Transatlantic Official Thread

[bosk1]

Not at all. I find it *very* strange that you guys make the argument that a guy who's been writing 95% religious lyrics on his albums, will suddenly stop doing so on TA. Especially when the previous TA album was sledgehammer religious.

I'm not sure who is making that argument, but I'm not. 

[425]

I get where rumborak is going on some of these, particularly the "His" in Ride the Lightning (Reprise). And yes, it is uppercase in the liner notes. However, I do think a lot of the songs are pretty vague, like Into the Blue. I have no idea who the Dreamer and Healer or Caller and Conceiver are.

Aside from that, I might be strange in this regard, but I don't mind and often enjoy religious lyrics despite not being a Christian or believing in God really.

[countoftuscany42]

I'm anti-religion as much as the next guy, but i love the music so much i don't let it bother me. 

[rumborak]

However, I do think a lot of the songs are pretty vague, like Into the Blue. I have no idea who the Dreamer and Healer or Caller and Conceiver are.

In my interpretation of the lyics, the "Blue" is heaven (because of blue sky), and Caller and Conceiver because God calls you to his kingdom and conceived the world.

[425]

I can definitely see that, but the lyrics are so vague that I have no doubt that someone else could easily make a completely different interpretation. In fact, if I had any complaints about Transatlantic's lyrics, it would be that they tend to always be quite vague. I don't mind it all too much myself, because the words do sound good and work with the music, and are generally uplifting (which I tend to like). But if I were to make a complaint about Transatlantic lyrics, that would be it.

[rumborak]

Not to keep this discussion going unnecessarily, but I only now noticed that God is directly mentioned in Kaleidoscope. Go figure.

[Skeever]

Kaleidoscope is definitely a religious song, very Neal like.

Into the Blue is a bit more vague, but still loaded with religious imagery. Maybe not specifically Christian, but some collaborative idea about God representing what a Christian, Jew, and couple of ex hippies can agree upon 

Then there's the video they shot in church   

[rumborak]

Oh god, I had forgotten about that. That video is the most awkward thing I have ever seen.

[Mosh]

Perhaps the only time a music video ruined a song for me. The video made me so uncomfortable that I hated the song too, finally listened to the album without it and actually liked the song. Weird how that works.

[KevShmev]

  That video is the most awkward thing I have ever seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1tjMqULC7EY

[ThatOneGuy2112]

  That video is the most awkward thing I have ever seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1tjMqULC7EY

Yo, he's got a pretty sick DVD collection.

Musta been bored out of his mind though.

[Mosh]

 

That Shine video is still as awkward as it gets though. Maaaaaybe I'll give you MP's car wash video.

[TheAtliator]

Yea Rumby I don't see what you find so religious about "that's when God will lift us higher". Just sounds kinda vague to me!


I, for one, think that Neal writes EVERYTHING about God in some way or another, Roine writes a mixed up mush of nonsense imagery and vague politics with an evil sort of sound, and they put it all together in a 30 minute song because it fits the theme "life, ya know?"

And yet here they are as one of my top 10 favorite bands of all time.

Oh and that MP video is epic as hell holy crap 

[Mosh]

I, for one, think that Neal writes EVERYTHING about God in some way or another, Roine writes a mixed up mush of nonsense imagery and vague politics with an evil sort of sound, and they put it all together in a 30 minute song because it fits the theme "life, ya know?"

Yup, it's a little irritating but I'm not one to pay attention to lyrics anyway. The epics on this album are so cut and paste that I don't think they're really about anything. You can always count on Neal Morse to have his sections be something with a religious connotation (I'm honestly shocked that people here are using terms like "vague" when discussing his lyrics) and Roine is going to write some vague political nonsense that has nothing to do with what Neal is writing. Pete is more of a mixed bag, but I have a very hard time believing his section in Kaleidoscope has any lyrical connection to the previous bits.

I don't have a huge problem with this though, and while Roine's lyrics are more or less nonsense, I like the word flow and that's usually enough for me. I never listened to any of the members of TA for their lyrics anyway, so that's definitely not going to change when the 4 (even though MP doesn't do lyrics in TA) of them are pitted together.

