LIVE IN TOKYO/5 YEARS IN A LIVETIME

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.

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...