Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[hefdaddy42]

In things like this, you will get wildly varying answers from people that mostly have to do with which albums are their favorite.

Just go chronologically.  I think that will be your best bet.

[bosk1]

How do y'all recommend I approach Neal Morse's solo discography? Should I just start with Testimony and move chronologically, or is there a more advisable place to start?

As Hef said, opinions vary greatly.  But I will say this:  Testimony 1 can be hard to get into for those who are new to him because it is SO long and is a reprise festival.  One and ? are probably the two most closely universally loved albums of his.  I would say to start with those and then go chronologically after that.  (I personally don't really care for ?, but I think I am about the only one in the universe that feels that way.  Everyone else loves it, so...)

[425]

That was kind of what I was wondering about with Testimony. I do love long stuff like The Whirlwind, but I've struggled with double albums in the past and wondered whether it would be a bit too much of a marathon. I think I might start with One, then, and go from there (and go back to get Testimony at some point). Thanks to both of you for the advice!

[KevShmev]

I would start with his self-titled debut and then move chronologically.  Skipping the first two albums is not the way to go.

[bosk1]

I would start with his self-titled debut and then move chronologically.  Skipping the first two albums is not the way to go.

Nobody even counts that as a Neal Morse album.  If he likes Transatlantic, I think One and ? are definitely the place to start.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, it's crazy to consider a Neal Morse album a Neal Morse album.

I might agree with that second statement, but if someone is gonna go chronologically, it doesn't make sense to skip the first two albums.

[425]

I'm not trying to strictly go chronologically. I only brought that up because that's often a good way to go with artists. Obviously I don't know these albums, but Wikipedia at least actually draws a distinction between his prog albums and non-prog albums. I'm mostly interested in Neal's prog albums, though I'm not entirely closed off from his other works.

[Nihil-Morari]

Well then there's the fact that Neal Morse is a prog album, and It's Not Too Late is more of a pop album.
I think there's a point in skipping Testimony at first, and diving into One. I really think One is a blueprint for how a prog album should be made, and as a matter of fact is maybe the most Transatlantic sounding album Neal has done in terms of compositions (maybe tied with Momentum)

[KevShmev]

I'd probably agree with that, although I think Sola Scriptura is very TA-ish in composition (similar to Bridge Across Forever, in how all three long songs have nods to one of the others in them).  However, Sola Scriptura has a sound and mixing that is rather different for Neal. While his prog albums are usually pretty lush and organic-sounding, SS has more of a hard rock edge in the mixing; it's more in-your-face than most other Neal records.

[bosk1]

AND the fact that it is all epics (excluding Heaven In My Heart) can make it an exhausting experience for some.  It is still my second favorite Neal album (closely behind One), but I get why some do not care for it as much.

[KevShmev]

Yep, it took years to really grow on me, mostly because the first two songs both being so long made it, like you said, exhausting to get through them.  Only when I broke The Door and The Conflict up into 3-4 separate mp3s each, to where I was able to then get into both songs piece by piece, did I really start to like it.  And even having said that, I still don't think either compares to Neal's best epics by himself (The Separated Man, Seeds of Gold, World Without End), with Transatlantic (pretty much all of them), or with Spock's (The Light, Flow, At the End of the Day).  Parts 3, 5 and 6 of The Door are all fabulous, but parts 1, 2 and 4 are all merely good, IMO.

[bosk1]

To me, it is really one of those albums where I do not even consider the separate songs up against any other separate Neal songs.  It is kind of an "all-or-nothing" listening experience for me where the songs themselves may not be as good, but whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

[Mladen]

The Conflict is amazing in my opinion, it starts of really well with all the heaviness, the instrumental chaos that comes up is brilliant, and the flamenco section leads perfectly into the slower ending. The Door, on the other hand, doesn't take off right from the start. I mean, it is a great song overall, but the first truly fantastic part of it is the one that goes ''In the name of God, you must pay your penance.'' But from then onward, it's perfect.

