Neal Morse (solo) Top 50 Songs (NUMBER 1)

[KevShmev]

I figured it was about time for me to do a top 50 countdown again, and I realized I had never done one for Neal Morse, so here goes.

Note: This is not for ANY Neal Morse song...this is strictly for his solo career, meaning the albums he did prior to leaving Spock's Beard and every album he has done as a solo artist since (including The Grand Experiment, which is technically by the Neal Morse Band, but I think you all get my drift).

Anyway, again, off we go...

50. The Grand Experiment

Kind of a simple rocker, especially by Neal's groggy standards, but a fun as hell one, nonetheless.  Always great to crank up and rock out to, and nearly impossible to not sing along to.

49. Back to the Garden

Another song with a chorus that you cannot help but sing along to.  Neal's ability to write a catchy tune is on full display here.

48. Jayda

Regardless of your beliefs, this is a pretty gripping tune, about Neal's daughter when she was sick as a child.  Gorgeous string work throughout this one.

47. The Man Who Would Be King

The 3rd part of the A Whole Nother Trip suite, Neal's acoustic playing, always a treat, is off the charts in this one.  Great solo, and Nick D'Virgilio slays us with some fantastic drumming in this song from Neal's debut record as a solo artist.

[senecadawg2]

I've not listened to too much of his solo stuff, but always been interested, so I look forward to checking these out.

[ronnibran]

Nice!  Big Neal Morse fan here.  I did a similar thing once, a "personal song survivor" if you will, to try and figure out my top ten Neal songs of all time (that I didn't even share with anyone).  I'm interested in comparing your top ten to mine.  For the sake of this countdown, obviously, if I decide to share that info I'll wait until you've completed your countdown.

Hard to image Neal has THAT many songs that a 50 song countdown can be done.  But I guess he does!  For the first round of reveals, I would put "Jayda" at the top of those selections. That's an "upper tier" tune for me with the others being "middle tier".

[KevShmev]

Good to see some followers already. 

Songs on here will be taken from 10 albums, so more than enough songs to fill this up.

[Mladen]

Not really a bunch of my personal favorites, but still interesting. Following. 

[7deg_inner_happiness]

Following.  I'm a huge fan of Neal's music.   

Jayda is such a beautiful song!

[bosk1]

Casually following.  But

47. The Man Who Would Be King

The 3rd part of the A Whole Nother Trip suite, Neal's acoustic playing, always a treat, is off the charts in this one.  Great solo, and Nick D'Virgilio slays us with some fantastic drumming in this song from Neal's debut record as a solo artist.

This does not appear on any Neal Morse album.  Sorry.  DQ.

[KevShmev]

Stinky bait. 

[KevShmev]

46. Daddy's Daughter

Once again, Neal's knack for writing a gorgeous, yet simple, melody, comes out in full force.  I didn't realize it right away, but this is the one song I go back to the most from Songs from November.

45. Supernatural

The guitar tone at the beginning of this song always reminds me of Sweet Child O' Mine for some reason , which is probably the only time ever I would say a Neal Morse reminds me of Gn'R.  Great melodies, great harmonies, cool lyrics....this song has it all.

44. New Jerusalem

This song shows off a strength of Mike Portnoy as a drummer, his ability to make a slower song sound faster than it really is with a fill-driven lead part.  Great song to listen to when cruising down the freeway. 

[senecadawg2]

Just gave it a listen--you're absolutely right about New Jerusalem. Mike Portnoy is great.

[Nihil-Morari]

Totally following. Neal Morse is one of my favorite artists, and a great inspirator, both in listening to his music, as well as in writing my own prog-epics. The funny thing is, that I could never make a top 50 NM songs, on their own most of his shorter songs don't do that much for me. In the context of an album, they do. I think I need time to get used to the sound, or something. That's why I love most of his epics, cause I get the time to get used to their greatness.

Anyway, why is The Man Who Would Be King not on a Neal Morse album, bosk?

[bosk1]

Stinky bait. 

  I tried. 

[Mladen]

Daddy's daughter is a beautiful song, truly one of a kind.

[ronnibran]

At first I was like "Daddy's Daughter?"  What song is that!?!  And then I'm like, oh the one that made me cry!!!!  LOL.  I haven't listened to that album in forever.  I think I bought it on mp3 (or I-tunes?) when it came out, but don't think I have it anymore and haven't listened to that album in forever.  Good song!  I'll have to borrow it from my dad, I bought him the cd of it at some point.

New Jerusalem is good too, I like it better than a few songs from the main disc of The Grand Experiment.

My favorite from this round, however, is Supernatural, quite easily.  Love this song.  Well, I love everything about Testimony 2.

