NEW YORK CITY 3/4/93

This is an Official Live Bootleg released by Mike Portnoy himself through his Ytsejam Records site. The concert in question is (obviously) a show in New York City taken during their highly successful Images and Words Tour. The set list is great, containing the entirety of Images and Words as well as selections of When Dream and Day Unite material and unreleased (for the time) tracks.

What lets this album down is it's sound quality, from what I've heard, the other live bootlegs from Ytsejam have better quality, 'tis a shame this one ended up with the lack of quality. The drums appear to be mixed slightly higher than everything else, though everything else can still be heard very clearly and all the instruments have definition, though sadly Myung's bass is slightly lower in the mix than everything else. However, the biggest let down of this album is LaBrie's voice, he must not have been feeling the best that night as his voice seems to lack power and clarity in some parts and screeches painfully in others; though from what I recall he is still able to hit the F# in Learning To Live (though don't quote me on it, I haven't listened to that track in a while). On a lesser note, Kevin Moore makes a few mistakes throughout the album, mainly in Metropolis and the intro to Learning To Live (it's cringe worthy actually).

At the opposite end of the scale however, is the good sides of the album, the earlier version of To Live Forever is played here, though it is not to different to what was recorded as a b-side to the Lie single. A nice Drum Solo by Portnoy in the middle section of Ytsejam really added to the depth of the album as well as the presence of the Moore written track, Eve. It is musically no different to the tack that was later recorded as a b-side to the Silent Man single, yet it contains some odd samples (I have no clue of their origin) that don't really add to the song but at the same time don't ruin it.

Yet of course there remains only one thing that attracts the hardcore fans to this album: the original version of A Change of Seasons; it truly is a delight to hear this song in it's earlier days. There are a number of difference to the studio version mainly some vocal parts (which strangely sound as if LaBrie is making them up on the spot), the absence of the Crimson Sunrise, though some small riffs were later reused in that section, Innocence has different vocal melodies (crap melodies at that, glad they were changed) but is musically mostly the same with a few minor changes. Carpe Diem is identical, The Darkest Of Winters and Another World remain similar to their final counterparts. The Inevitable Summer is the biggest to the song, it contains a huge shred solo between Petrucci and Moore that lasts for around 4-5 minutes. Pure excitement there. It is sad in some ways that it didn't make it to the final album, yet also good that it didn't as the final version is great. The Crimson Sunset remains mostly the same with a few musical changes and different vocal melodies.

Overall, this is an interesting live album/official bootleg, all members play very well and reproduce, sometimes extending, the studio tracks in perfect clarity. The attraction to this album is probably A Change of Seasons, and this is the only real reason to get this album.

3.5/5 Good, but non-essential, almost all of the tracks can be found elsewhere live and the sound quality is just slightly above average. It is good to hear Moore playing these tracks live though.