The Official Flying Colors Thread

[Nekov]

Come on guys there are more interesting DT songs than Hollow Years that this group is fully capable of... like Misunderstood.

And they want to tour, it just depends on the Deep Purple tour schedule.

They have the skills to play better songs that Hollow Years but given the direction this band has I think that would be the most appropriate one. I also think they could pull off Solitary Shell but neither Neal or Casey would be able to hit the notes.

[ronrule]

This album is great.

It reminds me of It Bites's recent album, The Tall Ships. Intelligent pop rock with hints that these guys can prog out if they need to.

MP might be the weakest link actually...Nothing terrible, just a lot of same beats and fills that he'd use on a Neal Morse record.

Bass is incredible.

Love this guy's vocals. Like a much more talented Chris Martin with a little interesting Jeff Buckley vibrato..

The Storm is so pop. Sounds like Casting Crowns or Lady Antebellum...but it's great -- amazing, masturbatory guitar solo, and the instrumental bridge has a cool Innocence Faded-outro type feel.

[Scard]

After hearing this album 3 times, I realized that while it's fun and catchy, it's not super memorable. I felt really pumped about it for the few 2 days, but I'm just not interested anymore.

[antigoon]

Why would Flying Colors play Dream Theater songs?

[bosk1]

Good points all around, guys. IF they do a TA tune, I really hope it's "Mystery Train" and not "We All Need Some Light".

Yeah, but We All Need Some Light is the closest to a "hit" that Transatlantic has.

[ronrule]

All Falls Down - now THAT'S how to do a Muse homage.

Infinite Fire - Oh man is this a prog gem. Reminds me of SMTPe. What a chorus! Those layered vox! Yummy MP drumming. Nice, bouncy Steve Howe-ish guitarring. If you like Neal Morse prog, this album is worth it for this tune alone.

[Nekov]

All Falls Down - now THAT'S how to do a Muse homage.

Ahh, now I know why I don't like that song.

[skydivingninja]

Why would Flying Colors play Dream Theater songs?

Because they can't play A-Mob (too much outside their sound, plus vocal difficulties), LTE (technical proficiency/Casey doing nothing), or Portnoy/Sykes (lol).  So a few DT songs and Transatlantic songs seem like they could work in Flying Colors.  Even though MP isn't in DT anymore, NM isn't in Spock's Beard and he still plays their songs at his concerts. 

[Dr. DTVT]

Transatlantic seems like the best match sound-wise for other songs.  I would think that they would either take a one from each person approach, or just go completely outside of everyone's bands/former bands and do some covers.

[unklejman]

Infinite Fire - Oh man is this a prog gem. Reminds me of SMTPe. What a chorus! Those layered vox! Yummy MP drumming. Nice, bouncy Steve Howe-ish guitarring. If you like Neal Morse prog, this album is worth it for this tune alone.

I love Neal Morse prog, but strangely this song isn't near the top of my list if I were to rank. Although it's probably the one I've listened to least. That might be because it is so Neal Morsey, and I feel like I have plenty of that.

Why would Flying Colors play Dream Theater songs?

After all the comments this is actually the conclusion I came to. They probably wouldn't.

After hearing this album 3 times, I realized that while it's fun and catchy, it's not super memorable. I felt really pumped about it for the few 2 days, but I'm just not interested anymore.

I completely disagree. It is catchy and also extremely memorable. I am always getting the songs stuck in my head and having to go listen to them.

[ronrule]

Wonder who wrote the lyrics to "Better Than Walking Away"? Really great stuff. A theme you might see in Top 40 Country Charts, but some good poetry to it. Really pretty actually.

"Rage is a game for the lonely..."

[JimmyJava]

First off, "Kayla" might be one of the best songs I've heard in a long time. Just a terrific song.

But listening to the whole album, it's polished, well produced, well played and just...bland.

It's a like a frame filled with beautiful colors and is perfectly lit with a perfect spot in the gallery - and all of a sudden, the artist has forgot to paint a motif. Sort of.

[Ħ]

Based on the teaser video, I'm curious to know the writing and recording process. That video always showed them together in the same room playing at the same time (with the exception of Casey's bits). And Mike had all his drums hooked up to microphones...I wonder if parts of the album were recorded as they played together, the same way bands used to do it.

It was also interesting to see the singer (Casey?) playing guitar as well. I wonder if he'll play during live shows.

[Dimitrius]

Based on the teaser video, I'm curious to know the writing and recording process. That video always showed them together in the same room playing at the same time (with the exception of Casey's bits). And Mike had all his drums hooked up to microphones...I wonder if parts of the album were recorded as they played together, the same way bands used to do it.

Blue Ocean makes it seems as if it was done that way.

You hear them joking around and then one of them says something like: "OK, Blue Ocean, let's take it from the top".

[Jamesman42]

^Yeah, and there is still some talking after they start playing.

[unklejman]

The website says that Steve Morse had to finish recording his guitar parts in a hotel room (not sure how that works) so I'd say it's definitely not all live.
 

[Heretic]

This album keeps growing on me, it's really pretty awesome. Still not sold on Shoulda Coulda Woulda and All Falls Down, but everything else is pretty great.

