DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

I'm sure the first thing that came to everyone's mind upon hearing about this cover was LaBrie singing a Floyd song. To many, it just dident fit. Well, here's my take on it. Yes, it sounds odd. The first few lines of Breathe sound downright bizzare on the first listen, but by the time you hear "the sun is eclipsed by the moon," all is right with the world again. What this means is...it's a shock at first, but after one listen, you're used to it and you just get sucked in.

This is very difficult to rate, simply due to the fact that it's Dream Theater, one of the most technically talented bands around, doing a cover of Pink Floyd, one of the greatest bands of all time. I'm either comparing DT to Floyd and coming up slightly dissapointed, or giving DT credit for Floyd's songs and being absolutely floored. It's taking some considerable effort to keep the ratings fair

Speak to Me/Breathe is well done, but nothing mindblowing. What you notice right off the bat though, is that Petrucci is dead on. Speak to Me/Breathe isnt the most technical of songs, but its apparent that he's got this down flawlessly. 9/10. Very well done, but some of James' inflection throws me off.

On the Run is well...On the Run. DT took some liberties with this one. Not a ton, but some. Someone who has heard the original many times will immediately pick up on the differences. I really dont know if I like the final note however; DT's version is sort of bland. 9/10 A great take on a unique song.

Time is where the album really takes off. Hearing the classic clock room go off right after hearing Labrie singing is just awesome to a die-hard Floyd and DT fan. The first 2 mins or so are essentially the same. The continuum, drums, everything, is dead on. One thing I really liked about the beginning was the small drumroll things. They're basically the same, but you can definatly tell that it's Portnoy by his unique sounding...well...whatever the drums are called that those particular notes are played on. Once the intro ends, the album really takes off (or at least in my opinion...) The first few drum notes are great, and everything falls into place. The vocals are more demanding than on Breathe, and Labrie's idiosynchracies show more. Just like Labrie's work in everything else, I'm willing to bet it'll be a love or hate scenario. I obviously love it :p The beginning to the guitar solo right after "you missed the starting gun" has always been one of my absolute favorite guitar pieces in all of music when preformed by Gilmour, and Petrucci does not dissapoint. He owns the entire solo, nailing every note. The whole song is pulled off flawlessly (unless you count any personal peeves with the singing), but the whole time you know it's definatly Dream Theater, rather than just any other band playing Floyd. 10/10. Awesome awesome awesome song; it may not be Dream Theater's song, but its already one of my favorite preformances by them.

The Great Gig in the Sky is also very well done. My only gripe is the voices at the beginning are different. While different isnt always bad, it's certainly not good here. The "I am not frightened of dying" almost sounds forceful and angry, and definatly not British. Other than that, the spoken word is fine. Theresa Thompson delivers a truely awesome vocal preformance. I think I may like this one better than the original. I've heard many covers of DSotM, but rarely can a singer do well with this song. Most have a tendency to yell rather than sing in their attempt to get this right, but Theresa has managed to find the magic 'somthing' that makes this sound awesome. I only wish she could go a bit lower: the high notes are flawless, but the low ones need a bit more umph in em. 9/10

Money is where you really get the feeling that it's a metal band playing a non-metal album. It's not overly obvious, but James' singing and Petrucci's guitar definately tell you that things are different. The same cash register sounds are used as was on the original Floyd album (thankfully), and overall, the song is very very solid. Myung does very good bass work here as well; definatly worth a listen for any Myung fans. However, somthing interesting occurs at 6:18. James makes a...sound...that's most definately not taken from the original recording. It almost sounds like someone gave him a wet willy while he had the mic handy. It's pretty funny 10/10. Fantastic job by DT.

Us and Them causes me to have some mixed feelings. There were three things that always drew me to this song: the lyrics, the sax, and the vocals. The lyrics, obviously, are unchanged. The sax is teriffic: Norbert Stachel does a great job at every part of the song. The vocals, however, arent quite the same. They're very good, dont get me wrong, but the way Floyd originally did it is just a cut above anything anyone else, DT included, can do with this song. Overall it's a beautiful preformance, but somthing in me wishes they turned up Portnoy's mic. His voice in the backround gives the song a more Floyd feel, and more of it would have been excellent. Also, Petrucci continues his flawless preformance in this song; the man truely is talented. 8/10. Yeah, it's an 8, but this is a very hard song to do justice.

Any Colour You Like is breathtaking. I've always enjoyed this song when done by the masters themselves, but this "same but different" version is equally awesome. The guys take some liberties here. They dont really run away with it or anything, but Rudess begins to do his own thing, and the results are fantastic. Petrucci also gets a bit creative and adds his own offerings to the mix, and the final product is a simply amazing rendition of an already teriffic classic. 10/10. One of DT's best instrumental moments in my opinion; it's not the same metal jam wanksession that we've grown used to, and it's a very welcome breath of fresh air with a very distinctive DT sound.

Brain Damage departs more from the original than anything else up to this point, but the end result isnt as good as the creative endeavors of Colour. More of the prog- metal sound leaks in, and at times I wish they had kept more to the Floyd feel. This is Petrucci's weakest part of the show, simply because he lays it on a bit too thick. It's still a great listen, but anyone completely loyal to the original may find it grating at times. Theresa also falls slightly short in one very isolated incident here. In the original, right after the line "you shout and noone seems to hear", there's a very good and, in my opinion, very crucial short vocal spot by one of the backup singers (an oh-oh-OH-OH- oh type thing. Yeah, music in text never works, I know). Sadly, Theresa chooses to do her own version of this, and it's just simply not as good as the original, and it's also overpowered by the rest of the band. 7/10. Too much metal; the original was far more mellow. I could understand some amount of heavyness, but this is just a bit much. That, and Theresa missed one of my favorite parts by the backup singers.

Eclipse is a pleasent surprise after the shortcomings of Brain Damage. The metal sound persists, but it being the climax of the album, I'm not going to complain. My ONLY gripe is that the other band members aren't loud enough as far as singing goes. The Floyd version had several distinct voices singing in unison, but DT allows JP and Portnoy minimal vocal volume and basically hands the song to James. James does well, but the vocals could have been better overall. All in all it's a great end to what I feel is a mind- blowing preformance. 9/10. Great end to a great album. More of Petrucci and Portnoys voices, and it would be perfect.

9.5/10 overall. Dream Theater really does an awesome job with this classic album. I had my doubts when I heard of the idea, but this certainly delivers when things seemed dubious. I strongly urge anyone who enjoys Floyd and DT to order this as soon as they can!

Bottom Line: I give it a 9.5/10 as an album, but on the ProgArchives ratings sytem, I give it a 3. Can you live without it? Yes. You've heard DT, you've heard Floyd, so this isn't essential by any means. If you're a big DT or Floyd fan, this is indeed a very good buy, but casual listeners of either band probablly won't care much about this.