LIVE IN TOKYO/5 YEARS IN A LIVETIME

Quick review - this is a great DVD for giving you a comprehensive introduction to arguably the best prog metal band on the scene in the last 10 years. There is great variety here and thunderous, wonderful music. The commentary option throughout is insightful, humourous yet not cliched. I did not give this a 4 or 5 star as that must be reserved for their Live at Budokan...without doubt their best DVD offering. However, if you haven't seen their earlier material from the early 90's then this DVD provides perspective - this is a great value DVD - significant material from three different concerts plus a rare acoustic set.

This DVD is a compilation of 2 VHS tapes, a nice buy!!!!... Well, this visual fest is by far the most honest experience from a rising band, a concert (the first tour abroad) in Tokyo showing how a band can become a great pressence in music and in history; perhaps i've been repeating that the "moore-era" is better, as so many has said that the "gabriel-era" has been the best for GENESIS, anyway... my point is this, from tip to toe the concert from the images and words tour is almost heart and soul, mixing great performances of ballads, heavy stuff and prog things, the whole DVD 1 worth be hearing just for the WATING TO SLEEP-SURROUNDED moment, a perfect match of texture and color of music, closing that segment with the almighty YTSE-JAM and a nice but energetic drum-solo. The features like "hanging out with the band" and the music videos are great bonus things to understand the "sometimes childish" and "naive" behavior of an honest band. Also in disc 1, you'll find out that the soon to be released "THE MIRROR" in AWAKE was a very old little opening piece called "PUPPIES IN ACID"... and the best thing in here is hearing TO LIVE FORVER in a "long-solo" version, where PETRUCCI actually tries to play jazz, fusion, rock, prog and classical features, a great thing!!! After that, DVD 2 is what we needed to see to understand what the hell happened in the life of DT after Moore's departure, a sometimes unfocused but well paved road to success, with the help of new keyboardist Derek Sherinian... The video starts with a song from FALLING INTO INFINITY, followed by a very strange and unexpected acoustic performance in Holland with two outtakes from the INFINITY- sessions, then, the resume of how the band split apart and bla, bla bla, how sad it was, "but we got to move on", some videos and then the expected transformation of a great prog-band into a mainstream- arena-rock band with the frantic and "showy" performances of the band all around the globe, this things may please some, or displease some others, anyway... the key moment is the return to the acoustic set, where had shown an almost "perfect balance" of musicallity playing old songs, rarities and some medleys, however, again, i admit it, the loss of MOORE's pressence avoids the growth of the 5 piece, focusing mostly in Portnoy and in Petrucci in the last songs. So, this is a very nice start for those who really want to have the "real story" behind the band. A perfect introduction and a great historical document to undestand the evolution of this great but overrated band. peace

When I first caught site of this video, it was completely by chance. I was searching for some quality buys in the music video section of my Circuit City, and there it was in front of a row of random DVDs. I was shocked that they even had a Dream Theater dvd. I looked and looked, but no others were there, so half-concerned, I bought it. Damn, am I happy with my purchase. Not only do you get great concert footage, but you also see into the band's home videos and studio sessions. And of course there is the very funny and enjoyable band audio commentary. It's very informative, oh yeah, and it's on BOTH discs!!!

You really can't go wrong with this unless you simply didn't want it to end so quickly, but given the fact that it contains the band's music videos and tours during a five year period, it's well worth the price.

This DVD set is not as good as I expeced it to be but I really enjoyed it. It includes great performances of Ytse Jam with a drum solo and also a geat performance of Starship Trooper with Steve Howe on guitar with John. I know that many bootlegs of the Falling Into Infinity tour have really weak vocals on itbut I think that Labrie's voice is not that bad on the DVD. It well show how DT was back in the 90's.

This reissue dvd comprised of Dream Theater's first two home videos is a mixture of Images & Words era Dream Theater and Falling Into Infinity era Dream Theater. Both of these videos act as sort of a video biography of the band with a lot of live performances in between. Included with this set are all of Dream Theater's music videos (Pull Me Under, Take the Time, Another Day, Lie, The Silent Man, and Hollow Years) as well as a variety of performances including snippets from their Ronnie Scott "uncovered" show, as well as most of their 1993 show in Tokyo on the Images & Words tour. The commentary for this set is informative, funny, and I really enjoy how this guys critique and poke fun at themselves while giving the viewer snippets of obscure information that only a seasoned Dream Theater fan would know.

