Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[The Letter M]

https://youtu.be/piRaLvCPbQI

A four minute trailer for The Making Of Innocence & Danger has been posted! Very cool that these documentaries are including post-session interviews, now we can see what they think of the music not long after it's been written. I loved that idea with the last Transatlantic doc, so I'm excited to see it here too!

-Marc.

[gzarruk]

https://youtu.be/piRaLvCPbQI

A four minute trailer for The Making Of Innocence & Danger has been posted! Very cool that these documentaries are including post-session interviews, now we can see what they think of the music not long after it's been written. I loved that idea with the last Transatlantic doc, so I'm excited to see it here too!

-Marc.

"Hoy did you came up with the name?" (for The Neal Mose Band)

[hefdaddy42]

22. The Storm Before the Calm-This song, however, is completely pointless. He's lucky the instrumental portion is awesome.

Crazy talk.  This might be my all-time favorite NM song.

Dude, it's really good.  I might be with you on this.

[Willthescout7]

Now we turn to One, which is the first non double album in a while, but yet another concept album.
1. The Creation-Does not feel like 18 minutes. I really enjoy the flow of this song. It hangs together better than some of his other epics. The bit right after Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Life is perfect.
2. The Man's Gone-Short, sweet, it works, but it's not one I seek out to listen to on it's own.
3. Author of Confusion-This might be controversial, but I don't like this one. One of my least favorite Neal songs. The middle section where he stops the Author of Confusion part is the only part I like.
4. The Separated Man-The first section is very nice. It feels like a fun rocker. I like the darkness in the second section. The third section's instrumental break sounds good if a tad overlong. The fourth section is just kinda there.
5. Cradle to the Grave-I love this one. Neal's voice sounds great here.
6. Help Me/The Spirit and the Flesh-I really like the Help Me part. I'm probably wrong, but the more latin feel is quite refreshing. The callbacks to The Creation are very well placed. This is a great and emotional ending to the song.
7. Father of Forgiveness-My first copy of One had a scratch and so the album stopped here. For about 3 months I thought this was the final song on the album. I almost feel as if it was better that way. I just love this song. It's a great emotional conclusion, especially immediately following the Spirit and the Flesh.
8. Reunion-I hate, hate, hate that he just repeated the melody from The Creation here. The one immediately following Adam and Eve eating from the tree. It feels full of menace, and a dark reality hiding behind the outward appearance of joy. He should have changed keys, or moved it up and octave, or something. As it stands it has no business in the joyous conclusion and almost ruins the song. In addition, this album already had a more somber conclusion with Father of Forgiveness (I'm not convinced that Reunion needs to be here), Reunion was set up as a celebration. Ending with a more somber conclusion, however beautiful, doesn't work. You can't go somber, then happy, then suddenly somber again. It feels like emotional whiplash and doesn't work as well as it could have.

Overall thoughts: While this might have my most negative comments yet, I still think this is a really good album. In fact, I daresay it is one of the best Christian albums that has ever been made. Take out Author of Confusion and fix Reunion and you have a solid record. I still really like it, it just needs a few corrections. Father of Forgiveness and Cradle to the Grave are the highlights, with The Creation coming close behind them.

[425]

A lot of my opinions on this album are almost the opposite of yours. I really like Author of Confusion and Reunion, and don't really care for The Creation. And I specifically like that particular melody in Reunion and not in The Creation.

[The Letter M]

Between Neal's first three solo prog albums (Testimony, One, and ?), One might be my favorite, with ? not far behind it, but only in its expanded 92-minute track listing, including the three bonus tracks cut from the concept. "King Jesus" is as good of a feel-good rocker as Neal has ever written.

Even all these years later, One still stands up as one of his better albums in his ENTIRE discography.

-Marc.

-Marc.

[Kram]

Neal Morse solo prog (not including TNMB)

?
Sola Scriptura
One
Testimony 2
Testimony
Sola Gratia
Momentum
Lifeline

[darkshade]

I'm starting to think The Grand Experiment is one of Neal's best, and that Momentum is better than you remember it being.

[Kram]

I'm starting to think The Grand Experiment is one of Neal's best, and that Momentum is better than you remember it being.

You're probably right about Momentum, I haven't listened to that one in awhile.  But The Grand Experiment doesn't count - that's TNMB

[HOF]

One just did nothing for me. I enjoyed Testimony a good bit when it came out, but I almost never listen to it anymore and parts of it fall pretty flat for me. I have just never been able to connect with Neal’s post-SB solo work the way I did with SB or TA.

[HOF]

Just looked at Facebook and saw that Neal’s mother just passed away. Sad to hear.

[KevShmev]

Saw that as well about Neal's mom. R.I.P. 

