From Dream Theater’s acclaimed self-released series of covers albums, we have before us Master of Puppets. This was recorded in Barcelona back in 2002. Just as advertised, it’s Dream Theater doing the whole album live, in sequence, and pretty authentically too.
Dream Theater are a very different band from Metallica. This is bound to be interesting.
The most obvious difference is that Metallica have two guitar players, while Dream Theater has one and a keyboard player. On this, Jordan Rudess does aggressive keyboard solos where Kirk Hammett may have laid down one with his axe. He also plays the acoustic parts on keys. From time to time, you forget it’s a keyboard. In short, Rudess turns the prospect of Metallica with keyboards into a lesson on forgetting your assumptions about keyboards!
James LaBrie fits the silhouette of a young James Hetfield. He sings a convincing Metallica cover indeed! He cuts loose and goes for it. Metallica requires a gritty singer, going for it 110%. LaBrie handles it. For Dream Theater, doing these cover albums (from a wide variety of bands in fact) must be a lot of fun. They would have the chance to sing and play in a way that isn’t the usual for them. Guitarist John Petrucci does not often get to riff on something for five minutes straight like Metallica do.
Lars haters are naturally going to ask “What do Metallica songs sound like with a real drummer?” Hey, I’m no Lars hater. (He can play better than I can…) But in answer to that question I can only respond “fucking awesome”.
Dream Theater cover Master of Puppets without drawing attention to themselves. Mike Portnoy does not grandstand and overplay. Nobody does. If the effort was to do an authentic version of Puppets, as close to note for note as possible, then I say mission accomplished. Beat for beat, this is stunningly true to the original album. The keyboards are the most obvious deviation, and that’s minor. In anything, Dream Theater draw attention to the fact that these are great heavy metal songs. Are they Metallica’s best-ever set of songs? Some prefer Kill ‘Em All, some Ride the Lightning. Any way you slice it, Puppets is metal immortal, a very important record in anyone’s collection. Dream Theater painstakingly learned the album front to back so they could play it live for a few thousand people. They did that because it’s a great album on any day.
Dream Theater’s live covers albums (and many, many other releases) can be found on their own Ytse Jam Records website. Check out the multitude of stuff available (though some are out of print now) and try not to drain your bank accounts.
Second review from Mike and Aaron Go to Toronto…Again! I paid $2.99 for this CD at Sonic Boom. A steal.
PLATYPUS – Ice Cycles (2000 InsideOut)
Platypus are: Ty Tabor – Guitars & vocals (King’s X). John Myung – Bass (Dream Theater). Derek Sherinian – Keys (Dream Theater, Alice Cooper, Kiss). Rod Morgenstein – Drums (Dixie Dregs, Winger).
From the information above, you already know several things: 1. Platypus is a supergroup. 2. This is going to have plenty of incendiary playing on it. 3. It’s gonna be progressive. Much like their first album (this is their second), it’s also gonna be fun!
If you’re a fan of any of these guys, you will love to hear them in this band’s context. There are plenty of King’s X-isms, but the personalities of the players have their own influences. Nobody plays drums like Rod Morgenstein, and I always enjoy the chance to hear him work.
The opening track, “Oh God” is quite heavy, with quieter keyboard moments. The track has some serious weight to it. Ty of course is a melodic singer, so that balances it. It’s just one of several standout tracks. “Better Left Unsaid” has a pleasant aura, similar to Faith Hope Love-era King’s X, but with Sherinian’s keyboards lending a completely different sound. Myung doesn’t play bass like Dug Pinnick does, but he does create a thick sound. Morgenstein’s drums have marching band precision.
The heavy melody-driven “The Tower” really gets the engine running during the chorus. The verses lack a bit, but that chorus section is furious, as is the guitar solo. The piano tinkle of “Cry” has a moment that is playfully lifted from Alice Cooper’s “I Love the Dead”, but the chorus is like Alice In Chains! This is a complex track, not instantly likable. Give it some time to sink in. Morgenstein, once again, leaves jaws on the floor.
