DTF singers: how is LaBrie getting so much better as he gets older?

[Perpetual Change]

I recently did a back-to-back listen of the Pull Me Under performances from Budokan and LALP, and while I pretty much prefered the Budokan performance over the Luna Park one in most categories, the vocals on LALP really stoodd out as being superior.

One thing I've noticed about James is that, over the years, his ability to hit notes hasn't really changed, but the quality of the notes he hits definitely has gotten better. On Budokan, it seems like he more or less hits all the notes, but his voice has a shrill quality to it by the end of the evening. Score features him hitting the notes, but will a fuller albeit less sustained tone. On Luna Park, he's hitting all the notes, but his tone is also a lot fuller and more jagged, and he sustains notes longer too.

I saw James twice on the BC&SL tour, and was extremely impressed with his vocal performances both nights. I missed seeing the band for ADTOE, but it appears from what I've read and what I'm seeing here that James has continued to get better and better from LSFNY to LAB to Score to LALP.

To all singers and vocalists at DTF, how is it possible that James continues to improve so much, despite his age? Granted, we all know how seriously he's taken recovery, it is almost too good to be true that he's improved this much thanks to taking better care of his voice, especially since there are ten additional years of mileage on his voice compared to his performance on Budokan. Can anyone with deeper knowledge explain what is going on with James' voice that is making him do such a better job these days?

[As I Am]

I think he regained a lot of vocal prowess between 2005-2011. I felt he really started going south again in 2012. We'll see next tour.

[bosk1]

Joe, I think it is actually fairly common for singers who take really good care of their voice to become better with age.  They may lose some range, but in terms of their voice becoming fuller and stronger within the singer's comfortable range, I've seen it a lot.  I think part of it is that the voice continues to mature.  And in addition to that, vocalists who truly put the work in continue to learn how to best use their voice as an instrument.  Here is an interesting article that describes the process Tom Keifer from Cinderella went through in losing and regaining his voice:  https://goodmenproject.com/arts/dont-know-what-you-got-til-its-gone-js/  It doesn't get into a lot of specifics, but definitely paints a picture and is just an all-around good read.

[theseoafs]

I'm not qualified to answer the question in the title, but I agree that JLB's voice seems to be getting so much better with age.  I'm extremely impressed with everything I've heard from Luna Park so far and I can't wait to hear him on next year's tour.

[Kotowboy]

Another James that has definitely gotten better with age is James Bradfield from manic street preachers - despite him being an occasional shouter / screamer type vocalist.

He obviously has good technique so that his shouty vocals aren't hurting his singing vocals. 

[Ravenfoul]

Joe, I think it is actually fairly common for singers who take really good care of their voice to become better with age.  They may lose some range, but in terms of their voice becoming fuller and stronger within the singer's comfortable range, I've seen it a lot.  I think part of it is that the voice continues to mature.  And in addition to that, vocalists who truly put the work in continue to learn how to best use their voice as an instrument.  Here is an interesting article that describes the process Tom Keifer from Cinderella went through in losing and regaining his voice:  https://goodmenproject.com/arts/dont-know-what-you-got-til-its-gone-js/  It doesn't get into a lot of specifics, but definitely paints a picture and is just an all-around good read.

That was an interesting read.

[Perpetual Change]

Joe, I think it is actually fairly common for singers who take really good care of their voice to become better with age.  They may lose some range, but in terms of their voice becoming fuller and stronger within the singer's comfortable range, I've seen it a lot.  I think part of it is that the voice continues to mature.  And in addition to that, vocalists who truly put the work in continue to learn how to best use their voice as an instrument.  Here is an interesting article that describes the process Tom Keifer from Cinderella went through in losing and regaining his voice:  https://goodmenproject.com/arts/dont-know-what-you-got-til-its-gone-js/  It doesn't get into a lot of specifics, but definitely paints a picture and is just an all-around good read.

Very good read.

I'm not clear, though - was the paralysis caused by the way he was singing? Or is that something that just happens, sometimes?

Anyway, seems like surgical procedures were all he really needed. Unlike LaBrie, where his vocal chords ruptured and, instead of having it dealt with and taking time off, he continued to sing as if nothing had happened until around SDOIT, where he got really serious about recovery.

[NunoBadmintoncourt]

Short answer - experience and taking care of himself. It's not terribly uncommon for the voice to change in our older years considering our vocals folds and larynx age like anything else in our bodies, but it will vary from person to person. Some can lose range, projection, and resonance, while others may show no signs of change at all. There's nothing really etched in stone. However, voice therapy is an option.

