Search - Dream Theater - Images and Words Live in Tokyo / 5 Years in a Live Time on DVD

A must......

G Harmsworth | mt nebo, qld Australia | 08/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a must especialy for a Australian fan whom up until now have not had the chance to see these guys in concert. Do not buy this collection expecting to see and hear top notch production as these film where taken from video tape particularly the Live in Tokyo the volume is quite low. However what the production value lacks the Band makes up for in shear brilliance.
My favorite out of the set is the second coming in just on 2 hours we see the later 90's version of Dream Theater in 6 or 7 different concerts with tour video in between. In fact it will make you wish that they would put out the Rotterdam show and the Paris show (last) on their own.
I guess this is for the die hard fan but you don't by Dream Theater on a whim, enjoy."

Dream Theater: Excellence in Images and Sounds

Rene Toledo | Miami, Fl United States | 07/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The day I bought this DVD, I spent hours late at night entranced watching it with headphones to avoid waking up the neighbors. Wow... Just Wow... That's all I could say. The sound is great (You can listen to it in 5.1 surround. There is also the option to watch it while listening to commentaries) and the movie quality is very very good. I believe no band on the face ot the earth can play like Dream Theater does. They rock and watching them play I get goosebumps. How on earth can a band be so GOOD?
The videos are excellent and the live performances will take your breath away. Virtuosity shows all along, specially Portnoy, Petrucci and Myung though the other members are also very good. I also laughed as some of it is really hilarious. To make it short, if you want to see a Rock band that rips their intruments with virtuosity as well as plays tight and rocks hard, buy this DVD. And 2 discs with over 3 hours for $15, it is definitely worth it."

Interesting footage, bad quality

Gareth Scullion | 06/19/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good DVD. It contains lots of rare performances, music videos, and 3 hours of band commentary. The only problem is the sound quality, which is dreaful. Because of the EQ, John Petrucci sounds paper thin, Myung can barely be heard, and James sounds horrible (partly because he "screams" half the songs and partly because of the way it's mixed in). For fans who have a genuine appreciation of Dream Theater, this DVD is worth it. For mere casual fans or new fans who are just getting to know the band now, I'd recommend "Scenes From NY" or "Budokon" instead."

Excellent - worthy for fans, essential for diehards.

spiral_mind | Pennsylvania | 02/05/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's a great proposition all around: two videos that had been waiting for a DVD release for years, from one of the most intelligent metal bands around, remastered for stellar sound and combined for a good price. 5 Years in a Livetime is almost a nostalgia trip as Dream Theater goes - Jordan Rudess hadn't entered the picture yet - but the definitive Images & Words is as great now as it was in 1992, and the Live in Tokyo video captures that brilliance magnificently. If you're already a fan, this package recommends itself.

The I&W video alone is worth buying this set for, even if some stretches suffer from MTV-style editing with rapid shots. It's nice to have some footage from the recording of I&W and life on the road, plus videos for a couple songs, but they're interwoven with the live stuff rather than kept separate. (Do we really need "Pull Me Under" twice in the course of one video? Couldn't it be an extra?) Not that this should stop you of course. "Wait for Sleep" alone is worth hearing because it gets the full-band treatment, "Surrounded" sounds even more magical than the original and "Ytse Jam" seriously burns. A couple tunes from their debut album are also much improved here, esp. "A Fortune in Lies."

5 Years might not merit repeat viewing as much, but there's still some great musical content here, including some live songs from Falling Into Infinity (still their most underrated disc) and a killer "Metropolis pt1." There's some footage from their all-covers 1994 show, with stellar performances from Steve Howe and the two Steves from Marillion. (Bernie from Napalm Death also drops in for a cameo, although they could have gotten almost the same result from simply plugging in a blender.) Even better is the stuff from a special unplugged show in '95, since we get some rarities: "Cover My Eyes," "Speak to Me," "To Live Forever" and an incredible "Lifting Shadows Off a Dream."

Highly recommended for the good stuff. The rest is still a bonus."