The Official Flying Colors Thread

[ariich]

Flying Colors is my favorite non-DT project of his. By Far. I even loved the 2nd album (minus that first song).

My only fear is that when MP gets super excited about this kind of stuff, it makes me worry that it's more super prog than I'd like. I hope they stick to the short catchy fun rock songs, and lesson the 10 minute Transatlantic style epics. But we'll see. I'm skeptical, but only because I think that Portnoy tends to go full prog when he has the chance.

Good points all round. Completely agree with you about both FC albums, and the opening track of Second Nature in particular. The other long songs weren't Transatlantic-prog style, they were much slower builds and I honestly really like them, but that opener is just so out of place on the album.

[KevShmev]

As much as I love Neal Morse's music and the songs where he sings, A Place in Your World has not aged well for me. The melodies sound clunky and it sounds like a song that was meant to be more simple, but was progged up a little, to where it sounds like the song that couldn't decide what it wanted to be, if that makes sense.  Maybe seeing it live will get me to like it again, as I am sure it will get played at Morsefest.

The Fury of My Love, on the other hand, has aged really well. I love that one.

[Mladen]

I've always been critical of Open up your eyes, but I listened to it last week and liked it more than I did before. I recall it being way more progressive and reminiscent of Translatlantic, but it was actually fairly poppy. Still, it is tad long, and I like my FC brief and concise.

[gzarruk]

Only speculation perhaps, but MP is definitely someone who gets very excitable about things he's involved in (this is very much not a criticism, it's one of my favourite things about him) and so I don't interpret it as hype for marketing sake, but genuine excitement and love for what his band has produced.

Completely fair to poke fun at him for it and as some have remarked, I'm sure if anything it puts some people off because it's so over the top.

I agree, his excitement is genuine, I just don't trust his excitement at all. Since leaving DT, Mike has released at least 10 of his top 5 albums... I'm joking, but you get the idea. There's just no believing him when he releases a few albums every year and each one is "one of the best he's ever done". Oh, and how many "main bands" has he formed since he left DT? 3 at least...
Like I said before, there's nothing wrong with standing 100% behind your art and being proud of that, I respect that, but Mike just overhypes every new thing he does and expects every single one of his fans to love it just because he's involved with it.

[King Postwhore]

Well, I remember Mike being excited about The Similitude of a Dream and not as excited for The Great Adventure and he was right about both.

[RoeDent]

I really don't know what to make of Open Up Your Eyes. I enjoy it a lot, but I can also find much to criticize about it. I think it's too short to justify including a 4-minute "overture" section. The overture takes up about a third of the track. Then, apart from the first vocal section, the rest of it feels like a patching-together of climax sections from different epics.

And the issue I have with MP here is that when you keep saying each album is the best you've ever done, you cannot be correct for all of them. You can only be correct once. Does it mean the previous albums are all rubbish?

[Cool Chris]

In a related story, when asked what the top 5 films of his career are, Harrison Ford proudly said they are The Secret Life of Pets 2, Blade Runner 2049, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Age of Adaline, and The Expendables 3.

[KevShmev]

And the issue I have with MP here is that when you keep saying each album is the best you've ever done, you cannot be correct for all of them. You can only be correct once. Does it mean the previous albums are all rubbish?

Only the ones that featured a Canadian and Kevin Moore.

[Orbert]

Actually, it's quite possible.  Even if the second album is only slightly better that then first, it's still the best you've ever done, and it doesn't make the first album rubbish.  Then you make a third album, and it could be slightly better than the second; it is now the best you've ever done.  And so on.  There need only be marginal improvement each time to quality as "the best ever" and none of them render the previous works any less worthy.

I'm not saying that Mike isn't being fully hyperbolic as always; I'm just saying that what he says could actually be true.  Most artists continue to move forward, try to improve each time they do something.  He's not wrong to feel that way.

[MinistroRaven]

Does that mean a double album?

Now that I think about it, maybe the lenght of the songs, are what made a doble vinyl album. But probably not a doble CD album unless the songs are shorter and we are getting a doble album (CD/LP)

[KevShmev]

Actually, it's quite possible.  Even if the second album is only slightly better that then first, it's still the best you've ever done, and it doesn't make the first album rubbish.  Then you make a third album, and it could be slightly better than the second; it is now the best you've ever done.  And so on.  There need only be marginal improvement each time to quality as "the best ever" and none of them render the previous works any less worthy.

