Once In A Livetime Appreciation

[chaotic_ripper]

didn't he record scenes with the musicman guitar though?

[Ben_Jamin]

Example of BC&SL autotune "Help guide me" in The Shattered Fortress

[Perpetual Change]

didn't he record scenes with the musicman guitar though?

He uses whatever guitar he thinks is best in the studio. But Ibanez are credited.

[juice]

Check out this live version of Metropolis from around the same time frame. I think Jordan is in this and it's one of the first gigs he did with the band. I could be totally wrong though.

LaBrie must have had a sore throat for a week after this performance. I quite lke some of hs vocals though, even though he obviously sounds hoarse and cracks a bit, he's really going for the notes and nails some of then quite well. Check the Petrucci blunder in the section before the last verse.  This is neverteless, DT at their rawest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgxkOKmNMUw

Awesome, awesome video. That crowd sounded like it was there for a boy band

[contest_sanity]

Like hef said earlier, I love the "Freebird" outro on TTT.  The original is one of my favorite instrumental parts in any song, and I think DT did it justice.  I loved how unexpected it was, too; I mean, you expect DT to draw on Floyd, Metallica, or Rush -- but Skynyrd???  Just classic.

[MykeHavoc]

I also enjoy LaBrie's F# on the LTL medley.  So.

LaBrie did not hit an F# on that album.

Pretty sure he does.  3:06 on Learning to Live.

This.  It's not where THE F# is, because they don't do that part in this performance, but he hit one.

...I'm pretty sure the version on LaB counts

Version of what?  Lines in the Sand isn't on LAB.

Wow. I must be losing my mind. I was sure that LITS was on LAB. I even had to look at the track listing. I guess my brain got cross wired and was thinking of Trial of Tears...

[Martinman300]

DRAWING LINES IN THE SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND

[bosk1]

Check out this live version of Metropolis from around the same time frame. I think Jordan is in this and it's one of the first gigs he did with the band. I could be totally wrong though.

LaBrie must have had a sore throat for a week after this performance. I quite lke some of hs vocals though, even though he obviously sounds hoarse and cracks a bit, he's really going for the notes and nails some of then quite well. Check the Petrucci blunder in the section before the last verse.  This is neverteless, DT at their rawest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgxkOKmNMUw

On both the FII and SFAM tours, James had some really incredible nights and some really off nights.  The biggest problem was consistency.  One thing about James' live style throughout the '90s is that he didn't really show much restraint at all.  My take is that he would pretty much just let it rip, throw notes out there, and just see what happened.  And pre-injury, that was fine because he would usually hit what he was going for.  But as James himself said, the first couple of tours after the injury before he really started recovering, his voice often wouldn't cooperate with him and he would have no idea on a given night whether it would be good or bad until he got out there are tried it out.  The combination of his voice's unpredicability with his "just go for it and see what happens" style made for some really bad performances during that period, IMO. 

I think he really started to put things together late on the SFAM tour.  Take the LSFNY show for example.  His voice sounds a bit weak in the beginning.  And it seems like James recognized that and didn't try to overdo it early in the show.  I mean, it's not like he was holding back to the point where it hurt the performance, but he reeled it in just enough that his voice really got going a few songs in and sounded great.  And as the show went on, he did some really great things, but he also recognized when he wasn't able to do something.  For instance, on Learning to Live, rather than go for the F# and miss it badly, he went for a harmony part that still sounds great and didn't blow out his voice.  Then he comes back for ACOS and just blows the roof off the place, nailing perfect falsettos, transitioning between head and chest voice, screaming, and just taking the song to a whole different level. 

[Martinman300]

Is it true that he damaged his voice again on the scenes tour?

[Ben_Jamin]

^"Thought disorder, dream control now they read my mind...Radioo"

[Orbert]

Once in a LiveTime was my first live DT album (and other than Tokyo, it was the only live DT), so I dug into it, and generally loved what I found.  The quotes during the instrumentals were cool, something I'd never really heard done before.  The performances were not always great, but the playing was inspired, and during a live show, vibe is more important than technical excellence.  James does get a bit out of control sometimes, but whatever.  That's a live gig.  As long as it's not completely horrible, I prefer some imperfections to overdubs any day.  Overdubs have no place on a live album.

It always bugged me that they split up "A Change of Seasons".  They did it well, I guess; I just didn't like that they did it in the first place.  Why not just play the song through?  Of course, it was DT's longest song, their only epic, so maybe it was just too much.  Also, Derek may not have had a chance to learn it end-to-end, so splitting it into more manageable pieces was the only way.

