The Downward Spiral Of James LaBrie

This video compares LaBrie singing the “watch the sparrows falling” part of Pull Me Under over the years. It’s pretty clear the overall trend is towards LaBrie’s voice getting worse over time, as it is for most singers, but he has aged badly compared to other singers such as Bruce Dickinson or Rob Halford.

The concept of this video was sort of ripped off from another called “LaBrie sucks,” but that one just compares the studio version of Pull Me Under with the Download Festival from 2009. Pull Me Under did not get played live in 2008, 2011, or 2015, so I had the idea of doing Metropolis rather than Pull Me Under, but Metropolis did not get played in 2002 except for the Instrumedley. I thought it was more important to represent 2002 because LaBrie’s voice and physique took a real turn for the worse that year, to the point where the band almost fired him and gave him warning to shape up instead.

This video also establishes that the food poisoning is only a minor contributor to LaBrie’s deterioration as a singer. Many of his performances from the Falling Into Infinity era were still quite good. It’s when Jordan Rudess joined that LaBrie’s real problems began, and I’ll leave people to decide for themselves whether Rudess’ induction into the band had anything to do with that.

Videos like this will inevitably lead to accusations that I’m “obsessed” with James LaBrie. Actually, what I’m obsessed with is quality. LaBrie did a good job between January 1991, when he was hired, and December 1998 - the last shows with Derek Sherinian. LaBrie’s place in Dream Theater has gotten shakier and shakier since the time when Jordan Rudess joined. It’s really baffling to me why Dream Theater would sign a new long-term record contract with LaBrie when he epically embarrassed himself on three tours in a row with Live At Wacken and the failed tribute to Chris Cornell being the biggest embarrassments. When will this pirate be made to walk the plank?

[JVR]

To be fair, had Dream Theater taken six months off after James Labrie tore his vocal chords in 1994, he might be better.

[GuardianAngel]

It's the Goatee. He really started spiraling once he got the goatee.

[GeneralBloto]

All i Heard was "WASAPARALABA MASALARAPALARA NARASARALARALALA

[tomn]

James' voice slowly gets Pulled Under

[IFGchannel]

The lyrics slowly started to become a bunch of similar-sounding syllables. Interestingly enough, if you try to emulate his face while singing (open your mouth sideways (like in a smile), make your tongue shape as wide and large as you can, and sing pretty much without closing your mouth (without touching your lips)), you will also sound just like him. Why the fuck he does that is beyond my comprehension.

[davin]

There was a long interview with LaBrie on the YouTube vocal channel "The Charismatic Voice". He talked quite a bit about his struggles after the food poisoning incident. I forget what year he said he finally started getting confidence in his voice back, but it was like 10 years later, well into the 2000's. He said for every show during that period he just did not know whether or not his voice was going to do what he was asking it to. Some nights it would work, some it wouldn't regardless of diet, rest, exercise, practice. Just no rhyme or reason. That must've been supremely frightening to put himself out there night after night having no idea or control over whether he would be able to pull it off that night!
That said, most of his early parts like this were overambitious, overreaching and oversung. And his live singing often utilized improvising that was also overambitious and also often left him falling on his face.
Back then I appreciated the chances he was willing to take, even if they didn't quite come off. Because I would have done the same sort of thing were I in his shoes with his sort of talent. But I have matured to appreciate the more crafty judgement involved in making better choices to work with what you have. Modifying arrangements of older songs and better writing on newer ones.
The comparison with Rob Halford is appripo. After seeing Priest live several times, and then listening to their whole catalog looking for the best example of one song that showcased we'll all that Halford was capable of, I discovered that a great deal of their catalog is really NOT that high. Then there were those unbelievable, inhuman moments!
Rob Halford was a master of pacing himself, carefully designing the songs and the setlists to allow him to relax and regain his energy for those astounding moments.
James La Brie for so many years never let up on himself and that is just not sustainable over the long haul of a career.

