In Defense of James LaBrie: A Manifesto

[HOF]

Prog/Louder Sound had this brief article on the KC cover album too. Whether he knew if it was real or AI, I promise you Jerry Ewing is not writing AI articles.

https://www.loudersound.com/news/listen-to-todd-rundgrens-version-of-king-crimsons-21st-century-schizoid-man

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

I'm still not convinced the album itself isn't AI, but yeah, that article definitely isn't

[Puppies_On_Acid]

FWIW, I think In the Court of the Crimson King is one of their weakest albums. Though they never get to what I would call cheery (and repetitiveness is kind of a major theme for them).

I agree with this.

Also to completely write off an entire band based on a single cover of a song that isn't one of their greatest is extremely short-sighted. Especially considering they really don't have 2 albums that sound the same. They are (were) an ever evolving band.

[JeopardousRaven]

I'm sorry but respectfully after even half of that song I don't think I could stomach anything from them. Admittedly though I don't truly identify as first and foremost a prog fan (there, I said it) and DT is really the anomaly on my list of favorite bands (of my top five, three are power metal).

King Crimson is a band that you really can't judge off of one song. As others have said, no two albums by them are the same (except maybe Court and Wake). If you enjoy DT and power metal, you should listen to the songs One More Red Nightmare and Starless from their album Red before completely writing them off. King Crimson is one of the most important bands of the 20th Century.

[Trav]

In the Court of the Crimson King is the one King Crimson album I like.

[gborland]

I have tried to listen to a few King Crimson albums, and I find them all to be completely unlistenable. I cannot find anything positive to say about any of it.

[TAC]

I have tried to listen to a few King Crimson albums, and I find them all to be completely unlistenable. I cannot find anything positive to say about any of it.

Pretty much this.

[axeman90210]

That's been my experience as well. No doubt very important to the progressive rock/metal genre, and supremely talented musicians, but I actively dislike most of what I've heard by them.

[Herrick]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=X_pDwv3tpug

[Metro]

King Crimson is a Top 3 band for me. Love em, but they're definitely not for everyone. If you've listened to a few albums and determined they're not your thing, I respect that. But writing them (or any band for that matter) off based on a thrown-together cover song for a cash grab tribute album? That's very close-minded.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

In the Court of the Crimson King is the one King Crimson album I like.

It is a great progressive album.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Agreed, it rules. There's many KC albums I prefer to it though

[jammindude]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=X_pDwv3tpug

It's funny that you posted this, because once everyone started dissing on them, I immediately thought of the Wetton/Bruford years and how much I've been meaning to explore that era of the band, because I've heard it's the era that is most likely to be loved by the prog community.

[Trav]

Agreed, it rules. There's many KC albums I prefer to it though

It's at a point where I can't tell if your posts are funny intentionally or not.

[crystalstars17]

King Crimson is a Top 3 band for me. Love em, but they're definitely not for everyone. If you've listened to a few albums and determined they're not your thing, I respect that. But writing them (or any band for that matter) off based on a thrown-together cover song for a cash grab tribute album? That's very close-minded.

Well if that doesn't show how much you can't know about someone based on a few posts on the internet... But if you want to judge me as "closed-minded" because of this, then I can't stop you. Far closer to the truth is that 1. I've got my head full of exploring/enjoying other bands currently and just don't have time/space/energy to fit something else in that doesn't represent what I currently enjoy, and 2. an incredibly full life right now with lots of things going on, both good and bad, and I need to surround myself with music that gives me wings, not brings me down.

That said, maybe some other time!

[Bentower]

Well if that doesn't show how much you can't know about someone based on a few posts on the internet... But if you want to judge me as "closed-minded" because of this, then I can't stop you. Far closer to the truth is that 1. I've got my head full of exploring/enjoying other bands currently and just don't have time/space/energy to fit something else in that is, subjectively, too boring, sad, and slow and doesn't represent what I currently enjoy, and 2. an incredibly full life right now with lots of things going on, both good and bad, and I need to surround myself with music that gives me wings, not brings me down.

That said, maybe some other time!