[The Letter M]

Once in a LiveTime was my first live DT album (and other than Tokyo, it was the only live DT), so I dug into it, and generally loved what I found.  The quotes during the instrumentals were cool, something I'd never really heard done before.  The performances were not always great, but the playing was inspired, and during a live show, vibe is more important than technical excellence.  James does get a bit out of control sometimes, but whatever.  That's a live gig.  As long as it's not completely horrible, I prefer some imperfections to overdubs any day.  Overdubs have no place on a live album.

It always bugged me that they split up "A Change of Seasons".  They did it well, I guess; I just didn't like that they did it in the first place.  Why not just play the song through?  Of course, it was DT's longest song, their only epic, so maybe it was just too much.  Also, Derek may not have had a chance to learn it end-to-end, so splitting it into more manageable pieces was the only way.

Oh Derek knew the whole thing all the way through...

https://ytsejamrecords.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=15

I think they just didn't want to have to play a whole 23 minute song every show, so to try and get SOME of ACOS into the setlist, they decided to play parts of it. It's not entirely unheard of - Rush has done it with "2112", Genesis with "Supper's Ready", and ELP with "Tarkus", and Yes with many of their epics.

Besides, they had already done a short tour for ACOS, so they probably didn't feel the need to play the whole thing as often while touring for FII (did they ever play all of ACOS during the FII tour?). At least we got a full live version from LSFNY!

-Marc.

[Adami]

So I just re-listened to this album again thanks to this thread.


The quality is horrid. Petruccis tones are painful and derek is often the only thing you can hear. However, aside from a few flubs, James sounded fine, he did some really cool stuff I thought. My only problem was with the quality of the sound and the mix.

[The Letter M]

So I just re-listened to this album again thanks to this thread.


The quality is horrid. Petruccis tones are painful and derek is often the only thing you can hear. However, aside from a few flubs, James sounded fine, he did some really cool stuff I thought. My only problem was with the quality of the sound and the mix.

Even though I haven't listened to it in awhile, I do agree some of the mix is a bit under-par.

I would LOVE to see this album get remixed (if at all possible) and released as a FULL SHOW, with all the songs from that night. It'd obviously be a 3-disc show, but they've had plenty of those (LFSNY, LAB, SCORE, and the CD version of CIM).

-Marc.

[Adami]

The mix is more than slightly sub par. The keys completly dominate the sound, the guitar sounds like it was run through the worst amp imaginable, direct line in. The drums are completely muffled and the bass ..........well the bass isn't bad actually, just a bit quiet.

[The Letter M]

The mix is more than slightly sub par. The keys completly dominate the sound, the guitar sounds like it was run through the worst amp imaginable, direct line in. The drums are completely muffled and the bass ..........well the bass isn't bad actually, just a bit quiet.

Guess I'll be listening to it sometime today or tomorrow (with a more discerning ear) to see how bad it really is!

-Marc.

[Orbert]

Shit I forgot that Derek played on the ACOS EP.  Of course he knew the whole song.

As for other bands doing the same thing (breaking up an epic), yes, it's been done.  And it generally sucks.

[PixelDream]

I know this thread is old, but I'm now hearing the OIALT version of 'Lines in the Sand' for the first time. What an incredible version. Holy shitballs.

[JiM-Xtreme]

I actually really like the way they spilt up ACoS for this show. I think having that running theme throughout the set works fantastically well. The Crimson Sunrise is a fantastic opener - far better than any song off FII IMO - and at the end of the set when they close things out with the final section, it feels like we've arrived at the end of a truly epic journey.

[Nofire]

This album, through its versions of LITS and Scarred, is what got me into DT, so it will always hold a very special place in my heart!

[Rodni Demental]

Contrats if this is the album that got you into Dream Theater. I guess there is a lot of really cool instrumentation on here and it's always interesting to see Derek on keyboards because any different player will change the feel of a song even just a little bit, and there was a certain hard edge to some Derek's solos that I believe was unique for DT at the time.

I like the setlist. But I don't think it was James' best night on the FII tour but that's not to be too harsh on it, because there just happened to be better performances around that time for vocals.

Sorry if I'm a bit jumbled up but I'm 90% sure this official bootleg is the one: Old Bridge, New Jersey 12-14-96 (released 2006), has a very similar set to Once in a Livetime except James is having a pretty good night. Interestingly, because it's a 96 show, all of the Falling into Infinity tracks are still in their Demo structure. Also, James has a few 'moments' where he gets a bit hysterical and starts laughing in the middle of a song, it happens in The Mirror and Lie and another track later on, it's fairly amusing. 

[Polis]

The first time I heard it I didn't look at the setlist, so near the end when they started chanting meh-tropolis! meh-tropholis! I was like it would be so cool if.... and then they did play metropolis, and then they played LTL, and the chord transition to ACOS really just blew my mind. The entire ending was just so epic that I pissed my pants. Also, it's my top 3 DT all played in a row.

