DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

THIS ROCKS. For Floydians as well as for DT'ers, or Floyd-DT'ers. The Soundquality is AMAZING, not speaking of the sound itself, this sounds like the original!

Unbelievable, you could think its the floyd (alright, considering LaBrie's voice, thats the only weak part :D).

So just go out and buy this...its beautiful.

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.

well....this album is definitely something that you'd like to listen to someday, being a DT and Floyd fan....anyway they did a good job, I mean it's obvious that they're not Floyd, but I don't think that this was their target; they wanted to make a tribute to one of the best bands in the world, being themselves today's most interesting band. ....And they did it good, the songs are very well played: this experiment IMO has proved their professionality they played Floyd songs giving way sometimes to their own style, so also metal..... IMO in these cases the difference between bands and BANDS is simply their will to remain coherent with their type of playing, sound and whatever makes them as they are known to the audience. In the end this is simply a good album, a tribute to a great band by a great band.

3 stars.

It's really like Pink Floyd!

I have enjoyed rock music since I was a 14-year old boy in a small city in Indonesia. At that time there were many cassette offerings with various kind of music. Especially for rock music there were varieties of groups from Deep Purple to King Crimson. I knew Pink Floyd "Dark Side of The Moon" sometime in 1975 and really amazed with the kind of music the band plays. Because I was more familiar with straight rock, I could enjoy "Money" and "Time" easily without any barriers at all. In fact, I used "Time" as my wake up call using a timer. When this album was available in CD format, I purchased it right away and I think it was some time in the end of 80s. I did not have the CD player because I could not afford it. With this CD I also purchased Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood" even though I already had the LP.

Another one or two years later I could afford to buy a CD player and I did enjoy Dark Side of The Moon very much. The album actually has no complex arrangement at all but it does have an awesome soundscape and effects. I admire this album from this standpoint as well as the tight composition. I was kind like having an imagination that this album would be very tough to be emulated the same as the studio album because it has varied effects and wonderful soundscapes. In fact, in my collection of laser disc that features Pink Floyd live, performing some songs of Dark Side of The Moon, I could not sense the nuance and "soul" of the album on live performance (even by Pink Floyd themselves!).

But ... just couple of weeks ago I had a chance to enjoy this live set by Dream Theater and it BLEW me away at first spin.

WHY?

First off, Dream Theater can be considered asthe most popular progressive band in the world today. Look at this page and the post at the top right of HOME page where its latest album "Systematic Chaos" has been the most popular album with hundred plus reviews where the abum has just officially been released early June 2007. Many youngsters think nowadays that progressive music is Dream Theater while Dream Theater is progressive music. That's FACT that we all cannot deny. It seems awkward and weird if you find youngsters who claim as they like rock music but they don't know Dream Theater. Give me a break!Their music is really specific and they have their own character. No one would doubt their reputation.

Second, Pink Floyd is a legendary progressive band who laid their strong foundation since the psychedelic era of end 60s. The Dark Side of The Moon represents the band's ultimate achievement as it stayed for long period of time at Billboards top chart. Anyone who love rock music since 70s or 80s period would definitely know who Pink Floyd is.

Third, Dream Theater performed (live) Pink Floyd music wholeheartedly so that it created very positive image for the band. I would say that their performance for Dark Side of The Moon is very close to perfect. The Dark Side of The Moon was presented in almost exactly the same with what I listened to it during my childhood. I was really amazed on how Portnoy switched his style completely to have a drum sound which is very very close to Nick Mason's. Petrucci also retains his self-indulgent through emulating David Gilmour's guitar sound. Jordan Rudess also plays very similar like Rick Wright. I guess John Myung plays standard 4-string bass for this performance. All add up beautifully in PINK FLOYD's SOUND! In addition, LaBrie vocal is of course cannot deny that it's not as closer to Roger or Dave. But that's okay because it's a God given thing. The track that I was affraid the band could not perform well was "The Great Gig In The Sky". I was wrong! The band performed wonderfully with additional lead vocal by Theresa Thomasson. WOW!!!!