Back to the tunes, while I feel that Testimony is not one of his better solo albums, I still like it quite a bit, and it has some killer songs. I will echo the love for The Storm Before the Calm, and Somber Days and Sleeping Jesus are major favorites as well.

One, on the other hand, is a near-perfect record. Still one of the best albums Neal has ever done, from any project. 

[Willthescout7]

Tomorrow I will continue the Neal binge with Lead Me Lord, the first of five Worship Sessions albums. This one was probably the second hardest to track down but I eventually found a copy on ebay. Kind of the precursor to a lot of his later work.

[hefdaddy42]

One, on the other hand, is a near-perfect record. Still one of the best albums Neal has ever done, from any project. 

Indeed

[darkshade]

Mike Portnoy, and The Prog Report, discuss Neal, the upcoming NMB album, and create an 'ultimate' Neal Morse album.
https://youtu.be/ivk-Mk6KGSc

[KevShmev]

First 15 minutes or so was cool, hearing Portnoy talk about the new album and how they will be structuring the set lists for the tour.  Interesting too that they are rebranding the band as NMB (even though it is still officially Neal Morse Band). 

I didn't keep it on for the ultimate album thing, as picking songs out of random from Neal's solo albums is just weird, given that most of them are concept albums.  Fun exercise I am sure, but I know it would have given me a headache.

[darkshade]

Even stranger that they're calling themselves "NMB" when the previous albums labelled the band as THE Neal Morse Band, not just Neal Morse Band.

[The Letter M]

Even stranger that they're calling themselves "NMB" when the previous albums labelled the band as THE Neal Morse Band, not just Neal Morse Band.

Does "That Joe Payne" refer to himself as "That Joe Payne" when referring to his music, or as TJP, or even just JP? Also, calling your solo act "That __(your name)__" is pretty silly to begin with, as far as musical acts including the main artist's name go.

But yeah, I've seen NMB a lot during this press cycle for I&D, and I think it just looks better on graphics than include the "The" in the abbreviation. Having it be TNMB is a bit clunky, but NMB can be drawn with the M in the middle to create a balanced logo.

Looking at the album cover for I&D, though, it has NMB up top but directly underneath it is "THE NEAL MORSE BAND", so it's not like the band dropped the article entirely. I think NMB is just their logo now, and you can probably expect it on Mike's bass drum heads. I'm sure he'll have the black and white masks on them as well, as it works pretty conveniently for bass drum head graphics.

-Marc.

[HOF]

Even stranger that they're calling themselves "NMB" when the previous albums labelled the band as THE Neal Morse Band, not just Neal Morse Band.

Does "That Joe Payne" refer to himself as "That Joe Payne" when referring to his music, or as TJP, or even just JP? Also, calling your solo act "That __(your name)__" is pretty silly to begin with, as far as musical acts including the main artist's name go.

But yeah, I've seen NMB a lot during this press cycle for I&D, and I think it just looks better on graphics than include the "The" in the abbreviation. Having it be TNMB is a bit clunky, but NMB can be drawn with the M in the middle to create a balanced logo.

Looking at the album cover for I&D, though, it has NMB up top but directly underneath it is "THE NEAL MORSE BAND", so it's not like the band dropped the article entirely. I think NMB is just their logo now, and you can probably expect it on Mike's bass drum heads. I'm sure he'll have the black and white masks on them as well, as it works pretty conveniently for bass drum head graphics.

-Marc.

When I see TNMB my mind thinks:

Teenage Nutant Minja Burtles

[The Letter M]

Even stranger that they're calling themselves "NMB" when the previous albums labelled the band as THE Neal Morse Band, not just Neal Morse Band.

Does "That Joe Payne" refer to himself as "That Joe Payne" when referring to his music, or as TJP, or even just JP? Also, calling your solo act "That __(your name)__" is pretty silly to begin with, as far as musical acts including the main artist's name go.

But yeah, I've seen NMB a lot during this press cycle for I&D, and I think it just looks better on graphics than include the "The" in the abbreviation. Having it be TNMB is a bit clunky, but NMB can be drawn with the M in the middle to create a balanced logo.

Looking at the album cover for I&D, though, it has NMB up top but directly underneath it is "THE NEAL MORSE BAND", so it's not like the band dropped the article entirely. I think NMB is just their logo now, and you can probably expect it on Mike's bass drum heads. I'm sure he'll have the black and white masks on them as well, as it works pretty conveniently for bass drum head graphics.

-Marc.

When I see TNMB my mind thinks:

Teenage Nutant Minja Burtles

And when I see "HOF", I think of David Hasselhoff.

-Marc.

[HOF]

Even stranger that they're calling themselves "NMB" when the previous albums labelled the band as THE Neal Morse Band, not just Neal Morse Band.

Does "That Joe Payne" refer to himself as "That Joe Payne" when referring to his music, or as TJP, or even just JP? Also, calling your solo act "That __(your name)__" is pretty silly to begin with, as far as musical acts including the main artist's name go.