My favourite tracks are two: the brief “I Need You”, which has the lush Tabor vocals that we know and love. This track is probably the most like King’s X, coincidentally. Then there’s the smoking hot “25” with its Dream Theater keys and Zeppelin guitars. There’s also a Rush riff in there somewhere. This is one of only two instrumentals on the album, but it sure is a corker! Just stunning.
The final track can only be called an epic. “Partial to the Bean (A Tragic American Quintology)” is a instrumental that goes all over the board, in seven parts. If you’ve heard instrumental epics by these players before then I’m sure you know what you’re up against. A challenging but rewarding listen.
That can be said for the album in general. It’s a rewarding listen that will, at times, challenge you. I like that.
DREAM THEATER: The Number of the Beast (2002 Ytsejam Records, Covers Series)
For the most part, Dream Theater is a band you either love or you hate. Some Metal fans are put off by the keyboards perhaps, while many others find Dream Theater hard to listen to because of the effeminate tone to the voice of singer James LaBrie. On the other hand, music fans who are not into the sensibilities of progressive music would label Dream Theater as “pretentious,” or which have you. Most music fans though can appreciate the musical talent of everyone involved. They are also a very busy unit, often branching out into different projects between DT albums and tours.
While still in the band, and then after his departure from DT in 2010, Mike Portnoy has been the busiest of all the DT members. So much so, that while researching to do this review of Dream Theater’s Official Bootleg: The Number of the Beast, I was blown away with how many projects Portnoy has been a part of that I truly love. Simply said, Mike Portnoy comes off as the biggest music fan in the music business. On top of his resume of original music, his obsessively accurate tribute projects can only be pulled off by someone who is an authentic “music geek super fan”. Sound familiar, LeBrain? So yes, this review has morphed itself into a bit of a Mike Portnoy love fest. Check out this list of his accomplishments outside of Dream Theater.
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT – The two studio albums with John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin are fantastic albums. Their self-titled CD is one of my favorite progressive rock albums. With three subsequent live albums with that lineup and two albums with a name change to Liquid Trio Experiment, that makes seven albums with the great Tony Levin alone.
TRANSATLANTIC – Four studio albums and four live albums with this Prog super group along with Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), Neal Morse(Spock’s Beard, Flying Colors) and the bassist from one of my favorite bands…Marillion…Pete Trewavas.
AVENGED SEVENFOLD – After the death of their drummer, Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, during the writing of a new album, Mike Portnoy stepped in and played drums on their 2010 CD titled Nightmare. He also joined them for a few shows over in Iran and Kuwait for American troops overseas.
ADRENALINE MOB – Two albums with this band consisting of members from Symphony X and Fozzy. I honestly do not think I have heard it so can’t say much really.
FLYING COLORS – One studio album and one live album playing with my favorite musician of all time… Steve Morse. Consisting of Neal Morse again and others, including the incredible Steve Morse Band bassist Dave LaRue. Maybe you should just read LeBrain’s review of this band right “here”.
WINERY DOGS – With a more straight ahead rock and roll approach, the Winery Dogs is his current gig with bassist Billy Sheehan and guitarist Richie Kotzen. [Check out Jon Wilmenius’ excellent review here — LeBrain]
And that’s just the original music he has been a part of. He has gone to great lengths to put together live shows recreating the concerts of, and playing the music of, his favorite drummers. He has arranged one for Led Zeppelin called Hammer of the Gods. He has also done one for Rush called Cygnus & the Sea Monsters. I actually learned about these while researching the review that I haven’t even got around to yet (yes this has become a much larger project than initially thought), so I am curious to search these out. You should be as well. The one I can comment on is his Beatles tribute called Yellow Matter Custard, named from a lyric within the song “I Am the Walrus”.
Consisting of Matt Bissonette, Paul Gilbert and Neal Morse and himself, this unit recreates what it would have been like to see The Beatles live. A lot of the songs were never played by the Beatles live. I listened to this with a good friend of mine who himself is a great musician and huge Beatles fan. Listening to it brought the Beatles super-fan out of him, most especially loving the somewhat obscure tracks performed live by the band. I highly recommend checking this out if you are a Beatles fan. So that pretty much means everyone.