[hefdaddy42]

To me, it is really one of those albums where I do not even consider the separate songs up against any other separate Neal songs.  It is kind of an "all-or-nothing" listening experience for me where the songs themselves may not be as good, but whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

That's how I look at each of his albums.

But for me, the longer songs on Sola Scriptura are somewhat uneven.  I don't think that there is one that I like all the way through; each has sections that I'm not crazy about.  But the sections I like are some of my favorite pieces of music that Neal has produced.

It's still better than Testimony 2.  Just can't get into that one.

[KevShmev]

Looks like the tour begins tonight.  Should be interesting to see what they play. 

[KevShmev]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f0jHC8pRYY

 

That might be the cheesiest video I've ever seen.

[KevShmev]

I had to go to Portnoy's forum to find this, but this apparently was last night's set list in Nashville:

The Call
Leviathan
The Grand Experiment
Harm's Way (Spock's Beard)
Bill Solo Spot
The Creation
Chatauqua (Neal Solo Spot)
Waterfall (Bill on 12 string, Mike Front of stage singing)
Eric solo
In The Fire
Alive Again (extended middle jam with everyone switching instruments)

Encore 
Overture 3 (tape)
Rejoice
Oh Lord My God
Reunion (Without the Make Us One part)

They also, according to several, covered Jet by McCartney and Wings somewhere in there.

Overall, looks pretty darn good.  Awesome to see In the Fire played, and you gotta love them busting out Harm's Way, which is one of the best tunes he did with Spock's. 

Interesting that nothing was played from four of the five previous albums, and the only song played from those five was the mediocre Leviathan (with as many great song as Neal has, how has that been played on two of the last three tours now??). I didn't expect anything from Songs from November, and the Sola Scriptura stuff is hard to fit in unless they incorporate them in medley form, but nothing from either T2 or Momentum?  That's surprising.

[The Letter M]

I had to go to Portnoy's forum to find this, but this apparently was last night's set list in Nashville:

The Call
Leviathan
The Grand Experiment
Harm's Way (Spock's Beard)
Bill Solo Spot
The Creation
Chatauqua (Neal Solo Spot)
Waterfall (Bill on 12 string, Mike Front of stage singing)
Eric solo
In The Fire
Alive Again (extended middle jam with everyone switching instruments)

Encore 
Overture 3 (tape)
Rejoice
Oh Lord My God
Reunion (Without the Make Us One part)

They also, according to several, covered Jet by McCartney and Wings somewhere in there.

Overall, looks pretty darn good.  Awesome to see In the Fire played, and you gotta love them busting out Harm's Way, which is one of the best tunes he did with Spock's. 

Interesting that nothing was played from four of the five previous albums, and the only song played from those five was the mediocre Leviathan (with as many great song as Neal has, how has that been played on two of the last three tours now??). I didn't expect anything from Songs from November, and the Sola Scriptura stuff is hard to fit in unless they incorporate them in medley form, but nothing from either T2 or Momentum?  That's surprising.

I gotta be honest, I only like HALF of this set. And yes, according to setlist.fm, "Jet" by Wings was played in the encore between "Oh Lord My God" and "Reunion", the latter of which surprises me as the encore-closer again. We had that during the T2 tour, right? I guess Neal and company really like the tune.

I, too, am also surprised by "Leviathan" when that spot could've been filled with another ? song, or another song from One or even a different song from Lifeline. Meh...I mean, I like it, but I hope it doesn't get repeated on another live set - "Reunion" I am ok with, especially if they do something fun and different with it, but "Levianthan"?

I am ok with no Momentum and Testimony 2 tracks since we got most of the former on the last live album (no "Smoke and Mirrors" and "Freak", which I'm ok with missing) and all of the latter on the live album before that. I have a feeling that if Neal and the band can do another MORSEfest this year, they'll pull out all of ? and Sola Scriptura, so hopefully THOSE concerts get released live (as well as last year's concerts too). I kind of wished they'd play one of the bonus disc tracks, though, especially "New Jerusalem (Freedom Is Coming)". I wonder what the odds are of "MacArthur Park" making the cut later on in the tour?? lol

Anyways, I'm ranting and rambling. Over-all, this is an OK set. I wouldn't mind seeing them swap some stuff out, but if this is the whole tour, it's not terrible. Seeing "Chatauqua" and "Harm's Way" is pretty cool, and I like that Neal gave Bill and Eric solos, so that'll be fun to hear! Looks like the songs would add up to about a 130-140 minutes of a concert, which feels a bit on the short side. If anyone here was there, how long as the actual concert?

