Might get hate for this, but I can see why they chose to let Portnoy go

[Kotowboy]

Anyone else hear bootlegs of them doing Fatal Tragedy with him singing “you can eat ass and balls” in the chorus? That was....interesting.

I don't miss this kind of shit. And his WAAAAAHOOOOOO in Razors Edge on whatever DVD that was.

Chaos In Motion ?

[TheOutlawXanadu]

When Portnoy left, I was genuinely sad about it. My life was already changing quite a bit (sophomore year in college, you know?), and suddenly one of my rocks - Dream Theater - was changing too. However, in hindsight, I think that it was perfect timing for the band and a blessing in disguise. SC and BC&SL aren't bad records by any means, but I personally feel as though they are missing something. That something largely came back once Mangini came on board, IMO.

[KevShmev]

Seriously, I think both of you are right about this. He made a really big deal about him being the "frontman" from behind the kit, and that started to mess with the music and live performances after a while (you already cited great examples). Because, as you said, his singing works great in some contexts, but that's when he's trying to be a team player and not the frontman/main singer of the band at that moment.

Agreed. I have seen the Neal Morse Band four times, where Portnoy does a lot of harmonies, and not once in those four shows did I ever think he was overdoing it with the singing.  But I have said that before, it is like he takes on a different personality when he is around Neal Morse (a much more likable one).

When we were all younger and in bands, there was always "that guy" that did all of the legwork.  MP was that guy, and even as DT became popular, MP still treated it as his boyhood little band. Honestly, I find that charming, and his enthusiasm is one of the things I miss in current DT.

I can understand that.  Even though his social media presence can be irritating when he is venting about something, whenever there were announcements about upcoming shows or albums or whatever, he knew just the right buttons to push to get the fans all worked up and excited about whatever was coming, whether it was a new album, a special show or a cool social media event.  That really isn't there anymore.  Take the other day when the band did a Twitter listening party for Scenes, and it wasn't even talked about here (unless it was a chat thread that I didn't see, as opposed to a dedicated thread).  If he was still in the band, he would have talked that up like crazy and it would have resulted in major chatter on the forum about it.  Like I said earlier, I don't miss his overeager attempts to sing live or his dominating presence he had over the band the last years he was in it, but over time, the lack of little things like the above have become more noticeable, which is odd since the first few years after his departure felt really fun to be a fan of the band again. That feeling isn't really there for me anymore, which is ironic since I think their last two albums are two of their best three of the 21st century.

[Trav86]

When Portnoy left, I was genuinely sad about it. My life was already changing quite a bit (sophomore year in college, you know?), and suddenly one of my rocks - Dream Theater - was changing too. However, in hindsight, I think that it was perfect timing for the band and a blessing in disguise. SC and BC&SL aren't bad records by any means, but I personally feel as though they are missing something. That something largely came back once Mangini came on board, IMO.

I agree with this.

[KevShmev]

When Portnoy left, I was genuinely sad about it. My life was already changing quite a bit (sophomore year in college, you know?), and suddenly one of my rocks - Dream Theater - was changing too. However, in hindsight, I think that it was perfect timing for the band and a blessing in disguise. SC and BC&SL aren't bad records by any means, but I personally feel as though they are missing something. That something largely came back once Mangini came on board, IMO.

It's funny because I have long maintained that DT sounded like a band that got a major energy jolt when Portnoy left and Mangini joined, but I gave B&SL and ADTOE full listens this past week and was a) surprised how good BC&SL sounded (A Rite of Passage and a lot of the lyrics aside), and b) stunned at how bored I was listening to most of ADTOE (which I think in large part is due to the mediocre mix).  Funny how things age for ya...

[Trav86]

I’ve been listening to DT since SFAM. SDOIT was my my first release day listen. And I will say that Black Clouds was the first album where I was disappointed on first listen. It never really got better. And it’s really the only one I’ve had that experience with. The Astonishing took a while to get through and comprehend it all. But that’s mostly because it was a time in my life when I couldn’t listen to an album for three straight hours. And I will say that hearing ADTOE when it was released, was one of the happiest moments in all my years of DT fandom.