[Gonboo]

I love the raw 93/94 vocals but you could tell he wasn't taking care of his voice.

[JedNadin]

I’m a singer. I sing four hour shows, once, sometimes twice a week. You can have all the technique, lifestyle adjustments, pre and post show care. That kind of head/mixed voice isn’t sustainable note after note night after night ESPECIALLY the way Dream Theater do, with their super long “evening with” style shows. I am constantly between nodules and swelling in the throat and trying to sing around the problem. The thing is, I stop singing I stop eating. It would be a similar situation with James, 30 years of Dream Theater. How many times has the man had a real six months of NO singing and real rest? I’ve seen him on the first show of a whole tour and he could tear paint off walls with his pitch and power.

[alphajayy_]

James’ vocals got so bad the spirit stopped carrying on

[neighbourhoodmusician]

I'm not a big fan of DT vocals but I'm happy to give LaBrie a break for this passage. It's a crazy difficult passage for any singer.

[Mr.Goldbar]

There are 4 stages in Labrie's vocal history.

Stage 1 - the peak: 89'-94', with the particular performance in 93' being the stuff of legends.

Stage 2 - the revovery period: 95'-00'. You can hear the effect of the food poisoning accident on the overall quality of his voice. The pitch is less stable in monotone lines, but he still sounds good and can hit the high notes well.

Stage 3 - the sudden regression: 02'-12'. Nobody's sure what's happened but the quality of his voice suddenly crashed down even further in just two years, seems like he lost his chest voice. The power that made his vocals in the 90's so iconic suddenly disappeared and replaced by something nasaly that sounds like something between a duck and a crow. He starts to struggle keeping it together, especially in 04'-06 when it seems harder for him to hit the note at all, but the pitch improved around 07' all the way until 12', meanwhile the overall tonal decline gets stronger and stronger.

Stage 4 - the final form (?): 14'-now. The decline seems to be amplified in both vocal tone and pitch. It got so bad that in 17' they tuned the song down and it still didn't help. Now they brought the pitch back to where it used to be (probably because of Jordan's perfect pitch) and he just changed a lot of vocal lines to fit his new range better.

[lazar]

2021 James LaBrie - 'Big chungus'

[NeinFeline]

2:13 Ouch... That July 1999 Incheon, Korea... I can hear that it hurts... He was really trying hard to appease the performance.

[sStyleMo]

I don't get why he decided to change the way he sings "some other day" and "I'm not afraid". The whole point of those lines was to bring it back down and lower the tone after several verses of being super high. Not only does keeping the tone high sound worse but I can't imagine doing it like that is easier for him.

[bigbrownhouse]

It gradually morphs into one continuous vowel

[AnthonysMajesty]

I love James the band wouldn’t be the same without him, he has very difficult vocals and it’s just a concept people need to understand. No vocalist can replace him, nor do I want to hear another vocalist take his position

[krakatoadude]

5:41 LMAO I THOUGHT THE AUDIENCE'S DUDE WAS ACTUALLY LABRIE XD

[jonathansefcik]

92-94: The James we fell in love with
95-97: Slightly more nasally and raspy but still good
98-01: Starting to sound noticeably more labored
02-05: The beginning of the "Labrieisms" this video is making fun of.
06-08: Gettin' real nasally and forced now, almost unrecognizable compared to his early work.
09-15: Hard to listen to.
16-present: Literally sounds like he's holding his nose as he's singing.

[ragnathebloodedge]

BÄÄÄ BÄÄÄ BÄÄÄ BÄÄ BÄÄ BÄÄÄ BÄÄ BÄBÄBÄ BÄÄÄ BBÄÄÄ BÄÄÄ BÄÄ BÄÄÄÄ BÄÄBÄ ÄBÄBÄBÄÄ IM NOT

[DrALisin]

Yeah vocal cords take a beating after years of this. Try singing for just 30 minutes tonight and see how your throat feels. I’m amazed they do as well as they do especially the rock and metal genres.