this missing) Beyond this Life
[Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence] Blind Faith The Great Debate Goodnight Kiss About to Crash (Reprise)
[Train of Thought] This Dying Soul Honor thy Father
[Octavarium] I walk beside you The answer lies within Never Enough Panic Attack
[Systematic Chaos] (It would have been cool to include one of these to complete a cool 160 minute set) The Dark Eternal Night In the prescence of enemies pt1 Repentance
Anyways, you can't go wrong with the official release, but if you want a different take on what is really the 'Best of' Dream Theater, from a fan who has 150 bootlegs of them, find these songs. Start with Metropolis. That would be the best introduction to the band of all. Then get Fatal Tragedy. Third, get 'This dying Soul'. If none of those three songs bring you into the fold, you probably don't like the band.
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Trevor
