Cleaning Out the Closet appreciation thread

[Sixtease]

I fell in love with the 1999 Fan Club Christmas CD. I have never come to appreciate it a lot before. How did I not notice the amazing song structures, the meaningfulness of every note? (not that I have anything against their superspeedy wankery, I actually enjoy it)

Just listen to The Way it Used to Be... with the plethora of instrumental passages, one more beautiful and tasteful than the other... This is just marvellous. Which idiot could ever have had something against releasing it?

Or Raise the Knife. Damn, that song has tension! Although no lyrics have never seemed more ironical than Raise the Knife after MP's departure...

Self-absorbed exhaustion
Self-esteem distortion
Self-infused extortion
Self-serving abortion

I'll take the blame for these things that I say
'Cause I had the heart and the will and the courage to stay
Every day
I won't walk away

Reading through all the digests you show me
I notice the way that you think you control me
Doubting my future, you don't even know me
But I never walked out on you

Also this comparison amused me:

You cut yourself open so people would adore you

vs.

Cut myself open wide

But that's off-topic, the main thing I wanted to say was: Cleaning Out the Closet is a marvel! Keeps me satisfied while waiting for DT12!

[JRuivo]

One of my favourite DT albums! Love every song on it, and it's a good way to listen to fresh material after years and years of listening exhaustively to the studio discography 

[Elite]

I've never heard Cleaning out the Closet, to be honest. Is it available for listening anywhere (legally)?

[Yoshi Yogurt]

MMM YES, this album has some of my favorite DT songs.



Don't Look Past Me

To live forever 91/94 ( Can anyone explain the difference? Good song)

Eve ( Great instrumental)

Raise the Knife

Where are you now?

The way it used to be

Cover my Eyes

Speak to Me

Scenes ( Cut content from Scenes from a Memory)

This album(besides Scenes) is better than FII, I think, and include some of DT's best songs

Every Dream Theater Fan NEEDS it.

[Elite]

Are the tracks that appear on the FII Demos the same tracks or are they alternate takes?

[The Letter M]

So glad I own this album! The more polished versions of the leftover tracks is totally worth the after-market price on this album, especially "Don't Look Past Me".

Every song is great, and these are songs that DIDN'T make the cut! A shame that some of the FII-session songs didn't make the album while others did, but understanding the situation, it's reasonable to see why some of these weren't chosen over the more 'radio-friendly' tracks. Still, any fan of the FII-era needs this album as it's a compliment to the FII album itself, and can be used to supplement the album and if you want, like I have, make FII a double album as was originally intended!

P.S. - I won my copy off of eBay for $79 after shipping.

-Marc.

[Sixtease]

@Yoshi Yogurt: As to difference between To Live Forever '91 and '94... Listen to the part after the solo.

@Elite: I don't know if it is available legally, nor if it is protected by copyright in the first place. I downloaded it from torrents myself. I would love to possess a physical copy though, to be sure!

[TheGreatPretender]

I really wish DT would have released this more widely. Plenty of bands release a "B-Sides" album in their career, half of them with remixes of album songs anyway. This is an album full of completely unreleased material (apart from songs which were released on CD singles, but that barely counts either). But alas, I'm stuck with a downloaded version of this album.

[hefdaddy42]

Fantastic collection.

[Chino]

Is this the one with JP doing The Spirit Carries On vocals? I've never laughed so hard at a record before or since then 

[KevShmev]

I was only a member of the fan club for a few years in the late 90s/early 00s, but at the right time, as that was when this CD was sent to fan club members.  Very nice collection.  The demos of Cover My Eyes and Speak to Me were very underwhelming since the live versions of 5 Years in a Livetime were much better, but I remember loving Raise the Knife and The Way It Used to Be immediately.  Where Are You Now was okay, too.  And finally getting Eve on CD was great (I had heard it when my brother had the Lie CD single, plus it was on the live Milan '93 bootleg). 

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

..... Oh, I thought this was the "Coming Out Of The Closet Thread". I'll just leave now.....

[TheGreatPretender]

Is this the one with JP doing The Spirit Carries On vocals? I've never laughed so hard at a record before or since then 

No, that's Making of Scenes From A Memory. This is a Fanclub CD which included a bunch of songs DT never released, including the ones that were cut from Falling Into Infinity.

