REVISIONS

Three, a great Crossover band that toured with Dream Theater, was definitely one of my favorite bands when THE END HAS BEGUN came out. But that was then. When I got REVISIONS, I was excited at first, hoping to find the same fantastic music found on TEHB. However, what I found was a sudo compilation album of previously released material. This concept of re- releasing mu sic is not new to Three at all, as many albums have revitalized tracks from previous albums. However the thing that is different about those re released tracks is that they were good songs, such as Amaze Disgrace or Broadway Alien. On Revisions, they picked tracks which I would categorize as Three's "bad tracks," that is tracks that really don't impress me at all. Not even a little bit. Many of the songs came off of Summercamp Nightmare, one of my least liked albums by any prog band. There a few songs that are good, such as YOU'VE BEEN SHOT of FABLE, but other than that I dislike the others strongly.

OVERALL: would have a better album if the re released tracks were more carefully chosen

Hailing from New York state, the progressive rock band enigmatically titled Three came to many a proghead's attention when they were chosen to tour with prog metal heavyweights Dream Theater and Opeth as the opening act. Around this time, Three also put out 'The End Is Begun', which has since gone on to be widely considered a masterpiece of progressive rock. As part of the lucky crowd to see the band perform live with Dream Theater, I was absolutely blown away by the band's chemistry and energy, to the point where they came close to stealing the show altogether.

With a fan made out of me, I was eagerly awaiting the follow-up to 'The End Is Begun', naturally expecting something along the same lines of quality. Unfortunately, it seems the band decided to cave in and instead of making new material to rival the accomplishment of their magnum opus, they decided to revisit and 'revise' old material, compiling some previously unreleased songs and releasing it as a compilation; brought on by a struggle with their record label. Unfortunately, the fact that these songs were not originally intended to go together shines through the album painfully. While many of the poppy, upbeat songs here are strong Three tracks and well-performed, 'Revisions' sports little to no sense of album flow, and a few songs that might have been better left unreleased.

This is not to say at all that the songs on 'Revisions' are bad; to the contrary, many of the tracks here would be right at home on 'The End Is Begun'. However, it should take little convincing that new material would almost always be preferred over recycling songs in the stead of new inspiration. In terms of sound, the performance and music is similar to what 'The End Is Begun' was all about, except without the same flow, epic composition and intention that made the aforementioned album so magical. For all it's worth however, a few songs here really succeed. 'Rabid Animals' (the apparent single) is among the band's greatest songs for its great hooks and energetic performance. 'The Game' is also an interesting acoustic track, despite sounding like a progressively-inclined Jason Mraz cover. Other songs, like the obvious 'Bramfatura' rip-off 'Lexicon Of Extremism' or the irritating 'Halloween' feel very much like the band is trying to relive past glories, to lesser success.

'Revisions' is worth a listen as a fan of the band, but for someone who hasn't heard Three before, it might be better sticking to the band's legitimate albums before looking into 'Revisions'. Despite feeling like a bit of a weak excuse for a real album, there are a few songs here that shine in the band's discography.