Dream Theater

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Powergirl81 said:
Images and Words is the only DT album I have and I love it. I have listened to later stuff like Metropolis Part 2 and it's not as good IMO. I could see LaBrie singing for Maiden. He could hit Bruce's high screams at the end of Flight Of Icarus and the harmonies in Flash Of the Blade. But he's American isn't he?
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Worse, he's Canadian
 
Invader said:
Gillan, too, could've been a good replacement.
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Gillan today, or Gillan of the 70s? He can't hit all those high notes anymore. He's still great, but he's different enough that you really have to specify which Gillan you mean.

I personally think LaBrie sounds great on the DT and Ayreon songs. I honestly don't understand why some people dislike his voice. To each his own, but I just don't get it.

However, LaBrie sounds like shit on almost all cover songs. I like the fact that DT covers whole albums, but LaBrie has just never sounded good on those.

So I guess you could say ...  LaBrie sounds very good on the songs where he's the original singer, and there is no standard of comparison. But when you do have someone else to compare him to, his limitations expose themselves.
 
Powergirl81 said:
Images and Words is the only DT album I have and I love it. I have listened to later stuff like Metropolis Part 2 and it's not as good IMO. I could see LaBrie singing for Maiden. He could hit Bruce's high screams at the end of Flight Of Icarus and the harmonies in Flash Of the Blade. But he's American isn't he? Steve only lets British folks in Maiden, right?

...I didn't know Halford has to use a teleprompter! That's weird because didn't he write a lot of classic Priest? Or was it KK Downing and Tipton?
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Quote Halford: "It's a hell of a lot of words to remember you know" unquote. And yes, he wrote the lyrics on most songs. And that's a LOT of songs, so no wonder he can't remember them all.
 
Yax said:
Quote Halford: "It's a hell of a lot of words to remember you know" unquote. And yes, he wrote the lyrics on most songs. And that's a LOT of songs, so no wonder he can't remember them all.
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So why does everybody else manage to?
 
SinisterMinisterX said:
Gillan today, or Gillan of the 70s? He can't hit all those high notes anymore. He's still great, but he's different enough that you really have to specify which Gillan you mean.
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Probably Gillan of the 70s, then.  I haven't heard him on anything recent, nor have I seen him sing live.
 
Doogie White also auditioned Maiden, right? i think he would have been a great replacement. but hey, instead we got an alltime classic album with Rainbow in the form Stranger In Us All, so no complaints...
 
I hate Labrie on any release / live performance past Images and Words.  Seriously, when you have 4 of the best musicians in the world, you shouldn't have a sub-par singer.

Btw, does anyone have the same feeling as I do that whenever Labrie goes above a certain pitch, you cannot for love nor money understand what the hell he is saying?
 
PHew! I thought I was the only one.  Can't explain why, but I wasn't fond of 'When Day and Dream Unite' (pre LaBrie) but have loved eveything with him on it-- even when he ruptured his vocal chords.
 
I just got back from the Progressive Nation Tour. That's Dream Theater, Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, and Three (a local band from New York.) Overall, a very solid show. Three, whom I had never heard of before, were suprisingly good. They had two drummers and some of the coolest drum soloing I've heard. Between the Buried and Me isn't my cup of tea, but they were fun to watch and headbang to. Opeth were great, and Michael Akerfeldt is possibly one of the most down-to-earth people I've ever seen on stage, but after a while their songs all started to sound the same. I don't usually have that problem with Opeth, maybe it was jsut the selection of songs. Dream Theater were just brilliant. Everyone except James LaBrie sounded so much better on stage than in studio, especially john Myung. Petrucci's solos were all great. LaBrie's voice was less melodic and more aggressive than in studio. I still can't decide how I feel about that. The people were really friendly and the mosh pit was relatively tame compared to what I expected. Overall it was a hell of a lot of fun for my first metal concert.
 
That is a SWEET concert whether your first or fiftieth :D They didn't come to AZ for that tour and I missed them last year :(... One of these days...
 
If they had come to Ontario I might've seen them.  My friend is a massive DT fan, and I'm a casual one.  Not a big fan of a lot of their work post- "A Change of Seasons".
 
Whoa, it's more than a year since this thread has been posted in... Oh well, let's resurrect it - the new DT album, Black Clouds and Silver Linings (officialy to be released sometime in late June) has leaked about a week ago.

I don't know what's the policy on commenting on albums that haven't been officialy released, but anyway, here's a few words behind the spoiler tags.

Thankfully, it's not gothic sounding at all, as Jordan Rudess once mentioned. Mike Portnoy takes an even greater role in the vocal area, which I don't like. There's his "rapping" like in Prophets of War, and then there's his growling, which doesn't fit DT's music, IMO. However, the first single, Rite of Passage, has got a nice chorus. The best song on the album in my opinion is Shattered Fortress, the final part of Portnoy's AA saga, which basically contains all the best riffs from the previous installments of the saga. Then there's The Best of Times, the second song written by Portnoy, it's about his relationship with his father who afterwards died of cancer. The slow intro melody on acoustic guitar is very reminiscent of Hollow Years, what do you lot think? Finally, the too long album ending, The Count of Tuscany - the lyrics are silly and don't quite fit the music ("let me introduce... MY BROTHER!"), but the final part, after the Octavariumesque unnecessary long slow/quiet section, is superb, the best five minutes of music on the entire album. LaBrie superbly manages to convey emotion to the listener, it gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. Overall - far better than Systematic Chaos, a little better than Octavarium, but not among DT's best material. Unfortunately, they're taking the Systematic Chaos musical style further. Only this time it's a bit better.

Oh, yeah, Rudess is starting to get really irritating with his "solos" and "experimentation"...
 
I actually think it's Rudess' best performance since SDOIT, bleeps and bloops aside.  Also, I think TCOT is definitely the highlight.  The lyrics suck, but they're very entertaining.  And the rest rocks like no other DT song in a while, with a great buildup towards the end. 

"Tell them about my brother, tell them about me... the Count of Tuscanyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

I just don't get why Labrie couldn't muster an emotional performance over the death of Portnoy's father, but he could about a Tuscan count.

Also, I find it incredibly hilarious that the best lyrics on the album are about writer's block.

Also, Petrucci's best performance since SDOIT.
 
Thoughts on Dream Theater?

As you can see from my avatar, Iron Maiden and Dream Theater are my 2 favorite bands. In fact, I was turned on to DT because I saw them open for Maiden at the Ritz in NYC in 92.
I am interested in the thoughts of folks that will be experiencing Dream Theater for the FIRST time when they see them open for Maiden. The set is being tailored to cram as much as they can in 50 minutes to turn the heads of Maiden fans.
 
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