The Official Flying Colors Thread

[Stadler]

That's made me think. I've not seen Mike live outside of DT and have NEVER seen Neal live. I have to fix that.

You have no idea. 

[goo-goo]

The first album is far and away my favorite of the 2 so far. However, Cosmic Symphony is by far my favorite song of theirs.

Same feelings for Flying Colors as well. Hopefully they return to the sound of the 1st album. The 2nd one felt very wankery, with less focused on the songs compared to the 1st.

[gzarruk]

Looks like I’m alone with this, but I like SN much more than the first album...

[RoeDent]

Looks like I’m alone with this, but I like SN much more than the first album...

You're not alone. The band sounds more solid on the second album.

[gzarruk]

Looks like I’m alone with this, but I like SN much more than the first album...

You're not alone. The band sounds more solid on the second album.

This and it’s also proggier than the first one, that’s what I want to hear from this band. Don’t like it when they get too much into Beatles’ territory, like about half of the first album.

[MirrorMask]

At least the first album was unique, it really stood out. The second was "just" another prog-gish album like we've come to hear from Neal Morse or Mike.

[Adami]

The second one was not just a typical Neil/Mike prog album. The first song was, but that's about it.

I just skip the first song. Rest of the album is great.

[ariich]

The second one was not just a typical Neil/Mike prog album. The first song was, but that's about it.

I just skip the first song. Rest of the album is great.

Literally exactly the same with me. I almost always skip the first song. It's not bad, but it's not very exciting and doesn't seem to fit at all with the rest of the album. Whereas the rest of it is fantastic and very similar to the first album.

[Stadler]

Looks like I’m alone with this, but I like SN much more than the first album...

You're not alone. The band sounds more solid on the second album.

This and it’s also proggier than the first one, that’s what I want to hear from this band. Don’t like it when they get too much into Beatles’ territory, like about half of the first album.

Not arguing, just showing counterpoint:  I have enough "prog" from almost all those guys.   It's the "Beatles" side that makes it different than everyrthing else, and makes me want this to continue so bad.    I still think that "The Storm" is one of Mike's finest recorded moments; the way he plays the buildup in the chorus ("The storm... we will dance as it breaks"; bap! bap! bap! bap!) then switches to a half-time beat as the storm "washes away the pain".... man.  I've listened to that about 1000 times and it's as fresh and moving now as it was the first time.

And I am absolutely NOT one of those people that believes songs or artists "should be" anything - I believe that artists and songs achieve the level of success they are meant to have - but if I WAS to play that game, "Kayla" would be a top five hit and overused in movies, etc.  That song is THAT GOOD (to me, my opinion). 

[gzarruk]

Kayla and The Storm are highlights of the first album and two of my favorites, so I definitely agree on that, I just prefer their proggier side, and Second Nature is better at that.

[axeman90210]

I would agree both that part of why I like Flying Colors is that it's not just Mike and Neal doing prog with a different cast of supporting characters, and then the second album isn't really all that much more prog than the first. It just gets that rep because of the first song. If you removed it, or even moved it to the end of the album, I don't think people would think that nearly so much.

[ytserush]

I would agree both that part of why I like Flying Colors is that it's not just Mike and Neal doing prog with a different cast of supporting characters, and then the second album isn't really all that much more prog than the first. It just gets that rep because of the first song. If you removed it, or even moved it to the end of the album, I don't think people would think that nearly so much.

Half of the second record is as good as if not better than the first album. The other half just isn't. 

[The Letter M]

From MP on Facebook just now...

Mark my words now....
@flyingcolorsofficial #FC3 Song #3 #Crawl or whatever the hell it ends up getting named, is the Prog Epic Song Of 2019!! #goosebumps #radioheadmeetstransatlantic

That last tag has me interested, though his calling it an epic has me worried the songs might be more on the longer side. Hopefully, if it IS long, it's done more like "Cosmic Symphony" or "Infinite Fire" and less like "Open Up Your Eyes".

-Marc.

[MinistroRaven]

[gzarruk]

Prog epic of 2019? Nah, we’ll have At Wit’s End and Pale Blue Dot

[DTA]

Great. More bullshit noodling/repetition like Open Up Your Eyes that sounds like the other NM/MP projects thus making this project completely superfluous and unoriginal.

[Stadler]

I LOVE Flying Colors, but the "Radiohead" loses me.    The songs I like least on the first one are the "Muse"-like songs, so hearing "Radiohead" - a band I think is blindingly overr-rated, and on the level of "Laura Nyro" in terms of being woefully under-qualified for the RnRHoF (let alone second ballot) - does nothing to excite me about what is an otherwise a very exciting development.

[gzarruk]

I think the song’ll be good anyway, I just don’t believe Portnoy anymore when he hypes stuff

[Adami]

I just don’t believe Portnoy anymore when he hypes stuff

This is great advice. Though his message was a turn off to me too. Don’t need another Portnoy/Morse prog epic.

[KevShmev]

Knowing Portnoy, he is probably aware of all of the DT chatter in the last week or so, and threw that comment out there as if to say, "See, the epic we are writing will be better than any on the new Dream Theater* record!"