I'm not saying that Mike isn't being fully hyperbolic as always; I'm just saying that what he says could actually be true.  Most artists continue to move forward, try to improve each time they do something.  He's not wrong to feel that way.

Your entire post makes total sense, but I think it is worth pointing out that Portnoy's extreme hyperbole (if hyperbole, which is already extreme, can be even more extreme ) is what some of us are poking fun at.  What it all boils down to is that Portnoy is a super excited music fan who goes nutty over who his own music quite often on a social media, which comes across as awfully self-congratulatory, but it comes from a good place, I think.  The fact that he does so much is always just more evidence that there is no bigger Mike Portnoy fan in the world than Mike Portnoy. 

[Orbert]

Absolutely true.

I was just feeling a bit literal.  I mean, we can bag on Mike for his choice of words, but usually that's because what he's saying is so ridiculous that it can't possibly be true, if it even makes literal sense.  I was looking at that and realizing that not only does it make sense, but it's also quite true, from a certain point of view.

[ProfessorPeart]

Does that mean a doble album?

Now that I think about it, maybe the lenght of the songs, are what made a doble vinyl album. But probably not a doble CD album unless the songs are shorter and we are getting a doble album (CD/LP)

Nope. Remember, a standard vinyl record is good for 40-45 minutes. I would assume this new album is anywhere in that 60-80 threshold which necessitates a double vinyl release.

For instance, the new Opeth album has packages that include both the English and Swedish versions. They are 2 CD's and 4 LP's. So with FC it is safe to assume 1 CD and 2 LP's.

[The Curious Orange]

A Dooley Album?

[King Postwhore]

A Doble Dooley album?

[Zydar]

A double album with only Tom Dooley covers.

[KevShmev]

Based on what Neal said in this month's newsletter (small quote below), looks like the 3rd album will be more like the 2nd than the 1st...

"I'm really happy with the way the album's turned out and there are some really nice regular songs, some very rocking edgy tracks, as well as some longer prog epics."

[Mladen]

If I recall correctly, Mike's screenshot confirmed there was an 11-minute song on the album (the song is called Crawl, apparently), so if there's another epic, lets hope it's not longer than Blue ocean. That way, the album would be more similar to the debut. 

[RoeDent]

Fantastic! I don't care that Neal Morse does epics regularly. This isn't Neal Morse. This is Flying Colors. No one moaned about Liquid Tension Experiment sounding too much like Dream Theater, so why are people suddenly doing that now with Flying Colors and Neal Morse? Double standards, hypocrisy.

[Mladen]

To be fair, I wasn't around for LTE. 

[Stadler]

Got my ticket.   REALLY excited.  I'm seeing Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett and (hopefully) Alter Bridge all around that time, and yet this is the show I'm really looking forward to.   

[KevShmev]

Fantastic! I don't care that Neal Morse does epics regularly. This isn't Neal Morse. This is Flying Colors. No one moaned about Liquid Tension Experiment sounding too much like Dream Theater, so why are people suddenly doing that now with Flying Colors and Neal Morse? Double standards, hypocrisy.

Not sure where you are seeing a double standard or hypocrisy, if you care to unpack that a little more.

[RoeDent]

People seem to want Flying Colors to be non-prog, but that's not going to happen. All these musicians have prog in their DNA and it cannot be suppressed. It should not be suppressed. LET THE PROG FREE AND REACH FOR THE SUN, my glorious progressive warriors! I hope they put out a stonking epic (like, 25-30 minutes) at some point, if not on this album. It will be magnificent!

[Ben_Jamin]

I just hope Casey takes all the lead vocals this time, leaving MP and NM to do the backing vocals only. His voice is the draw for me.

[KevShmev]

People seem to want Flying Colors to be non-prog, but that's not going to happen. All these musicians have prog in their DNA and it cannot be suppressed. It should not be suppressed. LET THE PROG FREE AND REACH FOR THE SUN, my glorious progressive warriors! I hope they put out a stonking epic (like, 25-30 minutes) at some point, if not on this album. It will be magnificent!

