Stamina. That may be the best one-word description of Dream Theater's new live CD/DVD package. Score is the live souvenir of the band's twentieth anniversary tour and was recorded at Radio City Music Hall, near and dear to the band's Long Island roots. Stamina - the band obviously has it to play this kind of 2½-hour set. The fans present at the recording of Score obviously had it that night. Listeners of the CDs and viewers of the DVDs will require it as well.
Let's get one thing straight out the outset: triple-live albums and double-live DVDs are intended only for a band's most hardcore audience. You don't commit the cash or the time to listening to a 3-CD concert package unless you committed to the band - although, at the risk of sounding like I'm shilling for the record companies, the price I have seen on the set has been pretty reasonable for so much music. The question then becomes: will the hardcore embrace Score?
Score is never anything less than enjoyable. This band has been playing its ass off for two decades and they did so again on this special night in New York City. John Petrucci has played solos longer than the one on “After Life” but it is hard for me to think of one I enjoyed more. His playing throughout is seizure-inducing - and I mean that as a compliment. The recording is high quality, the performances are good, and the band sprinkles some rarities into the set list. These are all good things and they make the package a good value.
A band like Dream Theater could not possibly exist, let alone flourish, for 20 years without being a crack live band. Prog metal fans are not the most forgiving type on the planet. Live prowess is essential for credibility with such a demanding fan base. It also stands to reason if a band excels at the art of live, they probably did not wait until twenty years in to release their first live album. This is true of DT. So, what separates Score from the epic sprawl of DT's last live package, Live at Budokan? A 30-piece orchestra.
How does this gimmick work? About as well as it did for Metallica on their S&M set. This is not to suggest Metallica and Dream Theater are the same band - they’re not. But the gimmick is similar. Score finds the band trying to make room in their already dense compositions for an entire string section. Most of DT’s songs were written without an orchestral/string arrangement and it shows - or rather, you can hear it. The idea of pairing metal bands and strings is not original and there is nothing particularly magical about the way Dream Theater executes that idea.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
James LaBrie’s voice can still be gratingly hair metal...
that's true, but isn't it better than the uvula flapping barking coming out of a lot of metal "singers" mouths these days?
2 - DJRadiohead
Better or annoying in a different way? You be the judge. His vocals are consistently the least enjoyable part of their music for me. I own most of their albums so I can look past it to an extent but don't think I don't wish they had a different voice.
3 - nugget
yea LaBrie sounds like a whiney little teenager. Of course, I guess it IS better than a screaming little teenager. lesser of two evils.
4 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Just when I thought the reviews for Score were finished.... A refreshing & intriguing point of view wrapped nicely in a review. Nice Job DJ!!
Granted I loved Budokan, I am dying to witness this concert that I missed out here in Boston.So far, the only DT live DVD that I didn't get into was 5 years into a Livetime(?).
As for James Labrie, I don't know what other voice you could fit into this prog outfit without trying to match what Chuck Shuldiner did with Death. Or to be as successful as DT has been. I mean, he's been fairly consistent for 20 years which is more than I can say for the bands that probably influenced them (Metallica,Kansas,etc)and they were still able to brand the complex virtuosity without being unaccessible. We all know Watchtower was a far more talented band but they didn't have the ability...well, I shouldn't say that. Maybe, they didn't feel the need to write the prog ballad like songs to break the barriers of success. And, Fates Warning was more concerned with the Drama than to give what alot of metal heads wanted... Flashy Instrument Work.
So, besides being able to pump out 2&1/2 hrs of brilliant live performance, I think that their style is what really brought them along all these years.
As for "Pull Me Under", I would have only wanted that song on there if they incorporated "Master of Puppets" like they did when I saw them on "Six Inner Degrees...". That would've been killer!!