A CHANGE OF SEASONS

This is the strange mix of a very long epic track that actually should have been on one of the regular albums and some live covers.

That first part could be taken quite literal: the title track of this record was originally intended to be included on the Images And Words album. That probably would have made that record overlong (especially as we cannot really point at one really lesser track over there that could have been left out to just make the record fit within the, what is it, 80, 78 minutes), but this result is not entirely satisfying either. The track has its flaws, particularly in its transitions and in Portnoy's drumming, here and there a bit too similar to Neil Peart's fills, but all in all it's as good as a Dream Theater epic becomes. Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for this part.

The covers are another story. Apart from its relatively small intrinsic value, Dream Theater stick quite close to the original, making even more clear that JLB's voice is the weakest link here. The Elton John cover is nice, but Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin are less enjoyable. The Big Medley is fun to hear once (or twice), but it does not really have any redeeming value on a record (rather than just for seeing once in concert). Somewhere between 1 and 2 stars for this part.

The overall score could be 2 or 3, but I think "fans only" is just a better label than "good", especially looking at this album as a whole.