[Samsara]

I was only a member of the fan club for a few years in the late 90s/early 00s, but at the right time, as that was when this CD was sent to fan club members.  Very nice collection.  The demos of Cover My Eyes and Speak to Me were very underwhelming since the live versions of 5 Years in a Livetime were much better, but I remember loving Raise the Knife and The Way It Used to Be immediately.  Where Are You Now was okay, too.  And finally getting Eve on CD was great (I had heard it when my brother had the Lie CD single, plus it was on the live Milan '93 bootleg).

That's about when I was a member and got this CD. One of my biggest regrets is selling it. I did this huge CD purge back in 2010 or so, and parted with it for about $100. Someone on here, if I remember. But I completely regret it.

[Architeuthis]

And all this time when it said Christmas cd, I thought it meant DT doing rocked up versions of Christmas carrolls on steroids. I had no idea it was a gift to the fans from the lost DT archive..lol!
That's why I shy'd away from it all this time..

[Eldomm]

And all this time when it said Christmas cd, I thought it meant DT doing rocked up versions of Christmas carrolls on steroids. I had no idea it was a gift to the fans from the lost DT archive..lol!
That's why I shy'd away from it all this time..

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I bought a copy of Cleaning Out the Closet off eBay a few years back, and low and behold, it comes through the mail with Mike Portnoy's autograph on it. I guess someone had an autographed copy but forgot to mention it on the listing. Along the same lines, I bought Live Scenes from New York off Amazon almost a decade ago, and got one of the rare copies with the twin towers on it. I guess I'm just the luckiest person in the world when it comes to used Dream Theater purchases...

[KevShmev]

I bought a copy of Cleaning Out the Closet off eBay a few years back, and low and behold, it comes through the mail with Mike Portnoy's autograph on it. I guess someone had an autographed copy but forgot to mention it on the listing. Along the same lines, I bought Live Scenes from New York off Amazon almost a decade ago, and got one of the rare copies with the twin towers on it. I guess I'm just the luckiest person in the world when it comes to used Dream Theater purchases...

Nice! 

[Pragmaticcircus]

I'm straight bro

[ReaperKK]

I just recently listened to Cleaning out the Closet and there are some great tracks on there.

[Cool Chris]

It is a great unused track collection, for sure, but once the initial coolness wore off, I haven't cared to revisit it in ages.

[Peter Mc]

I have the original version as I was in the fanclub at the time.  It was an amazing free gift at the time considering bands release B-side albums for the price of their normal albums.  I did think it got released again though, thought it may have been Ytse Jam release but maybe with the DT book?  Have I dreamed this?

[OpenYourEyes311]

I have the original version as I was in the fanclub at the time.  It was an amazing free gift at the time considering bands release B-side albums for the price of their normal albums.  I did think it got released again though, thought it may have been Ytse Jam release but maybe with the DT book?  Have I dreamed this?

It has not been released all together since 1999, but the five FII tracks were on the FII Demos Ytsejam release, TLF 91 was on the I&W Demos, TLF 94 was on Greatest Hit, and the secret track was tacked on to the end of Finally Free on The Making Of SFAM Disc... Don't Look Past Me and Eve have not been re-released since 1999 (though you can find Eve on The Silent Man single).

[Ben_Jamin]

I have the original version as I was in the fanclub at the time.  It was an amazing free gift at the time considering bands release B-side albums for the price of their normal albums.  I did think it got released again though, thought it may have been Ytse Jam release but maybe with the DT book?  Have I dreamed this?

It has not been released all together since 1999, but the five FII tracks were on the FII Demos Ytsejam release, TLF 91 was on the I&W Demos, TLF 94 was on Greatest Hit, and the secret track was tacked on to the end of Finally Free on The Making Of SFAM Disc... Don't Look Past Me and Eve have not been re-released since 1999 (though you can find Eve on The Silent Man single).

Don't Look Past Me was released with Lifting Shadows.

[Robo4900]

It has not been released all together since 1999, but the five FII tracks were on the FII Demos Ytsejam release, TLF 91 was on the I&W Demos, TLF 94 was on Greatest Hit, and the secret track was tacked on to the end of Finally Free on The Making Of SFAM Disc... Don't Look Past Me and Eve have not been re-released since 1999 (though you can find Eve on The Silent Man single).

Don't Look Past Me was also on the I&W demos, but sung by someone else. Instrumentation is the same, though. Of course, at this point the I&W demos are actually harder to find than CotC, so maybe that's not so useful after-all.

Don't Look Past Me was released with Lifting Shadows.

True, but given how limited the release of the Lifting Shadows CD was, that one's even harder to find than the other two releases it's on!

