The Official Flying Colors Thread

[HOF]

I got my Morsefest 2018 package in the mail today, and the Flying Colors portion sounds really good. The blu-ray looks great as well. I listened to Cosmic Symphony all the way through, and what a phenomenal performance. Casey is so talented vocally - powerful and fragile and just dripping with emotion.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I'm enjoying this release so far.

I don't love Casey's voice in general, but he absolutely kills it on Cosmic Symphony. That ending section is one of the best things FC has done.

[Kram]

I got my Morsefest 2018 package in the mail today, and the Flying Colors portion sounds really good. The blu-ray looks great as well. I listened to Cosmic Symphony all the way through, and what a phenomenal performance. Casey is so talented vocally - powerful and fragile and just dripping with emotion.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I'm enjoying this release so far.

I don't love Casey's voice in general, but he absolutely kills it on Cosmic Symphony. That ending section is one of the best things FC has done.

For me it "IS" the best thing they've done.  While Second Nature is my least favorite release of theirs, it contains however my two favorite Flying Color songs (Cosmic Symphony & Peaceful Harbor).

[HOF]

I got my Morsefest 2018 package in the mail today, and the Flying Colors portion sounds really good. The blu-ray looks great as well. I listened to Cosmic Symphony all the way through, and what a phenomenal performance. Casey is so talented vocally - powerful and fragile and just dripping with emotion.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I'm enjoying this release so far.

I don't love Casey's voice in general, but he absolutely kills it on Cosmic Symphony. That ending section is one of the best things FC has done.

For me it "IS" the best thing they've done.  While Second Nature is my least favorite release of theirs, it contains however my two favorite Flying Color songs (Cosmic Symphony & Peaceful Harbor).

I think the highs on Second Nature are really high. I love A Place in Your World and Lost Without You as well as the two you mentioned, but a lot of the album is a bit tedious (stuff like Bombs Away and Open Your Eyes).

[Kram]

I got my Morsefest 2018 package in the mail today, and the Flying Colors portion sounds really good. The blu-ray looks great as well. I listened to Cosmic Symphony all the way through, and what a phenomenal performance. Casey is so talented vocally - powerful and fragile and just dripping with emotion.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I'm enjoying this release so far.

I don't love Casey's voice in general, but he absolutely kills it on Cosmic Symphony. That ending section is one of the best things FC has done.

For me it "IS" the best thing they've done.  While Second Nature is my least favorite release of theirs, it contains however my two favorite Flying Color songs (Cosmic Symphony & Peaceful Harbor).

I think the highs on Second Nature are really high. I love A Place in Your World and Lost Without You as well as the two you mentioned, but a lot of the album is a bit tedious (stuff like Bombs Away and Open Your Eyes).

I agree 100%

[KevShmev]

For me, I still find it a bit strange that I rank the debut and Third Degree 1a and 1b considering I think their only two weaker songs are on those albums (Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda and The Loss Inside).  I just think those albums have higher highs.  And I like every song on Second Nature, many a lot, but if I had to do a FC top 10, probably only one or two songs from the second album would make it. 

[MinistroRaven]

NM wrote:

With 9 weeks to go to Morsefest 2022... check out the first Morsefest Highlights video!  Over the coming week's we'll be sharing lots of Morsefest moments to whet your appetite! First up Drums!! http://ow.ly/PNlM50I8BOZ

And get your ticket for MF22 here http://ow.ly/3smT50I8BP2

[Adami]

NM wrote:

With 9 weeks to go to Morsefest 2022... check out the first Morsefest Highlights video!  Over the coming week's we'll be sharing lots of Morsefest moments to whet your appetite! First up Drums!! http://ow.ly/PNlM50I8BOZ

And get your ticket for MF22 here http://ow.ly/3smT50I8BP2

Skimmed through it, but I didn't see any FC. Did I miss it?

[Metro]

Bump because I didn’t want to derail the “Artists who last album was their worst.” thead with more FC talk.

The first Flying Colors album is almost flawless. Never cared for Fool in My Heart and All Comes Down. The latter just sounds totally out of place.

Second Nature is very uneven. Has some great songs like Peaceful Harbor, Fury of My Love and Place in Your World, all of which would fit in perfectly on the first record. But then you have Mask Machine, which sounds like a poor attempt at a Muse song, and Open Your Eyes, which is a failed attempt at whatever the hell it’s trying to be.

