Customer Reviews

Parallels (W/Dvd)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

5 Stars - This Cd should have catapulted FW to the moon. For the price, the making of DVD is worth it alone.
I have not written a review in some time but had to after re-re discovering this gem from 1991.

This edition comes with the remastered CD (featuring all 8 masterpieces), a live CD set recored on 1/23/92 in Hollywood, Ca, and a DVD. The DVD features the making of parallels doc, 2 videos, and a live show filmed on 2/13/92 in New Haven Ct.

quick CD overview:

It is remastered and that could be good or bad, I think it is good in this case although the original sounded great as well. You can really hear all the cymbals and there are a lot of them way out in front. Jim Matheos's textures and tones sound better than ever. This sounds like it was released today and not in 1991.

Track by track-

Leave the past behind - Sounds great with the immediate impact of the rhythm section of Mark Zonder and Bpnes. The idea, forget what you know about Fates Warning up to now, lets move on to something new (Progressive Metal as it would eventually be named).

Life in Still Water - One of the heaviest songs on he CD. Still a live staple.

Eye to Eye - The closest thing to a pop song that FW can do, and I defy you to not sing along to it. Actually got a fair bit of radio and video play.

the eleventh hour - absolute gem in the FW catalogue. I won't describe it hear because I want you to buy the CD to hear it. I may even suggest that it gave Dream Theater the idea that long songs were cool if at a high quality.

point of view - another sing along and though provoking. This one also has a video.

we only say goodbye - to that point, the only actual Fates love song according to Jim in the DVD and a favorite of the record label co-head. I like to sing along to this one as well.

don't follow me - another one I like to sing along to (Ray Alder is actually my favorite singer). I just realized that we just completed a sing along suite.

the road goes on forever - an absolutely beautiful song in atmosphere and depth. Listen to this with headphones.

So as a whole this just synergy. It sounds great with the legendary Terry Brown (of Rush fame) producing. The drumming sounds like nothing you hear anywhere from Mark Zonder. He would expand on it with monument on the next CD inside out, but any aspiring drummer must own this work. The textures are great as you hear new things each time. Jim Matheos's song writing is though provoking and textured. The attention to detail that he has is worth it. You can tell that they spent a lot of time on this and the DVd highlighting the making of is a can't miss. Any fan of this CD who have already bought this have to buy it again. I did and I was not disappointed, I was pleasantly surprised.

At the time, Fates fans screamed sellout, I didn't see it that way. I enjoyed this one then and do now. There is nothing wrong with wanting your music to be heard. These guys need to make a living you know. Every song is great and the CD is short.

Buy this if a fan of Progressive Metal or just great rock music.

Don't get me wrong; I have been a Fate's fan for over 20 years and have never had a chance to see them perform live, until this special re-release w/dvd and the bonnaroo dvd they released previously but thought that was kind of a fluke due to poor recording techniques. Jim Matheos is a brilliant and thoughtful song writer who's work could have really brought them huge fame and recognition. His tag team lead guitar work with Frank Aresti is mesmorizing. Drummer Mark Zonder and bassist Joe DiBiase are really the heartbeat of the band and Zonder's flawless timing puts him easily alongside greats like Neal Peart, Carl Palmer,et al. The most glaring flaw in their live performances is Ray Alder, who's sometimes can and cannot vocals are distracting, puzzling, and just sometimes awful. I know this is prog metal but had they hired someone like Dio or Joe Lynn Turner, or Jeff Scott Soto, guys who can actually sing as well live as on the record, Fate's would have been catapulted into the limelight. I really believe Ray's live performances are what held them back. And to hear producer Terry Brown's comments regarding Alder's "diva" behavior makes his hiring all that more puzzling. The other members of the band seem so dedicated, concerned, and professional that I can only imagine what Matheos was thinking when he hired Alder. The 2nd audio cd, with live performances, has utterly horrendous vocals, with Alder screaming and vocally scraping, almost always off-key, through most every song. He does have the ability to really shine on some of the softer elements like " The 11th Hour" or "The Road Goes On Forever" but overall, if you've anyone else in the room, they're gonna say "what the hell is this?" I'm still a fan of the band as a unit, but I'll stick to the studio version of things. Which, by the way, sounds stellar on this re-release.

I have been a Fates Warning fan for 20+ years now, and this remastered version of Parallels sounds great. This is probably my favorite Fates album, a definite progression from Perfect Symmetry. The DVD alone is worth the price of the entire package. Highly recommended!!!!!!!

