AN EVENING WITH JOHN PETRUCCI AND JORDAN RUDESS

An Evening with… is a live album by Dream Theater duo John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess. This album is different from other Dream Theater member’s side projects like O.S.I, or La Brie’s solo carrier, although there is a track here that taken from Liquid Tension Experiment (this project has both Petrucci and Rudess). All tracks in this album are fully instrumental. Petrucci plays both acoustic and electric guitar, while Rudess plays only piano (yes, absolutely no keyboard) here. This album also varies in styles, where there are some jazz, soft-rock, and some others.

The opening track, “Furia Taurina”, sounds like a combination of Latin, classic, and jazz. Petrucci’s guitar and Rudess piano form a great melody here. You can feel some emotion here when they play some parts faster and then goes softer. This is a great opening track.

The second song, “Truth” is a softer track. This track is like a classic-ballad song and has some great solos, especially in the middle part of the song. Near the end the crowds clapping together as the duo play together and then Petrucci brings another solo. This track is one of my favorites and truly a very nice song.

Next is “Fife and Drum”, in this track Rudess piano is more dominant, and this songs has various styles that mixed up together very nicely.

“State of Grace” is a song from Liquid Tension Experiments. Unlike the previous track, this track is shorter, but it stills nevertheless a very nice track. There isn’t much differences in here with the LTE version, but this song is somewhat tranquilizing and the melody is very pleasant to heard.

“Hang 11” is another long and beautiful track. Like its title, this track runs for 11 minutes. The song has a catchy melody, and the solos here are great as the whole track is. Another great performance was put up by the duo and their characters are showed here.

Then, we up to “From Within”, and this is track is also a shorter one than the others. This track has a soft, nice and peaceful melody.

“The Rena Song” is another favorite track of mine. The melody is beautiful, especially in the middle part of the song. The song itself is well-arranged and the duo put up a great performance in this soft track.

Next is “In the Moment”. This track opens with a guitar solo from Petrucci, and then Rudess followed up through the middle part of the song. Petrucci is more dominant here, but that doesn’t make the track sounds like his other solo songs.

“Black Ice” has a faster tempo in the beginning than other tracks, and then becomes slower near the middle part of it. At near the end the duo plays a bit technically, especially with the solo and the tempo then goes faster again toward the end. The composition in this track is great, as well as the performance.

“Bite of the Mosquito” is the last and the shortest track, and actually quite a fun one, where the duo plays with a fast tempo and a bit technical.

Overall, all tracks in this album are well composed. The performance is great, and there aren’t much of DT elements here. This isn't just a show-off album, but a great masterpiece from both John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess. Even if you’re not a DT fan, it’s really worth a try, and who knows if you would like it in the end.