[JayOctavarium]

Wait just a minute...

Mike Portnoy left Dream Theater?

[PetFish]

How do you guys feel about Part II of his vinyl collection tour?  I'm very disappointed.

He has all the DT releases (multiple versions) with him in the band but none of them afterwards.  Considering what a fan of music he is and all of the great and legendary artists he has in his huge collection it's like he no longer considers DT among the upper echelon.  I would think/hope that at the very least he'd collect them out of respect for his former and current friends even if he doesn't feel the music belongs in his collection.

It's so frustrating to *hear* about how well he says he's doing and how he's still friends with JP/JR, but then I *see* stuff like this (actions speak louder than words and all that) and I just don't get it.  It's all of the little (and sometimes big) passive-aggressive things he does to undermine whatever good things he tries to make us believe he's happy and "over it" tell me he still regrets the situation.

I know that if *I* were JP and/or JR I'd have serious issues with how he's handled everything and would talk to him about it (for all we know, they have talked to him) but whatever happened I guess everyone is OK with it but the fans, at least me anyway, are always getting mixed signals.

[Lethean]

@Petfish - that really doesn't bother me.  He can be friends with some of the members of DT and still have no desire to listen to their albums without him or add them to his collection.  Imo, nothing wrong with that.  He could be perfectly happy, or mostly happy, with where he's at now, and still feel weird about DT without him. 

As long as he's not badmouthing them or making snarky comments, I think that's enough. 

For the rest of the conversation:

When Portnoy left, I was genuinely sad about it. My life was already changing quite a bit (sophomore year in college, you know?), and suddenly one of my rocks - Dream Theater - was changing too. However, in hindsight, I think that it was perfect timing for the band and a blessing in disguise. SC and BC&SL aren't bad records by any means, but I personally feel as though they are missing something. That something largely came back once Mangini came on board, IMO.

I pretty much agree with this, and I love all 4 MM albums.

[Lax]

I guess this could have been answered even faster in the MP dedicated topic

My personnal feelings about it :
-I'm a proggy guy and albums from TOT to BC&SL were harder and harder to enjoy as much as everything before them. So I guess something in the writing process / style changed.
-I prefer MP's drumkit sound and recording, it feels like Mangini's cymbals etc are in another room, the bass drums sounds like war dakka dakka typewriter thing and the only thing you hear over it is the snare, that hasn't lot of taste. I wanna hear Mangini with a prog drumkit, loud cymbals and a snare that has some color.
I mean, that's why people say it sounds robotic and "less good" than MP, that's a drumkit sound I would use on a fear factory tribute, not yes/rush fans playing prog music.
-MM is totally capable to play groovy, after or before the beat etc, being someone else and the band wanting to go forward doesn't mean they must forbid themselves from composing an I&W or awake vibe !

I would not say metal happened late in the band, the mirror/lie etc are pretty heavy straightforward songs !

So I'm a little torn, I love what MP did, I think the change happened at the right time for the sake of the band, I even think that MM is a good fit, but I wish they could think a little about what we like and always liked, that is a little off.

Now, onto JLB vocals evolution

[MirrorMask]

When Portnoy left, I was genuinely sad about it. My life was already changing quite a bit (sophomore year in college, you know?), and suddenly one of my rocks - Dream Theater - was changing too. However, in hindsight, I think that it was perfect timing for the band and a blessing in disguise. SC and BC&SL aren't bad records by any means, but I personally feel as though they are missing something. That something largely came back once Mangini came on board, IMO.

One more person agreeing with this.

Back then I was sad about it, I wish they had worked it out and met halfway with him to make it work. But in retrospect it was the right moment for a change in things. 10 years ago I really wished it wouldn't have happened - but it did, DT moved on and made great albums, MP moved on, and eventually so did I. Right now I'm happy with the way things are and I hope this is DT's last lineup.

[Podaar]

ITT - The waning years of MP's tenure in DT were not proggy and too metal?

Uh, folks need to revisit ITPoE I&II, and Count of Tuscany.