Maybe have a listen to 'Matte Kudasai'? That's a KC song from the 80's that, after all, has vocalist Adrian Belew mimicking bird calls on his guitar! It's very bright and airy; an entirely different experience compared to 'In the Court'.

That's the thing about King Crimson; they balance the light and the dark, consonance and dissonance in unique ways. You might be surprised by the fact that 'Two Hands' from the otherwise fairly unhinged 'Beat' album is one of the most beautiful love songs I know!

[Dellers]

To my ears he can barely sing anymore. During the last show he was out of tune on nearly every single note, and even with the loud sound it was very audible. The last albums have had extreme amounts of pitch correction, including numerous obviously robotic sounding phrases. He lost his pitch, and a singer without good pitch is not fit for the job. Bad pitch is not good, and pitch correction destroys both good and bad performances anyway.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

To my ears he can barely sing anymore. During the last show he was out of tune on nearly every single note, and even with the loud sound it was very audible. The last albums have had extreme amounts of pitch correction, including numerous obviously robotic sounding phrases. He lost his pitch, and a singer without good pitch is not fit for the job. Bad pitch is not good, and pitch correction destroys both good and bad performances anyway.

That's just, like, your opinion, man.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Ah, one of my favorite subject matters to discuss (and one of the most vicious, as well).

The thin line that separates the objective from the subjective, as elusive as ever. I think there's a couple things we can all mostly agree upon:

1) James is probably one of the most recognizable voices in all of metal and progressive rock. It's not a matter of technique or even range (one of the most overvalued characteristics that people often talk about in metal music), it's a matter of timbre.

2) James has struggled quite a lot in his career as a singer in many ways. Being DT's singer is probably one of the hardest jobs to cover in the metal and progressive realms. Even though there are bands, nowadays, that surpass DT in sheer technicality (assuming we all agree upon what "technical" means, which in metal is usually the music that's hardest to perform), DT is still pretty much the "band of virtuosos" to the mainstream. The band with awkwardly long songs and with a singer that occasionally sings in them.

On the other hand, you have the food poisoning incident, the incredibly taxing touring schedules and the aging process. Time has not been very kind to James, although he has clearly and openly made all in his ability to keep up (I've listened to hours of podcasts of him basically talking about vocal technique and care. The man clearly knows his stuff, whether you like it or not).

3) His live performances, of late, have been mostly subpar. This is coming from a vivid defensor of James (I've sustained long and incredibly absurd discussions with people on the internet throughout the years), but clearly his stamina is not what DT's regular touring schedules asks of him (some of his performances I've listened from the last Dreamsonic tour were not good at all, and it pains me to say so), but that doesn't mean that DT should change singers (I'll elaborate on this in a bit), and clearly Petrucci knows this (the undisputed leader of today's DT, even though Portnoy is back on the fold).

Out with the objective, in with the subjective...

Even though James' faults of the recent years, DT would not benefit from letting him go. All these folks that keep hammering him and insisting that DT should fire him and get a proper replacement, clearly know more about the internal, personal and profesional affairs of a band than the people actually running the band.

Personal relationships are so fundamental to the inner workings of a band, that even though DT had a pretty successful run with Mike Mangini, they eventually gravitated towards their safe space once again: Mike Portnoy. Not because Portnoy's the better musician or drummer (which is something entirely subjective), but because the band's relationship with him is just in another level which will probably span out their most commercially successful record in years (not that their previous efforts haven't been successful, but DT's not a band that relies on commercial success to exist because they've built a fan base that's not going anywhere).

James has been the voice of Dream Theater for over 30 years, and basically has helped sculpt the sonic stamp that definitely makes the band still stand out over the dozens of DT clone bands and generic Progressive Metal nonsense with singers that timbrically sound so similar. I'm aware people will disagree with me on this (makes me think of the guy that runs the DT Archive YouTube channel that takes shots towards James every time he has the chance), but I stand my ground on this. A couple of things to take into consideration:

a) The guys in the band are basically in their 60s now. They are way past their prime in every sense of the word, although they are still successful and thriving in their respective areas (Petrucci's line of Music Man guitars are in an all-time high, for example). After almost 40 years of career, they are not just going to find another singer and have him fill up all the expectations of having another man fronting Dream Theater for the short time they have left (they can still keep going for more years, but they're pretty much approaching their endgame as an active, fiercely touring band). It's weird the strong effect James' voice has on the music he performs in. I can very much picture DT, with another singer, sounding like a DT cover band. That's not always a bad thing, but we're speaking of identity and James is a fundamental part of the band's identity.