[KevShmev]

Good to see some love from others for Daddy's Daughter.  I was afraid that one would be glossed over and the others talked about more.

43. Reunion

This almost seems too low for this song, but while I love all of it, especially those first few minutes, it's not a song I revisit a lot anymore.  It's become one of those songs that when I do listen to, I think, "I should listen to this way more often," but then don't.  Great finisher for the One album, one of his best, for sure.

42. Wasted Life

This is arguably one of the most emotionally crushing songs Neal Morse has ever written, particularly when you consider the lyrics (regardless of your views).  I have often said that the lack of a great guitar player is somewhat of a detriment to the Testimony album - Neal would improve greatly on the electric guitar over the years - but his solo on this song is pretty freaking great.

41. The Temple of the Living God/Another World

The two opening tracks of the Question Mark album basically serve as one song, and what a start to one of Neal's best albums it is!  Randy George really brought it on this album, which is evident the second the full band kicks in after the slow buildup, and Neal, as always, delivers yet another fantastically catchy hook.

[ronnibran]

Great picks!!!  Although I'm starting to see a disconnect with my personal top Neal picks LOL.  Wasted Life for me is easily a top ten.  My favorite of those three for sure.  Personally not a big fan of the "?" album so the one from that is my least favorite from this round. 

Reunion is great as well, but yeah, there are many better so I am not surprised at its placing in the countdown.

[KevShmev]

Wasted Life is one of those songs that could be top 20 for me one day and then, well, 42 the next. Judgment call at the time I took 10 minutes to jot down a top 50 list for the fun of it.

[KevShmev]

40. Overture 2/Break of Day

These two go together perfectly obviously, and do a great job of kicking off Part II of Testimony, easily the best section of that record.  The meat of Break of Day features a lovely melody, and the instrumental section that closes out the last few minutes of the song is absolutely stellar, featuring some fantastic violin work.

39. Freak

This is one of those great songs that is almost overlooked and never mentioned, but I love it.  The bulk of the song features nothing but Neal's voice, strings and the occasional understate drum flourish by Portnoy, and it works to great effect for those times where the full band does come in briefly (during the bridge and then at the end).  Great, underrated tune.

38. It's for You

This seems like another of those "this seems too low" moments, but while I love this song, there are just too many others that I love more.  Love the dynamic shifts between mellow and rocking that happened several times in this song.

[Mladen]

It's for you, what a glorious tune.

[Nihil-Morari]

Saw a high school rendition of Jesus Christ Superstar yesterday, made me realize even more that Neal Morse's rock opera's are from another world. Testimony is incredible.

[ronnibran]

Overture 2/Break Of day is my favorite of those 3.  Love that part of the Testimony album. 

Freak is a nice tune, but yeah there's so many others that are greater.  Same with It's For You.  I simply love the Testimony 2 album, but that is probably in my bottom third of that album, as that album is just filled with so much great stuff.  I need to listen to that again soon.

[KevShmev]

37. The Conclusion

To be honest, take the first 11 minutes of this song and it would be much higher, but the song just kind of rambles on and on for the last few minutes, knocking it down a peg or two for me. Still pretty great overall, but could have been more concise and much more awesome.

36. Oh, to Feel Him/God's Theme

I suspect the lyrics in this one really turn some people off, but I find the spirit behind them very inspirational, regardless of the message.  Very powerful song, musically and spiritually.

35. King Jesus

One of the best short rockers he has ever written.  He laid it on pretty thick with the lyrics on this one, but the main keyboard lead, a variation of one of the main themes of the One album, is fun as hell. I said when this first came out that this song was made to be an encore, and years later, Neal did feature it as one. Wise move.

[senecadawg2]

I'm enjoyed "Oh, to Feel Him", on my first listen. When it comes to spiritual lyrics I tend to prefer stuff that leans more ambiguous and towards mystical experience; this kind of thing would normally be a turn off for me. But I can appreciate an emotional performance nonetheless and Neal Morse really delivers in that regard, here.

King Jesus I didn't enjoy as much, though it still had it's moments.

[Nihil-Morari]

Oh To Feel Him, and especially teamed up with God's Theme would be well within my top 10, I think. Really the highlight of one of Neal's best albums.
I don't care that much either for The Conclusion, I don't really know why, it could well be the ending, like you said. King Jesus is just a fun rocker, not that much more, although seeing it live last year really changed my view of that song.

[ronnibran]

Nice.  Of those three, the Conclusion is my easy favorite. My opinion varies a bit in that I don't feel like it rambles.  It's easily my favorite track from Sola Scriptura.

