Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[faizoff]

How are the meet & greet packages? I'm thinking of doing it since I've never done one in my life and this is within my reach to do one.

[MinistroRaven]

How are the meet & greet packages? I'm thinking of doing it since I've never done one in my life and this is within my reach to do one.

$85 USD to me that's a bargain. The Haken VIP was $75 USD

[faizoff]

Right I know the cost. I'm asking what is the experience like. How long does it last and how much interaction is allowed? Can you bring anything to sign?

[gmillerdrake]

Right I know the cost. I'm asking what is the experience like. How long does it last and how much interaction is allowed? Can you bring anything to sign?

I have meet and greet Passes for the show in St. Louis. I didn't see that they specifically said one way or the other if you could bring anything to sign. The description did say they had 'frameable album art' that would be signed by the band.

I'm curious about how much/what type of interaction it's going to be. My oldest son is stoked to see MP.....like...super excited. My only 'wish' for the interaction is that he has some type of 'cool' interaction with MP....maybe a bit more than the standard 'lunch line' drive by handshake. I'm trying not to get my hopes up for him....but he digs MP so much it's just the father in me really wanting his experience to be awesome. 

[bosk1]

Outside of DT, I have only been to a handful of meet-&-greets.  But every one I have ever been to, people brought things to get signed.  I cannot imagine that not being allowed.

[Architeuthis]

DT is really going to bring it with Distance Over Time, if they're going to top this as Album Of The Year for me 

  Yeah, you know, as much as I like Distance Over Time, I think TGA beats it for me.

Having listened too both albums, I agree 100%

Yeah TGA will be pretty hard to top, but it's hard to compare the two being that Dream Theater is going for something completely different from a concept album. 
 I do however, think Dream Theater will totally bring it with D/T and I will easily enjoy it as much as TGA, but in a different way.   

[The Letter M]

So after having the album for a couple weeks, I put the Making Of DVD back on and watched it last night as I was doing laundry, and it's interesting hearing those songs and themes again now that I am a bit more familiar with them and where they ended up on the album. It's also more striking just how reluctant Mike was to do a sequel to TSOAD, both in the beginning and during their Skype call back in March 2018. I went back and re-read Neal's IC Newsletters from March, May, and August when those moments came up in the documentary, and it's was neat to see just how much Neal was sharing with IC members back then, and just how much he was withholding. The story about him and Bill having 3 hours to finish Disc 2's arrangements before Mike arrived one morning was astounding, and it goes to show just how well Neal can work with others in a time crunch, so props to them!

And as much as we have joked about Jaci's tantrums about the album being a BAND EFFORT, it really feels like there was a LOT less of Eric features in this documentary - he barely spoke, you didn't hear a lot of him and his input with regards to the music, and Mike only mentioned that he liked Eric's "two songs" (which I suppose he wrote and brought to the table), so I am not sure what, if any, was his that made it to the final album. He does some TASTY playing throughout the DVD, though, but there was one heavy, chugging riff-y part that got left off the album, as well as a fast 9/8 groove that sounded really cool (I hope these sections are saved for NMB4!). Maybe that's why Neal gave Eric more to sing on this album, perhaps because he had less to bring to the table, especially after Neal chopped up the album in March and re-arranged it to be a double-album sequel to TSOAD? Hmm...

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Eric seems like he has a quieter guy and not a camera hog, so none of that surprises me.  There was a recent interview with Neal and Eric where he was also pretty understated (although the interviewer focused a lot more on Neal), and there was that video from a few months ago where it showed the band (minus Randy) out eating and stuff, and both Eric and Bill pretty much hung in the background while Neal and Portnoy, THE two camera hogs in the band , did all of the talking to the camera.

[devieira73]

So, after about 4 listens, I think TGA is really a great album! It doesn't surpass TSOAD and I wasn't expecting so. TSOAD is my favourite NM/TNMB album, hands down. It's truly perfect all the way through. It's a rare case that the songs works amazingly not only for themselves but even more in the context of the album. And also it has that kind of an "acessible for everybody" feel that only classic rock albums have.
Anyway, about the new album, I like more the CD2 than CD1. CD2 is almost flawless, it has a really good flow and to me, it does sound a bit more of a band effort than CD1. CD1 has songs like Welcome to the World and The Great Adventure, although good, sound a lot more like somenthing already heard from Neal or Transatlantic.  Hey Ho and Beyond the Borders also aren't very strong closers IMO.  And I agree that the lyrical repetition of "love tha never dies" is a bit too much, but it's the only relative flaw of a great album!