Let's hope this supposed epic is more Infinite Fire (great) than Open Up Your Eyes (a mess).

[Zydar]

The usual MP hyperbole, I see.

[RoeDent]

I'll tell you what's getting annoying now...the assumption that anything MP says has to somehow be interpreted as a dig at DT. It's been eight years, guys. Come off it.

I really want FC to do a big proper epic on this one, partly to spite those who say they shouldn't, and partly because this band is far less preachy than other Morse projects, and I want a proper Morse non-preachy epic like The Great Nothing again.

[Orbert]

Not everything has to be interpreted as a dig at DT, but sometimes they are, which means people will find it fun to see what connection they can make, even if there isn't one.  So they don't have to, but they do anyway because it's fun and sometimes they're right.

[bosk1]

I don't see it as a dig.  And if it was intended to be, it isn't a very hard dig at all. 

As for the song being the "prog epic of the year," I'm not counting on it.  Based on the two prior albums, I don't see this unit writing the "prog epic of the year."  When the album comes out, I will likely buy it.  And I will likely like it.  And I will likely not love it.  And that's fine.

[Adami]

I'll tell you what's getting annoying now...the assumption that anything MP says has to somehow be interpreted as a dig at DT. It's been eight years, guys. Come off it.

I really want FC to do a big proper epic on this one, partly to spite those who say they shouldn't, and partly because this band is far less preachy than other Morse projects, and I want a proper Morse non-preachy epic like The Great Nothing again.

I agree it’s not a dig at all.

But you want them to write a song out of spite? And i really don’t want (nor do a lot of fans) them to be another Transatlantic but with less preach lyrics. A lot of us like this band for what they do different, not just a typical portnoy/Morse thing yet again.

[RoeDent]

Tbh, and I'm only speaking personally, I don't mind if FC expands their sound, as it's the only Morsenoy thing I'm interested in these days. I'm sure it's going to be a wonderful album when it comes along.

[ErHaO]

Radiohead meets Transatlantic will be a cool thing for many, but personally Radiohead gives me a headache and I never enjoyed Transatlantic as much as any of the other MP(/NM) projects. That said, I dislike Coldplay, but the first album had a lot of moments that reminded me of them, but in a package where it worked for me. So who knows.

[ytserush]

If the album is good I don't care who it sounds like.

[SoundscapeMN]

while I love a lot of his music (pre-2003) , it seems Neal Morse has a sound, and more or less anything he's involved with sounds like his sound.

Kind of why this project sounds far too much like Transatlantic or his solo music than it should.

It's kind of a shame, per when Flying Colors came out, the Jellyfish and Kevin Gilbert comparisons really had me intrigued, but writing a Prog Epic doesn't exactly fall into that progressive-pop thing that I think of JF and KG for.

[Fritzinger]

It will not sound like Radiohead meets Transatlantic and it will not be the Prog epic of the year. Portnoy really needs to stop with these arrogant, childish comments. But then again, we are obviously talking about it so I guess this comment has fulfilled its purpose.

[MirrorMask]

I don't find either childish or arrogant, on the contrary, it shows a fan-like enthusiasm of someone who has never forgotten on how to be a fan. Of course he's not the best or most impartial judge of himself, but I don't find arrogance in his comments about new music.

[Ben_Jamin]

Eh....I'll have to heae it first.

Second Nature would be better if it didnt open with Open Your Eyes. Its too long and kind of a chore to get through to listen to the rest of the album. Other than I enjoy it. Never really liked Cosmic Symphony either. Although I do enjoy All Falls Down.

[gzarruk]

I don't find either childish or arrogant, on the contrary, it shows a fan-like enthusiasm of someone who has never forgotten on how to be a fan. Of course he's not the best or most impartial judge of himself, but I don't find arrogance in his comments about new music.

I get that he’s still a big music fan and gets really excited for his own stuff, but according to him he’s released the prog album of the year and the best album of his career like 5 times in the last couple years. He really needs to stop over hyping and over saturating the market with a lot of samey-sounding bands/albums, claiming they’re the best he’s ever done. People just don’t believe him anymore.

[Mladen]

Seems like nobody likes Open up your eyes.  I'd also remove it from the album, but even so, that album would have been too reminiscent of pure prog. Most songs could have used some trimming in order to be as punchy and catchy as the ones on the debut.

[ReaperKK]

I don't find either childish or arrogant, on the contrary, it shows a fan-like enthusiasm of someone who has never forgotten on how to be a fan. Of course he's not the best or most impartial judge of himself, but I don't find arrogance in his comments about new music.

I get that he’s still a big music fan and gets really excited for his own stuff, but according to him he’s released the prog album of the year and the best album of his career like 5 times in the last couple years. He really needs to stop over hyping and over saturating the market with a lot of samey-sounding bands/albums, claiming they’re the best he’s ever done. People just don’t believe him anymore.

It wouldn’t be MP if it wasn’t over hyped. At least he gets excited about his projects.