Would you trade Rudess and Mangini to have Moore and Portnoy back?

[jingle.boy]

hhhmmmm... to troll, or not to troll.  Ah, I'll be nice.

My response is "Go Fish".

[kanutaros]

5 Myungs is the name of my all bass quintet.

Your quintet needs to remix Metropolis just using bass sounds and generic '00s MIDI drums.

It would sound incredible but people will be confused as to where the bass solo went.

Also my DT card deck has risen to a new plane of reality with the 5 new Myung cards.

[KevShmev]

No.  Moore isn't in the prog metal-type headspace anymore, and Mangini's arrival has reinvigorated the band.  No need to rock the boat.

[bl5150]

No.  Moore isn't in the prog metal-type headspace anymore, and Mangini's arrival has reinvigorated the band.  No need to rock the boat.

This...........my answer re Moore may have been different some years ago , but not now.

[TheGreatPretender]

No.  Moore isn't in the prog metal-type headspace anymore, and Mangini's arrival has reinvigorated the band.  No need to rock the boat.

Only need to rock the concert halls, am I right? 

[As I Am]

That trade would happen in a heartbeat for me!

[Madman Shepherd]

I wouldnt trade anyone for anyone. 

[MarkFitDT]

No.  Moore isn't in the prog metal-type headspace anymore, and Mangini's arrival has reinvigorated the band.  No need to rock the boat.

This is the correct answer!

[jjrock88]

no, I like the direction of the band now

[Miss Bangkok]

Hmmm...I think not. As disappointing as their latest album is, the current lineup has a lot of potential. Mangini is basically a Rudess on drums, and I think they could come up with all kinds of sick shit if they wanted to. That, however, is what I'm afraid of. I don't think they will. Even if you could bring back one of the original members, it wouldn't make any difference. You can't recreate the magic from that era, because there were so many factors that made it magical.

[FsF]

If they could exist in some alternate dimension where they are both happy staying with the band, i'd get KM and MP back in a heartbeat. Heck, i'd trade any 1 of Kevin's keyboard solos for Rudess' entire DT soloing output (Octavarium and Solitary Shell are pretty darn great ones, though).

[The Holy Tune]

Seeing the "Would you trade Rudess" part of the title, I didn't really care about the rest. JR is my favourite member of the band. No trading of him at all!

[TheCountOfNYC]

I said no. While I'm a huge Portnoy fan, I still want to hear more from Mangini. He's an absolute monster behind the kit and they haven't even began to tap into his potential. I wouldn't want him to turn into another Derek, where he's gone before he even gets the chance to put in his best work for them (although Derek being fired did lead to Jordan joining so it worked out for them).

The Jordan for Kevin part was a much easier no. Jordan Rudess was the single greatest thing to happen to Dream Theater. After struggling to find their way musically after Kevin left in 1994, they finally found the missing piece of the puzzle that would tie it all together to get Dream Theater firing on all cylinders. What Jordan brings to the band in terms of musicianship, creativity, and passion can never be overstated. My favorite story that shows how great Jordan is for the band involves what is one of the most popular sections of music in Dream Theater history: the ragtime solo in TDoE. In Jordan's instructional DVD Keyboard Madness, he was giving a little backstory behind the part before he showed the layers in that particular patch. He said that it originally started as this serious riff on the guitar and he just threw out the idea of changing it to a ragtime piano part. The rest of the band went with it and it ended up working perfectly. The ragtime sound fits so well with the craziness of the song, and we have Jordan to thank for coming up with the idea. I can't say enough good things about him. He is the greatest keyboard player of all time and getting rid of him would be making DT worse.

[mikeyd23]

I definitely voted no..

[Knguro]

Let me think abouNOOOOOOOOOOO...

[LTE3]

Moore is too much of a loner odd ball to come back, as he wouldn't even join them when asked for a anniversary gig a few years ago. Yes, for me Portnoy is and always will be the drummer for Dream Theater and MM is just an awesome fill in.

