Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[The Letter M]

Momentum still is not sitting right with me I can't get into it no matter how hard I try. Oh well, that's 1 out of the ... many he has?

Nine, if you count his self-titled debut and the follow-up, both released before he left Spock's Beard.

What about Momentum can't you get in to? Is it the lack of an over-arching album concept? Or the lack of longer tunes in the 8-12 minute range? Or is the epic closer a BIT too much?

At first, I liked most of the album, but thought some of it was "more of the usual" fare for Neal. The standout tracks were "Thoughts Part 5", the title track, and the epic (well, most of it...I still don't think I've digested it completely yet, even a year after it's release). But most of the rest of the album has grown on me since then, and I like it more than Lifeline as a whole.

Honestly, though, I feel like Momentum is a return to his writing-style of his days in SB and early TA, not just musically, but lyrically as well. It's a bit more secular and less overtly religious in nature, perhaps spiritual and not as a direct as, say, most of Lifeline was, especially for not being a concept album that used religion as part of the narrative and thus, not sound as preachy (as many SB fans had felt some of Neal's post-breakup albums have sounded).

-Marc.

[Scrub206]

This may sound odd but I never actually thought about WHY I didn't like Momentum. Momentum, Weathering Sky and Freak just sound too Neal Morse-y? It just feels like he just took a Neal Morse formula and just plugged in the parts with out really feeling them out? I do enjoy the Epic in segments, I can't sit through the whole song with out getting antsy. Smoke and Mirrors and Thoughts Pt. 5 were pretty good from what I remember.

That's from what I remember. I haven't listened to it in a while. It's not a bad album or bad music by any means. It just doesn't sit well with me.

After I get off work, I'll sit down and listen to the whole album again and try to figure out what exactly it is that bothers me about it.

[KevShmev]

Momentum is really enjoyable, but it didn't ever own my CD player for an extended period of time the way One, ? and Testimony Two all did.

[darkshade]

I don't think I've listened to Neal Morse/TA/SB in over a year... 

[Mladen]

I think World without end is just perfect. 

[Polis]

I just came here to say the solos in It's for You is the best moment in all of music history ever. Not even exaggerating.

[ronnibran]

I haven't listened to Neal Morse in quite some time.  Kind of going through some spiritual slump and can't get into much religious music.  It's kinda depressing.  That said, I though Momentum was great.  World Without End is breathtaking.  But as enough time has passed since it's release to be objective,  T1, One, and T2 are still my favorite Neal albums.  Then Momentum.

[The Letter M]

Neal posted recently that he has had some new song ideas pop up and has started to jot them down. Today, Randy posted (on Facebook) pics of him at Neal's home studio doing some recording/writing, and MP himself responded to the pics saying he wishes he was there - I suppose he is busy at the moment? Anyways, it seems Neal (and Randy) are writing music for Neal's 10th solo album! I wonder if we could possibly get it late next year? Between Transatlantic, Flying Colors and possibly new Neal Morse solo stuff, we'll have a jam-packed years of Neal Morse music (with Mike Portnoy). I am VERY excited about these possibilities!

-Marc.

[bosk1]

I was wondering when he was going to get back to writing.  When a month went by after his last release without any word of a new album, I was starting to think maybe Neal was slipping.

[ronnibran]

I feel like there's been random tweets throughout the last few months regarding some writing project.  You know, when he has a break from preparing the Transatlantic.  The information has been vague enough that I'm not sure if it's a Neal solo thing, or something totally unexpected.  But today the tweets of him writing with the "Neal Morse band" seems to point to solo material.  I would personally be surprised if 2014 didn't include a Neal Morse solo cd.  First things first, I can't wait for the new TA and seeing them live in February (I bought the meet and greet package for the Chicago show).

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I'm never going to get all the Neal Morse related albums. He releases them faster than I can buy them.

