Is This James LaBrie's Best Performance?

[Tick]

I am blown away at the effort James has put it on the new record. It may be his best all around. He just sounds incredible! Maybe I'm just in a honeymoon stage with the album, but I don't know, he has never sounded any better to me.
What do you think?

[Irock]

A good performance? Absolutely. But I don't think it comes close to Images and Words or Awake.

[YtseBitsySpider]

I dunno.
He sounds ok.

For me he, and the rest of the albums, I&W and Awake even Black Clouds, set the bar so high that this disc can't touch it....james...or the rest of their performances.

It's a great new cd, I'm just not falling all over myself with it like a lot of the posters on this side of the board.

I know you're not tick -  I get what you mean with the honeymoon phase thing - but to be honest, after the first four or five spins I moved on to something else.

we'll see if it has the staying power of BCSL which aged quite well for me

[BlobVanDam]

I'm doing this list style.

Judging JLB's vocals-
IaW is better
Awake is better
ADTOE is maybe better than FII? I'd have to listen back
ADTOE is better than SFAM
SDOIT is better
ADTOE is better than ToT
ADTOE is better than Octavarium (although he sounds great on the title track)
ADTOE is better than SC (but JLB actually sings amazingly on ITPOE)
ADTOE is better than BCASL overall, although I think JLB sings better on ANTR than he does on the heavy parts of ADTOE.

That's my breakdown. As an album, it's his best vocal overall since SDOIT, but I've listened to SDOIT a lot lately, and it can't touch that, and it can't touch IaW or Awake. But maybe his 4th best.

[Volk9]

Honestly his voice is one of the weak points of the album to me. I dont hear anything great about it imo. Obviously his voice was much better in the IW/Awake era, but even on more recent albums he's seemed to be better than he is on here. Theres just nothing unique or interesting about his voice.

I honestly think he brings the rest of the album down a notch.

[KevShmev]

No.

His singing on Awake, I&W and Scenes cannot be topped by him ever. 

But his performance on this record is still tremendous.

[BlobVanDam]

No.

His singing on Awake, I&W and Scenes cannot be topped by him ever. 

SFAM has always been a weird one to me. He sings really clear, and has some great vocal moments, such as THE, Finally Free, and BTL, but overall I find his performance to be kind of sterile and straight forward on it. They've always sounded a lot better vocally live to me (eg. TSCO on Score).

Agreed 100% on IaW and Awake though. No offense at all to JLB on the new album, because he sings great, but IaW and Awake are untouchable vocally. And it's no surprise or shame considering that was 15-20 years ago.

[wasteland]

No.

His singing on Awake, I&W and Scenes cannot be topped by him ever. 

But his performance on this record is still tremendous.

I never particularly liked his performance on Scenes, I've always found him quite flat...

To stay IT, this is probably the best JLB has ever sounded globally since Falling Into Infinity. By saying globally I mean that there are certain songs or section in the other albums which stand higher than any song on ADTOE (read: Disappear).

That being said, I like the way he is trying to develop the "mellow" side of his voice. While his age and poisoning issues deprived him of much of his former power and clearness in the high register, his low register has been constantly improving in this past two decades. Good work, James 

[IdoSC]

I personally think it is his best performance...


...In Dream Theater's studio albums. Static Impulse, live performances and possibly Winter Rose beat the hell out of it.

[Jaffa]

SFAM has always been a weird one to me. He sings really clear, and has some great vocal moments, such as THE, Finally Free, and BTL, but overall I find his performance to be kind of sterile and straight forward on it. They've always sounded a lot better vocally live to me (eg. TSCO on Score).

I'm never looking at the word 'the' the same way again.

Anyway, on topic, I'd have to say no, overall.  As others have said, Awake and I&W are kind of untouchable in this aspect.

[ReaperKK]

I was actually thinking that JLB didn't really blow me away this album. It's a good performance but I think he is out shined by everyone else in the band.

[Tick]

I understand he doesn't have the technical proficiency he had when he was young, but as a crafty old veteran he really shows his experience in this performance. I say this as a 46 year old singer who realizes that while your voice loses a bit with age it can compensate by the wealth of knowledge and years of training at your craft.
I just think James shines on this one. To me, singing is more then just the incredible notes he was able to hit on songs like Take The Time.
I do get that he was stronger vocally when he was young, he just seems more comfortable and in control on this record. To me at least.
 

[gabeh1018]

most people who first hear james sing generally say he doesn't sing with any emotion, if there is one thing that cannot be denied on this album is there a lot of passion and energy behind his vocals on this album. I could care care less how high you sing. it's all about emotion conveyed.

I think this album is his best since Awake.

[energythief]

A good performance? Absolutely. But I don't think it comes close to Images and Words or Awake.