Another good example of someone who has only gotten better with age is Paul Rogers. I would venture to say he's better now in his 60's than he's ever been.

[adamack]

Don't forget about the mixing engineers behind DT's live projects. While I agree that James has improved as he's gotten older, the end product is heavily influenced by the people behind the scenes and the quality of processing done to achieve such a great sounding vocal.

For example, on one of their old live DVDs, you can hear the autotune as it turns JLB's vibrato into a jagged, incremental mess. But the folks behind the newer releases, those who mixed Score and those who mixed Luna Park, have done a MUCH better job with the processing on his voice.

Just a little extra something to consider!

[Manolito Mystiq]

Technique aside, James LaBrie always had a great voice. A voice is not all about technique. Some have flexible voices by nature. LaBrie's voice is very lyric and very—can I say—creamy (though that's partly due to his technique, but his tone for sure is very pure)? If you listen to him singing in the time before Dream Theater: Winter Rose (along with Sebastian Bach), he has a very easy and acrobatic voice with power and everything. I would go so far as to say at that time, he sounded similar to Bach, but more lyric and with hardly any vocal effect (like a rasp or growl, which Bach neither seemed to use by then, anyway).

His technique seemed a bit strainuous in his early DT years, though. If you listen to Live in Tokyo, he had a very easy voice for sure, but he seemed to strain it here and there for no other reason than to (try to) sound heavier. Especially his range from around E5 and above (G5 in The Killing Hand and some other LaBrie Screams^®) to me sounds distorted because he strained, not because he was aiming for a distorted sound, while at other times he did aim for it (intro to Take the Time).

Part of his technique seemed strange, especially back 10 years ago, when modern vocal methods and systems, like Estill Voice Training, weren't so popular as they are now (in Europe, that is). He had a habit of sticking his tongue out for the highs, just like recent popular singer Adam Lambert does too, from time to time. Technically, there is a reason for doing that: you raise the larynx as high as possible so that the vocal belt will be most intense. Traditional vocal methods like Bel Canto discourages raising the larynx at all. So it's always been a mystery to me that he kept saying during interviews and all, that he had classical singing lessons for years.

He does sound like a trained singer; he always did. Especially his vibrato is strong and shows a presence of good breath flow, but his overal technique doesn't seem Bel Canto at all—except for his (may I say sometimes overly strong) vowel modification, making his vowels as round and pure as possible (enhancing this creaminess to the voice as mentioned earlier).

If you listen to the late Mike Baker from Shadow Gallery, especially in 'Spoken Words',
or to a lighter extend Roy Khan from Kamelot and prior in Conception, listen to 'Silent Crying'

now that shows clear classical training.

I should say again, that James LaBrie has a remarkable light tone. His voice type is very high, but with a certain warmth to his voice. But he seemed to wanted to have a heavier sound—especially in the Awake era. I understand that The Show Must Go On, but in this case, continuing touring after having strained the voice by puking all the time because of food poisoning, was just a stupid idea. He's lucky that he could still sing, at all.

And as far as I know, he started taking lessons for quite some years now from Jaime Vendera, who is an accomplished vocal coach (super commercial, too, but what recent vocal coach isn't? At least he acknowledges that he's all commercial).

If you listen to him in the recording of Scenes from a Memory, his second voice dubs in for instance 'Strange Deja Vu' are quite strained, compared to the songs from most recent's Dream Theater.

[Anguyen92]

I think a good reference to this subject would be Geddy Lee.  Obviously, we've heard his voice in the 70s releases and we saw the nicknames that the critics named his voice in Beyond the Lighted Stage (The Hamster In Overdrive, etc).

As he ages on, even though, his vocals have been losing power, his voice has aged incredibly well and does not sound as terrible, unlike, say, maybe Axl Rose, perhaps?  I don't know. 

LaBrie has been sounding pretty all right, as of late, and he should continue to keep doing what he's been doing to get the vocals to be where it should be in the live performances, for his age, and everything is going to be fine.

[adastra]

the real question is that how has Charlie Dominici always sounded that great!

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

the real question is that how has Charlie Dominici always sounded that great!

Well, he hasn't had years of constant touring to wear him down, for one thing.

[TheGreatPretender]

It's a well known fact that James has taken vocal classes and things like that with Jamie Vendera, and I think that has a lot to do with the condition of James' voice today. Say what you will about Vendera, the guy is a guru when it comes to vocal maintenance. I think if James used even a handful of Vendera's techniques for properly taking care of your voice, then he's basically preserving his voice as best as possible.
As opposed to other singers who deteriorate their voice through all sorts of things, from substance abuse or smoking, to simple improper technique.

