Description
“METROPOLIS Pt.2: SCENES FROM A MEMORY” is a monumental concept album and a masterpiece of the music genre “prog metal”. An amazing original recording that allows you to experience the best of the Japanese performance is now available. This work is engraved with the “Diamond Hall performance on May 8, 2000”. It is a superb audience recording. From the beginning, I wrote a scolding that “The best work is IMAGES AND WORDS!”, but please forgive me because it is Twin Peaks, and no one would disagree that the show at that time was a rare story reproduction tour. Normally, we introduce the dates of the visit to Japan only for the Japanese performance, but since it is a good opportunity, let’s look back on the whole view of the century story tour. 1999・July 31st: Appearance at Triport Rock Festival《METROPOLIS Pt.2 released on October 26th》・November 8th-24th: Europe #1 (13 performances)2000・January 31st-March 10th: North America #1 (30 performances)・March 24th-April 20th: Europe #2 (20 performances)・May 6th-20th: Asia (9 performances)←★Here★・July 8th-23rd: Europe #3 (10 performances)・August 4th-30th: North America #2 (19 performances)←※Official・October 2nd-21st: Europe #4 (15 performances)This is the whole picture of the famous “METROPOLIS 2000 Tour”. The official live work “LIVE SCENES FROM NEW YORK”, which is a symbolic work, was the last day of the final “North America 32”, but the “Asia” leg was about four months before that. The composition is “Korea (1 performance) → Japan (7 performances) → Taiwan (1 performance)”, and this Nagoya performance was a concert on the first day of the visit to Japan. This work recorded at such a show is a superb audience recording with “super”. Recently, our shop has been unearthing DAT masters in the Nagoya area one after another, and this work is one of them. Anyway, the clarity and vivid core that are vividly transparent even in the fine parts are wonderful. If you listen carefully with headphones, you can feel the audience’s touch, but that is only the tone. The hall sound does not hide the details (even a little!) by simply giving thickness and dynamism to the realistic performance sound. The ensemble of the four virtuoso players is also beautifully separated, and even when Livelier’s vocals and Portnoy’s chorus are placed on top, and even when the SE that sets the mood of the story overlaps, they do not mix… It is a super clear sound that goes beyond the common sense of spatial recording. Just now, I wrote “four virtuoso players”, but this is not just a matter of course. As you know, each one is a monster player with a tremendous number of moves, and it is not a thin clean tone. Even when the four entangled and clashed battle phrases, they did not mix. I can understand if it was a multi-track sound board, but I wondered if it was really recorded with one microphone? A “?” swirled in my head. What’s even more surprising is that even when the virtuoso skills erupted in a huge applause, it was strangely far away. It felt like a big cheer of “Wow!” was ringing on the other side of the thick performance sound, and the clapping corps that was in sync felt like they were on the other side of the thick drumming. As you can see from the ticket photo, it was actually recorded from the audience seats, but the sound itself gives the illusion of listening to the show from behind the stage. This other-dimensional sound depicts a story that is a little different from “LIVE SCENES FROM NEW YORK”. The whole concert. Of course, the axis is a complete reproduction of “METROPOLIS Pt.2”, but the encore part after that is quite different. Let’s organize it by comparing it here. Part 1: Metropolis Part 2 (all songs) Part 2: Others Images and Words Medley (★: Pull Me Under / Under A Glass Moon / A Fortune In Lies / Only A Matter Of Time / Take The Time) Awake: Erotomania Falling Into Infinity: Peruvian Skies (★) Liquid Tension Experiment: Paradigm Shift *Note: The “★” mark indicates songs that cannot be heard on the official version of “LIVE SCENES FROM NEW YORK”. …And so it is. The highlight is the complete reproduction of “METROPOLIS Pt.2”. Its historical drama is incredible, and listening to it with only the audience at the scene is even more moving. I will avoid talking about the whole thing, but I really want to touch on the ending part. The venue is washed away by an overwhelming tsunami of catharsis, and the footsteps that play immediately afterwards also create a great atmosphere. A silence that does not want to miss a single sound covers the venue, and the white noise finally brings the audience back to their senses, as they clap. Then, the mood becomes relaxed and relaxed, and Portnoy makes a joke in Japanese saying, “I want to pee!” This series of events gives the feeling that the story of the century has ended right in front of your eyes. After watching a Hollywood blockbuster, you may have experienced a half-dazed feeling of wondering, “Is what I just saw real?”, and this work also allows you to experience that on-site feeling in a super-realistic way. And the biggest difference from “LIVE SCENES FROM NEW YORK” is what happens afterwards. In the official live album, they played a wide variety of songs starting with the previous work “Metropolis Pt.1”, but that was a rough technique only possible on the final day and with the official recording. Here, as if it were a part of the tour, they take up one representative part each from the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and LTE. Among them, the most delicious is the “IMAGES AND WORDS” medley that is performed at the end. While leaving out “Metropolis Pt.1”, the essence of the five songs is compressed into about 17 minutes. The sense of balance that keeps the world of “Metropolis” only in the main story and the rich arrangement that solidifies “other” at once are extremely effective. At that time, they were able to do anything well. The ending makes you feel the power of the goddess’ smile. Japan was not able to experience “Tommy”, “Broadway’s Dazzling” or “The Wall”. For us, the 1991 “OPERATION: MINDCRIME” reproduction and the 2000 “METROPOLIS Pt.2” may have been what taught us the true essence of story concerts. A rare original recording that allows you to experience the scene with super clear sound. A superb audience recording of the “Diamond Hall performance on May 8, 2000”. The original DAT master only for this work, the clarity and vivid core that are crystal clear even in the fine details are wonderful. The hall sound does not hide the details by only giving thickness and dynamism to the realistic performance sound. The ensemble in which the four virtuoso skills are intertwined is also beautifully separated, and even if Livelier’s vocals and Portnoy’s chorus are placed on it, and even the SE that writes the story mood overlaps, it does not mix… It is a super clear sound that goes beyond the common sense of spatial recording. It is a super masterpiece that allows you to fully enjoy the historical scene of the Japanese debut of “METROPOLIS Pt.2” with super cathartic sound. Live at Club Diamond Hall, Nagoya, Japan 8th May 2000 ULTIMATE SOUND(from Original Masters)*New Source!! Disc 1 (78:58) Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory 1. Act I: Scene One: Regression 2. Act I: Scene Two: I. Overture 1928 3. Act I: Scene Two: II. Strange Deja Vu 4. Act I: Scene Three: I. Through My Words 5. Act I: Scene Three: II. Fatal Tragedy 6. Act I: Scene Four: Beyond This Life 7. Act I: Scene Five: Through Her Eyes 8. Act II: Scene Six: Home 9. Act II: Scene Seven: I. The Dance of Eternity 10. Act II: Scene Seven: II. One Last Time 11. Act II: Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On Disc 2 (47:28) 1. : Scene Nine: Finally Free 2. Peruvian Skies 3. Erotomania 4. Paradigm Shift 5. When Images and Words Unite Medley (Pull Me Under, Under a Glass Moon, A Fortune in Lies, Only a Matter of Time, Take the Time) James LaBrie – lead vocals John Petrucci – guitar Jordan Rudess – keyboards John Myung – bass Mike Portnoy – drums
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