Guesting on The Metal Edge Podcast featuring hosts Paul Gargano and Izzy Presley, drum legend Mike Portnoy discussed the new Winery Dogs album and their upcoming tour, Dream Theater, his 12,000 other projects, and more.. Check it out below.
During the chat, Portnoy revealed he is somewhat involved with Dream Theater's ongoing Lost Not Forgotten Archives, which features re-issues of the Ytsejam Records catalogue as a collaboration between Dream Theater and their label, InsideOut Records.
Portnoy, who ís known for keeping and cataloging recordings of everything he has ever performed on, was originally responsible for assembling the Ytsejam Records bootleg releases.
Portnoy: "When they started reissuing these as their new Lost Not Forgotten series, I wasn't involved at all; they were doing it all on their own, but they were reusing a lot of my original Ytsejam titles. So, yeah, I was appearing on a lot of these, but I wasn't involved with any of the artwork or anything like that, and it kind of bummed me out because I spent so much time on the originals, with the liner notes. The liner notes are real important for people to have context of what went behind all of these demos or live shows or whatever. So I wasn't involved in these new reissues, but then John (Petrucci / guitar) and myself started working together again in 2020. I played on his solo album, and then him and me and Jordan Rudess (keyboards) and Tony (Levin / bass), we did a third LTE (Liquid Tension Experiment) album. Once John and I started working together, inevitably I brought it up to him: 'Hey, man, what's up with that? Why aren't the liner notes there anymore?' And I noticed some wrong things on some of the credits on the ones that they released without my involvement. So he was like, 'Hey, if you don't mind overseeing some of the credits and things like that...' just making sure everything is factually correct, because I'm very, very anal about that.
After about their first five or six releases, John started tying me in to make sure at least all the info was correct. Sadly, they're still not using my artwork or liner notes, but that's their prerogative. And then once I got involved on that level, him and the band's manager asked if I'd be willing to maybe contribute some more things from my archives, and I was like, 'You know, what the hell? Why not?' There's a bunch of things in my archives that it's a waste for them to just be sitting here at my house. So, I contributed a bunch of new titles. They just released our show at Madison Square Garden opening for Iron Maiden; that is a new one. And then there's a few others that are coming out soon that came from my archives. So I'm slightly involved at this point. Not as much as I was with the originals, but enough where I can give them a few new titles to add to the collection."
Originally released in 2005 on Ytsejam Records, Images And Words Demos (1989-1991) documents a special period for the band as they prepared for the release of their landmark Images And Words album. This collection includes instrumental versions of fan-favorite Dream Theater classics like "Take The Time" and "Learning To Live". Also showcasing rare early renditions of some of the band’s most well-known entries such as "Oliver’s Twist", which would later become arguably the band’s greatest hit, "Pull Me Under'". It also features the original audition takes that would see Dream Theater appoint James LaBrie as their new vocalist. Remastered and available on vinyl for the very first time, this is a fascinating look at the band’s earliest days together. The latest addition to the Lost Not Forgotten Archives is available to pre-order on 2CD Digipak, Gatefold 180g 3LP+2CD & as Digital Album. Pre-order now for a September 9th release here.
Tracklist
CD1
Instrumental Demos 1989-1991
"Metropolis"
"Take the Time"
"Learning to Live"
"Under A Glass Moon"
Vocalist Audition Demos 1990
"Don't Look Past Me"
"To Live Forever"
"To Live Forever"
"A Change of Seasons"
CD2
The ATCO Demos May 1991
"Metropolis"
"To Live Forever"
"Take the Time"
Pre-Production Demos October 1991
"Pull Me Under"
"Another Day"
"Surrounded"
"Under a Glass Moon"
"Wait for Sleep"
"Learning to Live"
Line-up / Musicians
- Kevin Moore / keyboards
- John Myung / bass guitar
- John Petrucci / guitars
- Mike Portnoy / drums
- James LaBrie / vocals (tracks 9-17)
- John Hendricks / vocals (tracks 5 & 6)
- Steve Stone / vocals (track 7)
- Chris Cintron / vocals (track 8)
