I think, love him or hate him, LaBrie is as intregral to DT sound as Portnoy or Petrucci. I think LaBrie is a good singer, but maybe he tries to do too much with his voice in DT. That can work in a studio, but live it's harder to pull off. James has done some non-DT stuff that shows that he is a very good singer.. Back to the QR/DT issue - I think Geoff Tate is a better singer and I'd would have loved to see Tate singing for DT - but that ain't gonna happen. I have seen both bands live (not together though) and I enjoyed Tate's singing more than LaBrie's.