Dream Theater

Dream Theater
Score: XOX: 20th Anniversary World Tour Live with the Octavarium Orchestra (Rhino)

Reviewed by Lucas Aykroyd


In 2005, SPIN pop culture critic Chuck Klosterman published an essay called “That 70’s Cruise,” describing his experiences at sea with Styx, REO Speedwagon and Journey. He claimed that the baby boomer core audience for this bill reflected a generation gap: “The people on this cruise don't believe modern bands know how to play, and they’re willing to spend $2,500 to see groups who can.”

Well, if those folks were more open-minded, they could have saved some cash by joining the 6,000-plus at Radio City Music Hall in New York for Dream Theater’s double-decade celebration in April. Admittedly, with this three-CD live recording, the Berklee-trained prog-metal quintet caters more to those who bought Yes’s Tales From Topographic Oceans than Steve Perry fans with Bic lighters. The set list, which stretches back to the band’s 1989 studio debut, heaps virtuosity upon virtuosity.

Disc One features renditions of six shorter songs (averaging 7:16) from five different albums, plus two other previously unreleased epics from the 1980s and 90s. Prominent in the mix are James LaBrie’s soaring vocals (he shuns the rasp he affected on 1994’s Awake), lead guitarist John Petrucci’s electrifying tone, and Jordan Rudess’ rippling keyboards. “Under A Glass Moon” spotlights those elements impeccably, without underplaying drummer Mike Portnoy’s Neil Peart-like flair.

The second and third discs introduce a 30-piece backing orchestra, and while that doesn’t work for every band (why did Metallica think “Enter Sandman” would sound awesome with the San Francisco Symphony?), it’s bang-on for Dream Theater. The overture to “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence,” for instance, comes across more powerfully than in the 1999 original, and the 40-minute composition goes beyond a mere chops-fest filled with time signature changes. Moments of genuine emotional beauty and judicious highlighting of crowd applause set this career-defining package apart.

Lucas Aykroyd has written for such magazines as Rock Sound, Metal Hammer, Powerplay Rock and Metal Magazine, and Classic Rock. He is the author of 1984: The Ultimate Van Halen Trivia Book.

Ultimate DVDs for the ultimate spy

By Tony Buchsbaum

In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Ian Fleming wrote a motto for the Bond family crest: “The world is not enough.” Well, it seems regular old DVD is not enough, either. Because all twenty James Bond films—from Dr. No to Die Another Day—have been released on ultra-special DVD, using mega-high scanning rates that make the picture as close to high-def as you can get, without actually going high-def.

The films have been around for 40-odd years now, making this the longest-running and most successful series of all time. I have a feeling that’s just how Fleming and the film’s longtime producer Albert R. Broccoli would have wanted it.

Packaged in four glorious box sets, each containing at least one Sean Connery, one Roger Moore, and one Pierce Brosnan (with the other Bonds, George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton, peppered throughout), and you can’t go wrong with any of them.

While Goldfinger has Pussy Galore, these DVD sets have extras galore, some of which are repeats of material created for the Bond DVDs issued a few years back. But these extras dive even deeper into the vaults of EON Productions, maker of the official series since the very beginning. Here, the pickins are impressive, illuminating the films to such an exhaustive level that only aficionados will care—but boy will they! Each film gets a pretty cool Mission Dossier, highlighting the high-points of the action, from gadgets and girls to chases and locations; click an icon, and you jump to scenes from the film. There are interviews with cast and crew, as well as fascinating commentaries. Each film has the requisite stills and art gallery and making-of documentary, but now you’ll also get special material not seen for, sometimes, decades.

Examples: “On Tour with the Aston Martin DB-5”; the Ford Motor Company’s “A Child’s Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car”; NBC’s 1965 special, “The Incredible World of James Bond”; a 1971 BBC interview with Connery; a CBC interview with Fleming… The list goes on and on, and so do the wonders.

But the real star of these box sets are the films themselves. Rescanned frame by frame, each film comes alive in terms of color and contrast and clarity—I’ve read that the films haven’t looked this good since their original release, but I’ll go one step further and say they’ve never looked this good. I know the casual viewer won’t be able to tell the difference—or won’t care to try—but for anyone interested in film and film preservation, the care that was taken restoring this series is remarkable. It’s a real miracle.

