Dream Theater

Greatest Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) (Rhino Records)

Well seeing as though I have reviewed Dream Theater’s World Tourbulence DVD, I thought I would stick to the same subject for a while and continue here with their interestingly titled Greatest Hit compilation. I say interesting because I figure there may be some strange humour at play here, especially since the band have always shied away from being anything like a ‘hits’ band. Well I figured I could either do a really long review and talk about DT over the past 20 years or I could do a really short review, and I must admit that as I look down on the track listing and the overall package I am more inclined to do a really short review, and I will tell you why. Not because Dream Theater are not the finest creators and exponents of quality progressive metal, not because they don’t work hard and deserve every column inch in every magazine. No, the simple fact of why this is going to be brief is because they have legions of die-hard fans the world over who lap up every single release and every song. Therefore, the common DT fan will have everything on this 2-disc set. So that leaves it open for the curious who want an introduction to the band and don’t know where to start or the obsessive fan who has got all the albums anyway, but still wants it for his/her collection. To be slightly fair however, 3 classic numbers from Images and Words (I won’t spoil the surprise in case you do want this) have been given a 2007 remix, and there are also edited versions of many others. Working pretty much from the aforementioned Images... album right up through to 2005’s Octavarium, the 2 discs are split between the dark and the light side, meaning heavy and light music. I sure hope this most superb and inventive of bands is around in another 20 years to give us a Greatest Hit – Vol 2, but had the promo not been sent to me, I don’t feel I would have needed to have bought this, and would be better off buying the unofficial bootleg stuff instead.

—Nick Hinton