Author Topic: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread  (Read 539845 times)

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Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1365 on: September 04, 2014, 10:54:38 AM »
I had a feeling it wasn't going to be prog when I saw the album cover in the store, so I bought it alongside Momentum to soften the blow.  :lol

 :rollin

That's one way to do it. Momentum should have plenty of Neal-prog to keep you going if you haven't heard it already!

As for SFN - I've known all along that it would be more like his first two solo albums (before he left SB), so I was prepared to hear a bunch of 4-6 minute songs with loads of acoustic guitar and lyrics about love, religion, and personal stories. I've listened to it once, in my car, and I liked it. It's enjoyable and pleasant, but I don't listen to Neal's first two albums much as it is, so I doubt I'll listen to SFN much more in the future. If I am in the mood for prog-less Neal, sure, but I might be more inclined to spin his first two albums. I should make a playlist of all three albums on my iPod, though, for those times where I want the more singer-songwriter version of Neal.

-Marc.
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Offline Nel

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1366 on: September 04, 2014, 10:13:59 PM »
The only NM stuff I heard up to that point was Spock's Beard, Transatlantic and Flying Colors. I had sought out Thoughts Part 5 over a year ago because I love the SB Thoughts songs so much and just wanted to hear that one for the heck of it, and I remember loving it so much that when I was looking for a partner album to buy with Songs From November, Momentum was the no-brainer.  :lol
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Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1367 on: September 13, 2014, 06:52:19 AM »
I just got the Testimony 2 Live CD/DVD package.  I must say, those DVDs are incredible.  I thoroughly enjoyed those performances (although I still don't care all that much for Testimony 2).
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Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1368 on: September 13, 2014, 01:16:09 PM »
From Randy George on Facebook:
Quote
Well off to record a new Neal Morse Band album! I leave out in the morning! This will be the longest session we have ever had together! But writing most of it from scratch so it might take a little longer! I am very excited about the possibilities!

From scratch, eh? That'll be interesting! Every time the band gets together, it's usually when Neal has a good chunk of the material demoed out for them to learn. Randy, Mike and Neal did write "Thoughts Part 5" together, though, on their last album together. It'll be interesting to hear what these three, along with Eric and Bill, have together. I'm sure there'll be an emphasis on Neal's stuff, whether he still has demos or ideas, or if he comes up with the majority of the new music during the sessions, but it'll be neat to see if there's anything different this time around with him writing with a 5-man band.

-Marc.
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Offline Nihil-Morari

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1369 on: September 14, 2014, 06:26:42 AM »
From Randy George on Facebook:
Quote
Well off to record a new Neal Morse Band album! I leave out in the morning! This will be the longest session we have ever had together! But writing most of it from scratch so it might take a little longer! I am very excited about the possibilities!

From scratch, eh? That'll be interesting! Every time the band gets together, it's usually when Neal has a good chunk of the material demoed out for them to learn. Randy, Mike and Neal did write "Thoughts Part 5" together, though, on their last album together. It'll be interesting to hear what these three, along with Eric and Bill, have together. I'm sure there'll be an emphasis on Neal's stuff, whether he still has demos or ideas, or if he comes up with the majority of the new music during the sessions, but it'll be neat to see if there's anything different this time around with him writing with a 5-man band.

-Marc.

I just read on twitter that all the band members sent in demo's. I guess this will even be called Neal Morse Band, instead of just a Neal Morse record. Bring it on!
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1370 on: September 14, 2014, 07:04:36 AM »
Bah, for the purposes of iTunes organization, I will still be indexing it as just "Neal Morse," just like I index all of Devin Townsend's various projects as simply "Devin Townsend."