[KevShmev]

Bump just to say that Momentum is really growing on me.  Granted, I have always liked it a lot, but now I am really loving it.  I am not sure it will break my Neal solo top 3 (T2, ? and One), but it might be 4th (or 5th, as that and Sola Scriptura, another slow grower for me, are pretty close in quality, IMO).  World Without End is definitely all kinds of awesome, and all of the shorter songs are outstanding. Yes indeed.

[The Letter M]

So I just watched a recent interview on Youtube with Neal stating his plans for the next year and more.

Obviously, this month sees Transatlantic's fourth album, but by summer, he hopes to have a singer/song-writer type album out, similar to It's Not Too Late. No word on who else will appear on the album, if anyone.

By the fall, Flying Colors' second album might be out, which he says Mike had said will be really amazing. Neal isn't in FC mode right now so he wasn't really keeping up with that album being in the midst of TA rehearsals and all. Mike has already tracked his drums for the album (among drums for other things like an upcoming guest appearance on the next Tiles album, apparently).

After all of that, he said his next Neal Morse Band solo album will come out, the one that Randy and the others have been writing with Neal over the last couple months. I suspect that Mike will track his drums for that album sometime after the TA tour, probably by summer, with the others working on it in the summer when Neal is more free to do so.

So those are Neal's plans for the next 12-14 months. What a busy guy!!

-Marc.

[kirksnosehair]

While he's in the middle of all of that, he's still obligated to put out something for his Inner Circle fan club, each and every month.

[The Letter M]

While he's in the middle of all of that, he's still obligated to put out something for his Inner Circle fan club, each and every month.

I thought ICFC releases were bi-monthly, as in, every other month? This month's release are his demos from Snow, which, being one of my favorite albums of all time, I am eagerly awaiting its arrival in to my mail box!

I'm sure we'll see another ICFC release this year of demos and outtakes from Kaleidoscope and possibly even the next Flying Colors album as well.

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

For fans of Neal and Transatlantic, I had another semi-pointless topic of discussion to pose to you all:

"Seeds Of Gold" & "World Without End"

VERSUS

"Into The Blue" & "Kaleidoscope"

How do Neal's last two epics stack up against the two new epics from TA's latest album?

-Marc.

[kirksnosehair]

I prefer Into The Blue and World Without End from that group.


Of course, I haven't had a chance to listen to Kaleidoscope too much yet.


Since I've got the songbook, I think I'm going to learn "Shine" on the acoustic guitar and play it at a gig in the near future

[Tick]

For fans of Neal and Transatlantic, I had another semi-pointless topic of discussion to pose to you all:

"Seeds Of Gold" & "World Without End"

VERSUS

"Into The Blue" & "Kaleidoscope"

How do Neal's last two epics stack up against the two new epics from TA's latest album?

-Marc.

I love all of them. They are all truly epic!

[The Letter M]

For fans of Neal and Transatlantic, I had another semi-pointless topic of discussion to pose to you all:

"Seeds Of Gold" & "World Without End"

VERSUS

"Into The Blue" & "Kaleidoscope"

How do Neal's last two epics stack up against the two new epics from TA's latest album?

-Marc.

I love all of them. They are all truly epic!

There's no doubt about that! Between Neal and Roine, they have both certainly been on fire since the Whirld Tour ended nearly 4 years ago. Neal's had two solo albums, as well as Flying Colors, and Roine's had two albums with TFK. It's amazing the work ethic these guys have, and I'm glad they could get together to bring more epic music to us fans.

But I will say, there's something special about each of these epics, things that set them apart from each other, but also (because of Neal), things that also show some similarities, which is why I pitted Neal's 26/33 minute epics against TA's 25/32 minute epics.

-Marc.

[Estiui]

IMO, World without end is the best among those songs.

[Mladen]

For fans of Neal and Transatlantic, I had another semi-pointless topic of discussion to pose to you all:

"Seeds Of Gold" & "World Without End"

VERSUS

"Into The Blue" & "Kaleidoscope"

How do Neal's last two epics stack up against the two new epics from TA's latest album?