[Trav86]

@Petfish-I really enjoyed him talking about the Dream Theater records. I didn’t expect him to have the newer albums, I can’t seem to understand why you would either. I’m sure he’s streamed them or got them on iTunes out of curiosity.
So, say he did have the newer records. And he said he didn’t like them, and explained in detail why, would that be better or worse than not having them?

[gmillerdrake]

When Portnoy left, I was genuinely sad about it. My life was already changing quite a bit (sophomore year in college, you know?), and suddenly one of my rocks - Dream Theater - was changing too. However, in hindsight, I think that it was perfect timing for the band and a blessing in disguise. SC and BC&SL aren't bad records by any means, but I personally feel as though they are missing something. That something largely came back once Mangini came on board, IMO.

Agree as well. You could hear it in MP's efforts in SC and BC&SL that he was 'done'. While yes, the "best" songs from those albums are still some of my favs (ITPOE 1&2 and TCOT) near all the rest of the songs are pretty rudimentary considering MP's talent. And by that I mean pretty rudimentary fills/kick beats/cymbal work. You can tell he was fried and going through the motions.

MM brought and has maintained a level of play that MP honestly hasn't demonstrated in quite some time. His dedication to improvement is unreal and the way he crafts his parts to fit the other band members works perfectly. The divider of fans out there.....The Astonishing......is one long show of session for MM. I challenge anyone to listen to that album from start to finish and just pay attention to what MM is doing in that album and tell me you think MP was willing or ready to produce that type of output? It's been discussed 1000x in 100 other threads but MP is content to reach into his tried and true bag of tricks and just recycle fills/kick beats and fit them in whatever band he's in that day. Fortunately for him when he's with Neal......Neal knows how to craft the music to get the best out of those bag of tricks. The other bands, not so much.

So while I too LOVE the MP era of DT......it was the era I fell in love with them and created so many memories with their music as a backdrop of those times......the MM era is solidifying itself as a welcome rejuvenation of DT music with some incredible pieces of work.

[King Postwhore]

I always felt there had to be a buildup of the band members dealing with Mike and his OCD and every little minute detail he drove.  Over time the demands became larger to the point that they finally said no to him.  at that point he said he would leave if there was no hiatus and he left.  They were not willing to stop the train.

It's never one thing there's always a billion little things that explode in the end.

[pg1067]

How do you guys feel about Part II of his vinyl collection tour?  I'm very disappointed.

He has all the DT releases (multiple versions) with him in the band but none of them afterwards.  Considering what a fan of music he is and all of the great and legendary artists he has in his huge collection it's like he no longer considers DT among the upper echelon.  I would think/hope that at the very least he'd collect them out of respect for his former and current friends even if he doesn't feel the music belongs in his collection.

It's so frustrating to *hear* about how well he says he's doing and how he's still friends with JP/JR, but then I *see* stuff like this (actions speak louder than words and all that) and I just don't get it.  It's all of the little (and sometimes big) passive-aggressive things he does to undermine whatever good things he tries to make us believe he's happy and "over it" tell me he still regrets the situation.

Meh...I don't really care what he does or doesn't buy or own.  Also, just because he doesn't own the MM-era DT albums on vinyl doesn't mean he doesn't have them on CD.  We all know he has ADTOE, and I'm fairly sure I remember him saying something about JP or JR having given him at least one of the later albums.  And, even if he doesn't own them in any form, there are perfectly legitimate reasons why he might now want to have them.

One thing caught my attention as MP was going through the albums was that, when he got to BC&SL, he sort of held it in a way that obsured the next album, and I thought he might be doing that to obscure ADTOE.  But he eventually moved it and revealed that the next album was not DT.

I know that if *I* were JP and/or JR I'd have serious issues with how he's handled everything and would talk to him about it (for all we know, they have talked to him) but whatever happened I guess everyone is OK with it but the fans, at least me anyway, are always getting mixed signals.

Fortunately, JP and JR have far more insight into things than any of us and can base their actions accordingly.  It also does not appear that either of them is so thin-skinned as to get bent out of shape by stuff like this.