[rumborak]

First listen, so far so good for sure. I like good pop, and while it may not be the uber-album, I think's gonna get a good amount of rotation from me.
What I really like is a) the fresh wind that Steve Morse seems to have brought in and because of that b) Neal broke out of a good amount of his tried-and-true songwriting structures. And yeah, the bass lines are awesome. I would agree that MP is probably the least inspired in the bunch, his drumming seems general fare you would expect from him.

rumborak

[unklejman]

The bit in Infinite Fire at 8:55-9:05 always makes me think of Wave Race 64.

[Dark Castle]

Can't wait to get this, I'm starting to think what the cd will actually look like, I'm starting to imagine radular cd cover designs.

[rumborak]

Kayla has such a great verse, but damn, the chorus is totally meh.

rumborak

[unklejman]

Kayla has such a great verse, but damn, the chorus is totally meh.

rumborak

I love the chorus.

[TAC]

The vocals do not render this unlistenable for me, but they are just downright boring. I mean, I'm only halfway through it, and while there are some tastey bits here and there, the vocal blandness just permeates and undermines the album.
And power pop (if this is what it's called) is NOT what I'm looking for from Mike Portnoy and Steve Morse. Just a big musical missed opportunity if you ask me.

But this will be how it is following MP. I am definitely not "all in" on A Mob, and maybe this fan simply will not be happy until MP recreates another Dream Theater. With each of these projects, MP seems to have painted himself into a one dimensional corner, where as musically, DT allowed him to be a multidimensional player.

I know plenty of you guys will like this a lot, but I'm just bummed about my MP future.

[emindead]

Believe it or not, I liked it!

[Jamesman42]

Kayla has such a great verse, but damn, the chorus is totally meh.

rumborak

Huh, really? it stuck out to me on the first listen and I thought it was a really nice hook.

[pogoowner]

Kayla has such a great verse, but damn, the chorus is totally meh.

rumborak

Totally agreed. I also don't really care for the vocal production throughout the album. It all sounds a bit over-processed and unnatural to me.

On another random note, Steve Morse totally sounds like Steve Morse throughout. Not that it's surprising, as he has one of the most instantly recognizable styles of any guitarist in the world.

Overall, it's a decent album, but I'm not sure I would listen to it very much.

[rumborak]

Man, half of the time Casey sounds like the singer from Coldplay.

Speaking of vocals, how the hell does MP end up with singing tracks on his albums? Does he push for it? Because that one track could have been a lot better with Casey.

rumborak

[pogoowner]

Speaking of vocals, how the hell does MP end up with singing tracks on his albums? Does he push for it? Because that one track could have been a lot better with Casey.

rumborak

He sounds pretty bad on that track. And I get the feeling that it took a lot of work just to get him to sound as good as he does.

[The Letter M]

Man, half of the time Casey sounds like the singer from Coldplay.

Speaking of vocals, how the hell does MP end up with singing tracks on his albums? Does he push for it? Because that one track could have been a lot better with Casey.

rumborak

IIRC, it was Neal who pushed for Mike to sing lead on a song, and Mike was very reluctant to do so. If you search for his Studio Diary on it, Mike details that exchange with Neal and that he was more or less "convinced" to do lead vocals. I guess Neal likes his singing... Maybe it was just a way to break up the monotony of hearing Neal and Casey for 45 minutes?

Would it have been better had they gotten Steve or Dave to sing?

-Marc.

[duncan3dc]

Man, half of the time Casey sounds like the singer from Coldplay.

Speaking of vocals, how the hell does MP end up with singing tracks on his albums? Does he push for it? Because that one track could have been a lot better with Casey.

rumborak

IIRC, it was Neal who pushed for Mike to sing lead on a song, and Mike was very reluctant to do so. If you search for his Studio Diary on it, Mike details that exchange with Neal and that he was more or less "convinced" to do lead vocals. I guess Neal likes his singing... Maybe it was just a way to break up the monotony of hearing Neal and Casey for 45 minutes?

Would it have been better had they gotten Steve or Dave to sing?

-Marc.

Portnoy does backing vocals throughout though right? I'm not hearing things am I?

I didn't think his lead vocals were as bad on this as some of his previous attempts.

[Heretic]

I actually kind of like Fool in My Heart, it's really not a bad song. I do think Casey's vocals would have sounded better but it's still good, albeit kind of sad.

[unklejman]

I wish they would have at least had him fix his pronunciation (There's a fool in my hot). And I wouldn't have cried if they >gasp< applied some autotune...

[rumborak]

The pronunciation thing struck me as weird too. Then again, they apparently never took Roine Stolt to the side either during the TA recordings.
Regarding autotune, I'm assuming there already is.

rumborak

[unklejman]

Regarding autotune, I'm assuming there already is.

It must have missed the quicker moving parts then.

[Jamesman42]

This album keeps growing on me, it's really pretty awesome. Still not sold on Shoulda Coulda Woulda and All Falls Down, but everything else is pretty great.

I love those songs.


Actually, this is growing tremendously on me. I was like "cool stuff" before, but now I'm like need to hear this today at least once. Only track I still need to warm up to are a few middle tracks and the last song (the epic). But I think it's just needing more digestion, nothing wrong.

I don't mind MP's vocals, probably the best I have heard from him out of all his stuff he has sang on. Although in the same song, the Weird Al vocals are not bad, but you can't unhear that fact about them haha.

It's a great album. Will probably make my top 10 for this year.