The first disc of this set is the entire Images and Words Live in Tokyo video remastered in sound and in video quality. The video itself is a very large portion of their 1993 show in Tokyo as well as video clips from all over the world. Also here are all the videos from Images & Words. Like Marillion, Dream Theater were never destined to be video stars, and these videos are prime examples of that. They look too over the top and too much like a hair/glam metal band than anything else in these videos, and even LaBrie's Napalm Death shirt for the Pull Me Under video can't save them. Bu there's a lot more to the video than that. It's always fun to watch Dream Theater perform with Kevin Moore. Although not as talented as Rudess, Moore shows he's no slouch at the keys many times throughout the entire show. On this video is also To Live Forever, one of the many unreleased songs from Dream Theater. This song comes complete with an interesting jam between the band in which they quote many songs, Within Without You being one of the prominent ones. What you also get here is a 6 string version of Puppies on Acid, which would become the 7 string motif for the Mirror off of Awake. The snippets of other material on this video are also interesting, although they act more as interludes between the live material than anything else (the commentary for this show is very good, they are one of the better commentators for their own work that I've heard).

The second disc is a collection of many shows starting from the Awake era all the way through the show that was recorded and called Once In a Livetime. A lot of material is played here, from the acoustic shows, to the cover show in Paris that material was released from for the Change of Seasons EP, to a version of Metropolis that was taken from when they were opening for Deep Purple and ELP. The acoustic shows have a mellow feel, but I don't think that Petrucci was meant to play acoustic guitar live, as he actually often plays the electric guitar during these performances, and it really throws the whole acoustic mood off. Nice renditions of some of the softer Dream Theater songs, like Anna Lee and Cover My Eyes. The Awake era footage also offers some cool renditions of 6:00 (with Sherinian on keyboards before he was an official member) and Voices. The Ronnie Scott's show footage is also cool with a great version of Easter (from Marillion's Seasons End) performed by the band with Steve Hogarth and Steve Rothery, an excerpt from the Yes Medley performed with Steve Howe, as well as a rollicking version of Damage Inc. with the vocalist from Napalm Death (you can actually see Petrucci laughing during this song). Once again, the commentary is top notch and the band offers interesting information as well as pokes fun at each other and what they are seeing on the video.

In the end, this live compilation of videos is pretty cool, but I don't find myself watching it that often, and when I do, I watch it with the commentary on because I find it to be very funny. The audio throughout is very nice as well as the video, and I think there's something here that every fan of progressive metal (well, not every fan) will enjoy. It's not their best lvie video, but it's not half bad. 3.5/5.

This is the early moment for Dream Theater did a show which was shot for the video (it has become the tradition for Dream Theater to launch many videos and live albums nowadays. The first DVD contained with their show in Tokyo, Japan in 1993 from "Music In Progress World Tour" including some of their traditional songs such as, "Under A Glass Moon", "Ytse Jam", and "A Fortune In Lies".

Also you can find three video clips from the "Images & Words" album, "Pull Me Under", "Take The Time", and "Another Day". (You will also find the live version for "Pull Me Under" and "Take The Time". For "Another Day", you can find it in their latest DVD, "Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour 2006" as a bonus live tracks). Especially "Pull Me Under", it was the video clip that changed DT's life and raised DT's popularity. For "Another Day", I've seen the video clip on MTV a few years ago before I had this DVD.

The second DVD titled with the name "5 Years In A LiveTime", was the collection of definitive moments from five years in DT's life (1994-1998). May be you think that this DVD contained the same tracks with "Once In A LiveTime" album (the same cover, and the same released year). Those of you who think like that surely were incorrect.