[hunnus2000]

Well I came late to the DT party so I don't have the emotional connections to the MP era that some board members have. I enjoy the MP era of music but I often wonder where some of the production choices came from. For instance, on some songs I would wonder if he/they coached JLB to sing in a heavier format. Kind of like EVH coaching Gary Cherone on that  perilous VH3 album (yuck).

I think the overall writing is better and more mature once MM joined and the others in the band probably contributed more but I also want to give credit to MP because his contributions to the promoting of the band and hell even filming or making sure they had film of the earliest days. I mean, I always felt he was ahead of his time regarding promotion especially in the burgeoning days of the I-Net. I would love to see what he could do as a film director.

As far as his personality, I could see how early on how could be a challenge in dealing with that alpha personality but I like him or what I see of him. I used to know people like him (my friends were from Jersey), I found their candor refreshing as I do MP so I don't want to come off that I am bashing him. I'll save the bashing for DS.

[TAC]

Did you guys see this Mangini Cameo where he is asked about the MP Era?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKmTr_tFMpM

[KevShmev]

@Petfish - that really doesn't bother me.  He can be friends with some of the members of DT and still have no desire to listen to their albums without him or add them to his collection.  Imo, nothing wrong with that.  He could be perfectly happy, or mostly happy, with where he's at now, and still feel weird about DT without him. 

As long as he's not badmouthing them or making snarky comments, I think that's enough. 

Agreed.  I don't think him now owning the last four DT albums on vinyl is any kind of deal at all. 

ITT - The waning years of MP's tenure in DT were not proggy and too metal?

Uh, folks need to revisit ITPoE I&II, and Count of Tuscany.

I think it's the incorporation of certain aspects of certain kinds of modern metal, like the near-growls in A Nightmare to Remember, that turned off some.  While some albums lean more heavily one way or the other, the prog and metal have both always been prevalent throughout DT's entire history, IMO.

[pg1067]

Did you guys see this Mangini Cameo where he is asked about the MP Era?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKmTr_tFMpM

I don't know what the question was that he was answering, but it sounds like he danced around it quite adroitly.

[Dream Team]

ITT - The waning years of MP's tenure in DT were not proggy and too metal?

Uh, folks need to revisit ITPoE I&II, and Count of Tuscany.

  Nobody said EVERY SINGLE SONG.

[Peter Mc]

I think it’s fair to say that the band, whilst they have always been a metal band, did begin to lean more towards a more contemporary metal sound in the later MP years. I don’t think he was entirely responsible for that but I do think he was the biggest metal guy in the band and they also then signed to a metal label.  I think it made a degree of sense at the time and the band grew in popularity on the back of that. You began to see a lot of younger metal fans at shows instead of the regular beard stroking brigade.  Those fans have disappeared in recent years.

The band were maybe getting a bit stale at the time and it was Portnoy who recognised this and suggested a break, it wasn’t them deciding he had to go.  Either that or Portnoy thought he’d get the A7X gig full time and join a huge band, depends what you believe!

In the end, Portnoy leaving did freshen things up a bit and Dream Theater got some inspiration back but the fan base has dwindled a little back to its core fan base pre Roadrunner. It’s gone as smoothly as you could expect for them though really apart from the huge risk they took with The Astonishing which I don’t think went as well as they hoped.

I don’t think it’s worked out for Mike Portnoy very well at all. The A7X thing quickly fell through and he has played with a succession of fairly mediocre (imo) and largely unsuccessful bands.  Yes he’s done some good stuff with Neal Morse and Transatlantic but he was working on those bands when he was still in Dream Theater so him leaving did not facilitate that.

I think it’s right that something had to change as DT were going a little stale artistically despite probably being at the height of their commercial success.  I think Mike would still much rather have had a break and come back in a few years though rather than DT continue on without him (fairly successfully) and him going back to playing tiny venues with bands not in DT’s league.

[Kotowboy]

Wikipedia says Distance Over Time is their most successful album.

[pg1067]

Wikipedia says Distance Over Time is their most successful album.

