Review: Dream Theater - Lost Not Forgotten Archives, Images And Words - Live In Japan 2017 (2021)

                                         

I will never understand releases like this one. Now, I love Dream Theater since the release of, in fact, Images and words and, to go straight to the point: what's the point of listening to this live in its entirety after 30 years and with a singer who struggles?

Now, Images and words is a super complicated album to sing and James La Brie is simply not able to perform it properly anymore, even if the band helped him tuning down the instruments half a step. I'm not here to blame him (we all get old, plus James got lots of vocal issues in the past...) and I understand the tour and the appeal of it, but I don't enjoy listening to this live album. You will hear it from the first note in Pull me under. Listening to the entire Take the time is painful and even some other parts in other songs need some patience from the listener. Wait for sleep is the easiest song to sing and James sing it properly, to give him credit.

Apart from this, the sound of the release is good and the band does a great job including the band members who weren't there at that time: Jordan Rudess and Mike Mangini. I really liked the performance of the drummer (the drums insert in Metropolis - Pt. I: The Miracle And The Sleeper is great, as well as the variations by the band), keeping the original spirit of the songs and putting some variations here and there. I really enjoyed the second part of Under a glass moon, for instance. Listening to Mangini to spot the differences with the original recording can be a good excuse to listen to this album. Myung and Petrucci are always phenomenal, just to be clear and to mention them.

I would have preferred to listen to Images and words after its release, that would have been a fantastic live, with James singing even better than the album. 

Track listing:
Pull Me Under
Another Day
Take The Time
Surrounded
Metropolis - Pt. I: The Miracle And The Sleeper
Under A Glass Moon
Wait For Sleep
Learning To Live