Agreed. In fact, I think of all the guys, James's performance, while excellent, is less boundary-pushing than usual.

[Tick]

A good performance? Absolutely. But I don't think it comes close to Images and Words or Awake.

Agreed. In fact, I think of all the guys, James's performance, while excellent, is less boundary-pushing than usual.

Well, sometimes less is more.

[BlobVanDam]

A good performance? Absolutely. But I don't think it comes close to Images and Words or Awake.

Agreed. In fact, I think of all the guys, James's performance, while excellent, is less boundary-pushing than usual.

Let's give him some credit. On this album he actually sings his highest note on any DT album, including "the" F#.

[Millais]

No.

His singing on Awake, I&W and Scenes cannot be topped by him ever. 

But his performance on this record is still tremendous.

... and completely up there with them!

[Priest of Syrinx]

I understand he doesn't have the technical proficiency he had when he was young, but as a crafty old veteran he really shows his experience in this performance. I say this as a 46 year old singer who realizes that while your voice loses a bit with age it can compensate by the wealth of knowledge and years of training at your craft.
I just think James shines on this one. To me, singing is more then just the incredible notes he was able to hit on songs like Take The Time.
I do get that he was stronger vocally when he was young, he just seems more comfortable and in control on this record. To me at least.

Great post.

[livehard]

I think people dont realize how good he was in systematic chaos.  I think that was maybe his best performance since FII.  however, I do think he's sensational on the new album.  Listen to Far from Heaven, he is perfect on this song.  He has the most subtle yet beautfiul viabrato.

[BlobVanDam]

I think people dont realize how good he was in systematic chaos. 

That's because there are a couple of prominent tracks that really negatively colour people's opinion of JLB's vocals (Constant Motion and The Dark Eternal Night, which are not fantastic for JLB), and because of the generally low opinion of the album here, and the lyrics that JLB is singing.

But listening back to ITPOE only a week or two ago, and I realized just how amazing James was singing on that track. Especially the heavy "Angels fall......" pre-chorus, and the outro section "My soul grows weaker....". I wouldn't call it his strongest since FII, but I'll definitely agree that his vocals on some of those songs are greatly underrated.

[ResultsMayVary]

Great performance, but not his best. I would say, imo, his third best performance behind I&W and Awake.

[DetonationSequence]

A good performance? Absolutely. But I don't think it comes close to Images and Words or Awake.

Agreed. In fact, I think of all the guys, James's performance, while excellent, is less boundary-pushing than usual.

Let's give him some credit. On this album he actually sings his highest note on any DT album, including "the" F#.

This is truth. BMUBMD contains his only studio A5 to date, although he's hit that note live an assload of times by now. There's not much high-register stuff otherwise, but that particular segment is mind-blowing if you actually pay attention and realize he's screaming (ridiculously high) notes rather than random shrieks.

As for the overall performance, it's definitely one of his best and most consistent, but I wouldn't say THE best. I'd say SDOIT has the best tone, strength and clarity of his performances, and IMO the best quality of singing in general. I am massively biased towards that album, it is my all-time favourite album after all, but even just singling out the vocals, the baritone vocals on Disappear (I actually like low vocals better than highs, although James can do both excellently, which is even better) and the incredibly multidimensional vocal work on the title track constitute the best voice work I've ever heard. His voice just oozes with emotion through the whole album.

The runners-up are IAW, which has his best highs, and Awake and Octavarium, which I think are his best displays of overall range. ADTOE is probably after these albums in the ranks.

Also, agreed on ITPOE's awesomeness. The vocals throughout Part 1, as well as Heretic and the finale, are phenomenal. Forsaken and TMOLS have great vocals too, though the heavier songs on the album don't exactly show his voice at its best.

[Ben_Jamin]

I personally think its better than I&W and Awake. He has proved after his incident he is in top form.

[BlobVanDam]

This is truth. BMUBMD contains his only studio A5 to date, although he's hit that note live an assload of times by now. There's not much high-register stuff otherwise, but that particular segment is mind-blowing if you actually pay attention and realize he's screaming (ridiculously high) notes rather than random shrieks.

As for the overall performance, it's definitely one of his best and most consistent, but I wouldn't say THE best. I'd say SDOIT has the best tone, strength and clarity of his performances, and IMO the best quality of singing in general. I am massively biased towards that album, it is my all-time favourite album after all, but even just singling out the vocals, the baritone vocals on Disappear (I actually like low vocals better than highs, although James can do both excellently, which is even better) and the incredibly multidimensional vocal work on the title track constitute the best voice work I've ever heard. His voice just oozes with emotion through the whole album.

