Continuing the excellent series of re-issuing back catalog material augmented with hidden treasures, this is by far the weakest excuse yet.

I make no apologies for my stance that the best Fates Warning was with John Arch. That’s not why I have a problem with this collection. In addition to the original format of the "Parallels" album, there’s a second disc, entitled "Parallels Live", and a DVD of the same Jan. 23, 1992 show from Hollywood, CA, documentary, interviews and behind the scenes stuff. James LeBrie (Dream Theater) guests on ‘Life In Still Water’. Elsewhere on the so-called live platter, we only get 62.5% of the titular disc, a total of eight live songs includes ‘Nothing Left To Say’, ‘Quietus’ and ‘Through Different Eyes’, as well as six in-studio demo versions of the eight songs that made the final running order. True, I’d rather have the aforementioned trio of extra (non-album) cuts, but in terms of truth-in-advertising, or for fans expecting the album in its entirety, might prove something of a letdown. At times the live sound is a little hollow. Hadn’t really listened to the album in almost two decades, so was surprised how much Queensryche influence is evident in those tunes ("Empire" came out a year earlier).