[DTA]

So after having the album for a couple weeks, I put the Making Of DVD back on and watched it last night as I was doing laundry, and it's interesting hearing those songs and themes again now that I am a bit more familiar with them and where they ended up on the album. It's also more striking just how reluctant Mike was to do a sequel to TSOAD, both in the beginning and during their Skype call back in March 2018. I went back and re-read Neal's IC Newsletters from March, May, and August when those moments came up in the documentary, and it's was neat to see just how much Neal was sharing with IC members back then, and just how much he was withholding. The story about him and Bill having 3 hours to finish Disc 2's arrangements before Mike arrived one morning was astounding, and it goes to show just how well Neal can work with others in a time crunch, so props to them!

And as much as we have joked about Jaci's tantrums about the album being a BAND EFFORT, it really feels like there was a LOT less of Eric features in this documentary - he barely spoke, you didn't hear a lot of him and his input with regards to the music, and Mike only mentioned that he liked Eric's "two songs" (which I suppose he wrote and brought to the table), so I am not sure what, if any, was his that made it to the final album. He does some TASTY playing throughout the DVD, though, but there was one heavy, chugging riff-y part that got left off the album, as well as a fast 9/8 groove that sounded really cool (I hope these sections are saved for NMB4!). Maybe that's why Neal gave Eric more to sing on this album, perhaps because he had less to bring to the table, especially after Neal chopped up the album in March and re-arranged it to be a double-album sequel to TSOAD? Hmm...

-Marc.

Maybe I haven't listened enough, but I feel like there's a lot less Eric vocals on this album overall. In fact, besides the overuse of the "Love" theme, it's my biggest regret with the album.

[bluefox4000]

Yea after another listen last night......i say this album sounds like the sequel wasn't what the ALL wanted and something NEAL patched together...which he really did.

it just sounds so i don't know......not LAZY but just rushed to get an album out.

sorry to say that but it's a vibe i can shake.

[The Letter M]

Yea after another listen last night......i say this album sounds like the sequel wasn't what the ALL wanted and something NEAL patched together...which he really did.

it just sounds so i don't know......not LAZY but just rushed to get an album out.

sorry to say that but it's a vibe i can shake.

In the DVD, Mike even points out that Neal wanted to write their next album even while on tour for TSOAD! He was pretty gung-ho about getting a new album done ASAP and I'd believe it. The way he seems insistent on making the new album a double when the rest of the band seemed to want a single, or how he insisted on making it a sequel to TSOAD, it all really drives the idea that TGA was more Neal Morse and less Band, at least compared to the previous 2 NMB albums. Neal does state in the video that he did let go of a few parts he liked, so it seems the democracy was there near the end to tighten up the album. I'd love to hear their cutting-room-floor demos on an upcoming IC release!

Hopefully for the next one, Neal loosens up a bit and welcomes more material from Randy, Bill, and Eric.

-Marc.

[bluefox4000]

Yea after another listen last night......i say this album sounds like the sequel wasn't what the ALL wanted and something NEAL patched together...which he really did.

it just sounds so i don't know......not LAZY but just rushed to get an album out.

sorry to say that but it's a vibe i can shake.

In the DVD, Mike even points out that Neal wanted to write their next album even while on tour for TSOAD! He was pretty gung-ho about getting a new album done ASAP and I'd believe it. The way he seems insistent on making the new album a double when the rest of the band seemed to want a single, or how he insisted on making it a sequel to TSOAD, it all really drives the idea that TGA was more Neal Morse and less Band, at least compared to the previous 2 NMB albums. Neal does state in the video that he did let go of a few parts he liked, so it seems the democracy was there near the end to tighten up the album. I'd love to hear their cutting-room-floor demos on an upcoming IC release!

Hopefully for the next one, Neal loosens up a bit and welcomes more material from Randy, Bill, and Eric.

-Marc.

and i'm not saying this is a bad album far from it.  it STILL rates at an 8/10 with me.....but my ears picked up on this on the first spin.

i just didn't hear as much of the joy radiating out as i did with TSOAD.

hopefully next time they get together and hammer out a project they all feel passionate about.

