Dream Theater / Osaka 2017 / 3CD

Dream Theater / Osaka 2017 / 3CD / Zodiac

Translated text:
Live at Grand Cube, Osaka, Japan 13th September 2017.

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The best masterpiece of “IMAGES & WORDS” 25th anniversary tour is born! We reported on the other day “TOYOTA 2017 (Shades 786)” “BUDOKAN 2017 (Shades 787)”, but a wonderful super and superb sound arrived in circles. It is one great masterpiece recording that will be No. 1 even worldwide.
Such a work was recorded as “September 13, 2017: Osaka International Conference Center” performance. This week will also be releasing the East masterpiece “TOKYO 2017 FINAL NIGHT (Zodiac 271)” at the same time and let’s organize each title here on a schedule.

· September 9: Toyota Citizens’ Cultural Center “TOYOTA 2017”
· September 10: Hiroshima Cultural Academy HBG Hall
· September 11: Nippon Budokan “BUDOKAN 2017”
· September 13: Osaka International Conference Hall 【this work】
· September 14: Tokyo International Forum “TOKYO 2017 FINAL NIGHT”

Over all, 5 shows. Four shows other than Hiroshima performance were presented last week and this week. Both titles are the masterpieces that the name recordings of each place hanged with their arms, but among them the work is wonderful! Of course, speaking of ultra-high sound quality with metal in Osaka, the recording house is familiar “West Japan’s strongest taper”! I love HR / HM so much and I am a master of a master who is familiar with every live spot in western Japan. The terrible recording technology is proofed by countless press titles, and is a craft that is acclaimed even as “even better than the sound heard at the scene”.
Also this work is also a gem that makes it more brilliant than dirtying such “strongest” brand. What is wonderful than anything is its powerful ‘core’. Despite the “Osaka International Convention Center” in the Hall class, the extremely thick and tough “core” approaches us and the distance feeling can not be felt at all. In audience recording, heavy bass that tends to be a weak point also roars with the power of deeper on the verge of bibimbling. Brilliant middle to high pitches penetrate the middle of that powerful push, dancing in front of you. I want to call that tough as “a sound board”, but the sense that the whole body is getting into the wall of the sound that sticks is unique to the audience. It is a modern-day rigid sound.
It is drawn with that sound, “Dream show” as I introduced the other day. The first part of the concert format on disk 1, the second part of the reproduction of the Daimyo board “IMAGES & WORDS” on the disk 2, and the three episodes of reproducing the masterpiece “A Change Of Seasons” on Disk 3. I wrote this again and again, but the main listener is still part 2 and 3 of part. At the beginning is the world of ‘IMAGES & WORDS’ which puts a commemorative director’s 25th anniversary and starts dramatically. The perfection degree is truly DREAM THEATER. In the reproduction show of other bands, the degree of each piece of music will fall apart. The representative songs are used to being able to play even though they are asleep, and fine arrangements that have been accumulated for many years are also effective. However, a rare song not playing without album reproduction is nervous and awkward … …. However, there is not such a jerk in this work. It has become a “25th anniversary version” for the total as a result of raising all songs “IMAGES & WORDS” in a long history. Besides, Rudes in “Another Day”, Petrucci in “Take The Time”, Solo Time of Manzini in “Metropolis Pt. 1”, Increase plenty of keyboard · intro in “Wait For Sleep”. In contrast to “57 minutes” of the original album, this work has become a super-large scale of “1 hour 15 minutes” as well.
It is the recreation of “A change of seasons” of encore that spurs enormous growth further. As you know, the original work is scheduled to be included in “IMAGES & WORDS” and is a major work number written simultaneously with other songs. That’s over 25 years, so you can listen with the same members repeatedly. If you are a fan, you’d be imagined as “What kind of album would it be if you had two sets,” but that dream is a reality album that is a reality.

Anyway, this time the Japan tour which was “the dream of the fans” itself. It is a super masterpiece that you can experience it with bold feet of barefoot · super beautiful sound on line. To one who is in Japan … one. wrong. It is a daimyo board which will represent “IMAGES, WORDS & BEYOND 25 TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR” at the world level. One of the best to experience the “IMAGES & WORDS” that evolved into a big beyond the quarter century. It is a press 3 CD that will not lose its glow forever.