Well...it says, "It is the band's most successful album chart-wise to date, taking top 10 positions in 19 countries (including going to number one in Germany and Switzerland)."  While this sentence is unsourced, the article has sourced peak chart position numbers for 20+ countries.  IMO, however, peak chart position numbers are a piss poor indicator that DOT is "is their most successful album."

And, FWIW, the Wikipedia article for The Astonishing shows fairly comparable peak position information, so I'm not sure that even the claim of "most successful album chart-wise" is true (I'll leave it to someone else to aggregate the numbers and normalize them based on country size).  It's worth noting, however, that, in the U.S. (which I believe is the most populous country listed by a wide measure), TA peaked at a much higher chart position than did DOT (11 for TA and 24 for DOT).

[KevShmev]

I don’t think it’s worked out for Mike Portnoy very well at all. The A7X thing quickly fell through and he has played with a succession of fairly mediocre (imo) and largely unsuccessful bands.  Yes he’s done some good stuff with Neal Morse and Transatlantic but he was working on those bands when he was still in Dream Theater so him leaving did not facilitate that.

I disagree.  Yes, he was working with Neal for years before he left DT, but I doubt Neal's solo band of himself, Portnoy and Randy George mushrooms into the Neal Morse Band if Portnoy is still in DT and going full tilt with them.  And who knows if Flying Colors happens either.  Maybe, maybe not.  From my vantage point, Neal Morse Band and Flying Colors are both major wins for him in the last 10 years (from an artistic and music quality standpoint, not a commercial one).  Sure, he has had misses like Adrenaline Mob (a total miss) and Sons of Apollo (a partial miss, as they are decent, if not notable at all), but when you look at Portnoy's career in its totality, I would submit that quite a few of the best albums of his career were made in the last 10 years. 

[gzarruk]

The band were maybe getting a bit stale at the time and it was Portnoy who recognised this and suggested a break, it wasn’t them deciding he had to go.  Either that or Portnoy thought he’d get the A7X gig full time and join a huge band, depends what you believe!

Going by what the A7X guys said back then, he definitely thought that.

's worth noting, however, that, in the U.S. (which I believe is the most populous country listed by a wide measure), TA peaked at a much higher chart position than did DOT (11 for TA and 24 for DOT).

IIRC, the way these things are registered changed before D/T was released, as they now count digital streams too (and some artists are huge in streaming but don't sell physical copies anymore). I believe someone here did the actual math and D/T's position would've been much higher in the US if they used the same method they did before.

[Volante99]

I don’t think it’s worked out for Mike Portnoy very well at all. The A7X thing quickly fell through and he has played with a succession of fairly mediocre (imo) and largely unsuccessful bands.  Yes he’s done some good stuff with Neal Morse and Transatlantic but he was working on those bands when he was still in Dream Theater so him leaving did not facilitate that.

I disagree.  Yes, he was working with Neal for years before he left DT, but I doubt Neal's solo band of himself, Portnoy and Randy George mushrooms into the Neal Morse Band if Portnoy is still in DT and going full tilt with them.  And who knows if Flying Colors happens either.  Maybe, maybe not.  From my vantage point, Neal Morse Band and Flying Colors are both major wins for him in the last 10 years (from an artistic and music quality standpoint, not a commercial one).  Sure, he has had misses like Adrenaline Mob (a total miss) and Sons of Apollo (a partial miss, as they are decent, if not notable at all), but when you look at Portnoy's career in its totality, I would submit that quite a few of the best albums of his career were made in the last 10 years.

Whether or not the last 10 years has really “worked out” for Portnoy is tough to gauge. Artistically? Probably. Financially? Hmm probably not. He seems to really pride himself in having multiple projects right now and that seems to be how he’s measuring success, but that could be overcompensating. There’s something to be said for having that ONE band, that family, that many musicians crave.

[TAC]

Whether or not the last 10 years has really “worked out” for Portnoy is tough to gauge. Artistically? Probably. Financially? Hmm probably not. He seems to really pride himself in having multiple projects right now and that seems to be how he’s measuring success, but that could be overcompensating. There’s something to be said for having that ONE band, that family, that many musicians crave.

Wow, that's presumptuous.

