Your DT "I wish they would have" moment(s)

[IronMarioAUT]

I wish they didn't make Never Enough and Prophets of War.

this!
I never understood why they suddenly felt the need to sound like Muse. 
Now with MP gone I really hope this "inspiration corner" is a thing from the past and they're not forced anymore to write songs that sound like ...insert MP's favourite band of the week...

[jsem]

3. I wish James could have avoided food poisoning

+100

[Hal Incandenza]

I wish John Myung hadn't backed off of the lyrics and songwriting.  Their songs are stronger when the bass lines are more interesting, and Myung wrote the lyrics for a bunch of their best tracks.

+1 on the songwriting approach taken from LTE.  I love LTE's stuff, and I love Rudess, but over time, it's made DT's albums tend to sound alike, since they don't give themselves the time to reflect and decide to take a different approach.  It's like they do everything on the same default setting every time.

[Lowdz]

I think they should have kept Six Degrees as one separate track... Presence Of Enemies as well.

And maybe they should have left Lifting Shadows off in favor of Eve/To Live Forever/Don't Look Past Me.

Can't agree with that one. Lifting shadows is a big fave chez Lowdz.

[ZKX-2099]

Eve/To Live Forever/Don't Look Past Me > Lifting Shadows

[aparadoxindeed]

My only real "wish" is that I wish they hadn't kept with the "writing and recording at the same time in the studio" thing.  They did it with SFAM because that's how the LTE albums had been recorded, but to me DT is a very different thing than LTE, despite the overlap in members.  I think most of the albums since then would have been better served by writing, editing, and honing the songs before going into the studio to record.  Don't get me wrong, I think they've done some amazing music in that span, but I think it could have been better if there had been more time spent on the actual craft of songwriting.

Yep, I definitely agree with this as well!

[Dynia]

I wish their label hadn't interfered in the writing process of FII back in the 1997. It would have been an outstanding album with You Or Me and Raise The Knife being on the actual album.  

[Vesper]

I wish they continued to use outside producers to keep their music a little more focused. I wish the songs had a little more prog feeling like their earlier work. And I also wish them the best in the new era.       

[jsem]

Eve/To Live Forever/Don't Look Past Me > Lifting Shadows

Yeah. But there are worse tracks on Awake. Eve DEFINITELY shoulda been on though.

[rumborak]

I wish their label hadn't interfered in the writing process of FII back in the 1997. It would have been an outstanding album with You Or Me and Raise The Knife being on the actual album.  

Personally, I take that "common knowledge" with a big grain of salt. If you read Lifting Shadows you see that JP and the others were nowhere near as opposed to the influence of the label as MP was. And Lifting Shadows is essentially 90% MP. I think if there's one thing we learned over the last few months, it's that there's a big difference between what MP would espouse as band consensus, and what the other members really thought.

rumborak

[pogoowner]

My only real "wish" is that I wish they hadn't kept with the "writing and recording at the same time in the studio" thing.  They did it with SFAM because that's how the LTE albums had been recorded, but to me DT is a very different thing than LTE, despite the overlap in members.  I think most of the albums since then would have been better served by writing, editing, and honing the songs before going into the studio to record.  Don't get me wrong, I think they've done some amazing music in that span, but I think it could have been better if there had been more time spent on the actual craft of songwriting.

Exactly.

[hefdaddy42]

And maybe they should have left Lifting Shadows off in favor of Eve/To Live Forever/Don't Look Past Me.

None of these were real options for inclusion on Awake, AFAIK.

[Dynia]

I wish their label hadn't interfered in the writing process of FII back in the 1997. It would have been an outstanding album with You Or Me and Raise The Knife being on the actual album. 

Personally, I take that "common knowledge" with a big grain of salt. If you read Lifting Shadows you see that JP and the others were nowhere near as opposed to the influence of the label as MP was. And Lifting Shadows is essentially 90% MP. I think if there's one thing we learned over the last few months, it's that there's a big difference between what MP would espouse as band consensus, and what the other members really thought.

rumborak

Yeah, you are probably right. But i have read an interview with JP from '99 after the recording of SFAM in some old magazine, and he said he had been upset with the influence of the label, and that he would have changed a lot of things on FII back then. And YNM WAS rewritten by Desmond Child, wasn't it? That song makes the album not that great for me. Anyway, whether DT was influenced by the label or not, FII could have been better.

[John94]

I wish that if DT do a Muse type song, it should more like "Ruled by Secrecy" and less like Stockholm Syndrome. Sorry, I'm just into atmospheric music atm.

[Groundhog]

My only real "wish" is that I wish they hadn't kept with the "writing and recording at the same time in the studio" thing.  They did it with SFAM because that's how the LTE albums had been recorded, but to me DT is a very different thing than LTE, despite the overlap in members.  I think most of the albums since then would have been better served by writing, editing, and honing the songs before going into the studio to record.  Don't get me wrong, I think they've done some amazing music in that span, but I think it could have been better if there had been more time spent on the actual craft of songwriting.