No, I think it's that many of us preferred the balance on the first album, where it was more straight forward with a little prog sprinkled in here and there, rather than tilting more towards that direction like it did on the second album.  Both Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy have multiple other projects to go full-on or heavy on the prog, and it is just a slight bummer to see this taking a more prog direction again, but hey, it's their band and they can do what they want, and I am sure I will still like this album either way. 

I still have no idea what double standard or hypocrisy you are talking about, though.

[gzarruk]

People seem to want Flying Colors to be non-prog, but that's not going to happen. All these musicians have prog in their DNA and it cannot be suppressed. It should not be suppressed. LET THE PROG FREE AND REACH FOR THE SUN, my glorious progressive warriors! I hope they put out a stonking epic (like, 25-30 minutes) at some point, if not on this album. It will be magnificent!

I prefer FC to be proggy as opposed to the Beatles-ish sound some of the songs on the debut had, but I don't want it to sound like TA or NMB either. There should be a balance.

[Max Kuehnau]

well Gabriel, IMHO, having both Neal and MP in the equation, the Beatles influences would be inevitable

[The Letter M]

From Neal's July IC Newsletter -

"We're looking for a release date in October, so look out for that."

-Marc.

[gzarruk]

well Gabriel, IMHO, having both Neal and MP in the equation, the Beatles influences would be inevitable

But we got Steve Morse, Dave LaRue and Casey McPherson to fix that

[ytserush]

Schedules worked out for the Philly show. In the afternoon 2:30-4:00pm I'll be in Rahway seeing Phideaux at ProgStock and this onto Philly for Flying Colors.

What are we doing about Dream Theater? Suppose I've been pretty lucky with conflicts such as this up till now.

[ytserush]

Flying Colors is my favorite non-DT project of his. By Far. I even loved the 2nd album (minus that first song).

My only fear is that when MP gets super excited about this kind of stuff, it makes me worry that it's more super prog than I'd like. I hope they stick to the short catchy fun rock songs, and lesson the 10 minute Transatlantic style epics. But we'll see. I'm skeptical, but only because I think that Portnoy tends to go full prog when he has the chance.

As long as its good, I really don't care what it is. But is does seem that less meandering is a strength of this band.

[ytserush]

I just hope Casey takes all the lead vocals this time, leaving MP and NM to do the backing vocals only. His voice is the draw for me.

Don't think I'd mind that either.

[Nick]

Already have my Flying Colors tickets, and unlike Dream Theater, they are one of the few acts Jennie goes with me to see, so the choice is easy. Had I not already seen SFaM earlier in the year it would be much tougher though.

[Stadler]

I try to stay away from "I want..." when it comes to the bands I like - I'm well and truly interested in what the musicians want to do - I know for me I keep going to back to "Kayla", "The Storm" and "Better Than Walking Away", and I'd love to hear some more well-crafted, well-written, played-with-integrity music, and am not interested in how it fits in with any genre.   

I remember when FC first came out and the title and lengths were posted on a forum, and the place went (relatively) crazy about how "great!" the seven minute and twelve minute songs were going to be!  I thought then and still think that's ridiculous.  And for my money, they are not even top five on the album.

[The Walrus]

I try to stay away from "I want..." when it comes to the bands I like - I'm well and truly interested in what the musicians want to do - I know for me I keep going to back to "Kayla", "The Storm" and "Better Than Walking Away", and I'd love to hear some more well-crafted, well-written, played-with-integrity music, and am not interested in how it fits in with any genre.   

I remember when FC first came out and the title and lengths were posted on a forum, and the place went (relatively) crazy about how "great!" the seven minute and twelve minute songs were going to be!  I thought then and still think that's ridiculous.  And for my money, they are not even top five on the album.

Yup, this is me 99%. Well said, Stadler. I'm gonna hopefully see FC for the first time this fall, and I just want some good music from these super talented people. On their own I couldn't care less, especially about Neal Morse, but in this group, I look forward to hearing stuff like "The Storm." Not so much BTWA or Kayla, though - that's the 1%