But yeah, I've seen NMB a lot during this press cycle for I&D, and I think it just looks better on graphics than include the "The" in the abbreviation. Having it be TNMB is a bit clunky, but NMB can be drawn with the M in the middle to create a balanced logo.

Looking at the album cover for I&D, though, it has NMB up top but directly underneath it is "THE NEAL MORSE BAND", so it's not like the band dropped the article entirely. I think NMB is just their logo now, and you can probably expect it on Mike's bass drum heads. I'm sure he'll have the black and white masks on them as well, as it works pretty conveniently for bass drum head graphics.

-Marc.

When I see TNMB my mind thinks:

Teenage Nutant Minja Burtles

And when I see "HOF", I think of David Hasselhoff.

-Marc.

LOL, I might have to wear that one.

[HOF]

Now for something new, Neal Morse's debut solo album.

11. It's Alright- I kind of feel let down with this as the ending. It's not bad, but it's not what it could be.

So I just got a copy of this today. Really enjoyed my first listen. Definitely sounds like SB era Neal only without the other players (except Nick, but he's more restrained than in SB). But what jumped out to me about It's Alright is the ending is almost the exact same chords/melody as Cakewalk on Easy Street only slowed down a bit.

[Zydar]

Even stranger that they're calling themselves "NMB" when the previous albums labelled the band as THE Neal Morse Band, not just Neal Morse Band.

Does "That Joe Payne" refer to himself as "That Joe Payne" when referring to his music, or as TJP, or even just JP? Also, calling your solo act "That __(your name)__" is pretty silly to begin with, as far as musical acts including the main artist's name go.

But yeah, I've seen NMB a lot during this press cycle for I&D, and I think it just looks better on graphics than include the "The" in the abbreviation. Having it be TNMB is a bit clunky, but NMB can be drawn with the M in the middle to create a balanced logo.

Looking at the album cover for I&D, though, it has NMB up top but directly underneath it is "THE NEAL MORSE BAND", so it's not like the band dropped the article entirely. I think NMB is just their logo now, and you can probably expect it on Mike's bass drum heads. I'm sure he'll have the black and white masks on them as well, as it works pretty conveniently for bass drum head graphics.

-Marc.

When I see TNMB my mind thinks:

Teenage Nutant Minja Burtles

And when I see "HOF", I think of David Hasselhoff.

-Marc.

LOL, I might have to wear that one.

Don't hassle the HOF

[gzarruk]

Between Neal's first three solo prog albums (Testimony, One, and ?), One might be my favorite, with ? not far behind it, but only in its expanded 92-minute track listing, including the three bonus tracks cut from the concept. "King Jesus" is as good of a feel-good rocker as Neal has ever written.

Even all these years later, One still stands up as one of his better albums in his ENTIRE discography.

-Marc.

What would be the full track list with the bonus tracks? I've seen some lists online but they always omit Back to the Garden for some reason.

[KevShmev]

People can rank their favorites however they want of course, but to me it is cheating to use anything other than the officially released album version.  When I rank an album, I rank the album as it is, not how it could have been, meaning the original running order (see: a rough draft) is not something I consider, and bonus tracks are not part of the equation.  Using One as an example, the eight songs on the official release of One are THE album.  Ranking the album using any other method, again, is cheating.

[gzarruk]

People can rank their favorites however they want of course, but to me it is cheating to use anything other than the officially released album version.  When I rank an album, I rank the album as it is, not how it could have been, meaning the original running order (see: a rough draft) is not something I consider, and bonus tracks are not part of the equation.  Using One as an example, the eight songs on the official release of One are THE album.  Ranking the album using any other method, again, is cheating.

Not saying I disagree with this, but IIRC, the issue with these One extra songs was that they were all meant to be in the album but they couldn't fit them because of the limitations of a CD (80 mins). I'd say the one with extra tracks is THE album vs the abridged version we got on the official release

[kirksnosehair]

So, putting aside the first two solo albums "Neal Morse" and "It's Not Too Late" I'd rank his solo albums like this:

?
Sola Scriptura
Testimony 2
Sola Gratia
One
Testimony
Momentum
Lifeline

[gzarruk]

So, putting aside the first two solo albums "Neal Morse" and "It's Not Too Late" I'd rank his solo albums like this:

?
Sola Scriptura
Testimony 2
Sola Gratia
One
Testimony
Momentum
Lifeline

No love for JCTE?