Actually, maybe trial of tears and ITNOG and something from new album is in top 3, but whatever. Labrie couldn't sing like in studio, but I was still impressed by "spread before you is YOUR SOULLL!!!!" And I like listening to Metropolis/LTL/ACOS without stupid snare sounds from their respective albums.

[adastra]

Great live album!! Portnoy's bass drums sound amazing

[The Letter M]

So the resurrection of this thread has prompted me to put on my version of OIALT on my iPod as I head to sleep tonight and probably for the next day or two as I revisit it. I'm sure I've posted it here before, but after Chaos In Motion came out, DT had a string of 3CD live albums, and not having this whole show felt incomplete to me. I wanted to hear it ALL, and then I realized that a LOT of the songs that didn't make the cut were released in other places. So with that in mind, I sought them all out and created my COMPLETE Once In A LIVEtime 3CD show:

Once In A LIVEtime (Complete)
Live In Paris, FR 6/25/98
202:56

Disc 1 - 62:07
 1.  I. The Crimson Sunrise (3:57)
 2.  II. Innocence (3:06)
 3.  Puppies On Acid (1:24)
 4.  Just Let Me Breathe (6:50)
 5.  Burning My Soul (5:20)+
 6.  Voices (10:40)
 7.  Under A Glass Moon (7:44)*
 8.  Derek Sherinian keyboard solo (3:44)
 9.  Lines In The Sand (11:55)
10.  The Way It Used To Be (7:27)*

Disc 2 - 69:51
11.  Scarred/ (9:27)
12.  IV. The Darkest Of Winters/ (3:18)
13.  Ytse Jam/ (4:10)
14.  Mike Portnoy drum solo (6:59)
15.  Take The Time/Freebird (12:20)
(Intermission)
16.  Anna Lee (6:36)~
17.  Hollow Years (6:59)
18.  Speak To Me (6:12)~
19.  Hey You (Pink Floyd) (4:42)^
20.  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John) (3:55)~
21.  Cover My Eyes (5:13)*

Disc 3 - 70:58
22.  Take Away My Pain (6:15)
23.  Trial Of Tears (14:10)
24.  Caught In A Web (5:16)
25.  Lie (6:45)
26.  Peruvian Skies (7:50)
27.  John Petrucci guitar solo (8:09)
28.  Pull Me Under (8:14)
29.  Metropolis (6:17)
30.  Learning To Live (4:13)
31.  VII. The Crimson Sunset (3:49)

~ OIALT Outtakes DTIFC CD
+ Lifting Shadows CD
^ A Saucerful Of Floyd
* "The Lost Paris Tapes" bootleg

The way it worked out is that all of Disc 3 is all from the original release, and so, it remains purely soundboard-sounding and official. The 2nd disc is full of DTIFC outtakes, one from YRJ (Pink Floyd release), and one of 3 songs I had to pull from "The Lost Paris Tapes" audience bootleg. Now with 3 songs from the show not having any sort of official (or unofficial) release, there's a gap in sound quality, but for the sake of having the WHOLE show, I've included them in my set.

It was a tough task, piecing the whole show together and make it sound good, but it came out pretty well. I could only wish that the band themselves would re-released it some day like this, with the WHOLE show intact, on 3 discs, warts and all. Especially since there are some songs on here that I doubt the band will ever play again (like "Take Away My Pain", "Speak To Me", "Anna Lee", "Cover My Eyes", or "The Way It Used To Be". Actually, all of the FII-era songs, especially the non-album tracks!

-Marc.

[JohnnyLayne]

didn't he record scenes with the musicman guitar though?

SFAM was recorded with Ibanez guitars. During that tour he used Ibanez (the "camo" in drop-D for Home and the 7 string black and white) along with the first EBMM prototypes (6 string standard tuning) and for the LSFNY concert he switched completely to EBMM, those guitars were the final prototypes before doing minor tweaks and launching the EBMMJP line.

[efx]

Derek's little embellishments during the "do you feel" part of scarred is one of my all time DT highlights. For all the flaws this albums has, getting a live album with DS is just awesome and is a reminder to me that he's probably my favorite keyboard player ever.

[puppyonacid]

didn't he record scenes with the musicman guitar though?

SFAM was recorded with Ibanez guitars. During that tour he used Ibanez (the "camo" in drop-D for Home and the 7 string black and white) along with the first EBMM prototypes (6 string standard tuning) and for the LSFNY concert he switched completely to EBMM, those guitars were the final prototypes before doing minor tweaks and launching the EBMMJP line.

The Blue one he uses on LSFNY on home I'm pretty sure was the mainstay prototype he used for the first couple of legs of the scenes tour.

He used that blue one for the whole show when i saw them in Manchester and Nottingham in the UK during April 2000. He would switch to the ibby's for alternate tuned songs.

Seeing the blue one make the appearence on Home on LSFNY was pretty cool. I think it was the 2nd or 3rd prototype.