Though sticker shock will keep some people from getting all of these sets, I can tell you they’re well worth it. They’re a great way to relive much of the excitement of the early films, and even find new things to appreciate in the later ones. Frankly, even a casual viewing will remind you why the world fell for 007 in the first place.

That feeling also comes across—loud and clear—upon watching Casino Royale, the new 007 film. Starring Daniel Craig in his first outing as Bond, the film is a gut-punch of fantastic filmmaking. It restarts the franchise in thrilling ways, daring to make Bond a human hero rather than a super-human one. The key is the first scene, Bond's first kill, and when the guy's finally dead, Craig puts it all in his eyes: the exhaustion, the self-loathing, the disgust. It's a real "What have I just done?" moment, and it makes you feel for this guy in ways that are new and strange, considering this is a Bond film.

Another standout is the score by David Arnold (available on CD, of course). This is his fourth go, and it's pretty terrific. He's not John Barry—who is?—but he does a great job here, weaving new themes with old, signalling that this is a new take but also part of a larger mythology. Arnold saves the famous Bond theme for the film's final moments, and it proves to be a brilliant choice; its absence only makes us hunger for for it, and when it comes, it's absolutely exhilarating.

Also sprach Zarathustra

Reviewed by Pedro Blas Gonzalez

Richard Strauss
Also sprach Zarathustra
Fritz Reiner/Chicago Symphony
BMG Classics


Richard Strauss (1864-1949) who is not related to either Johann Strauss, father or son, began to compose music at age six. He wrote Festival March and his Serenade for wood instruments when he was only ten years of age. By 16 Strauss had written a symphony in d minor and a string quartet by 17. Strauss is best known as a composer of tone poems and operas, the latter of which he began creating later in life. He was also conductor of the Berlin Royal Opera from 1898 to 1918.

Strauss also wrote 12 operas beginning with Guntram in 1894 and culminating in 1938 with Daphne; two symphonies: F Minor and Aus Italien; nine tone poems and numerous other chamber, orchestral and vocal works. His Also sprach Zarathustra (1896) is the musical equivalent of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s autobiographical work of the same name that depicts individual, differentiated man via-à-vis society.

While musically Strauss’ composition stands on its own as a work of genius, the extra-philosophical importance of this tone poem cannot be overlooked, given its inspiration by the German thinker. The work is divided into ten sections, Nietzsche’s book into four parts and 80 sections.

Strauss skirts Nietzsche’s sentiment in what can only be described as an admirable manner. Essentially transcribing a work of philosophy -- but also one of profound emotion -- into a musical sinesthesia, Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra is a moving and memorable depiction of the existential exaltation as well as travails of the solitary thinker.

Beginning with "Sunrise," the composition opens with a prologue of ominous anticipation. The first 21 bars of this famous opening have become the staple that identifies this Straussian masterpiece. The piece was used in the opening of the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey to signify the ascent of man. The tension that the timpani, trumpets and organ create easily serves as counterpoint to Nietzsche’s own words about the genesis of his book. Nietzsche explains:

Looking back now, I find that exactly two months previous to this inspirational I had had an omen of its coming in the form of a sudden and decisive alteration in my tastes -- more particularly in music. It would even be possible to consider all ‘Zarathustra’ as a musical composition.

The proximity that exists between these two works is truly astounding and a testament to Strauss’ musical intuition and execution. This is by all accounts a much more difficult task for Strauss than to compose from his own inspiration--– if he is to remain true to the philosophical work that he tries to convey.

Because both Nietzsche’s book and Strauss’ composition can be considered “romantic” in origin -- at least judging from the period of their creation -- they can easily also be said to be very sonorous in makeup. From its thunderous beginning, Thus sprach Zarathustra gives way to a melodious sentiment that starts with a pianissimo, which is distinguished by the low range of the double bass. Again, what follows is marked by more anticipation. This section continues through a crescendo that eventually involves the entire orchestra.

The piece develops through other sections that are taken straight from Nietzsche’s book: “O Joys and Passions,” “Of Science,” “The Convalescent,” “Dance Song and Night Song” and finally ending with “Night Wanderer’s Song.”

This is a recording that dates back to March 8, 1954. Conducted by Fritz Reiner, a man who made Richard’s Strauss’ work his passion, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra sounds as rich and fresh as it ever has.

Pedro Blas Gonzalez is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Barry University in Miami, Florida. Amongst his intellectual pursuits is his interest in the relationship that exists between subjectivity, self-autonomy and philosophy.