-Marc.

[Nihil-Morari]

Cool setlist. I'm guessing T1 songs are better as standalone songs in Neal's eyes. He has been playing those since the original T1 tour. Harm's Way is very cool, I somehow hoped for A Whole Nother Trip, that would've been really awesome. But Harm's Way is a great tune too. To me he could've switched Leviathan for another rocking solo song, but that's nitpicking. I'll be seeing them next week!

[KevShmev]

To me, the unaccompanied solo spots are almost always a total waste of time.  The songs themselves have enough solos in them already, especially at prog shows; do we really need to waste time letting them having solo spots by themselves?  That time could be spent playing another longer song or a few shorter songs.  But whatever.

[Mladen]

Dang, it must be hard to create a set when you have around ten albums and most of your songs are extremely long. It's impossible to cover all the albums. I wouldn't mind seeing this set, though. Surprised to see Leviathan, I didn't know Neal digs it that much. Interesting to see some Spock tunes in there, I thought he gave up on playing those long ago.

[Nihil-Morari]

I think he gave up playing The Light, and Beware of Darkness, and other songs Spock's often played. But Harm's Way, or Flow, are rare, and have been rare even in the Spock's Days. Will be extra interesting to hear Mike drum that song btw.

[KevShmev]

Dang, it must be hard to create a set when you have around ten albums and most of your songs are extremely long. It's impossible to cover all the albums. I wouldn't mind seeing this set, though. Surprised to see Leviathan, I didn't know Neal digs it that much. Interesting to see some Spock tunes in there, I thought he gave up on playing those long ago.

True, but I guess I am just surprised the number of repeats from the last few tours - the Testimony stuff, Reunion and (ugh) Leviathan.  He has more than enough great songs where he could do consecutive tours and not repeat a single song. 

I think he gave up playing The Light, and Beware of Darkness, and other songs Spock's often played. But Harm's Way, or Flow, are rare, and have been rare even in the Spock's Days. Will be extra interesting to hear Mike drum that song btw.

I think it'd be cool if he did a Snow medley again.  Hell, just play the last four tracks from Disc 1 as your encore instead of the Testimony stuff and Reunion, and that'd be golden!

[reneranucci]

To me, the unaccompanied solo spots are almost always a total waste of time.  The songs themselves have enough solos in them already, especially at prog shows; do we really need to waste time letting them having solo spots by themselves?  That time could be spent playing another longer song or a few shorter songs.  But whatever.

Bill's solo spot was very short and helped introduce The Creation very nicely. Neal's solo was longer but it was cool to see him having fun with the acoustic guitar. Eric's solo was also very short, I think at the beginning he played with some variations of Sola Scriptura riffs so I thought they were going to play The Conflict, but I was wrong. Overall, I would say 2 out of the 3 solo spots were very concise and just helped introduce the songs with some variations of the main melodies/riffs they were going to play.

[reneranucci]

