Dream Theater - Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Falling Into Infinity Demos (2007)Release ID: 37364

Dream Theater - Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Falling Into Infinity Demos (2007) Cover
MartinDavey87 MartinDavey87 / June 05, 2023 / Comments 0 / 0

‘Falling Into Infinity Demos 1996-1997’ is the fifth instalment of Dream Theater’s demo series line of official bootlegs. There’re two important factors here that make this arguably one of the better releases of demo albums. Firstly, the wealth of material on hand, including five unreleased tracks that never made it onto the album, as well as a 20-minute instrumental demo that features plenty of moments that would be expanded upon, and eventually become the bands next and most highly revered album, ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory’.

The second important factor, and certainly an interesting one, is that ‘Falling Into Infinity’ was an album plagued by record label interference, and while the finished product isn’t quite what the band would have desired, this gives fans a chance to hear the songs how they were originally intended to sound.

Of course, by now, I’ve grown accustomed to the ‘Falling Into Infinity’ album (I, for one, really enjoy it), so listening to the demos is cool for a die-hard fan such as myself, but I’m still happy to listen to the finished product instead. The unreleased tracks are all pretty decent, especially ‘Raise the Knife’ and ‘Speak to Me’, but they all sound unfinished. No doubt they’d have been polished up had they made the final cut, but I guess these will have to do.

Overall however, this isn’t something I’d feel inclined to listen to. I’d much rather stick with the original studio album. There’re plenty of differences and nuances to pick up upon though, and it’s intriguing to see how many changes were made to these tracks over time. But that’s about it. Perhaps sometimes record label interference isn’t such a bad thing afterall?


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Release info

Release Site Rating

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Release Clan Rating

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3.0

Cover Site Rating

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Release
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Falling Into Infinity Demos
Year
2007
Format
Compilation
Clans
The Infinite
Sub-Genres

Progressive Metal (conventional)

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Dream Theater chronology

When Dream and Day Unite (1989)
Images and Words (1992)
Live at the Marquee (1993)
Awake (1994)
A Change of Seasons (1995)
Falling Into Infinity (1997)
Once in a Live Time (1998)
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory (1999)
Live Scenes From New York (2001)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
Train of Thought (2003)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: The Majesty Demos: 1985-1986 (2003)
Official Bootleg: Studio Series: The Making of Scenes From a Memory (2003)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: Los Angeles, California: 5/18/98 (2003)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: Tokyo, Japan: 10/28/95 (2003)
Live at Budokan (2004)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: When Dream and Day Unite Demos: 1987-1989 (2004)
Official Bootleg: Covers Series: Master of Puppets (2004)
Octavarium (2005)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Images and Words Demos: 1989-1991 (2005)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: When Dream and Day Reunite (2005)
Official Bootleg: Covers Series: The Number of the Beast (2005)
Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour (2006)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Awake Demos: 1994 (2006)
Official Bootleg: Covers Series: Dark Side of the Moon (2006)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: Old Bridge, New Jersey: 12/14/96 (2006)
Official Bootleg: Covers Series: Made in Japan (2006)
Systematic Chaos (2007)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Falling Into Infinity Demos (2007)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: New York City: 3/4/93 (2007)
Greatest Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) (2008)
Official Bootleg: Cover Series: Uncovered 2003-2005 (2009)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
Official Bootleg: Studio Series: The Making of Falling Into Infinity (2009)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Train of Thought Instrumental Demos 2003 (2009)
A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)
Happy Holidays (2013)
Live at Luna Park (2013)
Dream Theater (2013)
Breaking the Fourth Wall (2014)
The Astonishing (2016)
Distance Over Time (2019)
Distant Memories - Live in London (2020)
Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Images and Words - Live in Japan, 2017 (2021)
Lost Not Forgotten Archives: A Dramatic Tour of Events – Select Board Mixes (2021)
A View From the Top of the World (2021)
Lost Not Forgotten Archives: ...And Beyond - Live in Japan, 2017 (2022)