[Rhayader]

I don't think he got better. I think sometimes he just makes no effort to sing well.

[Perpetual Change]

I think a good reference to this subject would be Geddy Lee.  Obviously, we've heard his voice in the 70s releases and we saw the nicknames that the critics named his voice in Beyond the Lighted Stage (The Hamster In Overdrive, etc).

As he ages on, even though, his vocals have been losing power, his voice has aged incredibly well and does not sound as terrible, unlike, say, maybe Axl Rose, perhaps?  I don't know. 

LaBrie has been sounding pretty all right, as of late, and he should continue to keep doing what he's been doing to get the vocals to be where it should be in the live performances, for his age, and everything is going to be fine.

I think Geddy sounds awful live, sorry. He sounds like he's yodeling.

[Polarbear]

To all singers and vocalists at DTF, how is it possible that James continues to improve so much, despite his age? Granted, we all know how seriously he's taken recovery, it is almost too good to be true that he's improved this much thanks to taking better care of his voice, especially since there are ten additional years of mileage on his voice compared to his performance on Budokan. Can anyone with deeper knowledge explain what is going on with James' voice that is making him do such a better job these days?

I would imagine that he just takes good care of his voice. But if you would go trough the stuff that he went through, it would take a lot of determination and practice to get back into shape. It has taken pretty long for him, but it sounds like he is doing just fine now.

Also i believe that he doesn't smoke?, that can really screw up your voice.

I would also imagine that he does singing warm ups every morning?. In my case it really helps, with both cleans and growls!.

[Perpetual Change]

I don't think he got better. I think sometimes he just makes no effort to sing well.

considering every piece of evidence we have suggests otherwise, why would you say that?

[Tomislav95]

I have no knowledge about singing but I think he have learnt how to control his voice. His voice in '92./'93. was more powerful than now but then his performances were inconsistent (what I heard from bootlegs and live DVD) and he was always trying to hit those extremly high notes (and sometimes he failed). I think James is now aware of his vocal abilities and I hope he'll continue wirh taking care of his wonderful voice

[Perpetual Change]

Guys, I appreciate all the responses, but I'm finding it kind of amusing that while the thread is addressed to "DTF singers", most of the responses are from non-singers who are just reiterating the same general observations made in the OP

[Perpetual Change]

Technique aside, James LaBrie always had a great voice. A voice is not all about technique. Some have flexible voices by nature. LaBrie's voice is very lyric and very—can I say—creamy (though that's partly due to his technique, but his tone for sure is very pure)? If you listen to him singing in the time before Dream Theater: Winter Rose (along with Sebastian Bach), he has a very easy and acrobatic voice with power and everything. I would go so far as to say at that time, he sounded similar to Bach, but more lyric and with hardly any vocal effect (like a rasp or growl, which Bach neither seemed to use by then, anyway).

His technique seemed a bit strainuous in his early DT years, though. If you listen to Live in Tokyo, he had a very easy voice for sure, but he seemed to strain it here and there for no other reason than to (try to) sound heavier. Especially his range from around E5 and above (G5 in The Killing Hand and some other LaBrie Screams^®) to me sounds distorted because he strained, not because he was aiming for a distorted sound, while at other times he did aim for it (intro to Take the Time).

Part of his technique seemed strange, especially back 10 years ago, when modern vocal methods and systems, like Estill Voice Training, weren't so popular as they are now (in Europe, that is). He had a habit of sticking his tongue out for the highs, just like recent popular singer Adam Lambert does too, from time to time. Technically, there is a reason for doing that: you raise the larynx as high as possible so that the vocal belt will be most intense. Traditional vocal methods like Bel Canto discourages raising the larynx at all. So it's always been a mystery to me that he kept saying during interviews and all, that he had classical singing lessons for years.

He does sound like a trained singer; he always did. Especially his vibrato is strong and shows a presence of good breath flow, but his overal technique doesn't seem Bel Canto at all—except for his (may I say sometimes overly strong) vowel modification, making his vowels as round and pure as possible (enhancing this creaminess to the voice as mentioned earlier).

If you listen to the late Mike Baker from Shadow Gallery, especially in 'Spoken Words',
or to a lighter extend Roy Khan from Kamelot and prior in Conception, listen to 'Silent Crying'

now that shows clear classical training.

