Dream Theater Album: “Greatest Hit (... And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs)”

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!

How could this be DT's best album without Metropolis? It just doesn't make sense. It'd have been 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...

The best albums are for non-fans. They must get the right idea about the bands from them. The song represents what DT is about. To anybody who doesn't know DT, the very first song I'll play is Metropolis(I have!). People can get the right idea about the band from that song. I'm quite sure DT fans out there agree with me on this. (I can't believe MP missed this one. He is one of few musicians out there who really listens to the fans.)

And what the hell is "Misunderstood" doing on disc 1?

Some might think a hits collection is a waste of money and time, however, for a huge fan such as myself it is well worth the money. It is fun to hear songs like "Pull Me Under" remixed to sound so clean and new. Plus the one unreleased track, "To Live Forever" makes it worth the money just by itself. Plus, it is genius to market this collection towards those who have never listened to the band, being that it has a little of everything for everyone.

never heard of this band before. after reading reviews, i bought this cd. i really like this cd, great music

'The Dark Side' CD1, presents the darker side of Dream Theater, and once you're past the hit, then you're off into an intensive listening experience, taking in some heavy slabs of music like 'Peruvian Skies', 'Endless Sacrifice' and 'The Root Of All Evil', which demonstrate how you can move through different gears, and still remain heavy.

'The Light Side',CD2 presents the more melodic side to Dream Theater. There are some really wonderful moments on this CD as Dream Theater display a warmth sometimes missing on 'The Dark Side', where they're busy showing their chops off a bit more. It also has 'Hollow Years', as well as truly stunning songs like 'The Spirit Carries On' and ' I Walk Beside You'.

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).