Agree with all of this 
I'd still put IaW and Awake ahead (it's just so hard to look past the raw power of those vocals), but I consider SDOIT's vocals almost equally untouchable.
There are his powerful soaring vocals on tracks like Blind Faith and Misunderstood, and the style and emotion of tracks like Solitary Shell and About to Crash. As good as I think JLB's vocals are on ADTOE, they can't approach SDOIT for me.

[livehard]

But listening back to ITPOE only a week or two ago, and I realized just how amazing James was singing on that track. Especially the heavy "Angels fall......" pre-chorus, and the outro section "My soul grows weaker....".

Ya that part is rediculous.  He absolutely kills the outro.  I basically listen to that entire song just waiting to hear his part.

[ishak540m]

I think it's a bit unfair to compare a recording done 15-20 years ago to one that was released recently.  There wasn't nearly as much layering on I&W and Awake compared to ADTOE because he is getting older and his voice isn't what it used to be (let alone the different producers and other variables).  It comes with the stress of singing for 20+ years.  It's probably more accurate to compare his vocals on ADTOE to the previous albums if the vocals on these albums were to be re-recorded today.  It's simply different timbres.  With that said, I think it's a stellar performance.

[Ħ]

I'd say Images is the best.  Awake is also awesome but he sounds a tad weak at times.  But this new album is up there for sure.

[jsem]

I&W singing it too good to ever be replicated by JLB.

[kirksnosehair]

I think it's a bit unfair to compare a recording done 15-20 years ago to one that was released recently.  There wasn't nearly as much layering on I&W and Awake compared to ADTOE because he is getting older and his voice isn't what it used to be (let alone the different producers and other variables).  It comes with the stress of singing for 20+ years.  It's probably more accurate to compare his vocals on ADTOE to the previous albums if the vocals on these albums were to be re-recorded today.  It's simply different timbres.  With that said, I think it's a stellar performance.

I agree.  I think the vocals on this album are excellent, and I love that the keys and vocal melodies that were chosen do not result in a bunch of stuff that you cannot understand.  There's too much of that on albums like Images & Words (i.e. "death is the first dancing turtle")

[Lowdz]

It's JLB. The guy rules on cd. So many different voices where other singers are lucky to have one. And this stuff is hard to sing.

The vocal lines here are actually written to his strengths and not for a singer DT didn't have.

He was awesome at Leeds on the recent tour.

[KevShmev]

I think one major difference is, in seemed like in recent years, that his vocal lines had been "dumbed down" in a manner of speaking so he'd have little-to-no problem singing them live as they sound in the studio, but on this record, he went back to singing lines that might be a total bitch to sing live, but who cares?  What is on record is what everyone remembers and what is immortalized forever.  Imagine if the F#, for example, had been left off Learning to Live because it might have been too hard to pull off live?!  Heck, I could see the very end of Beneath the Surface being tough to sing well live, but it sounds great on the CD, and that is what matters the most.  It doesn't bother me if live he can't nail the second verses in Voices and Take the Time, or the F#, or "I'm asleep yet I'm so afraid," in Metropolis.  They sound tremendous on the records and that should always be the goal. 

[VioletS16]

A good performance? Absolutely. But I don't think it comes close to Images and Words or Awake.

Agreed. In fact, I think of all the guys, James's performance, while excellent, is less boundary-pushing than usual.

Let's give him some credit. On this album he actually sings his highest note on any DT album, including "the" F#.

The screams in BMU,BMD?
What note is that?
(EDIT: just found out the note. A5. Pretty cool!!)

[Herrick]

Let's give him some credit. On this album he actually sings his highest note on any DT album, including "the" F#.

Which song on the new album are you talking about? Curse my crappy memory.

Herrick's personal favorite studio performance from LaBrie is on A Change of Seasons. It almost generates a mang crush

[TAC]

I think one major difference is, in seemed like in recent years, that his vocal lines had been "dumbed down" in a manner of speaking so he'd have little-to-no problem singing them live as they sound in the studio, but on this record, he went back to singing lines that might be a total bitch to sing live, but who cares?  What is on record is what everyone remembers and what is immortalized forever.  Imagine if the F#, for example, had been left off Learning to Live because it might have been too hard to pull off live?!  Heck, I could see the very end of Beneath the Surface being tough to sing well live, but it sounds great on the CD, and that is what matters the most.  It doesn't bother me if live he can't nail the second verses in Voices and Take the Time, or the F#, or "I'm asleep yet I'm so afraid," in Metropolis.  They sound tremendous on the records and that should always be the goal.

Exactly. I've made this same argument before. I mean Robert Plant is so revered, but live? Yikes! Plenty of Zep boots show that he was even more inconsistant than James, even during his toughest times.

[lithium112]

What really brings up the vocals on this album is how memorable the melodies are. I would say this is possibly the most melodic album DT has made (vocally).