I should say again, that James LaBrie has a remarkable light tone. His voice type is very high, but with a certain warmth to his voice. But he seemed to wanted to have a heavier sound—especially in the Awake era. I understand that The Show Must Go On, but in this case, continuing touring after having strained the voice by puking all the time because of food poisoning, was just a stupid idea. He's lucky that he could still sing, at all.

And as far as I know, he started taking lessons for quite some years now from Jaime Vendera, who is an accomplished vocal coach (super commercial, too, but what recent vocal coach isn't? At least he acknowledges that he's all commercial).

If you listen to him in the recording of Scenes from a Memory, his second voice dubs in for instance 'Strange Deja Vu' are quite strained, compared to the songs from most recent's Dream Theater.

Pretty good observations, thanks!

BTW, another weird thing I noticed... I feel like LaBrie's live performances on LALP are actually a lot better than his more recent studio performances. How's taht work?

[Manolito Mystiq]

Guys, I appreciate all the responses, but I'm finding it kind of amusing that while the thread is addressed to "DTF singers", most of the responses are from non-singers who are just reiterating the same general observations made in the OP

I am a singer,

I have studied  and am still studying Bel Canto by an MA teacher¹,

I'm following the course for getting a certification of Master Teacher for the Estill Voice Training² system by the late Jo Estill,

I've followed many courses and training for the Complete Vocal Technique model of Cathrine Sadolin³,

I studied the Speech Level Singing-like method by a former Singing Success lead coach⁴,

I have completed the minor World Music Singing (Classical, Brazilian, Turkish, and Indian Singing) at the Rotterdam Conservatory,

I have completed the minor Musical Theater Performance at the Rotterdam Conservatory,

With the band Complexity I was the lead singer from, we won the People's Choice Award⁵ from a national competition,

I have studied, compared and analyzed many vocal methods and systems: the works by Jaime Vendera (Raise the Voice), Seth Riggs (SLS), Brett Manning (SS), Jo Estill (EVT), Cathrine Sadolin (CVT), Mark Baxter, Bill Martin, Thomas Appell, Bob Stoloff, Ken Tamplin (Ken Tamplin Academy), Kevin Richards (Rock the Stage), Alberto ter Doest (EVT), David Jones (Bel Canto), Martin Dahlberg (Bel Canto).

This all still doesn't make me a good singer, or even a correct one. For sure, I'm knowledgeable, though.



1. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florien_Hilgenkamp]Florien Hilgenkamp, MA]https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florien_Hilgenkamp
2. https://www.estillvoice.com/pages/certification
3. https://completevocalinstitute.com/
4. https://dbartistdevelopment.com/
5. https://www.groteprijsgroenehart.nl/uitslagen-2010.php

[Manolito Mystiq]

I don't think he got better. I think sometimes he just makes no effort to sing well.

considering every piece of evidence we have suggests otherwise, why would you say that?

I think I see what he means. There's more to singing than technique and a great tone. I wouldn't call it determination, but it's definitely something emotionally, his drive that I'm missing. I made a review of Dream Theater's Dream Theater (I call DT²) and for one thing I'm not so impressed by his melody lines. Not to say that he doesn't sing high; his phrasing is just lacking this wow-factor. Back in his prime in the I&W–Awake era, his technique was really not so stable as it is now, but his drive for singing like there's no tomorrow was off the charts.

Enthusiasm, maybe that's the word I'm looking for.

[Polarbear]

Guys, I appreciate all the responses, but I'm finding it kind of amusing that while the thread is addressed to "DTF singers", most of the responses are from non-singers who are just reiterating the same general observations made in the OP

I am a singer,

I have studied  and am still studying Bel Canto by an MA teacher¹,

I'm following the course for getting a certification of Master Teacher for the Estill Voice Training² system by the late Jo Estill,

I've followed many courses and training for the Complete Vocal Technique model of Cathrine Sadolin³,

I studied the Speech Level Singing-like method by a former Singing Success lead coach⁴,

I have completed the minor World Music Singing (Classical, Brazilian, Turkish, and Indian Singing) at the Rotterdam Conservatory,

I have completed the minor Musical Theater Performance at the Rotterdam Conservatory,

With the band Complexity I was the lead singer from, we won the People's Choice Award⁵ from a national competition,

I have studied, compared and analyzed many vocal methods and systems: the works by Jaime Vendera (Raise the Voice), Seth Riggs (SLS), Brett Manning (SS), Jo Estill (EVT), Cathrine Sadolin (CVT), Mark Baxter, Bill Martin, Thomas Appell, Bob Stoloff, Ken Tamplin (Ken Tamplin Academy), Kevin Richards (Rock the Stage), Alberto ter Doest (EVT), David Jones (Bel Canto), Martin Dahlberg (Bel Canto).

