The music on LTE and LTE2 still surpasses much of the instrumental stuff we've heard from the band since Rudess came on
By saying "much," that necessarily implies that you believe LTE's music has
not surpassed at least
some "of the instrumental stuff we've heard from the band since Rudess came on." I'm therefore curious to know where you're drawing the line.
shortly after he joined it feels like the direction of the band became much more conventional (i.e., traditionally structured yet very long songs with long solo sections).
Considering the last album they put out before JR joined was probably far and away the most "conventional" album in the band's catalog, and the first two albums after he joined were a 77 minute long concept album featuring a 6 minute instrumental featuring well over 100 time signature changes and a 2 disc album featuring a 42 minute multi-part title track, I'm at a loss to understand how one could think this.
I wonder why they never just went totally off the deep end with Rudess in the lineup.
If Dance of Eternity doesn't constitute going "totally off the deep end," I'm not sure what would.