I do have some more videos I want to release eventually. This channel is a low priority though, and unfortunately, somewhere between one-third and one-half of Dream Theater's audience appears to be totally impervious to the truth. It does not matter how many lies and gaffes the band is caught in. They get angry rather than persauded.

Absolutely false to say that I don’t engage with critical commenters. There also, by definition, are no “good points” that can be made in defense of this. It’s lying. It’s a complete and willful misrepresentation of JL’s talent.

@@theravenskillrebelmilitia139 I've seen on many videos voice coaches that have commented about how at his age, expecting him to sing what he used to is impossible. I've also seen you say how his singing is "bad" in this clip but not in the 90's, followed by this: @theravenskillrebelmilitia139 because he was 10 years younger, without having suffered a vocal rupture, without 10 years of touring and constantly exposing his vocal folds through an amount of damage that very few singers can sustain without becoming voice-less. Singing stuff from Images and Words and Awake would destroy anybody's voice in the long term. You can tell that whoever wanted that high register back than (probably Portnoy) didn't know shit about vocals and how impossible it is to sing like that non-stop. And in fact Labrie's voice started to crack way before the incident: you can already hear it in japan 1993, where he was way worse compared to the very start of the I&W tour during fall 1992. At the end of his very first tour with dream theater you could already hear the cracks and pops, which were both his fault (due to early bridging and in general to his technique being too harsh on his vocal folds) and the vocal damage that he had to sustain in order to sing like that this explains why his singing isnt as good as it used to be. you seem to avoid things like these

@@williamtaylor2044 But how does it follow that Dream Theater must keep LaBrie, and resort to great deceptive lengths to keep propping him up, because his voice has worn out through a combination of the food poisoning incident, overuse, and aging? That is a total non-sequitur.

"All his bad performances are from after Portnoy left the band" False. He was having substantial vocal issues as far back as 1995, and many performances between 1999-2010 were poor.

One of several arguments I hear on a regular basis, which has been addressed over and over again. If the vocal cords wear out over time, and cannot be replaced, then that makes a case IN FAVOR OF bands changing singers at some point, not keeping someone with a busted voice. It should be pointed out, however, that LaBrie's voice has aged poorly compared to other metal vocalists. Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson are OLDER than LaBrie, and neither one turned into a squawking seagull.

The "family" argument has been addressed many times. Why can't they remain friendly with James while still having him exit the band? They remained friendly with Charlie and Derek, and tried with Kevin Moore, but he distanced himself from the band as much as possible, for reasons not entirely known. Whatever "power" and "personality" LaBrie originally brought to the band are gone. He sounds like an escaped dementia unit patient now, and there is no excuse at all for keeping him.

Breaking News: there's no rule that musicians have to keep performing if they lose their abilities due to age

It is strange that they insist on the highest levels of musicality possible except for LaBrie. Allegedly, they canned Derek Sherinian because they thought Rudess "would take their music to the next level." So why tolerate this kind of sloppy singing? They almost fired James in 2002, so there's no way they like his singing now. They're probably contractually powerless to get rid of him.

@@theravenskillrebelmilitia139 Must be so awkward.. and yet they do talk among themselves as 'family' etc.. People I know go to see them every now and then and it's always the same: instrumentally great but singer just can't do it anymore.. Really weird, but oh well.

@@sirriffsalot4158 And the thing is, there's no reason they couldn't remain friendly with LaBrie if exited the band. Unless his ego would not be able to handle the reality that he sucks now, and he would burn a bridge with his bandmates. Dream Theater has remained relatively friendly with its ex-members.

Of course LaBrie did a better job than Dominici at singing The Killing Hand back in 92-93, but we're not living in those times anymore. I am asking why Dream Theater has lowered their musical standards over time to accommodate LaBrie. P.S. The band has admitted to Live At The Marquee having overdubbed vocals

The fact that you named all of those bands shows there's a point in history when it was not commonplace to use lots of playbacks. Dream Theater used a few here and there while Portnoy was in the band for parts that could not be executed live. After Portnoy quit, they started using them for parts that could easily be executed live.

I have other people telling me the exact opposite. The use of backing tracks is something younger bands favor, and you're a "Boomer" if you have a problem with it. In either case, it's unacceptable.

The answer to that is pretty obvious. In the studio, they have the ability to record as many takes as necessary, splice them together, and then throw pitch correction on it. He probably tries harder in the studio too.

I don't understand people who say that. You have the ability to selectively listen to the instrumentalists, and filter out LaBrie?

@@theravenskillrebelmilitia139 Rush is my favorite band of all time. I guess I've grown numb to bad vocals.

Then you don't have a good enough ear to hear pitch correction.

Todd LaTorre has just entered the chat

"And still has a good one now." Pretty good way to discredit yourself.