Review by MartinDavey87 for Dream Theater - Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Images and Words Demos: 1989-1991 (2005)

The third instalment of Dream Theater’s official bootleg demo series covers my favourite album of all time, or at the very least, one of them; 1992’s ‘Images and Words’. Like before, this is something that would be best reserved for the die-hard fans, and normally something that I’d not pay too much attention to myself, since I’d rather listen to the actual studio release. But since these are demos for the greatest album in history, my interest is slightly more piqued than usually.

Similar to previous demo releases, this album is split into four parts. First there are instrumental demos, recorded by the band on a four-track Tascam tape recorder, followed by vocalist audition demos. These could be of interest to long-time fans, as it features three different vocalists who all tried out for the band. A highlight here is a very raw version of ‘A Change of Seasons’ which features different lyrics, vocal phrasing and musical arrangements.

Then there’s ‘The Atco Demos’ and finally, pre-production demos, and this is where the songs really take shape. There’s not many differences compared to the finished product, besides a more polished sound, but I guess it’s kind of cool to hear the bands versions of these songs before they were properly recorded.

Of course, at the end of the day, who’d honestly choose to listen to these demos of varied quality, when you could simply listen to the actual album itself? I’ll tell you who... nobody (and possibly a bunch of nerds trying to be cool or something). However, as is always the case with these official bootlegs, they’re only really for the most dedicated of fans, especially as, if you’re like me, you’re only likely to listen to it a couple of times before leaving it to collect dust in your mum’s attic.