A great JLB guest spot not everyone knows about

[xeper]

Anyone else heard John Macaluso & Union Radio's "The Radio Waves Goodbye" album? LaBrie's on track 1, "Soul in Your Mind". Macaluso toured w/ JLB's solo band, I'm a huge fan of his playing (great linear patterns). Killer tune

[hefdaddy42]

Never heard of it.

[xeper]

Last I checked you can sample it at johnmacaluso.com

[bosk1]

I remember downloading it a while back.  The "CRUCIFYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" part was pretty 

[nakedman]

really cool song, thanks!

[Sigz]

I remember downloading it a while back.  The "CRUCIFYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" part was pretty 

 

[Perpetual Change]

Sounds cool.  Whenever I heard stuff like this, I get angry that James isn't used like that in DT for the most part anymore.

[BlobVanDam]

I actually usually don't like hearing JLB outside of DT. He never sounds as polished on outside projects (including EoP, although I love that album anyway).

[Perpetual Change]

The difference for me is that on other people's records, the artists want James because they want his voice, so LaBrie always sounds very "in the pocket" and the material usually lends itself very well to the uniqueness of his voice.  On Dream Theater albums, LaBrie always sounds like he's being inched out of his comfort zone into singing a style that's not totally "him."

LaBrie has pretty much unlimited studio time, a huge budget, and additional producers to work with when doing Dream Theater records, so of course they always sound more polished.  Whereas on other projects, he likely only spends a day or two in the studio recording his parts.

Either way, I still think his performance on The Human Equation is better than any DT record or JLB side project.

[BlobVanDam]

I always think he sounds a lot better on DT albums. On guest spots they don't sound like they know how to utilize his voice like DT do, so he always sounds a bit rougher and less controlled. I feel the same way about the BCASL covers too. Even though his tone is great on Stargazer, it just doesn't sound controlled enough to be right for a DT album, where the standard is much higher.
And I hate his performance on the Human Equation. His tone is ok, but it's too pitchy and attempting to be operatic. He sounds a lot better on every DT album, including Systematic Chaos.

[Perpetual Change]

I haven't enjoyed his singing as much on the last two albums as I usually do.  While he's great on some songs, I don't like that snarl thing he has going on now.  He's still one of my favorites, though.

[BlobVanDam]

His snarl is very hit and miss, and at times like CM it sounds forced, but on BCASL I thought they got it mostly right, and for the first time in a while it sounded very natural, like on ANTR. And then there are songs like Wither and TBOT where it's as clean a vocal as it gets. And despite the style of song, he didn't go with a harsh voice on AROP either.
His snarl doesn't do it for me on TSF though. I'm not thrilled about his voice on the earlier verses of that one. And TCOT is a bit meh, but that's more the vocal melodies than anything else. But the outro to TCOT is an amazing vocal and better than anything I've heard from him outside of DT. He's singing about being threatened by a Count, and still doesn't come off sounding cheesy like he does on The Human Equation (imo).

[Jamesman42]

Either way, I still think his performance on The Human Equation is better than any DT record or JLB side project.

I don't know, that's pushing it a bit. IaW and Awake arguably offer better performances.

[Perpetual Change]

Either way, I still think his performance on The Human Equation is better than any DT record or JLB side project.

I don't know, that's pushing it a bit. IaW and Awake arguably offer better performances.

Well, those are definitive young LaBrie moments but when I think of James LaBrie, I think of the vocalist that is perfectly represented on The Human Equation.

And I pretty much agree Blob, though I like CM.

[BlobVanDam]

Either way, I still think his performance on The Human Equation is better than any DT record or JLB side project.

I don't know, that's pushing it a bit. IaW and Awake arguably offer better performances.

Well, those are definitive young LaBrie moments but when I think of James LaBrie, I think of the vocalist that is perfectly represented on The Human Equation.

And I pretty much agree Blob, though I like CM.

I love CM, but I just thought it was the best example of JLB doing something out of his comfort zone like you described.

[YtseJamittaja]

I found this in spotify

*listening now*

[Dcrupi]

This is a great song, and I think James sounds fantastic, personally.  Nice find, I hadn't even heard of this guy before...thanks for sharing!

[Metropolis Pt. II]

Yes this song was mentioned here a while back and ever since, I have loved it! I highly recommend it if anyone is a fan of JLB's EoP album.   

[Bertielee]

This is a great song, and I think James sounds fantastic, personally.  Nice find, I hadn't even heard of this guy before...thanks for sharing!

You had never heard of John Macaluso...or of  JLB?

[Dcrupi]

This is a great song, and I think James sounds fantastic, personally.  Nice find, I hadn't even heard of this guy before...thanks for sharing!

You had never heard of John Macaluso...or of  JLB?

The JLB guy...I saw on Wikipedia he sings for a band called Dream Theatre?