b) I know that other bands have replaced their singers with younger counterparts (Journey comes to mind), but DT is not as big of a band as to magically work with another, younger member. Clearly everyone there (including Mike Portnoy) has profound relationships and connections with James, and if they feel comfortable with him still fronting the band (in both his good and bad days), that's pretty much what we're going to get.

I agree that James' tuning has become inconsistent, to say the least, but that doesn't mean he has lost his pitch. There's a lot of informal recordings of him singing a'cappella and pretty much nailing everything with very precise tuning. It's his technique I'm most worried about, because I feel that he has given up tone in exchange of lasting for 2 or 3 hours of live shows. James' high range is very compromised these days, and that's the reason his tone is not good when he approaches that zone, because he'd rather hit the note but not think about articulation and tone of the note (that's why his upper range sounds so nasal, because of the abuse of his nasal cavities to amplify his sound). His lower and mid ranges, however, are pretty much still phenomenal. I even recall one of his recent "Pull Me Under" performances in which he just said "fuck it" and sang the whole "watch the sparrow falling..." verse an octave lower. Sounds weird because I've been listening to that part on the high register for 20 years, but if it makes him feel good and helps him produce a better tone, I'm all for it. I've seen and heard that song live dozens of times, so I don't care if James doesn't get up there if that helps him get a better hold of his performance.

All in all, I don't see the band replacing him any time soon, but I feel it's healthy to focus on his strengths rather than his weaknesses. The band clearly takes that route every time they tour, and somehow I feel it's for the better.

[Mladen]

I think we all collectively have to give it up for that post. Well done. 

[MirrorMask]

a) The guys in the band are basically in their 60s now. They are way past their prime in every sense of the word, although they are still successful and thriving in their respective areas (Petrucci's line of Music Man guitars are in an all-time high, for example). After almost 40 years of career, they are not just going to find another singer and have him fill up all the expectations of having another man fronting Dream Theater for the short time they have left (they can still keep going for more years, but they're pretty much approaching their endgame as an active, fiercely touring band). It's weird the strong effect James' voice has on the music he performs in. I can very much picture DT, with another singer, sounding like a DT cover band. That's not always a bad thing, but we're speaking of identity and James is a fundamental part of the band's identity.

I agree with this and this has been my stance as well. Very hot take for which I'll probably get tomatoes thrown at: I consider James just as irreplaceable as John Petrucci.

In the literal sense of the word, anyone can be replaced. Petrucci is not the only one able to play guitar the way he does. Steve Harris is not the only one able to play bass the way he does. But some people are so fundamental to the band they're in that the physical replacement, the mere act of having someone else playing at the same level, doesn't mean anything when you value the weight of a specific fundamental band member in term of songwriting and personality. Petrucci is not the only one in the world that could play guitar in Dream Theater but there's no sense in having Dream Theater without him. And, after an entire carrer (minus the debut album) with James as the voice of DT, and this late in the game as you pointed out, there's no sense in replacing him without drastically altering the entirety of how DT songs sound like.

Sure, there must be dozens of singers out there who could sing the songs and sing them live as well, but none of them would feel right. And as you pointed out, they're not at a level where they can get away with a younger singer 'cause the sheer fame of their classics and nostalgia will carry the shows anyway. For better or worse James is the voice of DT and not even Freddie Mercury reincarnated would feel "right" in his place after having heard those songs sang by him and only him since 1992.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Great post, Dark Lialink. The only thing I would say is that while I agree his timbre is unique and special and one of the draws of him, don't let it cloud the understanding of how hard JLB works to keep his voice good. Timbre isn't really something you have any control over, it's just naturally how you sound, but his energy, his stage banter, and the accuracy of his singing night after night, song after song, come from his dedication to his craft and his desire to keep himself in good shape. I remember on the bonus DVD for the Chaos in Motion DVD he mentioned running 5 kilos on the treadmill every day. I bet he's kept that up and is even in more shape now, if he was doing 5 kilos in 2009, imagine how much the man must run before the show each night in 2024?? Probably 15 kilos or more. Such dedication to his body and to us, the fans.