Offline Nel

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1371 on: September 14, 2014, 10:15:26 AM »
Same here. It's just easier that way, like categorizing an album as "Neil Young" instead of "Neil Young and Crazy Horse".
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Offline XB0BX

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1372 on: September 14, 2014, 10:47:57 AM »
I feel like I'm sitting in church whenever I listen to NM.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1373 on: September 14, 2014, 10:55:34 AM »
See, to me, it's more like kneeling in a pew. :biggrin:

Offline Nihil-Morari

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1374 on: September 15, 2014, 01:21:10 AM »
I just got a message that I can pick up my order from the Fan Club sale! That means I've got 17 Neal Morse releases to digest the coming weeks!  :D
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Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1375 on: September 19, 2014, 06:56:01 PM »
Songs From November finally clicked with me today.  I bought it shortly after it was released, but couldn't really even listen to it.  I was more in a metal phase or something...  Today I gave it another chance, and I really like it.  All songs are enjoyable, but there's a couple real gems on there.  For me, My Time Of Dying is such a beautiful song, it's my clear favorite on the album.  Daddy's Daughter...  It's a love hate relationship.  Great song, but very hard to listen to because it's so touching.  I tear up just thinking about it...  Dang it Neal!!!

Bottom line, no it's not a prog album and won't get much play in the long run.  But, very good songs.  To me, the good ones kind of rival the good demos and unreleased stuff from throughout the years on inner circle releases.

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1376 on: September 19, 2014, 08:46:10 PM »
I got Songs From November as well.  Some of it is pretty good, but a lot of it is somewhat forgettable, for me.
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Offline Mindflux

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1377 on: October 06, 2014, 12:03:21 PM »
Smoking deal in the clearance section on radiant records -  Live Momentum Blu Ray ($19.99)

Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1378 on: October 15, 2014, 09:59:03 AM »
woot woot, made the decision to go to Morsefest yesterday.  Got my ticket and room booked!!!  I was thinking i'd never get the chance to see Neal (solo stuff) live...  Now instead I'm seeing the ultimate of Neal concerts.  Driving down from Michigan, approx. 9 hour drive, and making a small vacation out of it with wife and daughter.

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1379 on: October 15, 2014, 11:15:16 AM »
I was hoping to be able to do that, but I don't think it's gonna work out.
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Offline Mindflux

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1380 on: October 24, 2014, 08:32:53 AM »
Any of you guys see Radiant will refund most of the Tweetsecret fee through a IC membership pricing reduction?

They'll refund you $1.80/mo making your membership to follow Neal on TS just $1.20/mo. That's pretty cool of them.


Offline ytserush

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1381 on: October 24, 2014, 02:33:44 PM »
Any of you guys see Radiant will refund most of the Tweetsecret fee through a IC membership pricing reduction?

They'll refund you $1.80/mo making your membership to follow Neal on TS just $1.20/mo. That's pretty cool of them.

Hadn't seen that yet. Cool thing for them to do.


Not into the nickel and dime thing though.

 If they want to put it on a DVD after a year or so and sell it to me then, I'll be all over it.

Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1382 on: October 24, 2014, 04:08:56 PM »
I saw that, I'm just too lazy and uninterested in tweet secret.  Very cool of them to make the effort on it, though!

Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1383 on: November 05, 2014, 05:17:01 PM »
Oh my goodness.  Matt Smith, singer from Theocracy, was just named as a special guest for Morsefest for Friday night.  Saw it on facebook.  This.  Is.  Awesome.

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1384 on: November 05, 2014, 05:46:20 PM »
I keep wondering if Neal will be playing the Special Edition of One with the restored tracklist (with the 3 in-story bonus songs placed in the tracklist, rather than being played apart from the other 8 tracks)??? Or if he's going to play the regular album, take an intermission, then do the bonus album (covers and all)? Hmmmm....

-Marc.
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Offline goo-goo

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1385 on: November 06, 2014, 08:05:08 AM »
I keep wondering if Neal will be playing the Special Edition of One with the restored tracklist (with the 3 in-story bonus songs placed in the tracklist, rather than being played apart from the other 8 tracks)??? Or if he's going to play the regular album, take an intermission, then do the bonus album (covers and all)? Hmmmm....

-Marc.

Do you have a copy of the restored tracklist? I've never heard of this.

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1386 on: November 06, 2014, 08:36:20 AM »
I keep wondering if Neal will be playing the Special Edition of One with the restored tracklist (with the 3 in-story bonus songs placed in the tracklist, rather than being played apart from the other 8 tracks)??? Or if he's going to play the regular album, take an intermission, then do the bonus album (covers and all)? Hmmmm....

-Marc.