-Marc.

Seeds and World get my vote. Into the blue isn't one of my Transatlantic favorites, even though it's very good, and Kaleidoscope is brilliant, but I still prefer the beauty of Seeds, not to mention that World without end might be in my opinion the best song Neal has ever written.

[The Letter M]

If anyone Neal Morse fans don't have Momentum yet, Neal is selling it on his website store for ONLY $1.99!!! This is an amazing deal, and there's some other great deals going on right now too!

https://www.radiantrecords.com/category/191735-clearance.aspx

I may get one of those t-shirts actually!

-Marc.

[kirksnosehair]

Just grabbed the 3-CD "Whirld Tour" thingy and one of the green Transatlantic tour shirts.   

[Mindflux]

Just grabbed the 3-CD "Whirld Tour" thingy and one of the green Transatlantic tour shirts.   

Yes that 3 CD whirld tour set is an  unbeatable price. Makes me almost wish I didn't buy it when it came out so I could have saved some dough

[ytserush]

Just grabbed the 3-CD "Whirld Tour" thingy and one of the green Transatlantic tour shirts.   

Yes that 3 CD whirld tour set is an  unbeatable price. Makes me almost wish I didn't buy it when it came out so I could have saved some dough

Almost makes me wish I'd wait a few years and save a bunch of money.

[Nihil-Morari]

Finally decided that I want to be a member of Neal's Inner Circle soon. Just browsing through the titles that have been released...

[The Letter M]

This month's Inner Circle Newsletter just came in today and WOW...lots of exciting stuff for Neal coming up!

His singer/songwriter album, Songs From November, is coming out August 19th, with preorders starting July 22nd. First 100 get it signed by Neal himself.

The second Flying Colors album should see release in late September with a tentative 2-week tour in the beginning of October!

The live Kaleidoscope tour album, possibly named KaLIVEoscope, will be another 5-disc extravaganza, 3 CD and 2 DVD. No word on pre-orders yet, but it should be out in late October.

And as for November, Neal and Mike have set up a 2-night concert event where they'll play all of One (Special Edition, i.e. with bonus tracks) and encores, and all of Testimony 1 with encores. This is a TBA event, but I figure I'd get the hype-train going here. With Mike and Neal and Randy on board, I'm sure this 2-night MORSEFEST will get well documented and released next year. Then again, we already have TWO versions of Testimony Live (from the live DVD in Tilburg, and then from Whittier, CA from Inner Circle), but the complete ONE live with Mike, Randy and the rest of the band will be a treat! Hopefully they do release these shows, if not officially through their site, then in the Inner Circle.

Anyways, looks like Neal will be super busy from now til November. At the rate he's going, I doubt he'll start work on his next prog album before December. He seems to enjoy having Randy and Mike over during the winter months anyway, so we'll likely see him record with them in December and/or January, and then aim for a May/June release next year.

Whew...what a busy man, but I love all that he does. Cannot wait to get SFN, FC2, and live TA!

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Not sure why we need another full live rendition of something as long as Testimony.   Seems completely unnecessary.

Should be interesting to see if Songs from November is better than his first two solo albums, both of which I like, especially the first one, but neither of which compare to the majority of his other solo records.

[adastra]

World Without End  has propably one of the best song endings I have ever heard!

[The Letter M]

Neal's self-titled solo debut is definitely pretty good, and I've been hoping for YEARS that he'd play all of "A Whole 'Nother Trip" live with his band, but he has yet to do so. Maybe the encores in his Morsefest shows will include it? Then again, I'm sure those encores will include the usual suspects: "Wind At My Back", "June", "We All Need Some Light", "Bridge Across Forever"...then again, maybe he'll surprise us with songs like "For Such A Time", "Absolute Beginner", "Supernatural", or some deep cuts from the old SB albums.

