Hey there! Remember me? Remember when I used to post stuff here? Remember how
I'd post stuff here on sort of a regular basis, then stop for a while, then come
back and be all..."Hey there! Remember me?" Man those were the days...
Yeah, it's been a while. I get bored and then go do other stuff till I get bored,
and then come back to this to get even more bored, only to find something else to
be bored of later. It's a vicious circle.
There are a couple new pieces of work being put up soon and I believe they're both
by Mr. Pitchfork. I've had one of his pieces for a few weeks now and only now got
around to getting it formatted so it'll be here...sometime. I pray by early next
week at the very latest. Fucking PSU.
The only noticeable thing I've done with this update is add the icons supplied by
kc green for NES Week: Part Deux to the Random
section of the site and given them their own little home, because they're too damn
cute for their own good.
And now I'm gonna yammer on and on about the new Dream Theater DVD.
Dream Theater - Score
Prog-metal Gods, Dream Theater certainly do love to keep their fans happy with
a steady stream of releases, live material, and official bootlegs. It was only
a little over two years ago that their last live DVD (Live At Budokan) was released
and now they've released yet another. It certainly pays to be a fan of this band,
I tells ya.
Score is a live recording of Dream Theater's 20th Anniversary World Tour's grand
finale at Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 1st, 2006. It features
14 tracks hitting every point of the band's history in just a teensy bit
under the three-hour mark. The first set clocks in at about an hour and
sees the band cranking out tunes from as far back as their 1985 days as
Majesty all the way up to 2005's
Octavarium. Even the disappointing
Falling Into Infinity album gets some play, in the form of a never
released song from those sessions (and one of the highlights of the disc, I think)
"Raise The Knife."
Set two is where this DVD truly shines, though. It may only be 6 songs, but
they make every last bit of those 90 minutes count. For this set the band is
accompanied by an orchestra and if you've ever heard Dream Theater music, you
know God damn well that their music has been begging for the full orchestral
arrangement for YEARS and it's great to finally hear it.
The second set kicks off with a completely awe-inspiring and amazingly
beautiful rendition of their 42 minute epic "Six Degrees of
Inner-Turbulence." The orchestra appears from out of nowhere to the surprise
of the audience and plays the seven minute Overture in its entirety as the band
seamlessly works their way into the song beginning with "About To Crash." I was
literally moved many times during this one song at how beautiful every note
sounded with the accompaniment of a full orchestral ensemble. "Losing
Time/Grand Finale's" closing moments were unbelievably powerful and this
one song is worth the $17 price tag alone.
A majority of the final set is dedicated to tracks from
Octavarium. I didn't
really have a problem with that, but was hoping for a little more diversity along
the lines of the Budokan DVD. But even if most of the tracks are from one album,
they're all churned out flawlessly. "The Answer Lies Within" and "Sacrificed
Sons" is another pair of songs that both have powerful meanings that are only
amplified by the band's enthusiasm playing them and the orchestra pushing that
intensity to the next level.
"Octavarium" gets the proper orchestral treatment
too with a high energy performance from the band and a euphoric seven minute
keyboard solo intro by Jordan Rudess. When the song finally transitioned from
the intro into involving the entire band and orchestra, I got chills the first
time. I don't think I'll ever listen to the studio version of this song
ever again! "Metropolis Part I" is the encore and final song of the night
and really ends the set with a bang. Made me wanna hear Metropolis Part
II in its entirety with a symphony too.
Performance-wise everyone was on top of their game, and for a production as
grandiose as this one, they absolutely had to be. I really expect nothing
but perfection from these guys to be honest. Not a botched note or dropped
beat in the entire set. Even LaBrie's voice managed to survive the entire
set, unlike Budokan, right down to the closing moments of Metropolis.
I have to give the band credit for being a little more active onstage than
they were on the Live at Budokan DVD. LaBrie, Portnoy, and Rudess
clearly seem to enjoy themselves far more than Petrucci and Myung, but the
latter two have quite a few intense pieces of music to try and play too. Mike
Portnoy is one hell of an entertaining drummer. The guy never misses a beat
and his sticks are never still for a moment. He's clearly into the show
at all times, flipping sticks around, throwing them, bouncing them off
cymbals and catching them NEVER MISSING A FUCKING BEAT.
Special mention
also goes to Jordan Rudess as being the most entertaining keyboardist I've
ever seen. I don't even play keyboard, but just watching him work and get
into the music really made me wanna pick one up.
Just as with Dream Theater's previous DVD releases, the visuals and audio
are top notch. This concert in 5.1 is a mind-blowing eargasm, end of
fucking story. The video production is handled very well, with every member
of the band getting a good bit of screentime while they do their thing,
mixed with a lot of good shots of the crowd. It doesn't have that "change
camera every 2 seconds" production that makes me sick watching most concert
DVDs.
The extras aren't bad either. You get an hour long documentary about how the
band has progressed over the past 20 years in their own words as they visit the
Berklee College of Music where the core members of the band met. Also included
are the animation played during the song Octavarium and 3 more live tracks plucked
from the Portnoy archives from various years.
All in all one hell of an impressive package for $17 from an amazingly talented
and under-appreciated band.
Overall:
Yay, Mike Portnoy!
-Pollyscore