The DVD was filled with the songs such as, "Burning My Soul", "Metropolis Pt. 1", "Peruvian Skies", and "Learning To Live" from "Waking Up The World Tour", "Unplugged", and "Touring Into Infinity". DT also covered some tracks such as, "Heart Of The Sunrise" (Yes), "Easter" (Marillion), and "Perfect Strangers" (Deep Purple) from the "Uncovered" show. Also appeared in the "Uncovered" show were Steve Howe (Yes), Steve Rothery (Marillion), and Steve Hogarth (Marillion).

For "Perfect Strangers", you can see Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) in the intro and continued with DT's unique performance. This time, Mike Portnoy played bass guitar. Derek Sherinian played guitars. John Myung played keyboards (it's no problem for him because he has ever learned piano in his childhood). John Petrucci played drum (actually, his performance was so funny, I just laughed at him when I saw the video). However, it was a good entertainment by them.

Uups, this time you'll find three more video clips from "Awake" and "Falling Into Infinity" album ("Lie", "The Silent Man", and "Hollow Years").

Personally, I prefer the second DVD as a better one. Finally, if you're interested to try these videos, I'm sure you won't regret at all, especially for DT fans. I believe you're surely happy because everybody must be happy if their idols released as many albums or videos as possible, no matter it was just a video or live album, aren't you? Those of you who don't agree with me and dislike your idols who released many live albums and videos, definitely was a poor guy.

Fernandi Gunawan

Dream Theater - Live in Tokyo/5 Years in a Livetime 4 stars

There are so many nice things about this compilation DVD. One being we have a brilliant performance (which is expected now) at the period in time and we also have a lot of cool insight on the band behind the scenes. With the two dvd's combined, we get all of Images and Words except for Learning to Live, which makes me happy, seeing as 'Images and Words' is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Live in Tokyo is an excellent DVD. Besides most of Images and Words being played, we get to see what it was like having Kevin Moore in the band.sparking my interest. The one thing to note is the amount of stage presence that was quickly lost somewhere down the road. Petrucci and even Myung are constantly moving about the stage, getting in fans faces. The music on here was top notch and I loved the way Petrucci used his whammy bar to add some nice tremolo to give everything more flavor. There are also three videos that are show being 'Pull Me Under', 'Take the Time' and 'Another Day'. All very corny, but funny to watch. There is very little studio footage shown, but plenty footage of Dream Theater walking around Tokyo which is pretty cool. The band seemed to be a funny bunch of guys, which makes me wonder why Kevin Moore is so displeased about ever being involved in the band today.

5 Years in a Livetime is not so good. The material showed on this album is from the Awake/Falling into Infinity era.the era that we see or hear very little of. Unfortunately the tracks played from Falling into Infinity are the reason why I hate to dislike the album. They really should of thought about playing the great tracks that were few on that album.a mistake they did not make at Budokan. There was very few 'Awake' tracks but they choose some of the better ones like '6:00', 'Lie'. 'Voices', 'The Silent Man' and 'Lifting Shadows of A Dream'. The videos that were shown are the hilarious 'Lie' video and 'The Silent Man' and 'Hollow Years' which are nice ballad songs. Although on the DVD I did not find to be so great musically, it shows what was going on with the band at these dark times, which I think was what it was really focused on capturing. Starting mostly with the recording of the Awake album that LaBrie was very fond of. Next we get some brief insight as to why Kevin Moore left the band. Other things presentable were something I personally wanted to see, was Derek Sherinian's time in the band. I'd have to say it wasn't cool to see him go, he was definitely the most active person in the band, a breath of new life for sure. Again, very nice information, the music wasn't so good.

Why would I give these 4 stars even though I wasn't fond of 5 years? Well, there are about 3 and half hours worth of material for the price of one DVD. There is just an abundance of material that makes it worth your money. Plus, the Live in Tokyo DVD is incredible, 5 years just adds to it. Certainly excellent to watch the band in their best years and get a ton of inside scoops.