『IMAGES & WORDS』25周年記念ツアーの最高傑作が誕生です！　先日も『TOYOTA 2017（Shades 786）』『BUDOKAN 2017（Shades 787）』で速報いたしましたが、輪をかけて素晴らしい超・極上サウンドが到着。全世界的に見てもNo.1となるであろう一大傑作録音です。
そんな本作が記録されたのは「2017年９月13日：大阪国際会議場」公演。今週は東の超傑作『TOKYO 2017 FINAL NIGHT（Zodiac 271）』も同時リリースとなりますし、ここで日程で各タイトルを整理しておきましょう。

・９月９日：豊田市民文化会館　『TOYOTA 2017』
・９月10日：広島文化学園HBGホール
・９月11日：日本武道館　『BUDOKAN 2017』
・９月13日：大阪国際会議場　【本作】
・９月14日：東京国際フォーラム『TOKYO 2017 FINAL NIGHT』

以上、全５公演。先週・今週で広島公演以外の４公演が出揃いました。いずれのタイトルも各地の名録音が腕によりをかけた傑作ばかりですが、その中でも本作は群を抜く素晴らしさ！　もちろん、大阪のメタルで超高音質と言えば、録音家はお馴染み“西日本最強テーパー”氏！　HR/HMをこよなく愛し、西日本のあらゆるライヴスポットを熟知している名手中の名手。その凄まじい録音技術は無数のプレス・タイトルが証明しており、「現場で聴いた音より良い」とさえ絶賛される匠です。
本作もまた、そんな“最強”氏ブランドを汚すどころか一層輝かせる逸品。何よりも素晴らしいのは、そのド迫力な“芯”。ホールクラスの“大阪国際会議場”にも関わらず、極太で強靱な“芯”が目前に迫り、距離感がまるで感じられない。オーディエンス録音ではウィークポイントになりがちな重低音もビビる寸前のド迫力で轟くのです。それだけの迫力押しの真ん中を華麗な中高音が突き抜け、目の前で舞い踊る。その強靱ぶりは「まるでサウンドボード」と呼びたくもなりますが、押し寄せる音の壁に全身がのめり込む感覚はオーディエンスならでは。なんとも現代らしい剛力サウンドなのです。
そのサウンドで描かれるのは、先日もご紹介した通りの“夢のショウ”。ディスク１には通常コンサート形式の第１部、ディスク２には大名盤『IMAGES & WORDS』再現の第２部、ディスク３には大作「A Change Of Seasons」再現アンコールを配した３枚組。これまた何度も書いていますが、必聴メインはやはり第２部・第３部でしょう。冒頭に25周年の記念演出を置き、ドラマティックに開演する『IMAGES & WORDS』の世界。その完成度は、さすがDREAM THEATER。他バンドの再現ショウでは、曲ごとの練度はバラバラになる。代表曲は眠っていても演奏できそうなほど慣れており、長年積み重ねてきた細かいアレンジも効いている。しかし、アルバム再現でないと演奏しないレア曲は緊張してぎこちない……。しかし、本作にそんなギクシャクがまったくない。長い歴史で『IMAGES & WORDS』全曲を育ててきただけに、トータルで“25周年バージョン”になっているのです。その上、「Another Day」にはルーデス、「Take The Time」にはペトルーシ、「Metropolis Pt. 1」にはマンジーニのソロタイムが盛り込まれ、「Wait For Sleep」のキーボード・イントロもたっぷり増量。オリジナル・アルバムの“57分”に対し、本作は“１時間15分”もの超大作化しているのです。
さらに巨大化に拍車をかけるのがアンコールの「A Change Of Seasons」再現。ご存じの通り、本来は『IMAGES & WORDS』に収録予定で他曲と同時に書かれた大作ナンバー。それが25年の時を超え、こうして同一メンバーの連続再現で聴けるわけです。ファンの方なら「もし、２枚組だったらどんなアルバムだっただろう」と想像されたことがあると思いますが、その夢が現実となっているライヴアルバムなのです。

とにかく、“ファンの夢”そのものだった今回のジャパンツアー。それをライン裸足の極太・超美麗サウンドで体験できる超傑作です。日本公演をどれか１つ……という方に、いえ。違います。全世界レベルで“IMAGES, WORDS & BEYOND 25TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR”を代表するであろう大名盤。四半世紀の時を超えて一大巨編へと進化した『IMAGES & WORDS』を体験するのに最高の１本。永久に輝きを失わないプレス３CDで登場です。

Disc 1 (60:44)
1. Intro. 2. The Colonel 3. The Dark Eternal Night 4. The Bigger Picture
5. Hell’s Kitchen 6. The Gift of Music 7. Our New World
8. Portrait of Tracy / As I Am 9. Breaking All Illusions

Disc 2 (74:50)
1. Happy New Year 1992 2. Pull Me Under 3. Another Day 4. Take the Time 5. Surrounded
6. Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper 7. Under a Glass Moon
8. Wait for Sleep 9. Learning to Live

Disc 3 (25:43)
1. A Change of Seasons: I The Crimson Sunrise
2. A Change of Seasons: II Innocence
3. A Change of Seasons: III Carpe Diem
4. A Change of Seasons: IV The Darkest of Winters
5. A Change of Seasons: V Another World
6. A Change of Seasons: VI The Inevitable Summer
7. A Change of Seasons: VII The Crimson Sunset

Zodiac 268