Either way, I both hope and don't hope that they'll record and release the Testimony portion of those shows, if only because we already have 2 versions of the whole thing played live. If buying it means I get to have all of One played live as well, then I'll bite the bullet and get the whole thing.

As for SFN, I'm looking forward to it. I'm not sure how it'll sound, though, but I can imagine that, lyrically, it'll be a mix of Christian and Secular works. I mean, if it ends up being all Christian stuff, he might as well have released it as part of his Worship Sessions series. Then again, he released Songs From The Highway, which was a strictly Christian album, so we'll see. I'm hoping for something more along the lines of INTL, more secular than Christian, or if it's Christian, then just subtle like INTL or early SB lyrics, just spiritual in nature, and not blatant.

-Marc.

[OpenYourEyes311]

funny that this got bumped up a bit as I just yesterday ordered a whole bunch of Neal to beef up my collection:

Testimony
One (Special Edition)
Testimony 2 (Special Edition)
Momentum
So Many Roads
Testimony 2 Live (5 Disc Version)
Momentum Live (5 Disc Version)
Whirld Tour 2010
Flying Colors Live
Nick n Neal Two Seperate Gorillas

So Excited!

[Nihil-Morari]

This month's Inner Circle Newsletter just came in today and WOW...lots of exciting stuff for Neal coming up!

His singer/songwriter album, Songs From November, is coming out August 19th, with preorders starting July 22nd. First 100 get it signed by Neal himself.

The second Flying Colors album should see release in late September with a tentative 2-week tour in the beginning of October!

The live Kaleidoscope tour album, possibly named KaLIVEoscope, will be another 5-disc extravaganza, 3 CD and 2 DVD. No word on pre-orders yet, but it should be out in late October.

And as for November, Neal and Mike have set up a 2-night concert event where they'll play all of One (Special Edition, i.e. with bonus tracks) and encores, and all of Testimony 1 with encores. This is a TBA event, but I figure I'd get the hype-train going here. With Mike and Neal and Randy on board, I'm sure this 2-night MORSEFEST will get well documented and released next year. Then again, we already have TWO versions of Testimony Live (from the live DVD in Tilburg, and then from Whittier, CA from Inner Circle), but the complete ONE live with Mike, Randy and the rest of the band will be a treat! Hopefully they do release these shows, if not officially through their site, then in the Inner Circle.

Anyways, looks like Neal will be super busy from now til November. At the rate he's going, I doubt he'll start work on his next prog album before December. He seems to enjoy having Randy and Mike over during the winter months anyway, so we'll likely see him record with them in December and/or January, and then aim for a May/June release next year.

Whew...what a busy man, but I love all that he does. Cannot wait to get SFN, FC2, and live TA!

-Marc.

I'm already happy to be a part of Neal's inner circle, just after receiving this one email. Great stuff. One - live, will be awesome, I love the way that album flows and brings back themes.

[Mladen]

https://www.radiantrecords.com/products/498-songs-from-november.aspx

Some more info about the upcoming album, including the samples. I'm very intrigued. 

[Mindflux]

https://www.radiantrecords.com/products/498-songs-from-november.aspx

Some more info about the upcoming album, including the samples. I'm very intrigued. 

I preordered it at 9:57AM. Hope I was one of the first 100.

[The Letter M]

https://www.radiantrecords.com/products/498-songs-from-november.aspx

Some more info about the upcoming album, including the samples. I'm very intrigued. 

I preordered it at 9:57AM. Hope I was one of the first 100.

I placed my order in at about 9:59/10:00am CST, so I'm hoping I came in under the first 100 as well. It seems as though they went live with pre-orders around 9:56-9:57 according to when Neal's twitter account posted about it, at least according to my local time. I actually had no issues with the website either. Pre-ordering was smooth and easy, and I actually also got a $3.00 discount! After shipping and all that, I only paid $16.99 for the album! Not bad!

-Marc.