Dream Theater

A Change Of Seasons (EastWest Records)

Right off the bat, this is no EP. These EP things are supposed to be short, and this one comes in at just under an hour. So just how long are their full-length albums? We’ll see sometime in ‘96, at which time Dream Theater is due with their sophomore effort. In the meantime, though, A Change Of Seasons is here to tide all you Dream Theater fans over. Enjoy.

And you will enjoy, because this is basically a good album. It breaks down into one new song from the studio and 4 others recorded live in a jazz club. The sound quality is impeccable, and the Led Zeppelin cover medley has been getting some air time on the radio as of late. But they are still Dream Theater, and yes, they do get a little overwrought at times, especially in the title track. After the millions and millions of notes that they play, as well as the seven “movements” (with such titles as ‘Carpe Diem’ and ‘The Inevitable Summer’), the song is over 23 minutes.

If the group would have made the decision to extend each musical idea from the epic into its own song, they easily could have had a double album on their hands. Maybe that would have been too easy, or not mathematical enough. So they left it to be all one song, and it ends up being this great big technical chopfest that borders on being a train wreck – but it works. The coolest track may well be the final medley, appropriately titled ‘The Big Medley’. To hear Dream Theater play, you’d never guess that Queen, Journey or Genesis (among others in the medley) are influences, but they do cover their own rock idols well.

As is the case in their first album, A Change Of Seasons makes it clear that the boys in Dream Theater can play, and that the title ‘Thinking Man’s Metal’ that some may use to describe them might not be deep enough to explain what it is that they do. But don’t kill yourself trying to figure out each and every note and chord and song from this one. Otherwise, you the listener will be spending way, way too much time deciphering the 10, 15 or 23 minute epics that Dream Theater has a hankering for. Just sit back and let them impress you – just like they’re trying to do.

—David Cook