[The Letter M]

Yea after another listen last night......i say this album sounds like the sequel wasn't what the ALL wanted and something NEAL patched together...which he really did.

it just sounds so i don't know......not LAZY but just rushed to get an album out.

sorry to say that but it's a vibe i can shake.

In the DVD, Mike even points out that Neal wanted to write their next album even while on tour for TSOAD! He was pretty gung-ho about getting a new album done ASAP and I'd believe it. The way he seems insistent on making the new album a double when the rest of the band seemed to want a single, or how he insisted on making it a sequel to TSOAD, it all really drives the idea that TGA was more Neal Morse and less Band, at least compared to the previous 2 NMB albums. Neal does state in the video that he did let go of a few parts he liked, so it seems the democracy was there near the end to tighten up the album. I'd love to hear their cutting-room-floor demos on an upcoming IC release!

Hopefully for the next one, Neal loosens up a bit and welcomes more material from Randy, Bill, and Eric.

-Marc.

and i'm not saying this is a bad album far from it.  it STILL rates at an 8/10 with me.....but my ears picked up on this on the first spin.

i just didn't hear as much of the joy radiating out as i did with TSOAD.

hopefully next time they get together and hammer out a project they all feel passionate about.

Oh, I'm not disagreeing at all, I kind of get those vibes as well (feeling like it wasn't what they all wanted), and the DVD kind of shows that to an extent. Neal really seeemed like the driving force behind this one, despite it being a "band effort". I guess, compared to his Testimony-to-Momentum works, it definitely is more of a band album, since the music isn't almost entirely Neal's (though Randy would bring up ideas and Mike would arrange things, most of the music back then came from Neal, which you can hear in his demos of his albums).

It's just interesting to me that TSOAD also had some "drama", where Mike was afraid of releasing a double concept album the same year that Dream Theater was doing one, and of having to hear people compare the two, especially when they had only just started writing TSOAD when The Astonishing had come out (January 2016). I just remember in the Making Of video for TSOAD that a good chunk of the sessions wasn't filmed because of the tension that occurred in the latter half of their time in the studio, so a lot of the process wasn't shown. But eventually, as we all know, Mike was convinced/persuaded otherwise, and Neal (and the band) agreed to release what would become of their best works ever!

I guess what I'm saying is, no matter what happens in their sessions, it always seems to work out, and Neal seems to bring them together on things. I'm not sure if they 100% trust him on everything, or let him steer the ship because he's the captain (it IS the NEAL MORSE Band, after all), or if they just want to do what they think Neal thinks is best for the music. No matter the process, the result ends up being some of the best music of the year every time Neal and company blast one out!

-Marc.

[bosk1]

it IS the NEAL MORSE Band, after all

  NO!  You are just WRONG!  Your post marginalizes the clear contributions by the other band members, their spouses, their household pets, and their second cousins! 

[KevShmev]

Given how prolific Neal is and how often he releases music, I would imagine he was a bit bummed having so little "real band" time last year to work on the album while Portnoy was off wasting time with Sons of Apollo (although he'd never say it, since Neal is far too classy to publicize it).  I mean, Neal Morse Band is supposed to be a full-time band now, yet they basically had to take a big chunk of time off while one member formed another new full-time band that took a lot of his time.  My theory was always that the Life & Times album and subsequent tour was merely to keep himself busy until the next NMB album was ready to go. 

And to further illustrate how quickly he can work when up against the clock, he even said the Exorcist musical wasn't finished till the 11th hour last summer and then it came out pretty damn amazing at Morsefest.  I will be curious to see if he reworks some of that from the demos (which I have from when I was an IC member last fall) once he finishes it up for its official release later this year.

[The Letter M]

it IS the NEAL MORSE Band, after all

  NO!  You are just WRONG!  Your post marginalizes the clear contributions by the other band members, their spouses, their household pets, and their second cousins! 

Jaci?

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Given how prolific Neal is and how often he releases music, I would imagine he was a bit bummed having so little "real band" time last year to work on the album while Portnoy was off wasting time with Sons of Apollo (although he'd never say it, since Neal is far too classy to publicize it).  I mean, Neal Morse Band is supposed to be a full-time band now, yet they basically had to take a big chunk of time off while one member formed another new full-time band that took a lot of his time.  My theory was always that the Life & Times album and subsequent tour was merely to keep himself busy until the next NMB album was ready to go. 