The Call: I knew they were going to start with this one. Great opener, lots of energy
Leviathan Didn't expect this one. I like the song, and it was good to see it live. Neal and Mike were having fund with some silly moves
The Grand Experiment Great song, I thought this was going to be their second on the setlist. They had some issues with the vocal harmonies section so they had to start over
Harm's Way (Spock's Beard) Didn't know this one. Definitely checking out Kindness of Strangers
Bill Solo Spot
The Creation It was great to see this one live. The playing was very tight, you could tell they have been playing this one for a while. Having Rick Altizer doing vocals was also great since it gave a feeling of the early solo Neal Morse era, and the sound became closer to the album original.
Chatauqua (Neal Solo Spot)
Waterfall (Bill on 12 string, Mike Front of stage singing) What a song! definitely one of my new favorites. They captured the atmosphere of the song perfectly, it was great seeing the 4 guys singing together, they have a great chemistry. I LOVE Eric's voice. Bill played a clarinet solo at the end but I think they had issues with the sound so only the second half was fully listeneable.
Eric solo
In The Fire To me, the highlight of the night. They were rocking the house with this one, the crowd went crazy. So much energy! They essentially extended all the solos and themes, I think it ended up being almost 12 minutes long.
Alive Again (extended middle jam with everyone switching instruments) I love this song. They nailed all the heavy riffs and the switching instruments part was great. Just a lot of fun for everybody. Eric played a cool lead keyboard solo and Bill played a guitar solo also. Bill played saxophone towards the end but they had sound issues again so I couldn't listen clearly

Encore  This was a surprise of an Encore. Rick was with the band again. It was good but I have heard these songs so many times that I would have preferred to have something else at the encore. At some point Neal walked into the crowd and started hugging ramdom people 
Overture 3 (tape)
Rejoice
Oh Lord My God
Reunion (Without the Make Us One part)

Overall, it was a great experience. I bought VIP tickets so I could chat with the guys a little bit. They are very humble and nice, I just gave them props for the great work in the album. I also like seeing everybody having so much fun on stage.

[Nick]

Still deciding if I'm going to the NYC show on Tuesday. If it was in NJ or Philly, definitely, but NYC on a work day just sucks.

Kinda surprised at the set. Pretty much assumed the new album would be getting played in full. My love of the Spock's tracks they are playing are mixed with my lukewarm reception of some of the older Neal tunes. And for practical reasons one of the best parts of the One album was taken out of the final song.

Decisions...

[reneranucci]

Still deciding if I'm going to the NYC show on Tuesday. If it was in NJ or Philly, definitely, but NYC on a work day just sucks.

Kinda surprised at the set. Pretty much assumed the new album would be getting played in full. My love of the Spock's tracks they are playing are mixed with my lukewarm reception of some of the older Neal tunes. And for practical reasons one of the best parts of the One album was taken out of the final song.

Decisions...

I would recommend going. Listening to 4 out of 5 songs of the main album is still great. The live rendering of Leviathan, The Creation and On the Fire was great. The encore was a little bit weak but overall the show was very enjoyable.

[KevShmev]

To me, the unaccompanied solo spots are almost always a total waste of time.  The songs themselves have enough solos in them already, especially at prog shows; do we really need to waste time letting them having solo spots by themselves?  That time could be spent playing another longer song or a few shorter songs.  But whatever.

Bill's solo spot was very short and helped introduce The Creation very nicely. Neal's solo was longer but it was cool to see him having fun with the acoustic guitar. Eric's solo was also very short, I think at the beginning he played with some variations of Sola Scriptura riffs so I thought they were going to play The Conflict, but I was wrong. Overall, I would say 2 out of the 3 solo spots were very concise and just helped introduce the songs with some variations of the main melodies/riffs they were going to play.

That's not so bad then. 

Still no excuse for Leviathan.  Neal has plenty of other rockers that they could have fun with live.

[ytserush]

Still deciding if I'm going to the NYC show on Tuesday. If it was in NJ or Philly, definitely, but NYC on a work day just sucks.

Kinda surprised at the set. Pretty much assumed the new album would be getting played in full. My love of the Spock's tracks they are playing are mixed with my lukewarm reception of some of the older Neal tunes. And for practical reasons one of the best parts of the One album was taken out of the final song.

Decisions...

Have fun if you go.  Rush killed (but in a good way) any chance of me showing up tomorrow night.

Set isn't bad.  I certainly don't mind Leviathan as much as some do here.

I still need to pick up the new album actually.

[hefdaddy42]

After further listening this week, I am LOVING this album.  Simply fantastic.

I am liking the title track a lot more after repeated listening.  But still, the weak point for me is Agenda.  What the blue hell.

Not enough talk about this wonderful album.