Do you have a copy of the restored tracklist? I've never heard of this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_(Neal_Morse_album)#Restored_tracklist

I'm pretty certain it was Randy George who gave us that information many many years ago.

-Marc.
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Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1387 on: November 06, 2014, 10:18:51 AM »
i'll be surprised if it's NOT done that way.  or there's no point in even doing the extra songs

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1388 on: November 06, 2014, 11:24:50 AM »
i'll be surprised if it's NOT done that way.  or there's no point in even doing the extra songs

Agreed. I'd like to see them do the whole Restored Tracklist, which runs at about 90-95 minutes (depending on whether or not they add any extended solos or jams), then come back and encore with the 4 covers from the album, then maybe another song or two from his back catalog to fill out the first night's show.

-Marc.
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Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1389 on: November 07, 2014, 05:12:49 PM »
Personally, I could do without the covers.  Too many other songs I'd rather hear!

And for those not following, Alan Morse just announced today as another guest!

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1390 on: November 08, 2014, 04:51:31 AM »
Personally, I could do without the covers. 
Agreed, I don't see any reason to do those in a live performance.  They are just something goofy to record to put on CD to justify a "Special Edition."
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Offline reneranucci

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1391 on: November 09, 2014, 11:43:02 PM »
woot woot, made the decision to go to Morsefest yesterday.  Got my ticket and room booked!!!  I was thinking i'd never get the chance to see Neal (solo stuff) live...  Now instead I'm seeing the ultimate of Neal concerts.  Driving down from Michigan, approx. 9 hour drive, and making a small vacation out of it with wife and daughter.
Did you get an electronic ticket on your email account or a physical ticket shipped to your address? I ordered my tickets weeks ago and only got the invoice on my email, contacted Radiant records about it but never got a response. Any help? Thanks!

Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1392 on: November 10, 2014, 04:16:39 AM »
woot woot, made the decision to go to Morsefest yesterday.  Got my ticket and room booked!!!  I was thinking i'd never get the chance to see Neal (solo stuff) live...  Now instead I'm seeing the ultimate of Neal concerts.  Driving down from Michigan, approx. 9 hour drive, and making a small vacation out of it with wife and daughter.
Did you get an electronic ticket on your email account or a physical ticket shipped to your address? I ordered my tickets weeks ago and only got the invoice on my email, contacted Radiant records about it but never got a response. Any help? Thanks!

No physical ticket.  On Radiant's site it says somewhere "Please, note the confirmation email you receive at the time of your purchase will act as your ticket. Please, print and bring to the show."

So all you really need to do is print out your e-mail invoice.

Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1393 on: November 15, 2014, 11:23:48 AM »
Night one setlist:

Tetimony one (obviously the whole album!)
Encore: Jayda, Time Has Come Today, Jesus Blood, It's For You, Wind At My Back

Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1394 on: November 15, 2014, 09:55:05 PM »
Night two setlist!

One - full disc one with "Nothing To Believe" after "The Man's Gone" and "King Jesus" after "Spirit and the Flesh".  Note: yes, "Back to the Garden" was omitted.  Not sure why, it's more of an observation than complaint.

Encore - The Light (complete with Al Morse on guitar!), then Stranger in Your Soul (with extended jam sessions).

Looking back on the two nights, my personal highlights were:  "Oh to Feel Him" and "It's For You" from the first night.  I enjoyed the second night better by a bit I think.  "Spirit and the Flesh"  followed by "King Jesus" was my favorite part of both concerts.  The energy!!!  And "The Light" was another highlight.  I haven't seen that one done live before, but it was done REALLY well.  Tons of energy.  The whole night every band member seemed to be having a great time.  During Stranger Neal took over on drums and everyone started switching instruments.  Mike grabbed a bass I think and was running down the aisles playing.  This charade went on a while, it was a gas.  Eric Gilette even was on drums at one point and Randy playing keyboards (he's good!).

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1395 on: November 16, 2014, 05:06:12 AM »
At one time, this event was on the calendar for me.  Then, as it always seems to do, life happened and plans changed.