And to further illustrate how quickly he can work when up against the clock, he even said the Exorcist musical wasn't finished till the 11th hour last summer and then it came out pretty damn amazing at Morsefest.  I will be curious to see if he reworks some of that from the demos (which I have from when I was an IC member last fall) once he finishes it up for its official release later this year.

I think, like Mike, Neal likes to stay busy. In fact, I don't think there has been a year in the last two decades where Neal hasn't worked on at LEAST one new studio or live album, or touring, sometimes doing multiple ones for multiple bands! But it has come to a point where 3 of Neal's bands have Mike IN them, so when he's away playing with TWD or SOA or MA or who knows who else, Neal is stuck doing things like Jesus The Exorcist musical, or a Snow reunion with Spock's beard, both of which are spectacular in their own right, but I have to wonder if Neal is starting to feel slighted by Mike's OVER-abundance of work that doesn't include him.

Does anyone remember that when Eric and Bill joined the band, along with Adson, they had hired a drummer as well, as a way to replace Mike for gigs he couldn't make? Then it turned out that Mike COULD play with them, leading up to the Momentum Tour, but I have to wonder why that idea faded away? Surely, the others would love to play their music with Neal any time they can, even if it meant doing it without Mike, but I wonder if Mike felt like he was being pushed out because Neal had auditioned a temp-drummer for gigs without him?

-Marc.

[DTA]

MP is almost as big a draw as Neal is though, if not the bigger draw. You can't deny that whenever MP is at an event he has a crowd of people around him bugging him and trying to talk to him. So I'm sure that the businessman in Neal realizes that recording/touring without MP is just not as lucrative and it's better for his career not to alienate MP. A pessimistic and greedy view sure, but money is money. I kind of wish Neal would branch out with some other musicians and start another band kind of like Roine Stolt has with The Sea Within and Kaipa Da Capo.

[gzarruk]

Given how prolific Neal is and how often he releases music, I would imagine he was a bit bummed having so little "real band" time last year to work on the album while Portnoy was off wasting time with Sons of Apollo (although he'd never say it, since Neal is far too classy to publicize it).  I mean, Neal Morse Band is supposed to be a full-time band now, yet they basically had to take a big chunk of time off while one member formed another new full-time band that took a lot of his time.  My theory was always that the Life & Times album and subsequent tour was merely to keep himself busy until the next NMB album was ready to go. 

And to further illustrate how quickly he can work when up against the clock, he even said the Exorcist musical wasn't finished till the 11th hour last summer and then it came out pretty damn amazing at Morsefest.  I will be curious to see if he reworks some of that from the demos (which I have from when I was an IC member last fall) once he finishes it up for its official release later this year.

I think, like Mike, Neal likes to stay busy. In fact, I don't think there has been a year in the last two decades where Neal hasn't worked on at LEAST one new studio or live album, or touring, sometimes doing multiple ones for multiple bands! But it has come to a point where 3 of Neal's bands have Mike IN them, so when he's away playing with TWD or SOA or MA or who knows who else, Neal is stuck doing things like Jesus The Exorcist musical, or a Snow reunion with Spock's beard, both of which are spectacular in their own right, but I have to wonder if Neal is starting to feel slighted by Mike's OVER-abundance of work that doesn't include him.

Does anyone remember that when Eric and Bill joined the band, along with Adson, they had hired a drummer as well, as a way to replace Mike for gigs he couldn't make? Then it turned out that Mike COULD play with them, leading up to the Momentum Tour, but I have to wonder why that idea faded away? Surely, the others would love to play their music with Neal any time they can, even if it meant doing it without Mike, but I wonder if Mike felt like he was being pushed out because Neal had auditioned a temp-drummer for gigs without him?

-Marc.

What happens is that Mike’s “I can manage to be in 87 bands at the same time” keeps HIM busy and “happy” but it forces the other members of his bands to wait for him to have time availability in between gigs. As you said, NMB is Neal’s, Randy’s, Bill’s and Eric’s main thing now and they probably can’t or at least shouldn’t have to wait for Mike to decide it’s time for them to work again. And Mike, being the control freak that he is, wouldn’t allow them to do the bulk of the writing/pre production process without him being there. The same applies to Derek and Bumblefoot on SOA. This is ultimately why the writing for Psychotic Symphony was so rushed (with a similar thing happening with their 2nd) and NMB couldn’t work longer on TGA, among other things.

