ONCE IN A LIVETIME OUTTAKES (INTERNATIONAL FAN CLUB CD 1998)

I wasn't very excited about the outtakes of the worst live album from Dream Theater. It's a special issue for fans only, but what is funny is that this album is more appealing for non DT fans. It has all what you don't expect from them: a lot of ballads, a lot of soul in the songs, very few solos, none show off at all and James Labrie giving a very decent singing, no screaming and no high pitch. So, what else do you want?

Lets see, most of the songs are really ballads played in some kind of "acoustic" set but they uses keyboards and electric guitars, so it's more like an "easy-relax" live album. It starts with a beautiful instrumental song "Eve", a B side of the Awake sessions, very Kevin Moore oriented if you want an inside. Then a couple of B sides from the Falling into Infinity: "Cover my Eyes", "To Live Forever" and "Speak To Me". Other ballads from their regular repertory: "Silent Man", "Lifting Shadows off a Dream" and "Anna Lee".

All the songs listed above are very controlled and soft. No metal references at all. That's cool, they really show here they can be smooth and gentle. But the real shining stuff is in the covers they made to this acoustic presentation: "Hey You" from Pink Floyd, I'm not too much into them, I just enjoy this version and it seems the audience as well. As a joke they played Mean Street of Van Halen followed by a wonderful Elton John's song "Good bye Yellow Brick Road" which is maybe the best song of the whole album. Just what you don't expect from the band and the cover is quite well performed. The last song is "Bad" form U2, the most "bad" band in the history so I won't say nothing about it.

So, for all who dislikes DT, this a very strange and obscure album that you should not miss. There are some jokes all around and the vibe is quite great for an intimate show like this one. Don't let the Once in a Livetime confuse you, this is a wonderful, soft-relax album. Try to find it, it's hard, but you will really enjoy it. I miss that days, really. Good addition, really.