I can’t believe I am now just starting the intended review, but here goes. In 2002, while touring for the album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Dream Theater went on a short club tour in Europe where they played a different album in its entirety, track for track. Among the albums covered in this tour were Master of Puppets – Metallica, Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd and Made in Japan – Deep Purple. (Who covers a live album? And one of my favorite live albums of all time? Dream Theater does, that’s who).
On October 24, 2002 DT played a small club called La Mutualite in Paris, France. The album on the menu that night was The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden. From the sound of the enthusiastic crowd you can clearly hear throughout the album, this was a well-appreciated re-creation of one of the greatest Metal albums of all time.
The show starts off with album opener “Invaders”. My first impression was how great it sounded. Lively version and a thick guitar sound. Another thing I quickly realized is this: say what you want about James LaBrie and his effeminate style. Not many singers, including Bruce Dickinson himself can sing these songs live. I have seen Iron Maiden play several of these songs live, and even in a reduced key it is a struggle for Dickinson to sing the songs how they are recorded on the album. The opening track just left me looking forward to the rest of the set.
“Children of the Damned” was a joy to listen to, again mostly because of the vocals. This is probably his best singing on the album. Bruce Dickinson would have to get himself on a Lance Armstrong-like drug program to ever have a chance of singing this song in this key again. This song is also where I first really noted one of the truly great and original things about this album. Iron Maiden is a classic two-guitar fueled machine. DT is doing this with one guitar and a keyboard. Check out the twin guitar/keyboard solo in this song and hear throughout as the guitar and keyboard trade solos. A magnificent treat for the ears and surprisingly seamlessly done.
The crowd revs up as the classic Patrick McGoohan intro to “The Prisoner” plays as it is on the album. Chanting along with the intro just before Portnoy launches into the classic Clive Burr drum beat, this makes for a great listen, hearing the energy of the crowd and their appreciation of this show. Awesome version as well I must say.
“22 Acacia Avenue” is another track that is a treat to hear live. Live favorites “The Number of the Beast” and “Run to the Hills” follow. These two Heavy Metal anthems go over with the crowd extremely well as you would think they would. A case could be made that these back to back songs are the two most popular Iron Maiden songs of all time. Agreed? Discuss….
Coming next is their amazing version of “Gangland”. This is easily the most ambitious moment of the show. Kind of making the song their own, they begin the song off as a piano ballad and then make a left turn and turn it into a progressive, almost jazz fusion-ish groove as the song closes out. Absolutely brilliant and is probably my favorite track on the album. The show ends with a perfect version of “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, and the performance is over.
This is not just re-hashing of a great album. This was a well thought out and rehearsed celebration of this album, allowing true Maiden fans to hear what these songs may have sounded like when the album was toured in the 80’s. A friend of mine scoffed at the idea of DT covering this album and I may have shared some of his trepidation before I heard this recording. After listening to it now several times it has become obvious that this is not only a very relevant capturing of Number of the Beast, but it makes a very simple statement. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the players in Dream Theater have a higher level of musicianship than really any of their peers in popular music. And as listed earlier, it seems that everything Mike Portnoy does comes from the heart of just another music fan like you and I. So who is gonna come along and play one of Dream Theater’s albums track for track? Well Dream Theater of course. Who else possibly could? Good luck with that, Three Days Grace.
DREAM THEATER – Master of Puppets (2009 Yste Jam)
James LaBrie fits the silhouette of a young James Hetfield. He sings a convincing Metallica cover indeed! He cuts loose and goes for it. Metallica requires a gritty singer, going for it 110%. LaBrie handles it. For Dream Theater, doing these cover albums (from a wide variety of bands in fact) must be a lot of fun. They would have the chance to sing and play in a way that isn’t the usual for them. Guitarist John Petrucci does not often get to riff on something for five minutes straight like Metallica do.
mikeladano.com 