There is a scene in Making of Momentum where Neal mentions he had a riff he wanted to use for Thoughts part V, but Randy told him it sounded way too much like Gibberish by Spock's Beard. Apparently, Neal had forgotten. I know it sounds unbelievable to us, but imagine creating dozens and dozens of riffs and melodies every year for two and a half decades.
At this point a lot of Neal stuff sounds familiar but, as long as I enjoy it, I don’t really go back and try to find where he’s used it or something similar before. Not saying anyone else is doing that, could just be something they happen to know very well is being repeated. I would guess, with the sheer volume of albums he’s done in the same style, there will be some things he has repeated probably without even knowing he’s doing it.
Watching the Kaleidoscope documentary last week, there was a moment when Neal was playing "Beyond The Sun", and he started going into a Testimony theme because of how the progression sounded. He laughed and Jerry, sitting next to him, totally agreed and laughed too. It was pretty funny, but yeah, after 25 years, a melodic mind like Neal's will surely tread similar territory.
Listening to Breath of Life after receiving the CD in the mail today. I hadn’t really noticed when I was streaming it, but some of the transitions between tracks are really jarring.
I am glad I'm not the only who feels that way! Maybe I've gotten too used to the flow of Forevermore, but even without that, there are some oddly abrupt transitions between songs on TBOL.
-Marc.
I agree this is the case with some songs on TBOL, but the transition from LMAW (Prelude) to Owl Howl in Forevermore is as abrupt as it gets. Neal made it much better on TBOL, imo.
Thankfully, on the Ultimate Mix, Mike opted to use the version of LMAW (Prelude) from TBOL, complete with melodica solo and the better transition into OH.
And for the curious, I timed out the track times for the Ultimate Mix from the BD. All tracks are from basically from Forevermore, except the ones marked with an asterisk, though some tracks from Forevermore are extended.
1. Overture (9:19)
2. Reaching For The Sky (5:41)*
3. Higher Than The Morning (5:29)
4. The Darkness In The Light (5:43)
5. Take Now My Soul (3:49)*
6. Bully (2:11)
7. Rainbow Sky (3:19)
8. Looking For The Light (4:00)
9. The World We Used To Know (9:11)
10. The Sun Comes Up Today (5:42)
11. Love Made A Way (Prelude) (2:13)*
12. Owl Howl (7:06)
13. Solitude (5:41)
14. Belong (2:51)
15. Lonesome Rebel (2:54)
16. Can You Feel It (3:17)*
17. Looking For The Light (reprise) (5:13)
18. The Greatest Story Never Ends (4:55)
19. Love Made A Way (9:06) (features the long timpani ending from TBOL, but uses Forevermore's lyrics)
Just a bit short of 98 minutes, but I guess saying it's 100 minutes looks more epic than saying 98.
There are some interesting points given some of the track choices Mike made. For example, using "Reach For The Sky" in the beginning but the Forevermore version of LMAW at the end means the lyrics don't mirror each other (like they do in each individual version). Likewise, using "Take Now My Soul" going into "Bully" means you hear "Swing High Swing Low" in "Bully" but not in the previous song. Also, both the first and last tracks are longer than they are on Forevermore, but I haven't listened to the Ultimate Mix enough to pick out where the additions were.
-Marc.