Third Degree is just ok. Some decent songs like Loss Inside, Last Train Home, You Are Not Alone. One great song, Crawl. And then the others are just kinda there. My favorite song is honestly the bonus track, Waiting for the Sun. Never cared for Cosmic Symphony.

The first album has a balance of the pop and prog elements, where as the other two aren’t as balanced. Not terrible albums, but nowhere near as strong as that first album.
The first album has something the other two don’t have: An outside producer. If I’m not mistaken, everything else NM and MP have done for the last forever has been self-produced. For the most part I don’t think that has been an issue with their many projects. But I think FC needs that outside voice to kinda reel the band in and keep it from being just another prog band.

[HOF]

Bump because I didn’t want to derail the “Artists who last album was their worst.” thead with more FC talk.

The first Flying Colors album is almost flawless. Never cared for Fool in My Heart and All Comes Down. The latter just sounds totally out of place.

Second Nature is very uneven. Has some great songs like Peaceful Harbor, Fury of My Love and Place in Your World, all of which would fit in perfectly on the first record. But then you have Mask Machine, which sounds like a poor attempt at a Muse song, and Open Your Eyes, which is a failed attempt at whatever the hell it’s trying to be.

Third Degree is just ok. Some decent songs like Loss Inside, Last Train Home, You Are Not Alone. One great song, Crawl. And then the others are just kinda there. My favorite song is honestly the bonus track, Waiting for the Sun. Never cared for Cosmic Symphony.

The first album has a balance of the pop and prog elements, where as the other two aren’t as balanced. Not terrible albums, but nowhere near as strong as that first album.
The first album has something the other two don’t have: An outside producer. If I’m not mistaken, everything else NM and MP have done for the last forever has been self-produced. For the most part I don’t think that has been an issue with their many projects. But I think FC needs that outside voice to kinda reel the band in and keep it from being just another prog band.

I agree with almost all of this, except that I think Cosmic Symphony is one of their best songs. I think FC gets in trouble when they try to cram the Muse and other heavier stuff into albums that are more pop or prog-pop. Not only are those songs not great, they just don't really fit with the personality of the band. I don't mind the band doing some proggier stuff like Cosmic Symphony or Infinite Fire, but they are at their best when they are doing songs like Kayla, The Storm, and A Place In Your World, which have some proggy elements but are really just pop songs. It wouldn't hurt for them to have a producer probably, but I kind of doubt they ever will do that again. I think FC1 might be the only time Neal has worked with an outside producer in his career.

[Kram]

Bump because I didn’t want to derail the “Artists who last album was their worst.” thead with more FC talk.

The first Flying Colors album is almost flawless. Never cared for Fool in My Heart and All Comes Down. The latter just sounds totally out of place.

Second Nature is very uneven. Has some great songs like Peaceful Harbor, Fury of My Love and Place in Your World, all of which would fit in perfectly on the first record. But then you have Mask Machine, which sounds like a poor attempt at a Muse song, and Open Your Eyes, which is a failed attempt at whatever the hell it’s trying to be.

Third Degree is just ok. Some decent songs like Loss Inside, Last Train Home, You Are Not Alone. One great song, Crawl. And then the others are just kinda there. My favorite song is honestly the bonus track, Waiting for the Sun. Never cared for Cosmic Symphony.

The first album has a balance of the pop and prog elements, where as the other two aren’t as balanced. Not terrible albums, but nowhere near as strong as that first album.
The first album has something the other two don’t have: An outside producer. If I’m not mistaken, everything else NM and MP have done for the last forever has been self-produced. For the most part I don’t think that has been an issue with their many projects. But I think FC needs that outside voice to kinda reel the band in and keep it from being just another prog band.

I agree with almost all of this, except that I think Cosmic Symphony is one of their best songs. I think FC gets in trouble when they try to cram the Muse and other heavier stuff into albums that are more pop or prog-pop. Not only are those songs not great, they just don't really fit with the personality of the band. I don't mind the band doing some proggier stuff like Cosmic Symphony or Infinite Fire, but they are at their best when they are doing songs like Kayla, The Storm, and A Place In Your World, which have some proggy elements but are really just prog songs. It wouldn't hurt for them to have a producer probably, but I kind of doubt they ever will do that again. I think FC1 might be the only time Neal has worked with an outside producer in his career.

