MP's Shattered Fortress Tour

[Elite]

I don't know if anyone posted this already, but the footage of FC playing the cruise is out there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2IINCmVhws

EDIT: First thought - Casey has improved as a front man even more. He's pretty great.

Thanks for pointing that out! Now I'm watching Pain of Salvation on a boat

There's so much footage from that whole thing available, damn! And I really should go to bed as well.

[Skeever]

The first Flying Colors was far from perfect, but at least it felt like a genuine synthesis of all the parties involved.

The second Flying Colors had 3-4 songs that sounded like that, and the rest sounded like leftovers from Casey and Neal solo albums.

[KevShmev]

WTF happened in this thread?

Mike Portnoy borrowed Stadler's account for a day?  That is my best guess.

[TAC]

I have no interest in fighting with you.   I'd rather enjoy our common bond of DT music.

I have a thread dedicated to this statement over in the P/R Forum!

[KevShmev]

Re-reading today's posts, my opinions on the various things being discussed are:

-What Portnoy has done since leaving DT has been fine.  Okay, A-Mob sucked ass, but the Neal Morse stuff continues to kick ass, Flying Colors is really good, Transatlantic released a very good 4th album, and Winery Dogs are okay. 

-Going out of his way to create a "successful" (popularity-wise) band would be an exercise in futility.  Like has been said, he's now a 50-year old drummer with a rep as a control freak (which some view as good, some bad).  Any upcoming songwriter worth a damn doesn't need that kind of personality around while making their way up.

-I do not believe him when he says he is truly happy.  I am sure he is happy with each individual band he is in and the work they are doing, but anything who think he doesn't miss like DT like crazy is kidding themselves, IMO.  When I saw the Neal Morse Band last month, he didn't look like a happy guy.  His energy and usual outward live spirit was virtually non-existent (which really surprised me).

-I think he is smart to avoid getting into a full time prog metal band.  Like has been said, the odds of it comparing to Dream Theater are slim to none, and the earlier comment about how it failing to do so would fall squarely on Portnoy's shoulders was dead accurate.  No need to create that albatross for himself.

[Mosh]

2nd Flying Colors album was a major disappointment. It was like they got rid of all the things that made the first album so good.

I'm ok with what Portnoy has done post-DT, although I'm not crazy about Winery Dogs and I'm disappointed that he seems to be putting most of his eggs in that basket.

[Adami]

I guess I'm listening to a different 2nd FC album, but (aside from the boring first track) it feels like a perfect continuation of the 1st album, just without the overt Beatles rip off song.

[ariich]

I guess I'm listening to a different 2nd FC album, but (aside from the boring first track) it feels like a perfect continuation of the 1st album, just without the overt Beatles rip off song.

Agreed on all counts. First song was meh, but the rest of the album is amazing.

[gzarruk]

I liked the 2nd FC album much more than the first one, but still, I don't consider them to be that good. FC, to me, sounds like them under-using their members and not playing to their strenghts. The only one who really is used to his best, imo, is Casey.

What I've found with most MP albums in the last 6 years is that he'll hype them A LOT, but then, a few months after the release, they don't have the replay value a better album would. This doesn't happen with the DT releases at all. Even the DT albums I rank lower on my list (WDADU, Black Clouds, TOT) I still play on a regular basis, the latest MP albums (if I like them), not so much.

This is entirely based on my opinion and experience, not making general statements here, btw.

[Stadler]

WTF happened in this thread?

Mike Portnoy borrowed Stadler's account for a day?  That is my best guess.

Yes, and I'm playing drums with The Winery Dogs next week.    

F*** Blabbermouth!   

[cramx3]

WTF happened in this thread?

Mike Portnoy borrowed Stadler's account for a day?  That is my best guess.

Yes, and I'm playing drums with The Winery Dogs next week.    

F*** Blabbermouth!

Where at?  I want to see TWD again 

[Stadler]

WTF happened in this thread?

Mike Portnoy borrowed Stadler's account for a day?  That is my best guess.

Yes, and I'm playing drums with The Winery Dogs next week.    

F*** Blabbermouth!

Where at?  I want to see TWD again 

I  much prefer TA or FC in the studio - I'm a melody guy - but I saw the opening night of the Hot Streak tour, and it kicked ASS.   I was literally two feet in front of Billy, and to watch him actually DO what it is he does, my jaw was on the floor.  He's a beast.

[cramx3]

Yea I saw them in NJ on the same tour, it was the one and only time I've seen MP since he left the band.  They were awesome live.  All three of them.   

[hefdaddy42]

I guess I'm listening to a different 2nd FC album, but (aside from the boring first track) it feels like a perfect continuation of the 1st album, just without the overt Beatles rip off song.

Agreed on all counts. First song was meh, but the rest of the album is amazing.

Same here.  I don't understand a lot of the criticism the second album gets.

[bosk1]

I guess I'm listening to a different 2nd FC album, but (aside from the boring first track) it feels like a perfect continuation of the 1st album, just without the overt Beatles rip off song.

Agreed on all counts. First song was meh, but the rest of the album is amazing.

Same here.  I don't understand a lot of the criticism the second album gets.

What is there to get?  It's DTF. 

[rumborak]

I guess I'm listening to a different 2nd FC album, but (aside from the boring first track) it feels like a perfect continuation of the 1st album, just without the overt Beatles rip off song.

Agreed on all counts. First song was meh, but the rest of the album is amazing.

Same here.  I don't understand a lot of the criticism the second album gets.