Exactly.

Agreed.

Also:

1. No Loudness War
2. No food poisoning
3. No blatant Muse influences
4. No rorororororo in ANTR/no distorted/harsh vox on TDEN
5. I wish they would have ventured more outside of the "core DT sound" on the recent albums.

[MykeHavoc]

I wish they has postponed the Awake tour to give James time to heal his voice. I think the subsequent records would've been of higher quality vocally.

[rumborak]

i don't know, I'm happy it forced them to stop writing 80's vocal lines and go with the times.

rumborak

[pogoowner]

i don't know, I'm happy it forced them to stop writing 80's vocal lines and go with the times.

rumborak

I feel like they've taken it too far these days, though, and don't always take advantage of JLB's voice.

[Ħ]

No food poisoning.  Seriously.  We'd have 10 IaW-style albums as opposed to just 2.

[John94]

I wish DT never 'laired' one eternity on Through My Words from Metropolis 2000.

[ReaperKK]

Eve/To Live Forever/Don't Look Past Me < Lifting Shadows

fixt

[Ben_Jamin]

Its was learing.

Leaving off the awesome Metropolis 00 outro off the studio version.

[Daso]

I wish they would have hired a temporary replacement for LaBrie on the Awake tour as long as his voice needed for it to heal (6 months I think it was).

[JayOctavarium]

I wish the track listing on Awake was different.

1. Erotomania
2. Voices
3. Silent Man
4. Caught In A Web
7. Lifting Shadows
8. Innocence Faded
9. Lifting Shadows
10. The Mirror
11. Lie
12. Space Dye Vest


and throw 6:00 in there somewhere

Oh and I wish 5 years in a Livetime was worth the money. I think there is a reason it is packaged with Live in Tokyo now...

[blackngold29]

I wish the would sell a normal looking t-shirt rather than the ones with the goofy bird imagery that have nothing to do with the band.

[TheMadgician]

I wish the would sell a normal looking t-shirt rather than the ones with the goofy bird imagery that have nothing to do with the band.

This. Although I thought the Japan tour shirt was pretty good. Happen to be wearing it now, actually.

[Perpetual Change]

I wish they never would have given Roadrunner the go-ahead on those promo pictures.

[JayOctavarium]

I wish they never would have given Roadrunner the go-ahead on those promo pictures.

lol

[reneranucci]

I wish they had chosen another singer instead of James. Or that they had fired him after watching his ridiculous dances and hearing his annoying screeches in the 1993 Live in Tokyo video.

[hefdaddy42]

I wish they had chosen another singer instead of James. Or that they had fired him after watching his ridiculous dances and hearing his annoying screeches in the 1993 Live in Tokyo video.

what

[SixDegrees]

.

[jonny108]

I wish they had chosen another singer instead of James.

No.

[walmartsecurity]

I wish they had a really solid but reserved rhythm guitarist. Maybe an in-between personality of JP and JM, but at the same level of talent.

I've always thought this band needed a second guitar for their live shows, especially when doing covers of bands like Metallica or Priest or Maiden. I don't have a problem with just JP but this thread is all about "what-ifs", so there's mine.

Also, I'm interested in the kind of direction DT would have taken if KM or DS stayed on board up until now and they were able to get along. I'm especially interested in KM because my favorite DT album for keyboards is, by far, WDADU.

[ReaPsTA]

I wish their label hadn't interfered in the writing process of FII back in the 1997. It would have been an outstanding album with You Or Me and Raise The Knife being on the actual album.  

Personally, I take that "common knowledge" with a big grain of salt. If you read Lifting Shadows you see that JP and the others were nowhere near as opposed to the influence of the label as MP was. And Lifting Shadows is essentially 90% MP. I think if there's one thing we learned over the last few months, it's that there's a big difference between what MP would espouse as band consensus, and what the other members really thought.

rumborak

Nice sounding narrative, doesn't quite match up with what actually happened.  Think about it this way:

New Millennium
You Not Me - Written with outside writer, originally going to be cut
Peruvian Skies
Hollow Years - Originally longer and more tribal feeling rather than like a ride on a gondola
Burning My Soul - Originally much longer and different with the Hell's Kitchen middle section
Hell's Kitchen - Originally part of burning my Soul
Lines in the Sand - Lots of little and big changes from the demo
Take Away My Pain - Originally a completely different song
Just Let Me Breathe
Anna Lee - Originally a Little Longer
Trial of Tears

Seven Out of the Eleven tracks are either somewhat or fundamentally different from the demo versions.  Two of the tracks wouldn't have even been there if not for Kevin Shirley.  The original plan was to make it a double album.

Maybe the other members of the band (particularly JP) weren't as opposed to what the label did, but they definitely had their fingers well into the process.

[lucky7]

I wish the band would have completed a tour of Australia before 2008!