Nice to see "Oh to Feel Him" on the list.  Glad you included God's Theme with it.  Without the second part I probably wouldn't consider it a top song.  Maybe at some point a long time ago I may have liked it better.  But honestly I don't remember the last time I've listened to Testimony.  I have been in a prog funk for a while.

King Jesus is good, I'd probably rank it in the approx. 40 range too.  Good song but many better songs.  Enjoying this thread to see someone's ranking and also to remember the songs (since most of them I haven't heard in some time).

[KevShmev]

34. Outside Looking In

Another one of many great tunes from the Question Mark album.  Very nice solo by Alan Morse in this one, and as usual, a lovely melody by Neal highlights the song.

33. Moving in My Heart

There are several songs from Testimony that heavily feature the melody from this song in some sort of fashion, and this is by far the best one.  The french horn playing that lead before the verses sounds like pure joy.

32. Time Changer

I was a bit iffy on this song at first, as those multi-part harmonies can sometimes be hit or miss for me, but it eventually won me over.  The bass groove in this song is killer, and I love the little nod to Spock's The Water in the middle of the song.

31. Insider Her Presence/The Temple of the Living God

Spectacular ending to the Question Mark record.  The dual solo by Roine Stolt and Alan Morse, where one is the left channel and the other in the right (cannot remember which ), is very cool.  Bombastic finale, per the norm.

[ronnibran]

Interesting.  I love "Outside Looking In" as a standalone song but overall not a fan of "?" album.  The other songs area all average to me.  Which is a good thing, means more of my favorites might be closer to the top

For whatever reason, was never a huge fan of Time Changer.  I respect what Neal was doing with that song (with the guest vocals and stuff), but it's in my lower half of the T2 album.

[KevShmev]

Not to give too much away, but despite being number 32 here, Time Changer is not one of my five favorite songs from Testimony 2. :big grin:

I might start spitting out more of these per day since discussion is pretty limited (only a few posters commenting after every update).  It's sad that Neal doesn't have more fans, even here.

[Nihil-Morari]

Neal's just a small fish. I don't get that, it's pure prog, but not for the masses it seems.

[Mladen]

Kudos for having Time changer in there. Outside looking in is also very beautiful. 

[KevShmev]

Kudos for having Time changer in there. Outside looking in is also very beautiful. 

 

Neal's just a small fish. I don't get that, it's pure prog, but not for the masses it seems.

Right, but even here, it seems like his fan base has really dwindled, which I am sure is largely because of the nature of his lyrics post-SB.

[425]

I've been getting into Neal's solo stuff recently. I haven't been commenting here though, because I'm not yet familiar with most of these songs.

[KevShmev]

Feel free to use this list as a useful guide.

30. Time Has Come Today

I remember loving this song right away, because it was like he brought the fun back into his music, similar to the quirkiness often found in the Spock's Beard material of the early days. That was my interpretation.

29. Thoughts Part 5

Speaking of quirky fun... The best thing about this song is how much it rocks. I also like how he did a non-traditional ending, relative to many of his songs; the song basically crawls to the finish, but in a very cool way.

28. Help Me

I love this tune; it shows what a great piano player Neal is.  Also of note, I love the lion's roar of the guitar after the vocal line, "I can hear the lion's roar." 

Note that this is just for the Help Me part of track 6 on the One album.  I am not a fan of them tacking on the Spirit and the Flesh thing to the latter part of the track, but taking Help Me as its own individual song, it's fantastic.

27. Sing It High

This song threw me at first, as it sounded like Neal does country.   But I always liked it.  In fact, I always loved it, because it is just a great tune.  Just like how Neal is great on the acoustic piano, he is even more awesome on the acoustic guitar, as shown in so many songs, including this one.

[ronnibran]

Some good choices there!  Time Has Come Today also stood out to me right away listening to Testimony 2.  Without looking at the song list of that album (don't have it on this computer) I can't confirm if it's in my top five T2 songs or not, but if not it's close.

Thoughts pt 5 - I listened to this I think last week.  Very enjoyable.

I have a differing opinion with Help Me.  Without it being Help Me/The Spirit in the Flesh I might not have it on my top list.  I think they work well in contrast with each other.  Could they have been split up into two songs?  Probably yes.  But regardless, Help Me is a memorable, classic Neal song. Anyone following his solo career from the beginning likely knows this one well.

I've never been a fan of Sing it High personally.  I don't hate it by any means, I just don't relate or connect to it enough maybe.  But it was actually one of the highlights of Morsefest 1 despite being one of my least favorite T1 songs.

[KevShmev]

I can see why some might not like Sing It High, considering the lyrics beat you over head with the meaning , but it's such a fun song musically that I can't help but love it.