You're making a lot of assumptions there. Who are we to say that "No MP, you're not really that happy."? Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But we would have no idea.

[Volante99]

Whether or not the last 10 years has really “worked out” for Portnoy is tough to gauge. Artistically? Probably. Financially? Hmm probably not. He seems to really pride himself in having multiple projects right now and that seems to be how he’s measuring success, but that could be overcompensating. There’s something to be said for having that ONE band, that family, that many musicians crave.

Wow, that's presumptuous.

You're making a lot of assumptions there. Who are we to say that "No MP, you're not really that happy."? Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But we would have no idea.

That’s exactly my point, we don’t know. I’m not presuming anything. Some posters were discussing whether things have “worked out” the last decade for Portnoy. That can mean a lot of things to different people and it really depends on Portnoy’s perspective on that. We DO know he’s been prolific as an artist the past decade and that seems to be important to him but we also know he’s hasn’t enjoyed the same kind of commercial reach he had in DT and he’s given indications over the years of a desire to rejoin his old band. For those reasons I can’t really make a judgement call on whether things have or haven’t “worked out” for MP.

[Peter Mc]

I don’t think it’s worked out for Mike Portnoy very well at all. The A7X thing quickly fell through and he has played with a succession of fairly mediocre (imo) and largely unsuccessful bands.  Yes he’s done some good stuff with Neal Morse and Transatlantic but he was working on those bands when he was still in Dream Theater so him leaving did not facilitate that.

I disagree.  Yes, he was working with Neal for years before he left DT, but I doubt Neal's solo band of himself, Portnoy and Randy George mushrooms into the Neal Morse Band if Portnoy is still in DT and going full tilt with them.  And who knows if Flying Colors happens either.  Maybe, maybe not.  From my vantage point, Neal Morse Band and Flying Colors are both major wins for him in the last 10 years (from an artistic and music quality standpoint, not a commercial one).  Sure, he has had misses like Adrenaline Mob (a total miss) and Sons of Apollo (a partial miss, as they are decent, if not notable at all), but when you look at Portnoy's career in its totality, I would submit that quite a few of the best albums of his career were made in the last 10 years.

I’m not really sure how you think Neal Morse solo has “mushroomed” into the Neal Morse Band.  They’re essentially doing the same thing they’ve always done. Have they accelerated in the number of albums they put out? Are the tours longer?  It may be a little more collaborative than Neal’s solo albums but I don’t think Mike’s involvement has changed an awful lot.  There’s no reason to think his involvement could not have continued if he stayed in Dream Theater.

Would Flying Colors have happened? Who knows? He managed to play in Transatlantic, Neal Morse, OSI and LTE whilst still in DT.  I would class FC in the mediocre, commercially unsuccessful category anyway but that’s just my opinion. Sad to say this as I think Steve Morse is a phenomenal player and I am a big fan of Neal and Mike too.  For whatever reason it just doesn’t work for me, it’s not awful, it’s just not great either. I know there are a few on here that do enjoy this band though.

You then have AMob, Winery Dogs, Sons Of Apollo, Metal Allegiance and whatever the name of the band he’s in now doing covers of old songs.  I’m not saying they’re all terrible, I’ve enjoyed the odd song here and there but they have enjoyed little (if any) commercial success. In my subjective opinion they have not been successful artistically either, they’re not what I would consider bands that are undiscovered gems that deserve more success.

You may disagree but in my opinion, the only great stuff he’s put out since leaving DT is from Transatlantic and Neal Morse solo/NMB, both of which he was doing whilst in DT.

[Kyo]

I’m not really sure how you think Neal Morse solo has “mushroomed” into the Neal Morse Band.  They’re essentially doing the same thing they’ve always done. Have they accelerated in the number of albums they put out? Are the tours longer?  It may be a little more collaborative than Neal’s solo albums but I don’t think Mike’s involvement has changed an awful lot.  There’s no reason to think his involvement could not have continued if he stayed in Dream Theater.