This all still doesn't make me a good singer, or even a correct one. For sure, I'm knowledgeable, though.

Well damn! Those are one hell of a credentials!

I have sung 5 years and taken a total of 15 lessons. And i'm only doing backing vocals/ harsh vocals!

[Rhayader]

I don't think he got better. I think sometimes he just makes no effort to sing well.

considering every piece of evidence we have suggests otherwise, why would you say that?

You call what someone wrote in a forum evidence? What is this, a police case? And why even mentioning the word "evidence" when we are simply talking about the voice of someone. It is more a question of taste, I suppose. Some may think he got better, some think he got worse, some don't like him at all. How can you use evidence when it is a question of taste? You can't say "I will show you evidence that Dream Theater or whoever got better." but you can say "In my opinion, Dream Theater got better because of that and that and that."

In my opinion since he lost his voice in 94, he has been singing sometimes well, sometimes not. For example: I don't think he sings well in Budokan nor in Chaos in Motion, but I like his voice in Score, in Live Scenes. Same thing is nowadays.

[Perpetual Change]

I don't think he got better. I think sometimes he just makes no effort to sing well.

considering every piece of evidence we have suggests otherwise, why would you say that?

I think I see what he means. There's more to singing than technique and a great tone. I wouldn't call it determination, but it's definitely something emotionally, his drive that I'm missing. I made a review of Dream Theater's Dream Theater (I call DT²) and for one thing I'm not so impressed by his melody lines. Not to say that he doesn't sing high; his phrasing is just lacking this wow-factor. Back in his prime in the I&W–Awake era, his technique was really not so stable as it is now, but his drive for singing like there's no tomorrow was off the charts.

Enthusiasm, maybe that's the word I'm looking for.

First thing, my comment wasn't directed toward you, as I've heard your singing before and I know you're a vocalist. So no sweat there

I kinda hear what you're saying about a lack of emotional drive. It always bugs me how little JLB is involved in writing his own vocal lines in DT, and it *really* bugs me how he seems to have little involvement in his solo records.  But watching these live videos, I can't help but think he's still got emotional drive. He seems just as passionate about singing this material as ever.

If you take a step back, his situation isn't really all that odd. Plenty of vocalists rely completely on the ability of songwriters to best utilize their voice, and do very little writing themselves. For JLB's solo band, Matt Guillory is the main songwriter and lyricist. For Dream Theater, John Petrucci is the guy writing most of the music, lyrics, and vocal melodies. When it comes to comparing JLB performances on recent DT to his performances on his solo albums, the only conclusion I can draw is that Matt Guillory is better at utilizing James' voice than John Petrucci.

I don't think he got better. I think sometimes he just makes no effort to sing well.

considering every piece of evidence we have suggests otherwise, why would you say that?

You call what someone wrote in a forum evidence? What is this, a police case? And why even mentioning the word "evidence" when we are simply talking about the voice of someone. It is more a question of taste, I suppose. Some may think he got better, some think he got worse, some don't like him at all. How can you use evidence when it is a question of taste? You can't say "I will show you evidence that Dream Theater or whoever got better." but you can say "In my opinion, Dream Theater got better because of that and that and that."

In my opinion since he lost his voice in 94, he has been singing sometimes well, sometimes not. For example: I don't think he sings well in Budokan nor in Chaos in Motion, but I like his voice in Score, in Live Scenes. Same thing is nowadays.

Wow man, are you really gonna get this upset about someone asking you why you hold a certain opinion?

I was just curious why you'd say James is getting worse, when most accounts point to him getting a lot better. I think it's pretty obvious that he's gotten better from Budokan to Score to Luna Park.

[Sycsa]

I don't think he got better. I think sometimes he just makes no effort to sing well.

considering every piece of evidence we have suggests otherwise, why would you say that?

You call what someone wrote in a forum evidence? What is this, a police case? And why even mentioning the word "evidence" when we are simply talking about the voice of someone. It is more a question of taste, I suppose. Some may think he got better, some think he got worse, some don't like him at all. How can you use evidence when it is a question of taste? You can't say "I will show you evidence that Dream Theater or whoever got better." but you can say "In my opinion, Dream Theater got better because of that and that and that."

