In my opinion, there is no hype at all. There's no one enjoying his lyrics like Dylan or Cohen fans do.
There's just a more common opinion that his lyrics are better in the DT context.
I agree.
But in a universe of lyrics mostly written by JP and MP (which I don't consider good lyricists even on my rare most generous days) I don't think it's so complicated to notice superior qualities in the pen of KM, JLB and JM.
At least I see it that way.
And that's the point: I don't. While no, the general population doesn't gush at JM like Dylan and Cohen, I have personally seen conversations here that were of the "OMG! JM is writing lyrics on this record! Cannot wait! OMG! LOL! FYI!" Just the idea that he's writing something sends some people into conniptions; it's a similar thing to song length; "OMG! The new album has a 12:00 minute song! It's already my favorite and I haven't even heard it! OMG! TMI! FWIW!" And this DID happen: when Mike posted the songs and times for the Flying Colors record there were more than a couple people that immediately assumed Infinite Fire and Blue Ocean would be the "best" songs on the record (hint, for me, they are not even in the top three, either of them). Sorry, I'm still on my first coffee!
Exactly. (except that I
have had my first coffee) It's really kinda silly.
As for DT lyricists, they have all written some lyrics that I think are incredible, and some that are less so. It is pretty rare to find lyrics in DT that I actively dislike.
Since it was mentioned, I think JP is an interesting case when it comes to lyrics. I don't see any "decline" at all in terms of "quality" (whatever that means). But what I think can be observed quite accurately is a decline in writing in a more poetic, abstract style and moving toward a more literal, narrative style. He has always done both. But there is less of the former and more of the latter since the early albums. And I think he did the former very well--at least, if you like a style that evokes images and emotions, even if the overall meaning may at times be completely obfuscated by the poetic imagery (assuming an overall meaning even exists).
I have never been a fan
overall of KevMo's lyrics. But that said, in terms of being able to turn a phrase, he has lyrical lines that I think are brilliant. But some of his early contributions lack maturity from a lyric-writing perspective. And what I mean by that is, he wrote things that may read as being pretty awesome on paper, but are clearly not written with a view to how they will sound when sung by a lyricist. LFAGA and OAMOT are poster children for this. Some great lines in there, but way too many words for a singer to sing, and clearly not written with an ear to how they would sound as a vocal performance in the context of a song.
JM is hit and miss. He has some I really enjoy (LTL, S2N). Others that leave me cold (BAI).
Same with Portnoy, although his style is obviously VERY different than JM's. His contributions on Octavarium (the song) are pretty fantastic. The Mirror and The Glass Prison are also a standouts for me. Most of his lyrics are just "right down the middle" for me in that they are very effective, but do not stand out as being OVERLY outstanding or poor. They serve the purpose of the song, and that's it (which is what most good lyrics do). And I guess that is true of most of the DT lyricists a lot of the time: as a whole, they rarely write lyrics that leap out as amazing, but they are almost always very effective for conveying what a given song is trying to convey.
But James is quite often an exception to the above. His contributions, especially on this last album, quite often make me sit up and take notice as being truly exceptional. I commented before that, from a lyrical perspective, James is the MVP of D/T, and he is to be applauded for writing some incredible lyrics on that album.
I won't judge Dominicci, Sherinian, or Mangini, since the sample size is too small. But just as an observation, I don't care for the lyrics to Afterlife at all. Derek's and Mangini's contributions are what I would consider "effective" as I described above.