Chances of MP/JP vocals on new album?

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

Whatever issues LaBrie's may be having with his voice as he ages he used to be in the upper echolon of rock/metal singers imo - right up there on the Tate (well, back when he was good), Dickinson, Halford, Dio, Coverdale, et-al, strata - and having other people singing on DT albums who didn't blend well with his voice due to a technical disparity and a clash of colour/timbre was certainly a choice they made.

It worked out in a couple of places but overall? No thanks.

Was he ever really considered up there with the likes of Dio and Coverdale? That isn't a rhetorical question.

Overall, outside of DT fandom? I would say no. His voice had plenty of detractors going back to day 1 which I would attribute more to them becoming big during a time when that sort of vocal wasn't in style as much. Dio and Coverdale to use your examples had the good fortune to work in a decade where those types of voices were more in vogue.

Gotcha. That is kind of what I suspected but I just haven't been a fan as long as some others. I first learned about DT in the early 2000s and one of the first things I found out was that JLB was always a hot topic in the fanbase. In 24 years of being a fan I have never heard anyone compare him to the greatest rock and metal singers of the past (except for a few really devoted folks here), but at the same time I don't know a ton of fans of the music so was hard to say whether this was an orthodox view at some historical point.

[Indiscipline]

I can't fathom what the general consensus (if such a thing exists, and I intimately hope it doesn't) was when James came fore, mainly because there wasn't an online community to draw opinions from. It seems to me general high consideration can't be really detached from popularity, and James appeared at a time the 80's big guns rock tenors where going out of fashion and the"new" popular trend was guys like Cornell, Staley, Vedder, etc.

Personally, when I first listened to James, I thought he could be a cocktail made of Kiske, Mercury, and Perry, but I never assumed he was going to establish himself in some general pantheon, mainly because the genre he was involved in was quite nichey (if it is a word), and a bit late fad-wise (ditto).

All is relative to times and perspectives anyway. For example, I used to idolise Coverdale, while my father - who had lived through hard rock's genesis - would stubbornly insist he was worth half Paul Rodgers.   

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

^ I tend to agree at some point his style and tone were no longer in fashion, but if he is not considered among the greatest it won't be because of that. It'll be because of how people think about 1) how good was he? 2) for how long?

[Skeever]

There was never a point in DT's fandom where people assumed James would be the next all-time great vocalist. Keep in mind that, by the time DT really hit the scene, the moment for operatic vocalists had already passed. In fact, hard to believe, but people used to say things like "now, you might not like the vocalist at first, but give it time. He will grow on you."

They were saying things like this about albums such as Images and Words and Awake.

Personally, I feel that the stuff about the accident was always overblown. Listening to the bootlegs  and non-overdubbed releases from the first tour (Live in Tokyo), some of the strain and tiredness is already there. Then on Awake it gets a little bit worse, with some really bad nights in there. Some tours have been better than others, but overall, I hear what sounds like the same process unfolding over the last two decades. The band made a big deal about James' "full recovery" for Score. I have never really bought that. Again, listen to the bootlegs for the other dates on that tour (some have been released officially through fan clubs and ytsejam): He's not bad. But also, he's not his 26 year old self. Overall, he's generally really good. But his timbre is taking on a thinner quality than the previous few tours, and his range is similar.

All of it trends to where we are now whether you fully accept the "accident and recovery" narrative or not.

[Indiscipline]

^ I tend to agree at some point his style and tone were no longer in fashion, but if he is not considered among the greatest it won't be because of that. It'll be because of how people think about 1) how good was he? 2) for how long?

Interesting parameters. Since I can't possibly say how people think, I'll give my very personal opinion, just for fun:

1) Great. That's what I felt listening to records and what I've heard every time I attended live between 1992 and 1999. 

2) Seven years. Again, 1992 - 1999. Now, I don't recognise "all time greatest" but the ones in my personal opinion, therefore the following is just a funny (for me at least) observation: if the "general consensus" is - say - Dickinson, Tate, Halford, Dio are heavy metal singing royalty, I can't help but noticing it took for all of them no more than about seven years of recording career to reach that status in the public eye. Again, it's just idle chat, because - thanks God - pantheons aren't built on numbers, but on very personal takes by very different  moltitudes of very different people.

There was never a point in DT's fandom where people assumed James would be the next all-time great vocalist. Keep in mind that, by the time DT really hit the scene, the moment for operatic vocalists had already passed. In fact, hard to believe, but people used to say things like "now, you might not like the vocalist at first, but give it time. He will grow on you."

They were saying things like this about albums such as Images and Words and Awake.

Personally, I feel that the stuff about the accident was always overblown. Listening to the bootlegs  and non-overdubbed releases from the first tour (Live in Tokyo), some of the strain and tiredness is already there. Then on Awake it gets a little bit worse, with some really bad nights in there. Some tours have been better than others, but overall, I hear what sounds like the same process unfolding over the last two decades. The band made a big deal about James' "full recovery" for Score. I have never really bought that. Again, listen to the bootlegs for the other dates on that tour (some have been released officially through fan clubs and ytsejam): He's not bad. But also, he's not his 26 year old self. Overall, he's generally really good. But his timbre is taking on a thinner quality than the previous few tours, and his range is similar.

All of it trends to where we are now whether you fully accept the "accident and recovery" narrative or not.

   

To the bold, and please mind you I am not remotely arguing but I'm just genuinely curious because there was no internet for me between 1992 and 1994 and really want to know what the buzz was, who was saying that? Where?

[efx]

Anectodal of course but as a fan since 1992 those types of sayings I heard almost every time the band was brought up outside of ppl who were already fans. And it's a common tale amongst the early forum days when people talked about how non fans perceived them.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

anyone else here a practicing vegan in protest of the shrimp that ruined JLB's voice back in the 90s? I haven't eaten seafood (or meat) since I read the news back in the day

[Metro]

Are you Nicky Spanjaards

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Are you Nicky Spanjaards

IDK who that is, but no.

[Schurftkut]

i've actually met Nicky at a Q&A jp and jr did before a show. You're not him

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

i've actually met Nicky at a Q&A jp and jr did before a show. You're not him

i agree, i am not

[Skeever]

i've actually met Nicky at a Q&A jp and jr did before a show. You're not him

C'mon, do tell. You've got to have more than that.

[Schurftkut]

yeah pictures were taken where i'm standing next to JP and nicky was standing next to JR

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

let's see!

[Schurftkut]

https://youtu.be/bQKvNg9JWH8?t=435 

[Metro]

Are you Nicky Spanjaards

IDK who that is, but no.

He’s an important piece of DTF lore.
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=16692.0

[Schurftkut]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoV5Q39zQtU

his last DT cover. he sure improved!

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

I am surprised how few views he has for such a storied artist.