There are definitely styles that he doesn't really play, but in comparison to most other metal or heavy rock guitarists who are typically good at one or two certain styles, JP is a standout.
Well, of course, there are a lot of styles he doesn't cover, and some that he doesn't do very well, the flamenco sort of thing in the Evening With JR wasn't that great actually, and I don't like his tone on the acoustic/classical guitar at all(maybe because it's the only style I myself sort of play, and suck worse btw
), but for a rock guitar player, he certainly covers quite a few different styles, although he seemed to favour his metal side a little too much lately.
But, I feel like having lost MP, DT have really lost a lot of their attitude and vision. I think a DT that included MP but not JP would have been *very* different than what we know, and the band would have to continue to press on and try a few more new things, much to fan chagrin. Meanwhile, the current DT sounds like a band that stepped into a time capsule where they're now likely to remain. It's not bad, but I'm just not as interested.
With this I don't entirely agree. I mean, DT has
definitely lost a creative source of ideas with MP departure, and that is a hit on the band, but I don't think this two albums would have been that much different with him on the band.
Actually, the whole MP/not MP affair kind of reminds me of when Argentina national football team sucks and people start praising whoever is in the bench or isn't playing, "if (this guy) was on the team this wouldn't have happened" and the the coach actually puts that player in the field, and the team sucks anyway
. My comparison doesn't intend to imply that DT sucks but more that one band member out of five wouldn't actually make that much difference and that people project whatever they don't like about something to be fixed by whoever isn't involved. Kind of the people who don't like 6DOIT saying "with KM this would have never happened, this is the worst thing ever!!".
On the attitude thing, I think, at least as far as JLB is concerned, DT actually won, it's been a while since I've seen James so comfortable on record or on stage. ToT is amazing as a metal album when I'm in the mood for it, and the same goes to almost every DT album, and I actually like the raping on Honor Thy Father, although I dislike the cookie monster vocals on Nightmare to Remember. So, while some of MP contributions where awesome, others were... well... not so welcomed
, A for effort, but try again
. And pushing James down to the point of completely ignoring your own singer and whether he is ok with something or not wasn't on the band best benefit I think.
I don't think the band is staler than it was with the last two MP albums, or the last three for that matter, every DT album from Scenes onward had something different to offer, but each one of them had slightly less than the one before it, and I think while that was more evident than ever on ADTOE, I think there is
a little more diversity in this album and is a slight step forward. The first time I heard BC&SL I was still pretty new to DT, and I was still able to anticipate what was going to happen on most of the songs on first listen, the same happend with ADTOE for most part. This record, on the other hand, while it didn't have the Six Degrees amount of surprise(not even in the same Zip code), at least the songs evolved differently than what I was anticipating, and I find most of them growing on me with each listen. The lyrics, IMHO, were a HUGE improvement from BC&SL(and SC but that actually comes if you like the fantasy lyrics or not as they are, for most part, pretty well written).
So while I'm not naive enough to think that we will se the old DT reinventing themselves as dramatically as in the 90`s-early '00, I think there's still hope for
some evolution in the band sound. Would it be more if MP stayed in the band? Maybe, maybe not, we'll never know anyway. As I recall the first one I heard saying "we don't want to stay away from our sound" sort of thing was MP himself on Riding the Train of Thought, so I still don't think it would have made THAT much difference.
(Oh and btw, I really like SC when I'm in the mood for it, it isn't among my favourite albums, but when it is, it RAWWWWKS
)
Topic: Your Controversial Opinions on DT (Read 985362 times)