[Kram]

Neal Morse solo prog (not including TNMB)

?
Sola Scriptura
One
Testimony 2
Testimony
Sola Gratia
Momentum
Lifeline

So, putting aside the first two solo albums "Neal Morse" and "It's Not Too Late" I'd rank his solo albums like this:

?
Sola Scriptura
Testimony 2
Sola Gratia
One
Testimony
Momentum
Lifeline

Pretty close to mine - you have a little more love for Sola Gratia than I do and a little less love for One

[The Letter M]

Morsefest 2021 will be two nights, with the first concert being the "Innocence Night", which will feature "lighter pieces" and shorter songs not just from the NMB but across Neal's whole back catalogue (so I expect a couple Transatlantic, Flying Colors, and Spock's Beard songs). The second night will be the "Danger Night", which will be ALL EPICS, presumably including both of the new album's epics.

This sounds like what Marillion once did for one of their Marillion Weekends, and it's a neat idea for a Morsefest. I wonder if the Danger Night will be a 3-hour set, because if it's 2.5 or less, the whole set will only be 4 or 5 songs!! Hopefully it's also all complete songs and no medleys!

-Marc.

[darkshade]

Even stranger that they're calling themselves "NMB" when the previous albums labelled the band as THE Neal Morse Band, not just Neal Morse Band.

Does "That Joe Payne" refer to himself as "That Joe Payne" when referring to his music, or as TJP, or even just JP? Also, calling your solo act "That __(your name)__" is pretty silly to begin with, as far as musical acts including the main artist's name go.

But yeah, I've seen NMB a lot during this press cycle for I&D, and I think it just looks better on graphics than include the "The" in the abbreviation. Having it be TNMB is a bit clunky, but NMB can be drawn with the M in the middle to create a balanced logo.

Looking at the album cover for I&D, though, it has NMB up top but directly underneath it is "THE NEAL MORSE BAND", so it's not like the band dropped the article entirely. I think NMB is just their logo now, and you can probably expect it on Mike's bass drum heads. I'm sure he'll have the black and white masks on them as well, as it works pretty conveniently for bass drum head graphics.

-Marc.

I agree, and I like NMB better anyway. But the previous albums do say The Neal Morse Band, so this is a re-branding of the product, which I personally think is a good call. "NMB" is definitely catchier for today's audiences than "The Neal Morse Band"

[darkshade]

Considering the length of the two new epics, and I'm not sure how long Neal's sets usually are, but I imagine there's only going to be room for one or two more epics in the Danger set for non-Morsefest shows. I wonder if they'll mix it up and play different non-I&D epics each night.

[The Letter M]

Considering the length of the two new epics, and I'm not sure how long Neal's sets usually are, but I imagine there's only going to be room for one or two more epics in the Danger set for non-Morsefest shows. I wonder if they'll mix it up and play different non-I&D epics each night.

The way I understood Neal's IC Newsletter is that the first night wouldn't feature ANY epics, so I'm not sure what you mean by "mix it up and play different non-I&D epics each night."

Night 1 sounds like it'll only feature shorter songs, lighter tunes that are probably more pop-rock and ballad focused. At most, I don't think any of those songs will reach past 10 minutes.

For night 2, he said it will be "ALL EPICS", which sounds like it'll include the two new epics, probably 2 or 3 more like "Alive Again" or "World Withour End" or "Seeds Of Gold". I don't think we will see any songs shorter than 15 minutes here, and they'll probably be all NMB or Neal Solo songs.

As far as show length, I think Morsefest 2014 had the longest concert nights, especially playing all of Testimony PLUS an encore. If they pull off a 2.5-3 hour concert for Danger Night, they could play 4-5 epics easily, and that's probably what will happen.

-Marc.

[gzarruk]

Considering the length of the two new epics, and I'm not sure how long Neal's sets usually are, but I imagine there's only going to be room for one or two more epics in the Danger set for non-Morsefest shows. I wonder if they'll mix it up and play different non-I&D epics each night.

He's talking about the rest of the tour, not Morsefest. Mike said they're also doing the I&D concept for sets 1 and 2 on the rest of the tour.

[The Letter M]

Considering the length of the two new epics, and I'm not sure how long Neal's sets usually are, but I imagine there's only going to be room for one or two more epics in the Danger set for non-Morsefest shows. I wonder if they'll mix it up and play different non-I&D epics each night.

He's talking about the rest of the tour, not Morsefest. Mike said they're also doing the I&D concept for sets 1 and 2 on the rest of the tour.

Ahhh, gotcha. I misread that, my bad. I hadn't seen Mike say that about the tour, but it makes sense.

Even if the tour's shows are pushing 3 hours, leaves maybe, at most, 90-120 minutes for the epics, or only 3-4 songs, two of which will be the new ones. If I had to guess, they'd probably rotate one epic between shows, and keep as much of the Morsefest material in rotation for both sets of the normal tour. I mean they're going through the trouble of learning 4-5 hours of material new and old, and to whittle that down to a 2.5-3 hour concert cuts out a LOT of songs, and I doubt they would want to play those songs just once (for Morsefest) and be done with them.

-Marc.