The first time I ever heard of Dream Theater was when I had the
\nopportunity to raid the promotions closet of the college radio
\nstation I worked for. A promotional copy of their album
\nWhen Dream And Day Unite<\/i> happened to be laying there, and
\nwith song titles like “The Ytse Jam,” it just sounded interesting.
\nI snagged it, played it… and promptly forgot about it.<\/p>\n
Chances are many people (except for the diehard Dream Theater
\nfans, of course) have forgotten about this tape, which is the only
\nalbum to feature Charlie Dominici on vocals. Eleven years ago, when
\nthis album was first released, Dream Theatre might not have set out
\nto become the standard bearers for progressive rock, but their
\nmusic was filled with many of the hooks that they would soon become
\nnoted for. While there are a few minor weaknesses on this album, it
\nstands out today as a strong first effort.<\/p>\n
Looking at the photo that lined the inside of my promo cassette,
\nI can’t help but be struck by the fact that these guys – Dominici,
\nguitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, keyboardist Kevin
\nMoore and drummer Mike Portnoy – look a lot like a rag-tag Quiet
\nRiot. Maybe I expected to hear that kind of music when I first
\nlistened to this album way back in 1989. Instead, what I was
\ntreated to (though I don’t believe I thought so at the time) was a
\nmagnitude of complex time signatures and rhythm changes, all topped
\nwith Petrucci’s blazing guitar work, Dominici’s solid vocals and
\nPortnoy’s Neil Peart-on-amphetamines drumming.<\/p>\n
Fact is, the seeds for what would become Dream Theater’s
\ntrademark sound are definitely germinating on
\nWhen Dream And Day Unite<\/i>. Tracks like “The Killing Hand”
\n(featuring some nice acoustic guitar work in the opening), “A
\nFortune In Lies” and “Light Fuse And Get Away” all have that
\nspecial kick, even if the sound is a litle keyboard-heavy and
\nDominici’s vocals, while good, don’t have the grit to make these
\ntracks emotional.<\/p>\n
What? You’re
\nstill<\/i> not convinced? Well, pull up a chair, strap on the
\nheadphones, and blare “The Ytse Jam,” one of the best prog-rock
\ninstrumentals you’re ever going to hear. It almost has an Egyptian
\ntheme to parts of the song, which makes it all the more endearing
\nto me. How Petrucci and Portnoy are able to play at such a pace and
\nnot miss a note or a beat is beyond me.<\/p>\n
The only “negative” – and I’ll use that term loosely – about
\nWhen Dream And Day Unite<\/i> is a more common sound to the
\nlyrics. Not that Dream Theater went out of their way to be cosmic,
\nbut there is almost an approachable aspect to these lyrics,
\nsomething that, frankly, I’m not used to with Dream Theater’s
\nmusic. I guess this part is just a matter of personal taste.<\/p>\n
\nWhen Dream And Day Unite<\/i> is not the easiest album to find,
\nbut if you’re even a casual fan of Dream Theater – even if you’re
\njust a fan of stellar guitar and drum work – then this one is well
\nworth the search. After having the privilege of seeing Dream
\ntheater play last year, something told me to dig this tape out
\nagain… and am I glad that I did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5988],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39214","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dream-theater","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39214"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}