Fourth, covering legendary band like Pink Floyd means to me that Dream Theater (with its big name and brand) appreciates the legendary band (PINK FLOYD). On the other side of the coin, this cover version will give a chance for younger people to know one of the world's best progressive bands in the 70s that most of us must remember.

On top of the Dark Side of The Moon, the band also covers other Pink Floyd tracks. "Echoes" is performed in a close perfection. The toughest thing is "Comfortably Numb" especially during openig track with its unique ambient. This version cannot get the nuance very well even though the overall performance is excellent.

Overall, this is an excellent addition to any prog music collection. It's a MUST have for any of you who love prog music. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

The "DSOTM" part of this release was already available for a long time before the official release on the Internet (at least the Amsterdam show).

The band decided to play several albums in full after their original "DT" set when they would play several gigs in the same town. "Metallica" with "Master Of Puppets" and "Iron Maiden" with "The Number Of Te Beast" would be the first ones.

"Dream Theater" has often incorporated covers in their live sets (Elton John, Purple, FLoyd...). But to play the full of "DSOTM", such a lengendary prog album was kind of a daunting task.

And I have to say that it is a very good cover effort. Of course, I prefer a band as "The Machine" whi is one of the best Floyd cover band on the road because their approach is probably more faithful in spirit and more convincing. Bizzarely, the audience react quite well to these numbers (which does not really belong to "Dream Theater" repertoire).

The other songs are OK (as any professional cover band could do). Somewhat harder like "One Of These Days" (some will say massacred).

"DT" has now the fame of these covers. And again, they are doing quite right. "Time", and "Us & Them" are very well rendered.

One song of the second CD (not available on the first boot one) is the absolutely unexpected "Echoes". If there was one song that one wouln't have thought of being played by "Dream Theater" it is definitively "Echoes". It is one of my top three Floyd song (with ASOS and "SOYCD"). Such a version is also available from "Mostly Autumn. To be honest (and this always have been my policy) this version is ...very good. What else can I say ? I really can't tell it is bullsh.t when it isn't, right ?

"In The Flesh" is an old story already. It was featured on "A Change Of Season". The only poor rendition (IMO) is "Run Like Hell".

One personal comment. It sounds strange to me that the hords of "DT" fans (from 200 to 500 per album) are so quiet about this release (two reviews with comments). As if they are shy that their beloved band produced such a release. Of course, it won't convert "DT" into a full progressive band (which they definitely not are and never will be).

Still, this is a good example of the band's ability. I only wish that they will perform the full of "Made In Japan" in their live set that I am going to attend next Thursday (they already did this; so I am not talking about science-fiction).

Three stars.

Ugh.

This isn't pretty. DREAM THEATER play PINK FLOYD. As I began listening I found myself asking WHY? Why on earth would they do this? And, given they have, why does it sound so incredibly cold? Hoiw did they manage to suck all the life out of the record?

See, PINK FLOYD were the epitome of the British dichotomy: reserved and precise on the one hand, as exemplified by their carefully constructed sound; repressively, sphincter-tighteningly angry as only the Brits can get (a la John Cleese) in their lyrics and GILMOUR'S passionate guitar solos.

DREAM THEATER capture none of that. All they do is play the notes (well) and sing (badly, oh dear, LABRIE really finds singing difficult, doesn't he). But that doesn't make music. Now I'm no DREAM THEATER basher. For proof, check out my DT reviews. But I can't abide this sort of exercise. Yes, play some live covers, even some FLOYD if you must, though plainly you don't understand the music. Oh, but please, don't release it.

This really is a poor, one-star effort. But it will appeal to fans, so it has to be awarded two stars.

I'm no expert on Dream Theater but I was intrigued to hear what they would make of this classic of classic prog albums. Well, it's almost an exact copy, even down to using the same sound effects of clocks etc. The music of the original album is fairly starightforward so there's not much room for them to show off here, except for Petrucci in the Time and Money solos (which he does pretty well). The only time the band really lets rip is in Brain Damage.

All in all it's well done but it's so similar to the original that you wonder why they released it and whether people would listen to this in favour of the original. Full marks to the female singer for a great version of Great Gig in the Sky!