This is a two DVD set containing "Images and Words" Live in Tokyo in 1993 (Disc One) and "Five Years In A Livetime" (Disc Two). Disc One contains their live performances with most tracks coming from Images and Words album plus first album. Before I purchased this DVD I already got the VCD version with exactly the same content. One thing I like about this live performance in Tokyo is the footage during the concert in Japan with some short interviews of the band members, plus putting signatures to the fans. It's interesting to see band members that look very young and different with what they look today, especially Mike Portnoy with his very long hair. Only John Myung who does not change a lot. My favorite track is the band's favorite's live track where they always play live everywhere they played concert: "Pull Me Under". I still enjoy watching this performance of "Pull Me Under" until now! The singing performance of James LaBrie for this song is the best one in this concert compared to other ones. It's quite interesting live set plus some video clips.

Disc Two is a collection of definitive moments from five years in the life of the band from 1994 - 1998. This includes: footage from the "unplugged" fan club show in Rotterdam, June 1998; footage from the "uncovered" fan club show at Ronnie Scott's in London, January 1995. The DVD concert opening was in June 25, 1998, Paris where Derek Sherinian opened the DVD with a short interview. Sound quality is not as good as Live in Tokyo. Mike Portnoy has cut his hair. I like the performance of "6:00" because this was the first song I heard for the first time that introduced me to this band. The opening drums solo by Portnoy is really brilliant. The overall performance of this tune is truly masterpiece! It also features vocalist of Napalm Death, Steve Rothery and Steve Hogarth of Marillion playing "Easter". In fact, I like it very much seeing Marillion meets Dream Theater! Steve Rothery has not accumulated weight yet. Oh there is Steve Howe of Yes as well playing "Starship Trooper". The video clip of "Hollow Years" is so catchy.

Overall, this is a worth collecting DVD set for those who have known the band or newbie. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

When Images and Words and Awake and Infinity Unite.

This 2-disc DVD set is the reissue of a couple of other home VHS released back around the time of the actual albums. Images and Words Live In Tokyo and 5 Years In A Livetime are both presented here, and both DVDs are something out of a prog lover's dream. Encapsulating the escapades and live works of the band during their classic era (and their Infinity era as well) this DVD shows the band in studio, on the road, on the stage and on... MTV?

While the music is obviously the biggest draw, having many of their most popular songs included and performed very well, there is also a large chunk of entertainment to be drawn from simply watching the guys behind the scenes creating the albums and on tour. Also included are the band's six music videos from the time (Pull Me Under, Take The Time, Another Day, Lie, The Silent Man, Hollow Years) which have been recently re-released apparently.

While all of the concert footage on the first disc is the Tokyo show mentioned in the title of the disc (and they play just about all of Images and Words along with some material from Dream and Day) the second disc has some very interesting footage on it. There's some footage of the guys on the Awake tour and some very strange footage of them playing an unplugged show, obviously from the FII tour as all the dude's have cut their hair and are looking very mellow. Prog heads will also get a kick out of the footage shot around the same time that DT was performing their covers that would eventually make their way onto the A Change Of Seasons album. Performing on stage with the boys is none other than Mr. Steve Howe of Yes unfortunately, only for a short time. There's also some footage of them playing with some of the guys from Marillion, but being unfamiliar with that band, I couldn't tell you who.

An excellent package that will make an excellent addition to your prog library. Only NOT recommended for people who hate Dream Theater, but even if you only liked Images and Words you should still get a kick out of this. However, for Dream Theater and prog metal fans this DVD set is a must. 4 stars.

Still young... Still fresh... Great material to start with...

Back in the middle 90's there were very few live material about Dream Theater, how would we knew it will become to double DVD realases each two years like it's now...? but then there was only two VHS out there... Live in Tokyo, which records a single presentation in Japan in 1992, for the promotion of Images and Words. This material is quite impressive, energetic and it's build like a video documentary as it were most in the 90's. A couple of songs, some backstage footage and hanging around with the band... it last "only" 90 minutes, and we have the most traditional versions of Pull Me Under, Take the Time, Surrounded, Wait for sleep -great live version- and Under a Glass Moon, plus two track from When Dream and Day and three music videos, with edited version from the singles... even if it is an edit version, those are quite interesting... This DVD is a most have for all the Kevin Moore era fans... this is the only official live material in which Kevin Moore appears and we have a little inside about his sense of humour and his skills live... just great and it worth a 5 star rating.

