When Dream and Day Unite [Limited Edition, Original recording remastered]

Dream Theater | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 12, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition, Original recording remastered
• Label: One Way Records Inc
• ASIN: B00005YNOY
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #322,744 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. A Fortune In Lies

2. Status Seeker

3. Ytse Jam

4. The Killing Hand

5. Light Fuse And Get Away

6. Afterlife

7. The Ones Who Help To Set The Sun

8. Only A Matter Of Time

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars for the remastering, 2 stars for the packaging, March 22, 2002

By 

Just Bill (Grand Rapids, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Dream and Day Unite (Audio CD)

I'm a sucker for a remastered CD. Especially when they're of classic albums I've known and loved for years.

If you've read my review of When Dream and Day Unite, you already know it's my favorite DT album -- or, at least, it's in the top two or three (with Scenes From a Memory and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence also jockying for the top slot).

So it goes without saying that I just HAD to have this remastered, limited edition pressing of DT's classic first album.

I have good news and bad news regarding this release.

First, the good news.

The sound is an improvement. At least, I think so. When I A/B the old CD with this one, I THINK I detect an improvement in sound quality. I can tell you this much: the remastered edition is definitely louder. Whether or not it's any clearer and deeper is still in question. To my ears, it sounds better, if only marginally so.

The instruments that seem to enjoy the remaster treamtent more than others are: bass, keyboards and vocals. The drums are about the same, from what I can tell (although I must admit the drum sounds on "Ytse Jam" seem much crisper on this release). Likewise with the guitar tracks.

Okay, now the bad news.

In typical One Way fashion, the band photos appear to be taken directly from the previous CD. The head shots on the back cover are small, but that's probably because they're woefully fuzzy. In other words, One Way might have had the original master tapes of the album, but it doesn't appear they had the original master graphics.

Also, what happened to the lyrics? In the original CD released by MCA/Mechanic, there's a fairly thick booklet containing larger band photos and -- surprise! -- lyrics. The One Way release doesn't include lyrics.

Also, and this may be a misunderstanding on my part, but the essay about the band by Greg Prato contains the following sentence: "But Dream Theater now had a sturdy foundation to build on, and with a little more tweaking (switching Dominici with newcomer Kevin Moore), would soon connect with the metal masses."

Say what? Did Prato mean switching (vocalist) Charlie Dominici with (their second -- and still current -- vocalist) James LaBrie? Dominici wasn't switched with Kevin Moore. Moore was their first keyboard player, and an oustanding one at that.

All in all, I was expecting a more royal treatment for such a stellar album -- especially since this is called a "limited edition." Usually such terms are reserved only for truly special packaging or content.

Here's what I recommend: Buy this One Way remastered CD and put the CD in the old MCD/Mechanic jewel box. That way you'll have a more pristine sound coupled with a much better CD booklet, one that contains better band photos and lyrics.

THAT, my friends, would be a nice edition to have.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First Official Release, July 6, 2005

By 

Christopher Calabrese (Watertown, CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Dream and Day Unite (Audio CD)

At this point in the evolution of Dream Theater, their full potential had not yet been grasped. Their music would not reach levels of perfection until later records like IMAGES & WORDS or AWAKE. This cd also features singer Charlie Dominicci - he would only be a member on this one album.

However, this does not take away from the beauty that embodies this important Prog Metal release. Some of the songs featured such as 'A Fortune in Lies' and 'The Killing Hand' are songs that the band had written when they were in their early 20's and under the name MAJESTY. When you think about all the material Dream Theater has recorded over the years, and you think about these early songs, it should give you the chills, because you know that most human beings lack that type of musical ability at such an early age.

I wouldn't recommend this album as a fair place to start, simply because James LaBrie is not in the band yet, and while these songs are prog metal classics, it is clear that the band was still musically immature. Most importantly, you can hear their influences, such as Rush, Kansas, Yes, and Metallica, but they had not yet established a sound that was uniquely 'Dream Theater'.

If you love extremely progressive and indulgent metal, this is a great place to look. Songs like 'The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun,' and 'Light Fuse and Get Away' are juggernauts of extreme proportions by way of complex time meters, random key changes, polyrhythms, harmonies, and amazing solos. There are also some more 'commercial?!?!?!' sounding tracks such as 'Afterlife' and 'A Fortune in Lies.' Another highlight is the instrumental 'Ytsejam' which is still a popular fan favorite at concerts, and often includes some sort of extended drum solo from Mr. Portnoy. It is truly a labor of love from a few good friends on Long Island.

On a side note, I own both the original release and this limited edition remastering, and either I'm going deaf, or I hear absolutely no difference between the two!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Taste of Things to Come, November 23, 2004

By 

Justin Gaines (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Dream and Day Unite (Audio CD)

While it has certainly been eclipsed by the albums that immediately followed it, Dream Theater's debut album When Dream and Day Unite is still an excellent album in its own right.

Like many other fans, I discovered Dream Theater with their breakthrough Images and Words album, and only picked up WDADU after I had all of their other studio albums. The vocals are always my top priority in a band, and I wasn't really excited about a Dream Theater album without James LaBrie. I wish I hadn't waited so long to get this disc. It is clear that Charlie Dominici is no LaBrie in terms of talent or emotion, but he still gave a solid performance, and more importantly the rest of the band was in great form on this album. It is full of great songs that I regard as some of their best (Ytse Jam and the Killing Hand are just two examples), and is probably a more consistent album than some of their later albums like Falling Into Infinity or Octavarium. It sounds even better now since it was recently remastered and re-released.

Front to back, this is a great album, especially considering when it came out. In terms of maturity and complexity, there were very few bands in 1989 that could stand up to Dream Theater. Images and Words may have set the progressive metal standard, but When Dream and Day Unite is still a great album, and should be a must-have for fans of the band and the genre.

NOTE: When Dream and Day Unite was reissued in 2002 and featured digitally remastered sound, which is a nice improvement over the original. Early versions came in a neat digipack (but without liner notes/lyrics), while later versions came in a standard jewel case (but with the full liner notes).