I agree with HOF, in that I agree with most of what you said Metropolaris, but Cosmic Symphony is one of my favorites of theirs.  For me I break it down like this - the first album is clearly the best and yes, I think the outside producer had a lot to do with that.  Second Nature is my least favorite of theirs.  But curiously my two favorite FC songs (Peaceful Harbor and Cosmic Symphony) are on it.  I'd say I prefer Third Degree over Second Nature as it's more balanced.  Meaning that although it doesn't have quite the highs (Peaceful Harbor and Cosmic Symphony), the lows aren't quite so low for my tastes either.

[KevShmev]

I'm a big fan of all three albums, but the first just has that little extra something that the next two do not.  I think having an outside producer helped, as every song is concise, even the one long song, and the arrangements are all spot-on. 

Open Up Your Eyes has tons of great moments, but is a structural mess, and you could tell there was no producer there to kick them in the butts to work that one out a little better.   Even Cosmic Symphony, for as good as it is, sounds like three songs all stitched together (cue the Forrest Gump voice) for no particular reason.

[Stadler]

Bump because I didn’t want to derail the “Artists who last album was their worst.” thead with more FC talk.

The first Flying Colors album is almost flawless. Never cared for Fool in My Heart and All Comes Down. The latter just sounds totally out of place.

Second Nature is very uneven. Has some great songs like Peaceful Harbor, Fury of My Love and Place in Your World, all of which would fit in perfectly on the first record. But then you have Mask Machine, which sounds like a poor attempt at a Muse song, and Open Your Eyes, which is a failed attempt at whatever the hell it’s trying to be.

Third Degree is just ok. Some decent songs like Loss Inside, Last Train Home, You Are Not Alone. One great song, Crawl. And then the others are just kinda there. My favorite song is honestly the bonus track, Waiting for the Sun. Never cared for Cosmic Symphony.

The first album has a balance of the pop and prog elements, where as the other two aren’t as balanced. Not terrible albums, but nowhere near as strong as that first album.
The first album has something the other two don’t have: An outside producer. If I’m not mistaken, everything else NM and MP have done for the last forever has been self-produced. For the most part I don’t think that has been an issue with their many projects. But I think FC needs that outside voice to kinda reel the band in and keep it from being just another prog band.

I agree with almost all of this, except that I think Cosmic Symphony is one of their best songs. I think FC gets in trouble when they try to cram the Muse and other heavier stuff into albums that are more pop or prog-pop. Not only are those songs not great, they just don't really fit with the personality of the band. I don't mind the band doing some proggier stuff like Cosmic Symphony or Infinite Fire, but they are at their best when they are doing songs like Kayla, The Storm, and A Place In Your World, which have some proggy elements but are really just pop songs. It wouldn't hurt for them to have a producer probably, but I kind of doubt they ever will do that again. I think FC1 might be the only time Neal has worked with an outside producer in his career.

Three of my top five FC songs (I'd put Better Than Walking Away and either Everything Changes or Peaceful Harbor in there too).  Those were so captivating when I saw them live. 

[ytserush]

Third is far and away my favorite by quite a huge margin now.  First album is solid and the second one has some of their best material and some of their worst.

All that said, I can't get enough of the third live album (I'm also going to include the Morsefest performance with that so I guess that's two live albums. I doubt a month goes by without me listening to either one of them. They really came together on that album and tour. If there is to be another one, I think it will be there best one yet. As much as I like them, I barely listen to those first two albums much anymore because they really raised the bar on the third one. I think one of these reasons I love it so much is because they decided not to have any stylistic limitations within the band (at least moreso than any other Mike/Neal Band.) Transatlantic seemed to stretch out a bit on the various versions of their last album but it wasn't as drastic.

[The Letter M]

Third Degree has grown on me quite a bit over the years, and over-all, I'd say I'd take it over Second Nature, but there are some stronger songs on SN than on some of TD. If I could take the best parts of both albums, I could make an album that rivals the first one in quality.

Altogether, I'd say all three create one of my favorite first-three-album runs from any band in the last decade. Hard to believe their debut is ten years old now! I'm still holding out hope for a fourth album!

-Marc.

[hefdaddy42]

I changed the thread title.

[Deadeye21]

I never really clicked with Third Degree, I like More, but I couldn’t even name another song off of that album. I still think Open Uo Your Eyes is a great opening track for an album though.

[hefdaddy42]

I like Third Degree a lot, but there was definitely something special about the first album.  On that one, I even like the songs I don't like.