The other material was published 5 years later... it documents the complete Derek Sherinian era, as a substitute of Moore... We can see him when he was just a hired gun, nice dress and so normal and his becoming to a fancy guy with funny t-shirts and sunglasses and TVs all over the stage... it documents also the recording of Awake, A Change of Seasons and Falling into Infinity... Opposite to the previous material, mostly of this DVD is broadcast and raw material recollected by Mike Portnoy, is the first production he manages for the band... so is significant... It includes other Three music videos, with better quality but nothing groundbreaking, a lot of live material, but not that great... the material shows quite well the bad moments the bad was passing... some of the interpretations shows how tired they were back there fighting for their music identity and all the troubles they have over that time... The edition and some of the material is not that great, seems a little unprofessional at times but it still is a most have because is the only official material in the Sherinian era with the band...

For the double DVD special, they record an audio documentary for all the complete material... many jokes, many opinions and insides about those years and a lot of references to Kevin Moore's material... very interesting to most DT fans... it worth another star...

Back then, this DVD was the only live material you can reach about DT and it was great... 4 stars only because it cannot be a masterpiece... is just a significant compilation of great live material during a two different and significant Eras for this great band...

Even though this release consists of two different DVDs, they are very much alike and both suffer from just about the same problems.

First, they mix the concert with interviews and videos of them fooling around and promotional videos of their songs. That really distracts from the attention of the concert experience and won't allow me to enjoy it. Sure, those extra features would be great if added as bonus material. Second, they chose almost none on the songs that I really liked from the albums that had already been released up to that point.

On Live in Tokio, the only songs I like are Wait for Sleep, which is too short to rescue this video; Pull me Under, which is much more enjoyable on the original album (there are some really horrible patented LaBrie screaming added to this version); and Ytse Jam, which has some added extra-long drum solo that makes it really hard to fully enjoy it. From the videos, once again the only I really like is Pull me Under, but this is an edited version, and I really miss the deleted minutes. The rest of the songs are OK, but nothing too memorable for me, and some awful LaBrie screams keep on ruining them. Sure enough there are some interesting points on this video, mainly to see Dream Theater play, whatever songs they are playing, is very entertaining, and being such an early DT performance is also cool, specially because it includes Kevin Moore in the Line-Up.

As for 5 Years in a Livetime, it's not even one concert, but a collection of songs performed live during the years in which Derek Sherinian was part of the band. Once again, few of the songs performed here are among those I like. Mainly I like Lifting Shadows Off A Dream, which even if it isn't among my very favourite ones, it's a very enjoyanbe soft song, and it's performed quiet nicely. Also, Peruvian skies is pretty good, and it sounds kind of more energetic than the studio version... also, in this case they add some solos from Pink Floyds' Have a Cigar and Metallica's Enter Sandman, which is rather a nice surprise (though it makes me wish they had played those songs completley). On the other hand, they also play Metropolis, Learning to Live, and A Change of Seasons (the final part only) which are all songs that I really love from the band... but they are played incomplete, which makes it more frustrating than enjoyable.

They also have some covers, like Battery from Metallica (which i never really liked anyway, and even less with growiling, though the perfromance from the band did sound somewhat better than I remember from the original song), Easter from Marillion, which I didn't previously know, the Wurm part from Starship Trooper (once again, not having the complete version is rather frustrating), and a patchy Perfect strangers, which starts with a BBC recording (with Bruce Dickinson on vocals) and abruptly changes to a live performance of the group, in which the instruments are swapped, so that none is playing the instrument they really know how to play).

Strangely enough, the most pleasant surprise for me in this video were a pair of songs that were not officially released: Cover my Eyes and Just Let me Breathe. Both are very soft songs, but I really enjoyed them (and I usually don't enjoy Dream Theater's soft songs).

I would give this videos 3 stars if it were only for the concerts (even though they didn't play most of my favorite songs, none are so bad as to not making it enjoyable), however, I take one more star because of the interviews and promotional song videos mixed with the concert.