As all good fans of both Floyd and Dream Theater, I've been trying to find this album ever since I learned it exsisted. And find it I did at a local used record store! I was happer then a Progger in a used record store (...wait...).

Dream Theater does a wonderful job at capturing the essents of Pink Floyd. With Dark Side of the Moon, it's a balance act of preforming the album as close to the origanal, and also throughing in your own style to remind the listiner this is not Floyd, but a tribute to them. In all honisty, it's the best live preformance of the album I've heard (including Pink Floyd's few live preformances I've heard and seen). I supose like all re-done albums, it has to be exponentaly greater then the origanal for someone to say 'it was better then the origanal', so to say this is better then the origanal would be very dificalt for anyone to say. But they do a very good job at it.

The second cd is really good. My only problem is they focus too much on 'The Wall' and not enough on other albums. I am very glad to see 'Sheep' on here, and it is my favourit song off the album. If I were to design and direct the album, I would have had 'In the Flesh?' 'Run Like Hell' and 'Hey You' taken off and replaced it with the rest of Echos. I couldn't believe that Dream Theater would preform a Pink Floyd song MORE mellow then the origanal! I was very pleased.

All in all, if your a Dream Theater fan and a Pink Floyd fan like myself, do all you can to get this album. It is an essentail in your collection. If your just a Pink Floyd fan or a Dream Theater fan, and you come across this album, pick it up, your money is well spent here, but I wouldn't go on an extravigant hunt for it, and this goes for any one else who enjoys progressive music. It's one of those few albums that almost anyone will find enjoyable, and doesn't take alot to enjoy it.

This is getting 4 stars since it really is an Excellent addition to any prog collection.

3.5 stars really!

This album is Dream Theater's version of one of the most recognizable and famous albums in the prog community and beyond. This is one of the best bands taking on this album. The result is much better than I thought. I thought a bunch of factors combined could somewhat mess up the album. For the most part, that doesn't happen.

However, there are a couple of times this happens. It's obvious that James LaBrie's voice doesn't fit this style. Sometimes it is worse than others though. It's also obvious that JP's guitar sound isn't at all similar to David Gilmour's style. It's obvious that Petrucci tries to sound a little bit like Gilmour, but that is somewhat a disappointment in itself. I would have liked them to change up the music to their style a little more, but instead it sounds almost the same. Even the sound effects are the same.

With that said, everything is still played well and is overall very good. The recording quality is also pretty good for a bootleg. I haven't mentioned Disc 2 yet. That contains a few sections from The Wall, as well as stuff from various other albums. If you are a die hard Pink Floyd fan or a die hard DT fan, you might be a little disappointment. However, from whatever camp you are in, you can't deny that this is a great version of great work from a classic prog band.

3.5/5 stars.

Being the die hard Floyd fan that I am, it was pretty hard to hear DSotM being performed by anybody other than Pink Floyd. With that being said, Dream Theater did better than I expected them to. I found that they were able to stay very true to the album and did some good covers, although nothing really blew me out of the water. Like most listeners, I was impressed by how well they were able to do Great Gig in the Sky, which I did not expect to hear out of Dream Theater, and I also particularly enjoyed LaBrie's singing on Brain Damage, although throughout the rest of the album his singing wasn't very impressive. The biggest issue with the album I found was Any Colour You Like, personally I didn't like Dream Theater's version at all. I found that they gave it too much of a metal feel with the distorted guitar and it ended up feeling much too choppy and inconsistent. Where the Pink Floyd version works beautifully as part of the album, it seemed to me like Petrucci took way too much control over the song on Dream Theater's version.

I appreciate that Dream Theater pays tribute to their influences and helps spread the sound of Pink Floyd to more people who may not usually listen to it. However, in the end it was nothing more than a decent cover that pales in comparison to the masterpiece that is the original album.

The Prog band of the late 90's covering the Prog band of the 70's. A great result.

I know there's many people that don't see anything similar between this two bands (myself included) but it's not a secret that Dream Theater guys are completely fans of the Floyds. They have covered one Metallica's album as well as one Iron Maiden, and it was about time to cover a more progressive release.

