A CHANGE OF SEASONS

1995's 'A Change of Seasons' is the only Dream Theater release tagged as an EP, despite its whopping playtime of nearly one hour, overclocking the band's first two studio albums. Composed of the 23-minute title track, a Dream Theater classic, as well as four cover songs recorded live throughout the band's early days, this release is significant for the presence of the mammoth epic track, the first long piece of music of such caliber to be released by DT. Capturing perfectly the essence of that 90s Dream Theater sound, this lengthy piece seems to be a thematic continuation in a way to the 'Images and Words' and 'Awake' albums, since the story goes that it could not fit either of those. A story about the cycle of life, the composition goes through seven parts, with long and majestic instrumental passages and a very intelligent and finely done transitions between the heavier and the lighter moments. Musically, 'A Change of Seasons' (the song) bears all the characteristics of Dream Theater's music as heard on both of their preceding studio albums, this time with a very open and strong influence from classic rock and progressive rock acts like King Crimson, Deep Purple, Dixie Dregs, Yes, Kansas, and so on and so forth. A strong piece of music with several gorgeous and memorable moments, from the menacing intro to the winding guitars of 'The Inevitable Summer', exuding a fine balance between the instrumental passages and the ones with LaBrie singing. The live tracks are as good as almost any other Dream Theater live recording; interesting to see them cover a variety of great bands, as they do have a history of covering their favorite songs from the old times, but it is really the title tracks that is the highlight here. Overall, taken as an EP, the length of this release is absurd; had it consisted of just the title track, it would have made much more sense. Yet it is still really good overall, even if the only truly essential material here is the fantastic 23-minute opus 'A Change of Seasons'.