I can't stress how much I agree with Sam's last post. Though, so I'm not taken as merely bashing, I've gotta preface this post by saying the following:
I don't think Mike's vocals or DT's songwriting as of late have been huge problems, and I've enjoyed two of the band's last three albums just as much as I enjoy Images and Words and Scenes from A Memory.
While reading "Lifting Shadows," I got the impression that James LaBrie's voice is viewed by the band as something that needs to be "reigned in." I think Mike even says in one of the interviews that he thinks it was probably due to James' voice that the band never got any big mainstream success. As a result, ever since SDOIT, James vocals seem so "guided" by the "producers" that the final product is, though "good," never really what it could have been.
It seems to me that when James doesn't get completely left out of writing process, he's given strict instructions on exactly what to sing by Mike Portnoy, who apparently can't write to James' strengths and feels he needs to sing the songs himself; or John Petrucci, who quite frankly can't carry a note in a bucket.
James LaBrie is the vocal expertise of the band, and the albums where he contributed more to the writing are without a doubt the best albums the band has put out. That Labrie's voice "just doesn't sound good over heavy music" makes absolutely no sense. We're talking about the singer who sang over Caught in a Web, The Mirror, Lie, Home, and most of the songs on Train of Thought. Why not let the "specialist" do his job?
As I read this thread, I'm more and more convinced that, regardless of what the band says to justify these growly moments, LaBrie's voice isn't the problem. Lazy songwriting isn't the problem, either. As we know, A Nightmare to Remember was originally written with only James in mind and Mike added his part later (we still haven't heard how it sounded with only James on vocals, so we can't tell whether the final product would have been better or not). The problem is basically "producer" Mike Portnoy's ideas -- not James Labrie's singing-- going unchecked. And yes, I know Portnoy listens to the fans, that his style of "managing" the band is extremely fan driven, that his clean background vocals are great, and that we fans are lucky to have someone as dedicated as him "keeping the Dream alive."
But Portnoy has got to have realized by now, in his heart of hearts, that most fans are really turned off by his growly vocals. Most of the older fans either don't like 'em or could do without 'em, and most of the newer generation of kids who listen to bands like Between the Buried and Me, Opeth, A7X and Mastodon recognize Mike's growls for exactly what they are-- forced, "tough metal guy" vocals that make Dream Theater sound like they're trying to hard.
C'mon, DT. Stop trying so hard to fit in with Between the Buried and Me and Opeth, and take your proper seat next to Yes, Rush, and Iron Maiden. Though you've never shared their mainstream success, musicians respect you just as much and you're already much bigger than these bands you're trying to imitate now will ever be. We know you will and can write great music without forcing it. You'll always be that awesome band made for & by fans of great music. Is it really worth it to try and be something else?