Dream Theater's greatest hit (and 21 other pretty cool songs

[Bear]

hehehe not a bad list and I am actually looking forward to hearing what Shirley did on the remixes

DREAM THEATER COLLECT THEIR GREATEST HIT
(…& 21 other pretty cool songs)

The Acclaimed Band’s First-Ever Best-Of Compilation Spans 14 Years of Progressive Hard Rock and Includes Rare Edits and B-Sides

Features Three New Remixes by Kevin Shirley of
“Pull Me Under,” “Take The Time” and “Another Day”

Two-Disc Set Available April 1 from Rhino

LOS ANGELES – 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. Dream Theater’s GREATEST HIT (…& 21 other pretty songs) will be available from Rhino on April 1 at all physical retail outlets and www.rhino.com for a suggested retail price of $19.98 and at all digital retail outlets for a suggested retail price of $12.99.

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).

The collection contains three newly remixed versions of tracks from Dream Theater’s breakout 1992 album, Images And Words: the aforementioned “Pull Me Under” as well as “Take The Time” and “Another Day.” Portnoy says this album presented the perfect opportunity to give the songs a bit of a facelift. “The original mixes always sounded a bit ’80s’ to me, so we had our good friend and longtime mixer Kevin Shirley give the tracks a bit of an update to sound more like the rest of the Dream Theater catalog. The songs remain the same (no pun intended—Kevin just mixed that album as well), but there are little nuances in the tracks that I forgot were originally there, and it’s very cool to hear them again.”

The collection’s 22 songs are split evenly between two discs, which are divided into “The Dark Side” (the metallic) and “The Light Side” (the melodic). Filled with some of the band’s most sinister sounds, the first disc lives up to the billing of “The Dark Side.” Longtime fans will appreciate the abundance of alternative versions of classic tracks, including single edits of “Lie,” “Home,” and “Misunderstood.” Disc One concludes with two tracks from the band’s 2005 album Octavarium: “The Root Of All Evil” and “Sacrificed Sons.”

The second disc, “The Light Side,” spotlights the band’s melodic side and features an alternate mix of “Through Her Eyes,” a single edit of “Solitary Shell” and “To Live Forever,” a 1994 B-side from the U.K.-only single of “Lie.”

A grassroots phenomenon for 20 years, Dream Theater continues to record studio albums acclaimed for award-winning musicianship as well as artistic vision. To meet the demands of a demanding global fan base, the band also maintains an active touring schedule that regularly includes sold-out performances around the world.

Dream Theater has currently been on the road since June 2007, traveling the globe in support of their latest studio album Systematic Chaos. Their world tour will conclude with a final run throughout North America in May as they premiere their “Progressive Nation” package tour with Opeth, Between The Buried And Me, and 3 supporting.

DREAM THEATER’S GREATEST HIT
(…& 21 other pretty cool songs)

Track Listing

Disc 1: (The Dark Side)
1. “Pull Me Under” (2007 Remix)
2. “Take The Time” (2007 Remix)
3. “Lie” (Single Edit)
4. “Peruvian Skies”
5. “Home” (Single Edit)
6. “Misunderstood” (Single Edit)
7. “The Test That Stumped Them All”
8. “As I Am”
9. “Endless Sacrifice”
10. “The Root Of All Evil”
11. “Sacrificed Sons”

Disc 2: (The Light Side)
1. “Another Day” (2007 Remix)
2. “To Live Forever”
3. “Lifting Shadows Off A Dream”
4. “The Silent Man”
5. “Hollow Years”
6. “Through Her Eyes” (Alternate Album Mix)
7. “The Spirit Carries On”
8. “Solitary Shell” (Single Edit)
9. “I Walk Beside You”
10. “The Answer Lies Within”
11. “Disappear”

 

[Mosquito]

Funny, my friend and I were just discussing Kevin Shirley. I think he destroyed Iron Maiden's production on the last three albums. When I say destroyed, I mean it in a very negative way. I think BNW and DoD are really good albums but damn the production is not good at all.

 

[rockyracoon]

Cool that Disappear is on there. Probably one of my favorite DT songs, although it seldom gets played and I've never seen it done live(with exception of Budokan DVD).

 

[Gunstar9]

No Metropolis Part I? HERESY I SAY!

I wish they would just remaster Images and Words and Awake as full albums. I get a little peeved when bands just remaster random tracks and rerelease a "best of".

Anthrax got me mad with doing that a few years back.

 

[OdinsCourt]

Funny album title.

 

[BlackRoseMetalHeart]

Funny album title.

Yeah I love it when bands can joke about themselves a little. Pull Me Under was technically their only "hit." (Wasn't it?) At least the only one that got any radio play I think. It's good to see that even though they are probably one of, if not the most talented band out there, they can joke a little about how they haven't got too commercially popular. It's a pretty clever title.

 

[...AndTimeBegan]

Funny, my friend and I were just discussing Kevin Shirley. I think he destroyed Iron Maiden's production on the last three albums. When I say destroyed, I mean it in a very negative way. I think BNW and DoD are really good albums but damn the production is not good at all.