[gmillerdrake]

Finally picked up the Kaleidoscope CD the other day......man......I've listened to it twice and that may be the only two times I listend to it. It sounds like a poorly constructed rehash of a few themes from the previous albums. I was surprised at how uninspiring and 'boring' I found the music to be considering I absolutely loved all the other releases.....

[KevShmev]

That's a bummer, man. Refresh my memory: do you have any of Neal's solo albums, and if so, which ones?

[TheAtliator]

I think I've listened to the title track Kaleidoscope about 4 times in the last week  It's so awesome. Love everything about it but the broadness of the lyrics. Although, it's still not as good as some other Transatlantic.

[Skeever]

I like Into the Blue and the shorter songs, but Kaleidoscope is one of my least favorite TA songs.

[gmillerdrake]

That's a bummer, man. Refresh my memory: do you have any of Neal's solo albums, and if so, which ones?

Yeah, I have all of Neal's solo stuff and I love it!!! I like all the other TA stuff as well....I just find this effort to be very 'formulaic'....like I said, it sounds like they took a bunch of themes from past music and threw it all together. I even tried another spin this morning to see if it'd 'click' or not.....just not happening.

[The Letter M]

I'll be honest, as well - I found the title track "Kaleidoscope" to be a bit over-long for me, and a bit hard to digest. I like it, but it's still a tentative "like". I like PARTS of it, but as a whole, it just hasn't gelled with me quite yet. Perhaps because it came not long after Neal's "World Without End", a longer, and arguably, better epic which, to me, sounded a lot like it could've been a Transatlantic epic.

Neal had both "Seeds Of Gold" and "World Without End" between The Whirlwind and Kaleidoscope, and I consider them two of his best works. It's hard not to compare the two newest TA epics to them, and sometimes I find myself liking Neal's tracks a bit more, but "Into The Blue" grew on me quickly. Perhaps I'm getting a bit dazed by Neal epics? I'd like to see him return to an album full of 10-15 minute tracks, or another concept album with a ton of smaller tracks that all run together. I dunno...something "new" would be nice for a change. I hope the next TA isn't so "formulaic" in the Neal-sense.

-Marc.

[gmillerdrake]

I'll be honest, as well - I found the title track "Kaleidoscope" to be a bit over-long for me, and a bit hard to digest. I like it, but it's still a tentative "like". I like PARTS of it, but as a whole, it just hasn't gelled with me quite yet. Perhaps because it came not long after Neal's "World Without End", a longer, and arguably, better epic which, to me, sounded a lot like it could've been a Transatlantic epic.

Neal had both "Seeds Of Gold" and "World Without End" between The Whirlwind and Momentum, and I consider them two of his best works. It's hard not to compare the two newest TA epics to them, and sometimes I find myself liking Neal's tracks a bit more, but "Into The Blue" grew on me quickly. Perhaps I'm getting a bit dazed by Neal epics? I'd like to see him return to an album full of 10-15 minute tracks, or another concept album with a ton of smaller tracks that all run together. I dunno...something "new" would be nice for a change. I hope the next TA isn't so "formulaic" in the Neal-sense.

-Marc.

Seeds of Gold is an incredible song....absolutely love it!!!!

[KevShmev]

Funny, I like Kaleidoscope a lot more than Into the Blue.  Both are really good, but I just think the title track is better.

Seeds of Gold is definitely most awesome.  That's a top 5 solo Neal track in my book.

Yeah, I have all of Neal's solo stuff and I love it!!

Okay, cool!

[Ben_Jamin]

On the topic of lyrics, I don't consider lyrics about god, buddah, whatever religious, the way Neal writes is more Spiritual. 

I still enjoy Black As The Sky way more than the Epics. Its fresh and amazing, not too short or too long. I wish they had more shorter songs like this.

[hefdaddy42]

I still enjoy Black As The Sky way more than the Epics. Its fresh and amazing, not too short or too long. I wish they had more shorter songs like this.

Agreed.

[Ben_Jamin]

I think its about time they reinvent their epic structure, The Whirlwind was a nice start, a full album epic with seperate tracks. 

Watching the making of Kaleidoscope,  it really shows they just pasted demoes, mainly of Neal and Roine. Which were interesting. Those could've been songs themselves.

