Review by MartinDavey87 for Dream Theater - Official Bootleg: Demo Series: When Dream and Day Unite Demos: 1987-1989 (2004)

The second release of Dream Theater’s demo series of official bootlegs, ‘When Dream and Day Unite Demos 1987-1989’ is a look at the making of the bands seminal debut album. Obviously...

Split into four main sections, there’s instrumental demos, early-Charlie Dominici demos, pre-production demos, and probably the most nerdy aspect of the album is the ‘X-Mas Demo’, which features a super early version of ‘To Live Forever’, which has remained more-or-less unchanged since its creation, as well as an array of random tunes and “messing around” spots that might (but probably won’t) pique the interest of die-hard fans.

The sound is alright, for what it is. Most of these being demos and recorded by the band themselves, there’s nothing massively remarkable, but again, this is for die-hard fans, anyway. Dream Theater are no doubt highly adept at their instruments, and this CD shows that even at a young age, these guys were technical wizards.

But overall, this isn’t really worth even considering to purchase unless you’re the absolute, most highest level of elite Dream Theater fan. And let’s be honest, even if you are, you’ll probably never listen to this anyway.