[Zydar]

How aboot this: Would you trade James LaBrie to have Chris Collins back?

[LTE3]

How aboot this: Would you trade James LaBrie to have Chris Collins back?

God no, funny though.

[ChuckSteak]

Yes. I am curious how a new album would sound with the classic line-up. Not that I don't enjoy DT with Mangini or Rudess.

[Aythesryche]

Why even address this?  It is what it is.


I will enjoy the music they put out today and not dwell in the past.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Yes

[Dark Castle]

Would trade Rudess immediately, Mangini can stay.
Rudess is a cool dude and all but....

[Rodni Demental]

Moore was good. He had some very good melodies, but he couldn't hold a candle to Rudess even back in the I&W days, let alone now when he probably can't even play as well as he used to. So no, definitely not.

In all fairness, I think it's a bit much to assume he can't play as well as he used to. It could be realistic to presume that he'd be out of practice with DT style material but when you're at the level KM reached (same can probably be said for all the ex DT members), it's just not something you forget. It really is like riding a bike or something, you can't completely forget everything, and at worst you'll just find some things being less familiar until you settle back into it but I'm sure it'd all come back to him. And besides, we might not have seen any public output recently (to be fair; Fire Make Thunder isn't THAT old yet) but I'd be completely surprised if KM is not casually playing anything at all these days.

[TheGreatPretender]

In all fairness, I think it's a bit much to assume he can't play as well as he used to. It could be realistic to presume that he'd be out of practice with DT style material but when you're at the level KM reached (same can probably be said for all the ex DT members), it's just not something you forget. It really is like riding a bike or something, you can't completely forget everything, and at worst you'll just find some things being less familiar until you settle back into it but I'm sure it'd all come back to him. And besides, we might not have seen any public output recently (to be fair; Fire Make Thunder isn't THAT old yet) but I'd be completely surprised if KM is not casually playing anything at all these days.

Well, even if that is the case, when Rudess came into the band, he brought a whole new level of dexterity, so I honestly wouldn't believe that KM would be able to play as fast. He'd be playing like, half the notes in some of the songs.

[Dark Castle]

In all fairness, I think it's a bit much to assume he can't play as well as he used to. It could be realistic to presume that he'd be out of practice with DT style material but when you're at the level KM reached (same can probably be said for all the ex DT members), it's just not something you forget. It really is like riding a bike or something, you can't completely forget everything, and at worst you'll just find some things being less familiar until you settle back into it but I'm sure it'd all come back to him. And besides, we might not have seen any public output recently (to be fair; Fire Make Thunder isn't THAT old yet) but I'd be completely surprised if KM is not casually playing anything at all these days.

Well, even if that is the case, when Rudess came into the band, he brought a whole new level of dexterity, so I honestly wouldn't believe that KM would be able to play as fast. He'd be playing like, half the notes in some of the songs.

Would rather hame keys that brought atmosphere to the song compared to how many notes somebody can play. Kevin Moore has always written better key pieces imo.

[TheGreatPretender]

On maybe like 2 or 3 songs. The rest of his key parts aren't anything more special than JR's.

[Dublagent66]

[Mosh]

JR is a great musician and one of the coolest guys in rock, but his playing has never resonated with me the way KM's did. There was always a moodiness to KM's playing and he was really amazing at combining technicality with atmosphere. Even on Awake when he took a step back, his keyboard parts are stellar and fit the album perfectly. And of course his lyrical contribution was (and still is) on another level from what everyone else was doing.

That said, he wouldn't fit in today's DT. Could you imagine him on an album like ADTOE with all his samples and sound effects? It wouldn't work. While I wish DT would go in a slightly less technical direction, the addition of Mangini is only going to push that further and KM would be so out of place in that.

It works out for the better anyway, since KM has OSI which is fucking awesome.

