Dream Theater - Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Train of Thought Instrumental Demos 2003 (2009)^{Release ID: 37366}

What we have here is the perfect example of why the official bootlegs line was created in the first place. Average demos of an amazing album. Mike Portnoy's OCD of recording and documenting everything and hey, people will pay money for it, why not release it?!

It's easy to tell that drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci were producing this, as they're most certainly louder than everything else. In particular, poor Jordan Rudess' keyboards are barely audible. Still, I guess I'd be clutching at straws if I said it's an interesting look at the development of a Dream Theater album.

Different arrangements, sloppy guitar solos (blasphemy!), a few mistakes from Jordan Rudess (impossible!)... It's not that this is a bad release, it's just that you really shouldn't own something like this unless you're a die-hard Dream Theater fan. Otherwise, just get the actual 'Train of Thought' release... duh!

And 'Train of Thought' is a damn brilliant album! So yeah... get that instead!