The only time that Mike toured with Neal while he was still in DT was the Testimony 1 tour in 2003. After that, Neal only played a couple of US gigs with a band (without Mike and with an all-new band you never saw again). It was only in 2011 for the Testimony 2 tour, after Mike had left DT, that Neal got to do a US solo tour and Mike has been part of his live band ever since.

[Peter Mc]

Ah, I see, fair play. I only saw them on the Testimony 1 tour so just assumed it worked the same with the other albums. He could still play on the records though, if in DT, even if they had to have a touring drummer for some of the live shows.

[Setlist Scotty]

Whether or not the last 10 years has really “worked out” for Portnoy is tough to gauge. Artistically? Probably. Financially? Hmm probably not. He seems to really pride himself in having multiple projects right now and that seems to be how he’s measuring success, but that could be overcompensating. There’s something to be said for having that ONE band, that family, that many musicians crave.

I have no idea of how he's doing financially, but I'm sure he's not strapped for cash. One of the things that he said around the time that he left DT is that he could have just stayed with the band and ridden it out into the sunset, being financially secure. Because he knew that by leaving the band, he would not do as well financially. But for him is was far more important to follow his muse than just be comfortable. So considering that, I would say the answer is "yes" - because artistically was the motivating factor in his leaving. It had nothing to do with finances.
 
 

I’m not really sure how you think Neal Morse solo has “mushroomed” into the Neal Morse Band.  They’re essentially doing the same thing they’ve always done.

Not exactly Peter. As I understand it, previously NM was calling all the shots with MP and the others serving as his backing band. That changed with The Grand Experiment, where MP and the others all got much more involved in the songwriting and everything else, and it took more of a similar form to what TA is
 
 

You may disagree but in my opinion, the only great stuff he’s put out since leaving DT is from Transatlantic and Neal Morse solo/NMB, both of which he was doing whilst in DT.

And that's the key right there. Your opinion. And everyone else has varying opinions as well.

[Peter Mc]

NMB is more collaborative than NM solo, I did make reference to that. I just wouldn’t expect that it is massively more time consuming to Mike than it was previously, certainly not to the point where it would require him to leave Dream Theater in order to continue. The touring is a different matter of course.

As for people’s opinions, I’ve gone to great pains in my posts to point out that it was my opinion and of course others may disagree, it’s a discussion.  I certainly don’t think I’m alone though in being fairly underwhelmed by Mike’s post DT output (NM and TA aside) especially considering how great (in my opinion) all his projects were whilst in DT. I loved LTE, OSI, TA and NM and he seemed to have a real Midas touch back then in choosing his collaborators.

I take no pleasure in not enjoying these projects and I do own the AMob EP and first album, I also own the first Flying Colors, the first Winery Dogs, the first Sons Of Apollo. I wanted these to be good and he had earned the benefit of the doubt after all he did for the fans whilst in DT and the consistent quality he had put out. None of them however made enough impact for me to buy the follow up.

I will say that I am massively looking forward to the new TA album and would be very excited if LTE reformed, I also love NMB. There’s still 2 and possibly 3 projects he is involved in that I enjoy and that’s more than I can say for most musicians so I am still an MP fan. All those projects were around before he left DT though. His new post DT projects just haven’t grabbed me yet.  If others do enjoy them then that’s great, I’m happy for them, I’m not one of those hoping for him to fail.

[Volante99]

Whether or not the last 10 years has really “worked out” for Portnoy is tough to gauge. Artistically? Probably. Financially? Hmm probably not. He seems to really pride himself in having multiple projects right now and that seems to be how he’s measuring success, but that could be overcompensating. There’s something to be said for having that ONE band, that family, that many musicians crave.

I have no idea of how he's doing financially, but I'm sure he's not strapped for cash. One of the things that he said around the time that he left DT is that he could have just stayed with the band and ridden it out into the sunset, being financially secure. Because he knew that by leaving the band, he would not do as well financially. But for him is was far more important to follow his muse than just be comfortable. So considering that, I would say the answer is "yes" - because artistically was the motivating factor in his leaving. It had nothing to do with finances.

Fair point. Even if he had gotten the Ax7 gig, I’d think being a part owner in DT would have been more lucrative than being a permanent employee of Ax7.