CHRISTMAS CD 2000 - SCENES FROM A WORLD TOUR

Dream Theater's 2000 Christmas CD marked the final chapter of a generous gift from the band to members of their International Fan Club. Following the best Christmas CD (1999's "Cleaning Out The Closet") I was curious with what the band (more specifically Mike Portnoy) would come up with. The live tapes had already been tapped and most of the studio gems had also been released so what else was there?

Well, it turns out not all that much. I'm not trying to be critical....I'm grateful the band has been kind enough to give their loyal fans five CDs worth of otherwise unreleased material over the years. But I agree with Portnoy's decision to discontinue the tradition based on the material here. The 2001 CD basically serves up a menu of outtakes from the year-long Scenes From a Memory tour. While there are a few interesting moments they're pretty rare and this disc well illustrates why such "takes" are left "out" in the first place.

There really aren't any "songs" to be found here; every track is either a solo, a disjointed cover medley or sheer ridiculousness. The two most notable tracks are the Erotomania/Paradigm Shift/Universal Mind medley and Petrucci's guitar solo. The former gives you just what it promises, 7 minutes of (mostly) Portnoy and Petrucci shredding their instruments. Sometimes it jams, sometimes it wallows in the usual self-indulgent ego-beating these two sometimes succumb to. Still...a pretty good piece, it just goes on too long. The same could be said for "Gladiator Theme" which is basically a 10 minute Petrucci solo. Start off pretty interesting, with some volume effects, then a mellow acoustic-sounding section then a bit of Master of Puppets before devolving into rapid-fire shredding. Is interesting for about the first 4 to 5 minutes.

For sheer enjoyment the best song is the cover of War Pigs; chosen in this case because the band invited anyone who knew the lyrics up to sing and the chosen one was a surprisingly accomplished vocalist. Very fun; very enjoyable. Heaven and Hell is a very short version that's just the band having fun. The Zoo/Whole Lotta Love medley is really just a section of Learning to Live but it's clear the band is just screwing around and this isn't one of their finer efforts.

What Did They Say is kinda fun to listen to - once. A second time is, uh, annoying....REALLY annoying. It's a collection of snippets of songs throughout the tour where the band chose to replace the normal lyrics with "fun" lyrics. Thus we're blessed with such shenanigans as Portnoy singing "Pull My Finger" instead of "Pull Me Under". Ha ha. Ha. The keyboard solo (ugh) is aptly titled and thus I feel no need to say anything more about it. The one "historical" point on the disc is The Spirit Carries On from the infamous Los Angeles show which was oversold and shut down by the Fire Department halfway through the set. The band starts playing TSCO but James fails to show for his lyrical cue; Portnoy takes over vocals for a while before LaBrie returns to announce the show is over. The band responds by (admirably) playing on with the audience now taking over vocals. Eventually the PA is shut off but the band carries on and can only be heard through their monitors. By the time the musical section ends the fans are wild and sing along heartily doing a rather fine rendition of the tune. It's really quite interesting and fun, displaying the loyalty of both the band and the fans to each other and the music.

Anyway, I know I sound kinda critical of this CD cuz most of it is just a bunch of throwaways. I'd have preferred an entire show but then why would the band provide that? Still, the Christmas CD was a great idea and one which I wish more bands would replicate.