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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Controlled Chaos, 30 Sep 2008
Despite the band not releasing a new studio album this year, 2008 has proved to be most bountiful for the obsessive Dream Theater fan. In addition to continuing to tour in support of 2007's hugely successful Systematic Chaos album well into the summer, the band issued their first `Best Of' compilation back in April and this autumn sees this, the latest addition to their increasingly extensive catalogue of live releases. If Greatest Hits (& 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) was somewhat ambitious, attempting to distill an illustrious studio career of twenty years on to a meagre two discs, Chaos in Motion continues this trend as it tries to document a tour spanning "1 year & 1 day, 115 Shows, 105 Cities, 25 Countries, 5 Continent, Hundreds of Thousands of Fans... 1 Band".
The standard edition DVD release is a two-disc affair, with three hours of live footage on the first disc and a wealth of bonus features on the second. The five-disc Deluxe Collector's Edition includes all the above, in addition to three live audio cds featuring the setlist from the first disc remixed for a better listening experience. Each live Dream Theater DVD to date has been accompanied by a separate CD release so it's somewhat surprising to find the lot all together in one release, though a nice bonus for dedicated fans who would inevitably buy both versions. In another unusual move for the band, Chaos in Motion features a composite setlist; Metropolis 2000, Live at Bukodan and Score were straightforward recordings of single shows in their entirety. For those of us who enjoyed the previous live releases as much for the interludes between songs and the band's interaction with the audience as for the songs themselves, watching Chaos in Motion can be a somewhat disconcerting experience. The set constantly flits back and forth between different venues and memorable banter with the audience is generally kept to a minimum. The flow is further broken by brief segments featuring interviews with band members or backstage footage slotted in between songs. For the most part, each song is bookended by these sections and lengthy jam passages where songs flow seamlessly into each other, a long-running feature of the band's live show, are sadly missing. The one is exception to this is Jordan Rudess's extremely impressive keyboard solo resolving into a majestic `Lines in the Sand' and `Scarred' in a section culled from a show in Boston, MA in August 2007. The counterpoint to this, of course, is that in a sense this is actually the most faithful representation of the live Dream Theater experience to date. Impressive as Metropolis 2000 etc. were, they were hardly `typical' shows and showcased special career moments featuring special guests, orchestras and other special elements (admittedly, less so Live at Bukodan). By contrast, Chaos in Motion is a much more down-to-earth affair and much better represents what fans in any given city, on any given night will witness live. I was fortunate enough to attend two dates on the 2007 tour and can say with no hesitation that recordings from either of the shows I saw could be slotted seamlessly into this release. It's perhaps better to treat Chaos in Motion as a document of the tour as a whole rather than comparing it directly with earlier live releases; in this context it's an extremely impressive piece of work.
Naturally, there are a few misgivings over the setlist. The Chaos in Motion tour heavily showcased new material in addition to a number of tracks from older albums which hadn't seen live outings for quite some time and this is reflected on the DVD release. Five out of the seven songs from Systematic Chaos are featured here and hold up magnificently in the live environment, with the twenty-six minute long `In the Presence of Enemies' proving just as epic as one would hope. The older material is somewhat unusual in so far as it's primarily less well known songs featured - think `Take the Time' from Images and Words rather than `Pull Me Under' and `Scarred' from Awake over `The Mirror'. This, of course, means that dedicated fans are in for a treat, especially as Chaos in Motion for the most part features songs which haven't appeared on more recent live releases. Some songs have even been reworked since their last live airings with `Surrounded' extended into an utterly stunning fifteen-minute epic, featuring a lengthy and extremely impressive John Petrucci guitar solo. It seems fairly clear that the setlist has been painstaking constructed by Mike Portnoy to ensure that there's not too much crossover with the material on Score or Live at Bukodan, particularly as songs played at the shows I saw live, such as `As I Am' and `Home' are (sadly) absent. The downside to this is that newer fans and those familiar with Dream Theater's most popular songs only may be somewhat alienated by the preponderance of more obscure material. That said, closing number `Schmedly Wilcox' goes some way to alleviate this concern. The medley features excerpts from the final songs from five Dream Theater studio albums integrated seamlessly with one another and is an excellent way to round off a set, showcasing, as it does, the highlights from some of the band's most memorable songs.
It seems unfair to mention this in a review which is likely preaching to the converted anyway but this release raises some serious concerns about James LaBrie's vocals. While it's generally acknowledged that the Canadian singer's range isn't as impressive as it once was after an injury to his vocal cords several years ago and that his voice wasn't always to every-one's taste in the first place, certain moments of Chaos in Motion are painful to listen to. He frequently sounds extremely strained when trying to hit high notes in older numbers, with his voice taking on an odd brittle or distressed quality quite unlike the rich tones featured on older albums. Even on newer material written with a more limited vocal range in mind, he doesn't always sound comfortable, with `The Dark Eternal Night' being a particular low point where he seems to sneer and slur and much as sing. Fortunately there are moments where fears about his performance are allayed entirely; `Take the Time' is about as challenging a vocal performance as any on this release and LaBrie sounds just as good as ever.
As a whole, Chaos in Motion 2007-2008 has more than enough to make it an essential purchase for any Dream Theater fan, though those familiar with the band's less mainstream work will probably get more out of it than others. It's probably not the best place to start for newcomers given the relatively high proportion or `obscure' material; those looking to get a feel for the live Dream Theater experience for the first time would probably fare better with Live at Bukodan, which provides an excellent cross-section of the band's back catalogue, or Metropolis 2000, the live rendition of arguably their best album. The second disc, with it's plethora of behind-the-scenes and promotional material isn't particularly remarkable and merely supplements an already impressive package but it's an enjoyable enough watch. The real treat here is seeing Dream Theater's new material stand up just as well as the established classics and that alone warrants a purchase.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a very good Box, 15 Dec 2008
I like very much Octavarium DVD tour but this new one is also fantastic!
Rudess, Petrucci and Portnoy are fabulous players!!!
A fair price for 3 Cds and 2 Dvds.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yarrrrr, 14 Nov 2008
I write this as a retaliation to the complaining guy,This album is pretty damn good.Its just a compilation of different live shows,Worth buying for In The Presence Of Enemies and Intro XD,So please dont be put off by the negative remarks and if Amazon send you the wrong one well they are legally obliged to send you this one anyway since its what you paid for!
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