cleaning out the closet - where can i buy this cd?

[smegolas]

can't seem to find it online..

[bosk1]

It was a fan club release, so pretty much the only places you will find it are auctions like Ebay.  But you can get very similar material from the Falling Into Infinity Demos, so I would advise buying that.

[Dr. DTVT]

To expand upon bosk's answer you get 5 of the 8 songs (you don't really need two versions of To Live Forever) on the FII demos CD, and they are pretty much the same thing - I haven't broken out the demos in a while.  You can get the I&W demos to get Don't Look Past Me and two different versions of To Live Forever, however none of those three tracts have JLB singing; John Hendricks and Steve Stone sing.  That just leaves Eve...and you can get a live version of that on the NYC 3-4-93 "Dreambill" official bootleg.

So...why should you get three bootlegs to cover for one extremely hard to get fan club CD?

1) It's probably cheaper or the same to get the Ytsejam albums.
2) You don't have to wait for someone to put their copy of COtC for sale, and no, mine is not for sale.
3) FII demos have the original Metropolis Pt. 2 track, You Or Me (many people consider this to be better than what made the album), and the version of Hollow Years they've been playing of late.
4) I&W demos have some of the singers they auditioned to replace Charlie, including a very early version of A Change of Seasons sung by Chris Cintron
5) The 93 bootleg is just absolutely great and should be owned by any serious fan of the band.

[?]

If you can't find COTC, but want to hear those songs as the same versions, you can find those FII-era songs on the FII Demos (as DTVT said), To Live Forever '94 on Greatest Hit compilation and Lie single, Eve on The Silent Man single (or Japanese edition of Awake) and To Live Forever '91 on the I&W demos. I think the James version of Don't Look Past Me is exclusive to COTC (correct me if I'm wrong). But I think it may be cheaper to just buy COTC than all those separate releases!

[hefdaddy42]

AFAIK, the only way to by the studio recording of Eve is on the COTC fan club disc or the single for The Silent Man.  It still hasn't made its way onto a YJR release.

[Dr. DTVT]

But I think it may be cheaper to just buy COTC than all those separate releases!

Very wrong.  Only one copy for sale on eBay, and it's going to cost you $90 + shipping from the Czech republic.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dream-Theater-Cleaning-Out-Closet-Fan-Club-CD-99-/130575177070?pt=Music_CDs&hash=item1e66e3156e

3 bootlegs will run you about $60+shipping.

[The Letter M]

COTC is worth getting if you want pretty good, clean studio recordings of the B-sides. The version of "Don't Look Past Me* is pretty solid and crisp, and IMO, the FII B-Sides sound much cleaner/clearer on COTC than they do on their counterparts on the FII Demos.

I've spent a $#!T ton of money buying many of the DTIFC CDs and DVDs over the last 2 years, but I feel like it's worth it.

The only ones I don't have are the first two (96 Christmas CD and the Making of FII, which got re-released though YtseJam Records anyway) and the last one (Progressive Nation 2008), but I'd have to say COTC is definitely the one worth shelling out the most money for, next to perhaps Scenes From A World Tour, OLALT Outtakes and IAW 15th Anniversary. I also really enjoy the Graspop Festival, with one of DT's heaviest sets at the time!

-Marc.