To live forever 91/94 ( Can anyone explain the difference? Good song)

'91 ends with a vocal vamp over a reprise of the "Until I show desire for revenge"/"As long as I have to die in the attempt"/"Then there is no reason" lyrics, while '94 has its own lyrics for the end(Which were among Kevin Moore's last contributions to DT) which go like so:

I found you where, they left you there, a passing word that's gone forever, and searching my memories for answers, I saw the words of a letter you wrote; you said you don't have to live forever, you don't want to live forever, and everything's changing now, I don't want to live forever.

Mostly, live versions from before Awake use the '91 lyrics, while live versions from after Awake use the '94 lyrics. The one exception I'm aware of is Charlie Dominici's version from 2004, which used the '91 lyrics.

Every Dream Theater Fan NEEDS it.

Not the easiest thing to find, unfortunately.
I do wish they'd reprint it through YtseJam someday. I always thought it was a little silly that Mike didn't do that one first; it's a lot more interesting than the making of FII.

[ytserush]

Being in the fan club sure had its advantages....

[cfmoran13]

Being in the fan club sure had its advantages....

For a good number of years, I'd look forward to that Fall time of year to see what kind of goodies the DTIFC would come up with for its members.  I was fortunate enough to had been a member long enough to have received all of the CD's.  They were definitely cool extras.

[OpenYourEyes311]

I have the original version as I was in the fanclub at the time.  It was an amazing free gift at the time considering bands release B-side albums for the price of their normal albums.  I did think it got released again though, thought it may have been Ytse Jam release but maybe with the DT book?  Have I dreamed this?

It has not been released all together since 1999, but the five FII tracks were on the FII Demos Ytsejam release, TLF 91 was on the I&W Demos, TLF 94 was on Greatest Hit, and the secret track was tacked on to the end of Finally Free on The Making Of SFAM Disc... Don't Look Past Me and Eve have not been re-released since 1999 (though you can find Eve on The Silent Man single).

Don't Look Past Me was released with Lifting Shadows.

Yes, that's true. I forgot about that. Nice catch. That was a fairly cool release... had a few gems in there, including Your Majesty live in 2002.

[Ben_Jamin]

I have the original version as I was in the fanclub at the time.  It was an amazing free gift at the time considering bands release B-side albums for the price of their normal albums.  I did think it got released again though, thought it may have been Ytse Jam release but maybe with the DT book?  Have I dreamed this?

It has not been released all together since 1999, but the five FII tracks were on the FII Demos Ytsejam release, TLF 91 was on the I&W Demos, TLF 94 was on Greatest Hit, and the secret track was tacked on to the end of Finally Free on The Making Of SFAM Disc... Don't Look Past Me and Eve have not been re-released since 1999 (though you can find Eve on The Silent Man single).

Don't Look Past Me was released with Lifting Shadows.

Yes, that's true. I forgot about that. Nice catch. That was a fairly cool release... had a few gems in there, including Your Majesty live in 2002.

Sadly JLBs vocals weren't so great during that song

[OpenYourEyes311]

I have the original version as I was in the fanclub at the time.  It was an amazing free gift at the time considering bands release B-side albums for the price of their normal albums.  I did think it got released again though, thought it may have been Ytse Jam release but maybe with the DT book?  Have I dreamed this?

It has not been released all together since 1999, but the five FII tracks were on the FII Demos Ytsejam release, TLF 91 was on the I&W Demos, TLF 94 was on Greatest Hit, and the secret track was tacked on to the end of Finally Free on The Making Of SFAM Disc... Don't Look Past Me and Eve have not been re-released since 1999 (though you can find Eve on The Silent Man single).

Don't Look Past Me was released with Lifting Shadows.

Yes, that's true. I forgot about that. Nice catch. That was a fairly cool release... had a few gems in there, including Your Majesty live in 2002.

Sadly JLBs vocals weren't so great during that song

Also true...

[TAC]

I've actually never heard the Lifting Shadows version of Your Majesty. Did they fix the vocals? I have the boot, and James is pretty rough on it.

[OpenYourEyes311]

I've actually never heard the Lifting Shadows version of Your Majesty. Did they fix the vocals? I have the boot, and James is pretty rough on it.

They definitely didn't. The vocals are pretty rough.

But I still love it.

[wolfandwolfandwolf]

Don't Look Past Me is the jam. So upbeat. So fun!

[gzarruk]

Don't Look Past Me is the jam. So upbeat. So fun!

I still wish they played it live at least once 

[Renzo]

It's pretty cool! I usually listen to it in whole along the 20-minute instrumental "Metropolis part 2".

My favourite is Cover My Eyes, so energetic.