[Dream Team]

He doesn't run 15 kilos; that was some next-level math. His "banter" is cringeworthy. I also question how "grueling" the touring schedule is since they don't tour every year and he gets a LOT of breaks during the show. Besides that, I agree with most of what D_L posted.

[TAC]

What exactly is voice food?

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

What exactly is voice food?

LOL, I meant to write "voice good". Will edit

[Metro]

What exactly is voice food?

Probably not shrimp...

[Setlist Scotty]

He doesn't run 15 kilos; that was some next-level math.

I know he said it in an interview somewhere, but these days I don't think he runs at all, but rather speed walks at most. Dunno the distance, but being older, he's tapering off, not increasing his exercise regimen (which is to be expected).

[crystalstars17]

including numerous obviously robotic sounding phrases.

Um, No.

[crystalstars17]

It's weird the strong effect James' voice has on the music he performs in. I can very much picture DT, with another singer, sounding like a DT cover band. That's not always a bad thing, but we're speaking of identity and James is a fundamental part of the band's identity.

This, 💯

[DTwwbwMP]

Personally, I would be VERY HAPPY with a younger "JLB voice clone" who could actually sing the songs LIVE! James is not a frontman in any capacity so it would be NO LOSS. That being said, JLB has of course been an integral part of the band for over 30 years which I appreciate. BUT, if he can't get the job done anymore, so be it!

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

I know he said it in an interview somewhere, but these days I don't think he runs at all, but rather speed walks at most. Dunno the distance, but being older, he's tapering off, not increasing his exercise regimen (which is to be expected).

Have you seen the Big Chungus video? Evidence he must be running nearly ten or more kilos a day

[Puppies_On_Acid]

Have you seen the Big Chungus video? Evidence he must be running nearly ten or more kilos a day

[TAC]

Personally, I would be VERY HAPPY with a younger "JLB voice clone" who could actually sing the songs LIVE! James is not a frontman in any capacity so it would be NO LOSS. That being said, JLB has of course been an integral part of the band for over 30 years which I appreciate. BUT, if he can't get the job done anymore, so be it!

I really don't know how I feel about this.

[crystalstars17]

Personally, I would be VERY HAPPY with a younger "JLB voice clone" who could actually sing the songs LIVE! James is not a frontman in any capacity so it would be NO LOSS. That being said, JLB has of course been an integral part of the band for over 30 years which I appreciate. BUT, if he can't get the job done anymore, so be it!

And if they ever got that "voice clone", I'd be all done with them.

But I don't see them as the kind of band who would just throw away their history like that. On the contrary. They're not simply a popular phenomenon out to make a quick dollar off nostalgia. They're far better than that. At least I hope they are.

If you want a "frontman" like you're talking about, just go see another band. That's not what this band is about. They're about virtuosity and uniqueness.

What James brings to the music goes far beyond these superficial and run of the mill complaints. His voice, for many intangible reasons, cannot be "cloned". I want him on the stage, not a mimic.

[jammindude]

I think that, no matter what they do, they are going to lose some fans. It's just a matter of which choice loses how many.

*IF* JLBs voice recovers and he pulls out of his current slump, all of us would be ecstatic. But I don't think of this as likely.

For me personally, I would not be happy with a JLB "clone" as some have put it. That to me, would seem like an attempt to simply hire a run of the mill soundalike so they could perform old songs like they used to sound with a pawn frontman. No...I hate that idea.

But I wouldn't be adverse to bringing in someone who was different. Someone who had their own style, but was perfectly capable of performing old material with his own spin.

This is an unpopular opinion, and it is exactly the reason why I was a HUGE fan of Jeff Scott Soto fronting Journey, and why it seems most other people (band included) weren't.