In my opinion since he lost his voice in 94, he has been singing sometimes well, sometimes not. For example: I don't think he sings well in Budokan nor in Chaos in Motion, but I like his voice in Score, in Live Scenes. Same thing is nowadays.

I agree with some of your points, but saying that he makes no effort is just plain wrong, unfounded and provocative. You had to expect backlash after a comment like that. James is fifty and he obviously took good care of himself and his voice. You can call that the evidence that refutes your statement of him not making an effort. Chaos in Motion should be disregarded when it comes to judging his voice due to bad production and the reasons for his lukewarm performance at Budokan are well known.

Personally, I'm not much of a fan of his early '90s live performances, but I am thoroughly amazed of how he sings today. Score is his best performance and he's been great on every single studio record.

[Perpetual Change]

Dude, I don't think my initial resposne to Rhayader can be considered "backlash". More like dumbfounded curiosity. Very strange to me that someone would say he makes no effort to sing well, considering how he's sounding and how he's walked interviewers through his routines several times now.

[Sycsa]

Guy, I wasn't referring to your comment, just pointing out that his comment looked like intentional baiting.

[Perpetual Change]

Guy, I wasn't referring to your comment, just pointing out that his comment looked like intentional baiting.

Ah, ok then. All good 

As for the rest of your post - I agree. If anything, lots of DT DVDs have featured performances from James that weren't as good as they could be, thanks to when they were filmed and the lengths of the shows. James really seems to have benefited from the shorter shows and more routine setlists. However, I wouldn't throw-out CiM completely, but I would admit that it's not a good representation of James' due to a combination of several factors - really harmful and sloppily done post-production being a major one.

[Sycsa]

 

[bosk1]

However, I wouldn't throw-out CiM completely, but I would admit that it's not a good representation of James' due to a combination of several factors - really harmful and sloppily done post-production being a major one.

Not to mention just poor show selection.  That tour was very well documented in terms of fan bootlegs, and having heard a LOT of them, I can say with little hesitation that some of the worst performances of the tour were unfortunately what ended up on the DVD. 

But Joe, you make a great point about the shorter set lists being better for James.  That has actually been my biggest source of trepidation when I first heard that they were going to be doing Evening With shows on this tour again.  On one hand, it's great for us the fans, because we want to see DT on for as long as possible.  But it's going to be hard on James.  I really hope they are smart about scheduling and make sure to give him enough rest.  I know that when Portnoy was creating the set lists, he tried to somewhat take into account giving James breaks by putting instrumentals in the set and giving proper spacing for songs that are more difficult for James to sing.  But hopefully, James himself will be more active in creating lists of songs and an order of songs that work well for him.

[?]

When it comes to comparing JLB performances on recent DT to his performances on his solo albums, the only conclusion I can draw is that Matt Guillory is better at utilizing James' voice than John Petrucci.

Quoted for agreement.

[MoraWintersoul]

When it comes to comparing JLB performances on recent DT to his performances on his solo albums, the only conclusion I can draw is that Matt Guillory is better at utilizing James' voice than John Petrucci.

Quoted for agreement.

That's what I said to Matt. In fact, I said he's better in utilizing James' voice than anyone else who's written for him (before you pull out Arjen, James has had less lines on THE than in just two full Dream Theater songs, on average, even though of course his performances are excellent and that's still a lot of lines for a character on an Ayreon album, even the main characters, which James was). He sort of brushed it off, but I think it's true.

[Rhayader]

Wow man, are you really gonna get this upset about someone asking you why you hold a certain opinion?

I was just curious why you'd say James is getting worse, when most accounts point to him getting a lot better. I think it's pretty obvious that he's gotten better from Budokan to Score to Luna Park.

I am not upset at all. It was not my intention to sound upset. Sorry.

I agree with some of your points, but saying that he makes no effort is just plain wrong, unfounded and provocative. You had to expect backlash after a comment like that. James is fifty and he obviously took good care of himself and his voice. You can call that the evidence that refutes your statement of him not making an effort. Chaos in Motion should be disregarded when it comes to judging his voice due to bad production and the reasons for his lukewarm performance at Budokan are well known.

Personally, I'm not much of a fan of his early '90s live performances, but I am thoroughly amazed of how he sings today. Score is his best performance and he's been great on every single studio record.

I don't know, in my opinion I think he could sing much better and sustain the notes longer. I know that he is fifty, but there are plenty of singers of his age or older that sing very well. I agree that Chaos in Motion should be disregarded because of the quality. I love him in Score too.