I'm pretty sure Kevin Shirley produced Scenes From A Memory though. I'm pumped to hear the re-mixed version of Take The Time and Pull Me Under.

 

[dtfanatic]

Actually Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci produced it. Kevin Shirley mixed most of it after JP played the original mix by David Bottrill for him and he told him it wasn't very good. Shirley ran out of time to get it all done so SFAM is actually mixed by Shirley and Botrill. Most DT geeks know this but the new DT book is a good refresher course. And you can get the original mix in its entirety on DT's official bootleg label.

 

[Pellaz]

No Metropolis Part I? HERESY I SAY!

I wish they would just remaster Images and Words and Awake as full albums.

+1

At the very least, they should remaster or re-record I&W with real drums this time around instead of triggers.

 

[Burke]

Digging the song choices and eager to hear the remixes - can't wait!

 

[Azrael LenGraden]

In my opinion Kevin Shirley sucks!!! I know it's all personal preference but each band that I have heard him work with, especially DT and Journey, the mixes seem dead and lifeless with little separation. Nothing jumps out at you... I could go on and on but that's just my two cents...
By the way I love the title of the CD!

 

[Rev. Clayton]

How is "I Walk Beside You" on this thing and Not "Metropolis I"?

Here's to Roadrunner making more money. "Cheers"

 

[High Speed Kurt]

Actually, this isnt roadrunner, it's on Rhino. They have the rights to the back catalog.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Funny, my friend and I were just discussing Kevin Shirley. I think he destroyed Iron Maiden's production on the last three albums. When I say destroyed, I mean it in a very negative way. I think BNW and DoD are really good albums but damn the production is not good at all.

Disagree on two counts.
1) BNW had really good production
2) DoD was a terrible album

 

[SyXified]

I have been absolutely in love with DT recently, ever since the Score DVD I have appreciated them on a different level than I used to. That being said...

I honestly think I&W has the best production of any Dream Theater album by far, and some of the more recent albums have aspects of the production that are simply dreadful. Yes, the drums sound electronic, and the production has an 80s flare to it with the mega-reverb on the snare, but I think that works perfectly for the album. The nice thing about 80s production is that the recent trend of 'crank the low end, kill the mids, crank the treble' was not so dominant, and you could get a much more even texture of instruments - perhaps not as apt for radio play, but I think ultimately superior for a true listening experience. I always felt I&W was like taking all the good aspects of 80s production, discarding the goofy stuff, and forging some innovation in the mean time.

I love that the bass on I&W has a nice high end presence and you can make it out as an instrument at all times, rather than just degenerating to a low muddy rumble as it does on, say, Octavarium, underneath everything else. As a prog band, the bass has an interactive role as an instrument, and the dreadful tone featured in the intro of Panic Attack just does not cut it.

JPs tone has always been good, but I like that in I&W they actually had the balls to set it a little further back in the mix and let the bass and keyboard fill out the sound more. These days everyone is so guitar hungry, the guitar always has to play the primary role and is always scorching over the other instruments in volume. If you've seen Children of Bodom or Symphony X live, you've heard how badly the keys get drowned out these days (until a solo, and even then the sound guy usually takes a while to figure out that the keys are playing a solo and to turn them up). And keys are essential to those bands, as they are for DT. Because the guitar was not pushed so hard in I&W it was able to play support roles at times, making it more versatile. The guitar lines in Take the Time that are so clever and add so much to the texture of that song would not be feasible in todays production style. Recently JPs tone has gotten a little dry, which makes you very aware that it is a person playing a guitar, whereas when listening to I&W its more of just a musical experience, which I find is so much more effective.

The way the snare almost carries more low end than the bass drum, and way more presence, would in almost all other contexts be a mistake. But on I&W Portnoy never pulls the straight 'beats 1&3' deal with the snare. His rhythms are always varied and interesting, and by mixing the snare like they did it really punctuates those rhythmic schemes, which are essential to the layered and diverse approach to the arrangements. Plus, I love that his toms ooze tone, and are very distinct so you can really lock on to what is going on in a fill. They are used far more musically than the current over compressed and dry sound he uses now.

So sorry for the rant, I just felt the need to come to the defense of a truly brilliant production on I&W. Just because that sound is not currently en vogue does not mean it is bad production. The textures of production on songs like Metropolis Pt.1 and Take the Time are brilliant and timeless.

P.S.

I have trouble listening to anything from Scenes or Six Degrees disc 2 out of context from the rest of the album. concepts albums are not meant to be broken up in my view. Do your 'Evening With' tour(s) performing the whole piece, and then let it go. When you write a concept album, the approach is entirely different than a regular album. Songs do not have to be self contained, some drift and recapitulate themes, some tell a linear story to advance plot. Without support those songs lose a lot of their power. They at least picked songs here that extract as well as they could, but still I'm just not keen on the idea of pulling anything out of Scenes or Six to stand alone.

 

[edgeofthorns]

I think I've had enough Dream Theater to last me a lifetime! Their last two albums have just totally missed the mark for me. I'm glad they've reached the success that they have though.

~Brian~

 

[Pellaz]

How is "I Walk Beside You" on this thing and Not "Metropolis I"?

QFT


What are they THINKING?!