This way of doing things certainly works for side projects like TA or FC where every member has a main band outside, but it’s in scenarios where it’s supposed to be the main thing for the members that problems appear, like Mike leaving AMOB for treating it like a side thing while Allen and Orlando expected it to be everybody’s only focus. The same happened with TWD when Richie decided to take a break to do his solo stuff and Mike couldn’t get what he wanted anymore. 

[kaos2900]

All of the talk about Eric has reminded me that I still haven't checked out his solo albums. Are they worth the purchase? Also, isn't Neal's rock opera coming out soon?

[KevShmev]

All of the talk about Eric has reminded me that I still haven't checked out his solo albums. Are they worth the purchase?

I've only heard The Great Unknown, but it is good.  There are a few really good songs on it.

Also, isn't Neal's rock opera coming out soon?

I think that is supposed to come out sometime this summer.

[gmillerdrake]

All of the talk about Eric has reminded me that I still haven't checked out his solo albums. Are they worth the purchase?

I've only heard The Great Unknown, but it is good.  There are a few really good songs on it.

Eric has a few videos on his Youtube channel where he said he was practicing his drumming parts for an album called 'Tree of Life' It's not a bad album.....I believe he plays all the drum parts on it.

[KevShmev]

Eric could make a good living being a drummer in a rock band; he is that good.  I am pretty sure, like he did at Morsefest last year, that he will be playing all of the drums on the forthcoming Exorcist record that Neal will be releasing.

[devieira73]

All of the talk about Eric has reminded me that I still haven't checked out his solo albums. Are they worth the purchase? Also, isn't Neal's rock opera coming out soon?

The great unknown is a great album! It’s like a mix of DT with Spocks Beard. And it has Connor and Diego from Haken and Thomas Lang playing in all tracks

[gzarruk]

Listening to "Long Ago" now, am I the only one that hears Transatlantic's All of the Above when Neal starts to sing? The melodies are so similar my brain just thinks this is AOTA lol. There's a few other moments as well that sound very similar to previous Neal-related songs, but don't remember where right now, need to give this album more listens.

[Learning2Live]

I was listening to TGA this morning in the car and stopped at To The River when I got to work. It hit me today that I wish they would have ended the album with the musical passage from the Welcome To The World reprise through the end of the song. I felt a better emotional connection to that part with the reprise lyrics (re-work the 'To the River' part of the lyrics to wrap the story up) that it would have been a more impactful conclusion than A Love That Never Dies.

[MinistroRaven]

http://montrealrampage.com/a-great-musical-adventure-an-interview-with-neal-morse/

“He also says that Transatlantic will get together later this year to start working on a new project.”

😮

[The Letter M]

http://montrealrampage.com/a-great-musical-adventure-an-interview-with-neal-morse/

“He also says that Transatlantic will get together later this year to start working on a new project.”

😮

Well, if they do the usual 7-14 days single session thing, I think we can expect a mid-2020 release, depending on how late in the year they get together. Hopefully the others are aware of this, as I haven't seen any news from Roine or Pete with regards to Transatlantic!

-Marc.

[As I Am]

http://montrealrampage.com/a-great-musical-adventure-an-interview-with-neal-morse/

“He also says that Transatlantic will get together later this year to start working on a new project.”

😮

That was a great read. Thanks.

[Dedalus]

I simply can't understand the whole clamor about TSOAD. (Maybe I'm the only one...)

I can't see anything different than what NM had done before, several times. In addition, I think he had produced several albuns better than TSOAD, throughout his career (Snow, The Light, V, The Whirlwind, Testimony, One, ?, etc). It's just a good album. More of the same.

I haven't listen to the TGA yet (except the two first singles), but I'll do it soon enough.

That said, any chance to listen to the new album and get to enjoy it more than TSOAD?

[Architeuthis]

I like The Great Adventure just as much if not more than TSOAD. I've listened to it several times and it keeps getting better and better. It's quite different musically even though it's a continuation of the story.
Btw,  has anyone noticed the Clint Eastwood and Alex Lifeson references on disc two of TGA?? 

[Zydar]

I decided to check out "Question Mark" earlier this week, and I've especially been spinning The Temple Of The Living God a lot since. Such a great song.

[Kwyjibo]

If you ask me, ? is still my favorite Neal Morse record.

[MinistroRaven]

All of the talk about Eric has reminded me that I still haven't checked out his solo albums. Are they worth the purchase? Also, isn't Neal's rock opera coming out soon?

June 14th