Insightful, profound album about time and the passing nature of all relationships.
Wonderful melodic songwriting accompanied by great prog-rock chops. This remastered package sweetens the pot with some rare live material and a nice little doco about the making of the album. Like Queensryche and Rush, Fates Warning bring strong arty and intellectual influences to the realm of hard rock/metal. Recommended.

I had the original cd version, but I bought this version looking for the live material. The DVD is shot with one camera, and even though it's not profesional quality, it's still a great document. The live cd tracks sound pretty good, and give you a good idea of just how brilliant this lineup was. Parallels is to me a prog metal classic right beside Operation:Mindcrime and Images and Words.

I'm a great fan of prog music. This band is awesome and not just that, they mixed perfectly prog music with commercial stuff and that brings catchy songs excellente one of my favorite bands and albums!!!

Wow, if you love Fates Warning you have to get this version of Parallels, not only it's remixed with a clearer sound but also you get two live performances, demos, interviews, rare shots in the recording sesions. In short a must have, an excellent release of a excellent album.

First off, I love this album - it's one of the best albums ever, in my opinion. A true masterpiece.

Now about this special edition:

1. The "making of Parallels" documentary was pretty good. It was interesting to gain some insight into how they produced the album and the challenges they faced. A few problems with the documentary were the low quality of the interview recordings (especially Frank's) and a bit too much of the live performances throughout the video. Some questions I was hoping to get answered never were: how did the rest of the band feel about not being part of the writing process? What happened with Frank Aresti's ideas that he brought with him to the writing sessions? What were Brian Slagel's thoughts on all the marketing that just stopped all of a sudden on Parallels (the band had thoughts on it, but mysteriously nothing from Mr. Slagel - the CEO of their label!). Also, the studio footage really only featured Ray Alder and Jim Matheos - just 1 clip of Frank doing a solo nothing with Mark or Joe. It would have been better to capture all the members, but I understand the footage is quite old and they basically "have whatever they have".

2. I was VERY disappointed with the packaging. First, the artwork and pictures looked like they were scanned copies from the original - the colors are all messed up - if you hold the new booklet up against the old one, it's obvious that the new one is just a copy from the old one. I'm a huge Hugh Syme fan and it's disappointing to see his imagery represented with lower quality than the original. I always compare remastered editions to the Marillion remasters - the gold standard of what to do with a remastered edition, in my opinion. As far as the sound goes, it's a bit louder than the original but I can't really tell the difference otherwise.

To to sum up, I was a bit disappointed with this new edition of Parallels. The documentary is interesting to watch, but that's about all that's truly worthwhile on this release. Still, I think Parallels is one of the best albums ever and if you don't have it already, you owe it to yourself to pick this up immediately!

Having gotten this awhile back, I was spurred to get the latest edition this past 'Record Store day' with the 2 extra discs of demos/live/videos/concert. The first disc needs no comments. The unreleased stuff is cool, but the packaging is horrible. When I played the 2nd disc (which was EXTREMELY hard to pull out of the slot), the first song started skipping. It looked like glue had gotten on the disc and hardened. I wanted a cash refund from where I bought it, but they buffed it for me instead. It plays ok now, but should I decide to resell it, I won't get as much $$$ as you can still see a bit of the glue. Why couldn't Parallels have been released in the same form as the reissued Perfect Symmetry [Unlike the discs for PS, the ones for Parallels require pulling out the discs in that non-user friendly fashion that as uncomfortable as it is dangerous!]? They wanted to save money, I guess. I wish I could've saved money by waiting for a used copy rather than this bad joke. I won't forget this if and when Inside Out,Pleasant Shade, and Disconnected are released with extras.

I own this album 2 times, thats how good it its! every single song on this album is beautifully crafted and none of the songs sound like they are out of place in the album all coming together in great harmony to create an album that is both musically and lyrically deep and elegant. Mark Zonders drums are greatly accentuated in this version as everything sounds much crispier and cleaner and louder, Zonder is such an amazing drummer, he's created technically difficult fills and managed to keep it catchy and not too complicated for a listener, this is outstanding drumming at its peak! everything else is amazing sounding with a stand-out vocal performance from Ray Alder, he creates such an emotion in every song thats hard not to sing along with. his high pitch is outstanding, definitely my favorite metal vocalist. This is Elegant progressive metal, everything clean, everything perfect, from the album cover to the bass lines to the drum fills to the clean guitars. OWN this classic, after many listens you will start to discover the detail past the catchyness and wont be able to let go. i'd give this 6 stars if it was possible. a masterpiece.