Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) is a compilation album by progressive metal band Dream Theater released by Rhino Records on April 1, 2008.[1] The title alludes to their only Top-10 radio hit, "Pull Me Under." It features three songs from their breakthrough album Images and Words remixed by Kevin Shirley: "Pull Me Under," "Take the Time," and "Another Day." It also features the song "To Live Forever," an Awake-era re-recording of the song from the Images and Words sessions (featured as a B-side of the "Lie" single), which was previously unreleased on a full length album. Several single edits of popular Dream Theater songs are also featured on this compilation.
The songs have been divided in two discs: the first one, dubbed "The Dark Side," features heavy, metal-influenced songs, while the second one, entitled "The Light Side," spotlights the band's melodic side. The set spans the years from 1991 to 2005, therefore it doesn't include any songs from Dream Theater's debut album, When Dream and Day Unite, or from their latest release, Systematic Chaos.
Drummer Mike Portnoy explains in the album's booklet that the selection of songs were carefully made in order to appease both the newcomer and the already existing fan by offering up different versions of songs on other albums to "make the newcomer want to buy the albums from whence they came" and to "give different versions of songs already on other albums" to the current fan. He also suggests that a third disc should've been included called "The Epic Side" showcasing their progressive side.