For instance, I really think that this live version brings a lot more "life" to the album. The intensity of the crowd and the strength of DT gave new life and it was great. The original album is one of the most recommended albums in history of prog rock and I don't really felt it that great. I know it's maybe good for the moment it was made, but I do find it too paced and slow, and sometimes is good and the Floyds bluesy edge is great for some moods, but there's nothing impressive about this record in particular. That being said, I do want to say it's not a bad album, just average for me. So, this live version is a lot more interesting because is more intense and fresh, so it was nice to hear. I know Mike Portnoy was a lot worry to make a worthy tribute, and they really succeeded at it.

The guest players made a great performance along with DT. Teresa Thomason brought a lot of life with her magical and powerful voice, as well as the sax player did a wonderful job covering the sax solo on the song Money.

Now, it's evident that James Labrie's voice is not the best match to this style of music. He didn't made a bad interpretation, but it's not like the original version. Not even close. Again, for me that's not bad, I think he made a good job and he is the original voice of DT, so if you get it as a cover version more than a copy version, is up to you to understand the goal of a cover album.

Good performance indeed and the live energy is all there. I really recommend this peace for any Pink Floyd fan that is not use to DT, it's a good place to start. And the quality of sound is great for being a bootleg. DT fans should check this out as well. 4 stars is fair. A very different side, a obscure side, a Dark Side of Dream Theater that any fan should discover.

So Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most appraised albums from Rock and Prog. But this is the version by Dream Theater, not Pink Floyd... well, it's almost the same album anyway, just about all of it is played the same way as in the original release. And ofcourse it's all great. Still, there are a few differences, the most notable being the voice; for me it's not bad at all, and I think it fits the music very well (giving it a slightly different atmosphere compared to the original). Then the backing vocals, they are performed by Theresa Thomason; now, she does a great performance on Great Gig in the Sky, almost as good and impressive as the original, but the backing vocals on Time and Brain Damage are rather weak and let the songs down. And the last notable difference comes on the songs Any Colour you Like and Brain Damage, where they took a few minor liberties. Any Colour you Like was expanded with more keyboards and guitars, but the song keeps the same identity. Brain Damage has some little bit heavier guitars, but they don't really make the song metal.

And this album also contains a bonus disc with some other performances Dream Theater has done of Pink Floyd songs. This contains a very good and enjoyable selection. The best performances here are Echoes (only the first part), which is even softer and darker than the original, and Hey You sounds cool, but is very similar to the original. One of These Days leaves me a bit disapointed, I think they could have done it better, specially on the Bass. I also think they could have done a bit better with Sheep and Comfortably Numb (I feel this songs could have been arranged to fit Dream Theater's stile and thus make them more interesting covers). This last song is played with Queensryche; however Queensryche's vocalist did Waters vocals, while LaBrie did Gilmour's ones, and I strongly feel it should have been done the other way round.

I wanted to give this album 5 stars, because all of it is very enjoyable, but given that it is all covers and that they don't really offer anything new, and so it is unnecessary for people who already have this songs, I'll give it 4 stars.

I remember showing my daughter this cd just after I bought it and she just looked at me and said "Why?". Now I know why she said that (haha). At the time I just figured it would be cool to hear these guys cover one of my all-time favourite albums because of how well these guys play as evidenced on the "Change Of Seasons" EP. What I should have considered is that PINK FLOYD is different than most bands.Their music is about ideas, atmosphere and mood.These things are more difficult to copy than complex music for a band like DREAM THEATER. It starts off great with the sound of the crowd in anticipation, then hearing that heartbeat.The crowd claps along then the other samples come in like spoken word samples which sound like the real thing right from FLOYD.Then that dreamy and spacey music kicks in and it all sounds so good. LaBrie doesn't sound so bad at first but as this plays out it's clear his vocals are a distraction for me.What's worse is the fact that they don't always use the real FLOYD samples from here on out, and instead try to copy them and the results aren't pretty. Best part of the whole album is Theresa Thomason singing on "The Great Gig In The Sky". My God ! The loudest ovation on here is reserved for her when she finishes and for good reason. This is a fans only rating in my opinion and nothing more. Now where's my real "Dark Side Of The Moon" album ?