[reneranucci]

After further listening this week, I am LOVING this album.  Simply fantastic.

I am liking the title track a lot more after repeated listening.  But still, the weak point for me is Agenda.  What the blue hell.

Not enough talk about this wonderful album.

Agreed! (Except for the part about Agenda, to me is a catchy, fun song).

I've been listening to the album non-stop since I got it, probably 10 times or more. A few comments:

- The album FLIES. There is no superfluous material, no sections that drag on, no unnecessary repetitions. It's impressive how they have made an album that feels so pointed a concise, even though it includes a 10-minute epic, a 26-minute super epic and an 8-minute acoustic song. The albums just screams great songwriting.

- The melodies are top-notch, beautiful, catchy, irresistible. Neal Morse has always written great melodies, but after SS they didn't feel so good and fresh as before. This albums has great melodies everywhere. I can't even point out my favorites since all of them are excellent.

- Eric Gillete's vocals are gorgeous. Bill's are not as strong, but good nonetheless. Together they add even more to the fresh feeling of the album.

- Regarding Randy and Mike,  I never felt they worked well as a rhythmic foundation in other NM albums, their individual parts were good but it didn't seem they were working together. This album is different, you can feel that the music has a very strong foundation. Randy was a little bit more adventurous this time and his parts are more noticeable, while Mike's drumming is so much fun. My favorite section of his is the snare-hihat pattern at the beginning of the second big section in Alive Again.

- Eric applied a lot of self-restraint to the guitar parts, he doesn't try to show off, he just wants to complement the rest of the music. I specially like how he's able to drive the heavy parts and at the same time make the melodies come alive.

I would give this album a 10/10 without any doubts.

[Nihil-Morari]

THEY'RE FILMING THE NEW DVD TONIGHT!

And I'll be there. Great news. Of the three prog shows with Neal I've seen, all three have been filmed. (Twice Transatlantic Tilburg, now this) I didn't expect this, this'll be a great night!

[hefdaddy42]

That's exciting!

Further comment on Agenda: the only thing worse than the song is the video.

I don't know, man, I just don't get this one.

But everything else is golden, including the bonus disc.

[hefdaddy42]

Interview with Neal

[Nihil-Morari]

So yeah the show.

The show itself was very awesome, I'll get into that later on.

Everything surrounding the show was not that great. I'm not sure if there are any Beardfish fans on this forum, but man, they're not my cup of tea. If the guys in my band woud make that much mistakes, I wouldn't go on tour. I'm sorry if any one of them reads this, but I hope it was the nervousness. The drummer kept missing cues, and wasn't hitting anything good at all. The new keyboard player wasn't audible most of the time, and when he was he wasn't sounding certain at all. The singer was off. The bass player way over the top. I just wanted to leave the entire time, but my spot was too good.

Then the show started. Right from the start you could see all sorts of technical problems. During the switch you could see the sound engineer having trouble with Randy's bass, and during the show Randy had multiple vivid contacts with that guy (or possible another, couldn't see) about something going wrong. Bill had some trouble with his sounds, and the mix wasn't that great, mainly background vocals being either too loud or too soft. But the biggest issue was Neal's wireless system. I'm sure that every song had a technical failure, the vocals would just cut off. Just after the second song I was thinking 'Well no DVD then I guess'.

Then the show itself. From the moment they started until the moment they stopped I was smiling. Everyone on stage was so powerful in their performance, and the setlist was that good that I couldn't see a single person in the audience unhappy. The Spock's Beard bit (not only Harm's Way, but the end of Go The Way You Go too!) was awesome, Leviathan actually quite cool, and the new stuff rocks! I wasn't that fond of Alive Again, but after yesterday night that could be one of my favorite Neal Morse epics.
The only slight remark I have on the show itself was the acoustic bit in the middle. Neal did There Is Nothing That God Can't Change, which is a sweet song, but it went on forever, and after that came Waterfall. So Waterfall wasn't as good as it could've been, I guess.

Anyway, looking forward to the DVD if it will be released, I want to relive all the fun those guys had on stage.