THE ATCO DEMOS

First review? Awesome! I shall start by saying that this CD is largely redundant as all three recordings are included on the official bootleg 'Images And Words Demos 1989-1991'. If you wanted to hear demos from this era, then get the official bootleg instead, as it is a DT fan's dream come true. 'The Atco Demos' is therefore only for completionists.

The music is great though. You can see why Derek Shulman of Gentle Giant would sign these guys up after hearing such promising numbers as Metropolis Pt 1, Take The Time and To Live Forever. It would have been a no brainer for me! The version of To Live Forever is the '91 version with the original final verse, and a more powerful electric sound than the '94 version released on the 'Greatest Hit' compilation. This is my preferred version of the song! As a side-note, it's funny to think that Dream Theater songs have time-lines all of their own. Metropolis and Take The Time sound extremely similar to how they do on the record, but there are some interesting kinks that DT had yet to work out of the songs, like LaBrie's whoa-ing and oo-ing at the beginning of Metropolis and Petrucci coming in too early at the end of Take The Time with the guitar solo, whilst LaBrie for some reason deciding to chant three times instead of two or four. Although the music is similar, these versions do not sound like the album versions. Dream Theater seem to be playing it speedy, but still with perfect accuracy. These demos sound wonderful, and it's good to have a couple of different versions of your favourite songs. This record may now be redundant, but it's still a good one. The two star rating reflects the fact that this CD only has value for collectors, but I'd give the music 9/10.