[commanderbob]

If I could wave a magic wand and get erase the portion of Jordan's brain that produces those googley-boogley-carnival-on-acid ELP sections, this wouldn't even be a thought.  I still wouldn't  do it, but those section make me at least think about it.

[TheGreatPretender]

I'll take any keyboard part, any keyboard sound, any keyboard solo that Rudess has ever done over most of KM's work on Awake. Outside of Lifting Shadows Off A Dream and Space-Dye Vest, KM's keyboard sounds on Awake range from tolerable, to outright annoying.

[BlobVanDam]

The Jordan for Kevin part was a much easier no. Jordan Rudess was the single greatest thing to happen to Dream Theater. After struggling to find their way musically after Kevin left in 1994, they finally found the missing piece of the puzzle that would tie it all together to get Dream Theater firing on all cylinders. What Jordan brings to the band in terms of musicianship, creativity, and passion can never be overstated. My favorite story that shows how great Jordan is for the band involves what is one of the most popular sections of music in Dream Theater history: the ragtime solo in TDoE. In Jordan's instructional DVD Keyboard Madness, he was giving a little backstory behind the part before he showed the layers in that particular patch. He said that it originally started as this serious riff on the guitar and he just threw out the idea of changing it to a ragtime piano part. The rest of the band went with it and it ended up working perfectly. The ragtime sound fits so well with the craziness of the song, and we have Jordan to thank for coming up with the idea. I can't say enough good things about him. He is the greatest keyboard player of all time and getting rid of him would be making DT worse.

Quoting this because this guy gets it. Rudess is a genius, and irreplaceable.

[?]

I prefer Kevin to Jordan, but Kevin has been in a totally different place musically for almost 20 years now, and there's no way he'd fit into DT at this point. Even if he was willing to rejoin, I wouldn't want him to come back, because that would give him (even) less time for OSI and solo projects. Jordan has had his bad moments (like the Bebot solo), but he's a great musician and the perfect fit for modern DT.

Moore was good. He had some very good melodies, but he couldn't hold a candle to Rudess even back in the I&W days, let alone now when he probably can't even play as well as he used to. So no, definitely not.

In all fairness, I think it's a bit much to assume he can't play as well as he used to. It could be realistic to presume that he'd be out of practice with DT style material but when you're at the level KM reached (same can probably be said for all the ex DT members), it's just not something you forget. It really is like riding a bike or something, you can't completely forget everything, and at worst you'll just find some things being less familiar until you settle back into it but I'm sure it'd all come back to him. And besides, we might not have seen any public output recently (to be fair; Fire Make Thunder isn't THAT old yet) but I'd be completely surprised if KM is not casually playing anything at all these days.

Exactly. Dead Air for Radios and Fates Warning's APSOG include some pretty intricate piano parts - I know both were released over 15 years ago, but that doesn't mean all his skills have disappeared.

[LCArenas]

JR for KM = NOPE. I fucking love Good'ol Kevin Moore, but his style is completely different from current DT (I mean, his preferences being different from DT is what made him leave the band in '94 back then, imagine now). Jordan has become a major creative force on DT these years and has already a blueprint on the band's creative output. So yeah, totally no.

Now MM for MP I'm not so sure. MM is a fantastic drummer and I think the fact that the last two albums were so good are in part thanks to him. I can see MP coming back since his ASS AND BALLS A7X and AMob phase is over, and of course for some nostalgia here but... DT has gone on without him and if he came back he'd probably find JM JR and JP not counting on him when composing the song. And that would piss him off a lot. I'd probably wait a while until a reunion/anniversary show to see him on the band again. For now, MM fits like a glove.

you know the goal of the game is to not be the last guy with the Charlie card.

Wait, what? Last time I got a Chris Collins by accident and automatically lost the game!

[bl5150]

JP for KM = NOPE.

yes JP for KM would leave a bit of a hole 

[?]

JP for KM = NOPE.

yes JP for KM would leave a bit of a hole 

Well, Kevin does play guitar