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Jim Garten
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin & Razor Guru
Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
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Topic: James Labrie Posted: February 27 2004 at 06:02 |
I must state at the outset I am a major Dream Theater fan, have most of the albums, DVD, seen them a few times live & love 95% of the material I have by them.
However......
James Labrie.....
He has a great voice in the studio, but in my humble opinion, he cannot cut it live - I've mentioned this in other threads, but whenever he tries to sing fast or in a high register, his voice lets him down, straying off key & rendering him a shouter, not a singer (like Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden on a bad day).
In turn, I feel this lets down DT's live sound overall, which is a great shame, as they are all superb musicians in their own right.
So.....
I put the question to the Forum:
James Labrie, Heroic vocalist, or Villainous Squawker?
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Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
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dude
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 30 2004
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 1338
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Posted: February 27 2004 at 07:04 |
JIM the trouble with some "singers" is that they may sound good but i often find that they cannot sustain full vibrato at high registers thus the shouting they try to pass for singing. There are other tricks used to cover up limited range such as that annoying "breathy" style and the "back of the throat"(gargling) style used by the likes of Stevie Nix(my cousin is a fantastic singer and has pointed these techniques out to me)
Edited by dude
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StarshipTrooper
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 22 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 201
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Posted: February 27 2004 at 07:22 |
Well if it wasn,t for LaBrie, I would have more Dreamtheater in my collection. As singers go, he ain't my cup of tea.
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Aerandir
Forum Groupie
Joined: February 21 2004
Location: Greece
Status: Offline
Points: 62
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Posted: February 27 2004 at 10:45 |
That's why i love erotomania live !!!!!!
Poor Labrie although a great performer in studio...
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That which doesn't kill you, postpones the inevitable
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Dan Bobrowski
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: February 02 2004
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 5243
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Posted: February 27 2004 at 11:01 |
Too bad DT wasn't an instrumental group. I might buy some of their music. I prefer singers who don't "GET IN THE WAY" of the music.
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Olympus
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 18 2005
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 545
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Posted: August 23 2005 at 02:27 |
Evil I tells ya.
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"Let's get the hell away from this Eerie-ass piece of work so we can get on with the rest of our eerie-ass day"
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Omayyad
Forum Newbie
Joined: August 25 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 20
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Posted: August 25 2005 at 07:19 |
Villain...
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Raff
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: July 29 2005
Location: None
Status: Offline
Points: 24429
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Posted: August 25 2005 at 11:36 |
Actually neither, though I tend more towards the 'villain' side. As I said many times before, I'm waiting to see them live in autumn, so I will be able to judge from first-hand experience. Honestly, though, his style of singing doesn't do much for me. I can only imagine how great would DT be if they had a singer like Steve Walsh, who would be the most suitable for their material.
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King of Loss
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 21 2005
Location: Boston, MA
Status: Offline
Points: 16546
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Posted: August 25 2005 at 12:36 |
James Labrie is essential for Dream Theater, without Labrie, Dream Theater sucks.
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Wolf Spider
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 04 2005
Location: Poland
Status: Offline
Points: 1617
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Posted: August 25 2005 at 12:38 |
How many times have we done this?
BTW: He`s a hero!
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The Prognaut
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 14 2004
Location: Somewhere Else
Status: Offline
Points: 1492
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Posted: August 25 2005 at 12:49 |
Seen Dream Theater live here in Mexico, reviewed over and over Live at Budokan and Scenes from New York... and the guy still sucks big time! I've recognized that what he did on Scenes from a Memory is quite remarkable, but overall, he ain't got the stuff.
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break the circle
reset my head
wake the sleepwalker
and i'll wake the dead
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The Miracle
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 29 2005
Location: hell
Status: Offline
Points: 28427
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Posted: August 25 2005 at 16:45 |
I love him, he's a hero for me
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Hawkeye
Forum Newbie
Joined: August 15 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 25
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Posted: August 25 2005 at 18:26 |
King of Loss wrote:
James Labrie is essential for Dream Theater, without Labrie, Dream Theater sucks. |
Damn Straight
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richeym
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 23 2004
Status: Offline
Points: 148
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Posted: August 26 2005 at 12:24 |
LaBrie has become a much much better live vocalist in the past few years. when i saw them on the ToT tour, LaBrie was the strongest feature by a long way. he used to be iffy half the time live, as i know from old videos and bootlegs, but now he's a lot lot lot better.
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Zarquino
Forum Newbie
Joined: August 24 2005
Location: Spain
Status: Offline
Points: 33
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Posted: August 26 2005 at 16:33 |
Its true that in their last years gigs he's not been very good, but
thats cause of frugs. If you watch their first live cds he sung much
better, and he's got a very good technic, but nowdays hes not the same,
I still like him. And I think there is no other singer to DT...no
LaBrie means no DT cause I dont think they could be only instrumental.
One friend wishes Jorn Lande for DT...I dont think so...He's a hero...a
fallen hero? I'm with King of loss :D
Bye
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There's nothing left to loose
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The Accolade
Forum Newbie
Joined: July 19 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 17
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Posted: August 27 2005 at 07:21 |
I'm a big Dream theater fan, but its funny how my favourite tracks are YTSE Jam, Erotomania and Stream of Consciousness. But without LaBrie, Dream Theater mite of gone there seperate ways after just one album.
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My Music
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Wolf Spider
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 04 2005
Location: Poland
Status: Offline
Points: 1617
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Posted: August 27 2005 at 12:22 |
Hawkeye wrote:
King of Loss wrote:
James Labrie is essential for Dream Theater, without Labrie, Dream Theater sucks. |
Damn Straight |
DT - JLB = LTE
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porter
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 07 2005
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 362
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Posted: August 27 2005 at 13:23 |
the fact that he sucks live is not only his problem, that is I guess a common disease among "power singers">
examples:
Robert Plant didn't do as well live as on the albums (and what he DID on the albums!!!)
Freddy Mercury live stayed inside a much lower register (just compare Live Killers or Wembley to the studio Queen stuff)
Have you ever seen Chris Cornell from Soundgarden live? ....while in the studio he is one of the most amazing vocalists ever...
Even Bruce Dickinson can't quite cope with his signature "air raid siren" screams live...
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"my kingdom for a horse!" (W. Shakespeare, "Richard III")
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glass house
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 16 2005
Location: Netherlands
Status: Offline
Points: 4986
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Posted: August 29 2005 at 03:03 |
Lately played more Dream Theater, music is great, I like Train of thought.
Mister Labrie should leave though, he ruins it.
Greetings
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Valarius
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 08 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 1480
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Posted: August 30 2005 at 02:38 |
Hero. I think he's a great singer!
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