Roadrunner

Answer this multiple choice question:

Do you like Dream Theater?

 A) Yes, I like all or most of their material.
 B) Yes, but only their albums with Kevin Moore.
 C) Yes, until they started playing nu-metal.
 D) No, Dream Toilet sucks.

If you answered A, then read on.
If you answered B, then stop reading because you're a lost cause.
If you answered C, then you're a fucking tool.
If you answered D, then why are you reading this?

Dream Theater live albums are usually a special treat for the die hard fan (I say usually because Score was a fucking abomination). Their latest live offering, Chaos In Motion 2007 - 2008, is no different. Chronicling their Chaos In Motion world tour, this live set contains 3 hours of material culled from every corner of the band's back catalog.

Its hard to complain about the songs chosen for this. Five come from their last album, Systematic Chaos, luckily avoiding the two giant stinkers found on that album (seriously, if it weren't for Repentance and Prophets Of War, I might had called Systematic Chaos my favorite Dream Theater album). The earlier seminal albums are represented with choices like Take The Time, Surrounded and Scarred. The often overlooked Lines In The Sand and Blind Faith are also given room on the set, while Panic Attack represents the otherwise mostly useless Octavarium. Rounding out the set is a medley of five songs, almost half of which is taken up by Trial Of Tears.

I do have a few nagging issues though. The first is that the songs were recorded at a variety of different venues. Live albums recorded in this manner often lack that certain closeness and intimacy that an album recorded in just one place has. Compare Live After Death with A Real Dead One for proof. This switching of venues in between songs also has an unfortunate effect on the video quality. The visual portion of Blind Faith and Surrounded looks like ass, like it was taken from a fan recorded bootleg. The rest of the visuals are hardly high definition quality, but the difference is very noticeable on those two songs. And speaking of Surrounded, the song contains a very long solo by John Petrucci. I normally disagree with the criticisms that non-fans levy on the band, but listening to John Petrucci wank around for eight minutes in that instance makes me briefly understand the other side's argument.

The last thing I think worth noting is that for the first time there isn't a separate cd version of this live set. I'm guessing Roadrunner didn't feel there's enough demand for a separate version of this release, though three audio cd's are available on a limited deluxe package. While I'm fan enough to seek out that particular version (and it cost quite a few shiny bones I may add), I do feel that Dream Theater is a band that is best heard, not necessarily seen.


01. Intro/Also Sprach Zarathustra
02. Constant Motion
03. Panic Attack
04. Blind Faith
05. Surrounded
06. The Dark Eternal Night
07. Jordan Rudess Keyboard Solo
08. Lines In The Sand
09. Scarred
10. Forsaken
11. The Ministry Of Lost Souls
12. Take The Time
13. In The Presence Of Enemies
14. Schmedley Wilcox:
i. Trial Of Tears
ii. Finally Free
iii. Learning To Live
iv. In The Name Of God
v. Octavarium

Score: 9/10