That's how I feel about Kaleidoscope's Epics, theirs great parts but as a whole just doesn't work. If they took ITB intro and Kaleidoscopes middle section it'd be a good epic. But I hate the tacked on reprise at the end of Kaleidoscope.

[KevShmev]

I think its about time they reinvent their epic structure, The Whirlwind was a nice start, a full album epic with seperate tracks. 

 

Agreed.  I loved that they went with mostly shorter songs on The Whirlwind, but presented them in concept album-like form, so it all flows together, while still being able to take most of the songs on their own. 

Even though I really like Kaleidoscope, it seemed like they took the lazy "we'll combine the structure of the first two albums" approach:

-Bookending the album with two long epics, ala Bridge Across Forever.
-Track 2 being an acoustic-driven, laid back tune, ala SMPTe.
-Track 3 being a "short" rocker, ala SMPTe
-Track 4 being what is basically a piano-driven Neal Morse solo song, ala Bridge Across Forever.

My suspicion is that they go into this thinking, "We have to be as epic as possible," which is not bad considering how well they do epics, but I'd love to see them go back to The Whirlwind-type format on the 5th album: focusing more on shorter songs, and if they can make a long conceptual thing out of it again, cool, and if not, so be it. 

[TheAtliator]

MP just announced on Tweet Secret that the new DVD will be called "Ka-LIVE-oscope : Into the Blue" (or maybe Blu) and will be coming out at the end of October. My life has been made.

[Mindflux]

MP just announced on Tweet Secret that the new DVD will be called "Ka-LIVE-oscope : Into the Blue" (or maybe Blu) and will be coming out at the end of October. My life has been made.

Yeah there was a little blip about it from Neal Morse's Inner Circle email a week or so ago. 

[Orbert]

I wonder if "Once in the LIVEtime" was Mike's idea, too.



Ok fine, I don't actually wonder.

[Nihil-Morari]

I wonder if "Once in the LIVEtime" was Mike's idea, too.



Ok fine, I don't actually wonder.

  well yay for goofy porginess! 

[KevShmev]

A new DVD/Blu-ray was a given, but at some point, it's like, can they do a little something different with these releases?  Or maybe go a tour without releasing one, which would then make the next one even more special?  I know that would go against Neal and Portnoy's method of releasing everything they do , but it might keep things a little fresh.  The DVD after the next one could have featured mostly songs from Kaleidoscope and the next album. 

I know, I know, be happy we are getting this much stuff from them, especially when you consider how many bands don't release enough stuff, but it's reaching the point of oversaturation.  Hell, they will have more live albums than studio albums once this comes out.

[Nick]

They already do.

Live in America
Live in Europe
The Official Bootleg
Whirld Tour
More is Never Enough

So the new DVD will be 2 more live videos than studio releases.

Not saying I haven't enjoyed them, but there you have it.

[KevShmev]

Right.  Hell, I love All of the Above as much as anyone, but do we really need another live version of it?  Okay, this tour had it in medley form where they played half of that and half of Stranger in Your Soul, but it's essentially the same thing.  I barely watched it on the Whirld Tour DVD because I had already seen it enough on the first two.

[The Letter M]

I don't mind KaLIVEoscope coming out, but I do wish they'd at least release the audio from the Progressive Nation cruise shows. They played 3 sets that could easily fit onto 3 CDs:
Disc 1 - Kaleidoscope (entire album live)
Into The Blue
Shine
Black As The Sky
Beyond The Sun
Kaleidoscope

Disc 2 - Other songs (and cover)
Whirlwind Medley
Indiscipline (with Adrian Belew)
Guitar Duet
We All Need Some Light
All of the Above/Stranger in Your Soul

Disc 3 - Yessongs with Jon Anderson
The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)
Long Distance Runaround
And You and I
Starship Trooper

It'd  be perfect and I would buy it in a heartbeat. Heck, I'd even buy FLAC downloads of it if they made them available in lieu of a physical release.

-Marc.

[Mosh]

I'll never understand the point in complaining about too many releases from a band. Nobody is forcing you to buy everything, if there's one you're not interested in you don't have to buy it. Personally I like that there's a live release for every tour, I'm a bit of a completionist in that I want to see stuff from every tour.