Sounds like you had a great time.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1396 on: November 16, 2014, 07:52:20 AM »
Sounds cool, but I still think he missed the boat, doing all of Testimony again, when that has already been done from start to finish and released on a live DVD.  Why not do ?, which has always been regarded more highly by fans, and doesn't have a live full release yet?  I get that Testimony probably has more of a personal feel for Neal, since it's about him and his conversion, but I just think this was a bit of a missed opportunity. 

And while The Light and Stranger in Your Soul are both totally awesome, he's played both a ton over the years, as a solo artist and/or with Transatlantic.  It would have been neat to see him pull out a different Spock's epic or two for once, like The Doorway or Flow, especially Alan Morse was there to play the lead guitar parts, but whatever.  I'll stop picking nits and say it sounds like it was a cool experience. :coolio

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1397 on: November 16, 2014, 10:38:47 AM »
Night two setlist!

One - full disc one with "Nothing To Believe" after "The Man's Gone" and "King Jesus" after "Spirit and the Flesh".  Note: yes, "Back to the Garden" was omitted.  Not sure why, it's more of an observation than complaint.

Encore - The Light (complete with Al Morse on guitar!), then Stranger in Your Soul (with extended jam sessions).

Looking back on the two nights, my personal highlights were:  "Oh to Feel Him" and "It's For You" from the first night.  I enjoyed the second night better by a bit I think.  "Spirit and the Flesh"  followed by "King Jesus" was my favorite part of both concerts.  The energy!!!  And "The Light" was another highlight.  I haven't seen that one done live before, but it was done REALLY well.  Tons of energy.  The whole night every band member seemed to be having a great time.  During Stranger Neal took over on drums and everyone started switching instruments.  Mike grabbed a bass I think and was running down the aisles playing.  This charade went on a while, it was a gas.  Eric Gilette even was on drums at one point and Randy playing keyboards (he's good!).

Weird that they'd omit "Back To The Garden". I wonder what Neal's thoughts were behind doing that. Ah well. I heard it was all recorded so I'm looking forward to a future live release! And I heard about the wild instrument-switching that went on from a post on Facebook!

-Marc.
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Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1398 on: November 16, 2014, 06:15:08 PM »
Yes, it was an AWESOME once in a lifetime experience.  But I totally agree with a lot of the comments.  For one, if it's the first time "One" is performed in entirety, why exclude one of the bonus songs if you're going the bonus song route?  If nothing else, I'm just glad they included the bonus songs they did include instead of keeping to just disc one.

And, I agree the two encore songs from night two were the most overdone encores they could have done.  Can't complain about the Light, don't think that one could get old.  But Stranger has been done to death between Neal solo and Transatlantic.  Not a complaint, though, just agreeing with others comments. Personally, I think it was mainly chosen because it has so many jam sections that could be used for extended jams and theatrics.  Just works well live with an abundance of musicians or something.

I do disagree a bit on doing Testimony 1 in it's entirety again.  Granted ? hasn't been released on DVD live (that I can recall), but personally I think Testimony was the perfect thing to play, especially in his hometown where some of the events occurred.  Being the first Morsefest (there may be more in the future?), it seemed fitting to start from the beginning.  AND, I'm not totally convinced the whole thing will be on official DVD.  They mentioned before night 2's performance it being recorded.  It's possible (just my own personal speculation so take it with a grain of salt) that only "One" live will be released as an official release.  Which would make T1 performed again not a re-do.  I'd still picture it being released as an inner circle DVD at some point if this is the case though.

<edit> new theory.  Maybe to perfectly fit the night two performance on 2 cd's they had to cut a short song, thus omitting Back To The Garden.  Who knows, just a thought.
« Last Edit: November 16, 2014, 06:28:28 PM by ronnibran »

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #1399 on: November 16, 2014, 06:59:02 PM »
<edit> new theory.  Maybe to perfectly fit the night two performance on 2 cd's they had to cut a short song, thus omitting Back To The Garden.  Who knows, just a thought.

If that's the case, they still could've played "Back To The Garden". It's only a five minute song. The complete One track list only runs about 95 minutes, and if "The Light" was about 15-20 minutes long, and "Stranger In Your Soul" was the usual 30-minute jam-extended version, that would be, at most, 145 minutes, and 2 CDs could hold 160 minutes total.

-Marc.
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