[Trav86]

I like Third Degree a lot, but there was definitely something special about the first album.  On that one, I even like the songs I don't like.

On the surface this doesn’t make sense, but I know exactly what you mean. Some of my favorite bands have songs I never need to hear again. Not from overplaying, but that they aren’t that great. But I still enjoy listening to them. I think a lot of Flying Colors isn’t mind-blowing, but it’s all enjoyable.

[The Letter M]

First off - apologies if bumping this thread gives anyone false hopes of FC news. Whoops.

Secondly - happy 3rd Birthday to Third Degree! I have actually been listening to this one over the last day or so! I'd say overall, it's as good, maybe even a bit better than Second Nature as a whole, but there are strong single songs on SN that are probably a bit better than some of the songs on TD. Honestly, three years on from its release, I'd say TD is a very worthy addition to the FC catalog.

I've been revisiting all three FC albums lately and it's made me hopeful that the band will get back together for a fourth album sometime in the next couple of years.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

I would love a 4th album, but I have to admit that Third Degree became, for me, an album where I was frequently revisiting songs rather than the album as a whole.  Love Letter, Geronimo and Guardian are three of my favorites by the band, and More is a great driving tune, but while I like most of the rest (The Loss Inside being the only blah song), the majority of the album just didn't have that pull that made me want to keep listening.

[HOF]

I think Third Degree suffered a bit from longer songs that probably didn’t need to be so long. I do like Last Train Home and Crawl, but they both could be more concise I think. Guardian too. Love Letter remains a highlight as well, but I’ve hardly listened to some of the other songs on this one because they just didn’t grab me.

[Kram]

I'm definitely a fan of Third Degree and would welcome a fourth album.  I've said it before but I'll say it again. For me the first album is clearly the best.  Second Nature is my least favorite of theirs - but curiously my two favorite FC songs (Peaceful Harbor and Cosmic Symphony) are on it.  And overall I prefer Third Degree over Second Nature.

[Max Kuehnau]

First off - apologies if bumping this thread gives anyone false hopes of FC news. Whoops.

Secondly - happy 3rd Birthday to Third Degree! I have actually been listening to this one over the last day or so! I'd say overall, it's as good, maybe even a bit better than Second Nature as a whole, but there are strong single songs on SN that are probably a bit better than some of the songs on TD. Honestly, three years on from its release, I'd say TD is a very worthy addition to the FC catalog.

I've been revisiting all three FC albums lately and it's made me hopeful that the band will get back together for a fourth album sometime in the next couple of years.

-Marc.

well, the likelihood of a fourth album by them will mainly depend on how well Steve Morse's wife will be doing I think. (he left Purple to care for her, remember)

[hefdaddy42]

First off - apologies if bumping this thread gives anyone false hopes of FC news. Whoops.

Dammit

[RoeDent]

Given what Steve Morse is going through I wouldn't expect new FC for a long long time.

[Stadler]

Given what Steve Morse is going through I wouldn't expect new FC for a long long time.

I don't know; his official statement DID explicitly leave open the door for working locally - i.e. not internationally - with "friends of his".  I know he gets along great with the FC band members, and they are relatively local (Neal: Nashville, with a house in Florida, Morse: Florida, Casey: Texas) plus they write and collaborate remotely anyway.

[Deadeye21]

And no reason he can’t write and record remotely in his private time, right?

[axeman90210]

Flying Colors is officially announced for Cruise to the Edge in March of 2024. Not sure if that means there will be new material and/or another tour around this or if it'll be more of a one-off.

[Mladen]

Wait, march 2024? 

[MinistroRaven]

Flying Colors is officially announced for Cruise to the Edge in March of 2024. Not sure if that means there will be new material and/or another tour around this or if it'll be more of a one-off.

[hefdaddy42]

    

[axeman90210]

Wait, march 2024? 

Yeah, no cruise next year.

[gzarruk]

2024 is very far away, but if that means they'll work on a new album next year, then I'm excited. Bring it on!

[Stadler]

2024 is very far away, but if that means they'll work on a new album next year, then I'm excited. Bring it on!

I'm with you.  Can't wait.

[Kwyjibo]

New music would be cool. But is Steve Morse with them on tour? He resigned from Deep Purple because he wanted to care for his ill wife and therefore stay close to home. A cruise isn't exactly that.