Dream Theater: Greatest Hit (... & 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs)
Ciro HIRUMA 
Who could imagine?
In the beginning, it seems like a joke. A Dream Theater's Greatest Hit? A band with a further 21 successful songs already? How to collect the best compositions of a group full of compositions and long-term conceptual album that can only be fully understood in its entirety?
The surprise is that the collection work. There are controversial? There is no doubt that the fan of the band will feel the absence of several songs, large suites are gone. And the addition of versions single edit content will not many fans, accustomed to hearing the songs in full.
Another detail: the collection covers the period 1991-2005, we could call it "The Labrie Years", as it no longer just outside of the album debut, When Dream and Day Unite, with Charlie Dominici on vocals. With this, become classics as "Fortune in Lies", "Ytse Jam" and "The Killing Hand."
The cover follows the same proposal of fun and ironic way, remember quite an ad created in the 1950s, completely different from the conventional style of the band (say, in passing, and eclectic).
The main attraction is up to the remix versions of the producer Kevin Shirley for "Pull Me Under," "Take The Time" and "Another Day", produced at the request of Mike Portnoy. According to the drummer, the songs were sounding overpayments 1990s style. The idea has result, the remixagens have a higher quality sound, unique show nuances of the instruments and show the band with more naturalness, as should be the original sessions.
Greatest Hit is composed of two CDs and each represents a distinct personality of the band:
The Dark Side
The heavier side and dark. There are epic "Home", the sequences more thrash, "The Root of All Evil," "As I Am" and "Lie." And also two major incursions show that the progressive style: "Misunderstood" and "Sons Sacrified" .
It is curious to hear "Peruvian Skies", from Falling into Infinity, a melody that begins with Pink Floyd influence and subtly enters the pace and weight of Metallica. In turn, "Pull me Under" and "Take the Time" numbers are almost mandatory in a collection of Dream Theater.
The Light Side
Start with the most pop of the band, as shown "Lifting Shadows off a Dream", "The Silent Man" and "Hollow Years". One curiosity is the rare track "To Live Forever", which served also for hearing tests by James Labrie.
"Solitary Shell" is the known references to the keyboards of Rick Wakeman Yes (listen And You and I) and the base of the guitar Sollsbury Hill, of Peter Gabriel. Forget the history of plagiarism, it is only influence.
"I Walk Beside You" is one of several compositions of Dream Theater, which refer to the style U2. And two key moments of the CD Scenes of a Memory could not miss: the ballad "Through Her Eyes" (version mix different) and "The Spirit Carries On."
Finally the light side, "Disappear" is a surprise and one of the more strange compositions of the band, soturna, heavy and with a way out of it.
Finally, Greatest Hit (... & 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) is a nice introduction to the history of the band, but is far from presenting its full potential. It is ideal for those who want to know your music. And serves to show that the title is more a heavy progressive reference marketing than as a musical style. And the concept worked great for so many bands, the financial side. The Dream Theater goes beyond this collection.