Somebody a long time ago made the point that by putting this run-of-the-mill prog epic right at the beginning of the album, it framed the rest of the album in that way. I can probably agree with that, because I came kinda pissed out of the first 20 minutes of the album. Hard to recover from that initial impression.

[axeman90210]

Yeah, I definitely think that the second album suffers more from abysmal track ordering than anything else. If they just moved that first track to the end as some kind of bonus track and the album started with Mask Machine I feel like people would have a different impression of it.

[rumborak]

There is a great review of the album on Sputnik, that I entirely agree with:

https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/64345/Flying-Colors-Second-Nature/

As the guy says, it seems FC's descent into the old patterns of their constituents was probably inevitable.

[kaos2900]

I love the second FC other than the opening track.

To me MP's post DT work is as follows

NMB>FC>Winery Dogs>AMOB

I haven't checked out Metal Allegiance and really have no desire too as my interest Thrash has greatly diminished.

[bosk1]

If we are talking about the total bodies of work of those same projects, I would rank them something like this:

1a/1b:  Transatlantic/Neal Morse.  Hard to say which I would put ahead of the other, since both projects have put out some of my all-time favorite music (which is interesting, given that I am more of a metal head, and not really into prog as a genre).  If pressed to pick one, I guess I would go with Neal just because of the sheer volume of material.  But the quality is pretty even for both.

3.  Flying Colors.  I enjoy these two albums from time to time.  But I don't listen to them often.

4.  Winery Dogs.  The music was good.  But there is so much music that I enjoy more that I rarely listen to the two WD albums and don't find them all that interesting or exciting.

5.  AMOB.  Meh.

If we are considering ONLY the post-DT output from these projects, my ranking probably wouldn't change much other than putting Neal solidly at #1 and TA at #2 by virtue of the fact that Neal's last two albums were rock solid and I didn't care much for TA's last album.  I mean, it was very good.  But, to me, it was EASILY a step below the first three TA albums.

[Mosh]

I actually didn't hate the first A Mob. I didn't check out anything else they did, but I thought it was OK for what they were trying to do.

[TAC]

I actually didn't hate the first A Mob. I didn't check out anything else they did, but I thought it was OK for what they were trying to do.

Same here.

[gzarruk]

I actually didn't hate the first A Mob. I didn't check out anything else they did, but I thought it was OK for what they were trying to do.

The problem wasn't really the band itself, but the potential a MP - RA collab that ended up being AMOB 

[Mosh]

Yea, that much was disappointing. It was still fun to finally hear the two musicians on the same project though, regardless.

[Samsara]

I actually didn't hate the first A Mob. I didn't check out anything else they did, but I thought it was OK for what they were trying to do.

The problem wasn't really the band itself, but the potential a MP - RA collab that ended up being AMOB 

Bingo. I get that they wanted to be a mainstream hard rock act, but all the swearing in that god awful song they did on that first record was just downright lame, to my ears. With Portnoy, Allen, and Orlando, I really expected something more...and better.

[axeman90210]

I still throw on Adrenaline Mob every now and then as mindless workout music. I also thought there were a couple cool tunes on the Coverta album as well. I honestly would have loved to see them do something like what Mike does with Metal Allegiance as far as a covers show, because I remember going to the first concert AMob ever played and they closed with an absolutely blistering cover of War Pigs.

[Art]

The best thing AMOB did was their version of Come Undone. The rest is pretty MEH.

I also expected a lot more from a band with MP and Russell Allen.

[KevShmev]

Regarding the first song from the second FC album, Open Up Your Eyes, I think the meat of the song is very good, but the intro is too long, and that part around the 3-minute mark is the kind of prog wank that you thought FC would not be about.  And don't even get me started on that dumb ass ending, which quite frankly is annoying as hell.

[Mindflux]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDdcax-SD2E

4K footage of FC and Transatlantic sets at CTTE 2017.

[Madman Shepherd]

The best thing AMOB did was their version of Come Undone. The rest is pretty MEH.

I also expected a lot more from a band with MP and Russell Allen.

I agree although I also like Undaunted. 

[TAC]

I also expected a lot more from a band with MP and Russell Allen.

I expected a lot more from a band with MP and Billy Sheehan.

I expected a lot more from a band with MP and Steve Morse.

[nobloodyname]

Adrenaline Mob may have been disliked by many but seeing them perform the first album in a sweaty little club in Glasgow remains the best MP-related show I've seen with the potential exception of DT at Radio City and maybe Wolverhampton in 2005.

[ytserush]

Also, seems like most MP die hard fans these days buy his albums not because they like his bands that much, but because he's MP and... you know... MP... #MPWarriors.

It could also be they dig the music and the people he plays with. I love it all to varying degrees except for AMob and Avenged.  What would Bowie's legacy have been if he didn't break up Spiders? (Not to compare Portnoy with Bowie.)

[ytserush]

I guess I'm listening to a different 2nd FC album, but (aside from the boring first track) it feels like a perfect continuation of the 1st album, just without the overt Beatles rip off song.

Agreed on all counts. First song was meh, but the rest of the album is amazing.

Same here.  I don't understand a lot of the criticism the second album gets.

Higher highs, but lower lows. Amazing moments and some that weren't so amazing. Doesn't get going for me until almost halfway through.

[ytserush]

Adrenaline Mob may have been disliked by many but seeing them perform the first album in a sweaty little club in Glasgow remains the best MP-related show I've seen with the potential exception of DT at Radio City and maybe Wolverhampton in 2005.

Saw the first show they ever did. It was a powder keg. Just not my kind of powder keg. The band sold it, the passion and energy were there. I just wasn't buying.