Band:	Dream Theater
Album:	A Change Of Seasons
Style:	Progressive metal
Release date:	September 19, 1995
Guest review by:	The Silent Man

01. A Change Of Seasons
    1 - The Crimson Sunrise
    2 - Innocence
    3 - Carpe Diem
    4 - The Darkest Of Winters
    5 - Another World
    6 - The Inevitable Summer
    7 - The Crimson Sunset
02. Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding [Elton John cover]
03. Perfect Strangers [Deep Purple cover]
04. The Rover / Achilles Last Stand / The Song Remains The Same [Led Zeppelin cover]
05. The Big Medley
    1 - In The Flesh? [Pink Floyd cover]
    2 - Carry On Wayward Son [Kansas cover]
    3 - Bohemian Rhapsody [Queen cover]
    4 - Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin [Journey cover]
    5 - Cruise Control [Dixie Dregs cover]
    6 - Turn It On Again [Genesis cover]

This EP contains about a hour of excellent music. It is divided into two parts: a 23 minutes long title-track and some covers taken from the famous live performance at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London on January 31st, 1995.

This studio version of the song 'A Change Of Seasons' has immediately reached the 1st position in my top three. In spite of its length, this is actually my favorite song of all time. When I didn't know it, I always thought that 23 minutes were really too much. How wrong I was! This is a true masterpiece: in my opinion, it's the best song Dream Theater have ever written.

It is a beautiful evolution of an old piece written in 1989 together with Metropolis-Part I. I have that old version but it is really miles away from this one. 'A Change Of Seasons' is a wonderful suite divided in seven parts and it is a metaphor representing the human life in all his length. This song features excellent lyrics, which deeply influenced my way of living and enjoying life as it is. I'm not joking. Mike Portnoy was inspired by Horace's "Carpe Diem" theme, my favourite literary subject. "Carpe Diem" is a latin maxim which means "Seize The Day": it is an encouragement to enjoy our life as it is in the present, because we don't know what the future may bring. Quite logical, but very deep.

'A Change Of Seasons' was meant to be in the tracklist of Images And Words, but after an agreement with the producer, it [fortunately] had to be released as an EP. So, during the gap between 1991 and 1995 it was deeply modified. This way it became the masterpiece we hear today. Since the first moment, the production is impeccable, the whole sound is clean and delicate, above all the excellent keyboard effects used by Derek Sherinian on his Korg Trinity. Just relax and let this song carry you through wonderful atmospheres, deep melodies, accurate vocals and expressive guitar sections. Special thanks to John Petrucci and his Ibanez 7-string.

The remaining part of this EP is filled up with live covers of Elton John, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Kansas, Queen, Journey, Dixie Dregs and Genesis. In my opinion, it is not the perfect way to fill an EP, probably because I don't like live records [except for Iron Maiden and Rolling Stones]. If Dream Theater included some unreleased tracks, my rating would have been 10/10. By the way, A Change Of Seasons remains an excellent EP.