Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[KevShmev]

I honestly wasn't too jazzed about TGE. TSOAD is leaps and bounds better, though. 

That will be a pretty tall order for me, considering TGE has three of my favorite Neal Morse solo/Band songs (The Call, Waterfall and Alive Again), and they take up about 44 1/2 minutes of the 55 total.

  I expected it to be massively, massively overhyped by Portnoy. I actually don't blame him for the way that he hyped it, as it is a phenomenal album.

I can see that.  It is sounding pretty great to me so far, so they hype appears to be pretty legit, even if calling the best album of their careers is way over the top. 

I think the best things to compare this to are Neal's other double disc records, Snow and Testimony, since the formats are pretty similar.  I can already tell I will like this more than Testimony overall; Snow will be more difficult to top.

  I wish that Portnoy would focus as much as possible on this particular band, because there's a lot of magic between these 5.
 

The fact that they are touring more than usual on this album next year tells me you might get your wish.  They really hit the jackpot with Eric Gillette, who is a phenomenal guitar player and a really good singer, too.  That is not taking anything from the other newer addition, since Bill Hubauer appears to be a good fit, too, but Gillette is the real find.

Just realized that the Freedom Song chorus is a reprise from the end of Ways of a Fool!   

Slave To Your Mind gave me chills. What a sick song. Almost sounds like an unused track from "The Lamb" by Genesis. Bill's vocals really sound like Peter Gabriel.

Hubauer sounds like a more nasally Peter Gabriel, to my ears.

Even though it's a very atypical song for him, Freedom Song should have been one of the early songs released from this. That is a rare Neal song I could see having some success with the mainstream, if released and pushed properly (which it won't be).

[As I Am]

TSOAD is simply INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ravenfoul]

Just to add on what Kev said, I do agree, Eric Gilette is nuts man. You can tell the kid has so much drive, did you see how he talked about how when he saw Vai/Satch/Petrucci at G3 his whole musical world opened up? He even seems to play keys well enough to make interesting ideas.

[The Letter M]

Just to add on what Kev said, I do agree, Eric Gilette is nuts man. You can tell the kid has so much drive, did you see how he talked about how when he saw Vai/Satch/Petrucci at G3 his whole musical world opened up? He even seems to play keys well enough to make interesting ideas.

Eric Gillette is a multi-instrumentalist power-house. Have you seen him play drums, too? He's not beginner, and considering how good he is at guitar and even keyboard, he's pretty good at drumming too (maybe even better than Neal! lol).

If you've not heard either of his solo albums, Afterthought and The Great Unknown, definitely check them out. After hearing him on The Grand Experiment, I had to get his first solo album and I loved it, and eagerly awaited this year's TGU, which has a tight band on it!

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Just to add on what Kev said, I do agree, Eric Gilette is nuts man. You can tell the kid has so much drive, did you see how he talked about how when he saw Vai/Satch/Petrucci at G3 his whole musical world opened up? He even seems to play keys well enough to make interesting ideas.

I wasn't surprised to see him list those guys as favorites/influences; you can definitely hear a lot of Petrucci in his playing.

[Darkstarshades]

Heard it for the 5th time.
The album is indeed Portnoy's greatest outside DT, for me at least.

But I do think he fucking exaggerated with certain tracks. Calling The Battle "up there with The Dance of Eternity" is too fucking over the top, for me it's a fairly straightforward instrumental that could have been an awesome instrumental section in a song, rather than a track of its own. But in context, it works. Yet I don't understand why so many people acclaim it as a "huge piece of music", what? it's anything but huge, it isn't even 3 minutes long.

Some parts I swear I heard them in Disney's Tarzan.

[bosk1]

There is just SO much to take in and it is difficult time find the time to really focus on the album, but I am really liking what I have heard so far.  I just got it last night, so I can't say I have even begun to digest individual songs.  But after kinda going off in a direction I didn't care for with Lifeline and having T2 be a hit-and-miss album, I really felt that Neal came back huge with Momentum.  TGE and this album appear to continue that upward trend. 

[Mladen]

I listened to the first disc on my way to work this morning and the second one during the ride back. I fairly enjoyed it, some of it even made my day actually.

[ErHaO]

Just to add on what Kev said, I do agree, Eric Gilette is nuts man. You can tell the kid has so much drive, did you see how he talked about how when he saw Vai/Satch/Petrucci at G3 his whole musical world opened up? He even seems to play keys well enough to make interesting ideas.

Gilette is a fantastic musician. Last tour they switched instruments during the performance of Alive Again and the kid pretty much nailed everything he played (haven't seen their latest live dvd but I assume they performed it on that as well). And his vocals are great too. Went to the concert for Neal and Mike, came back being especially wowed by Eric.

[PROGdrummer]

Listened to disc one again on my way to work (thanks to heavy traffic I got to listen all the way to Breath of Angels )

Definitely better the second time around! Repeated listens are always the deciding factor in whether or not an album is going to be a favorite or a flunk. "Back To The City" especially clicked for me this time. That vocal-tradeoff with Bill taking the chorus is stuck in my head. And that awesome jazzy guitar solo in "The Slough" ..... SO GOOD. Breath of Angels has a part  in it ("the river overflows...) that really sticks out as a highlight for me. Almost "Great Gig in The Sky" vibe with the choir. Awesome stuff. This album is actually pretty mind-blowing with the amount of good ideas present. Very refreshing to hear from a Neal album!

Can't wait to dive into the second disc later tonight and hear Sloth again!

I still think "World Without End" is Neal's magnum opus piece (imo) but the album could easily top it....

[ronnibran]

Haven't received the new album yet but i agree on the awesomeness of World Without End. Love it when I see others that do also.

[devieira73]

From Radiant Facebook:

"The Similitude of a Dream" is officially the HIGHEST selling album in the history of Radiant Records since the label's inception in the 1990's! "

Radiant is a small label, but pretty impressive anyway, because that was fast! Congratulations for the boys, it's a wonderful album that deserves all sucess!

[KevShmev]

But I do think he fucking exaggerated with certain tracks. Calling The Battle "up there with The Dance of Eternity" is too fucking over the top, for me it's a fairly straightforward instrumental that could have been an awesome instrumental section in a song, rather than a track of its own. But in context, it works. Yet I don't understand why so many people acclaim it as a "huge piece of music", what? it's anything but huge, it isn't even 3 minutes long.

 

I totally agree. I am liking most of the album a lot, but The Battle seems like a throwaway "Hey, let's write something where he can show off our skills" song; very un-Neal Morse like, but I am guessing that is the Portnoy and Gillette influence.   I can already tell that will be a song I don't listen to a lot.

I still think "World Without End" is Neal's magnum opus piece (imo)

It's definitely in the conversation; that song is all kinds of awesome.

Back to the new album, there are still a quite a few tracks I feel like I am merely glossing over right now, because it's hard to get into everything at once, but there is much to like here. 

[The Letter M]

Having had the album for a couple days, I have no had a chance to REALLY listen to it, just opting to play it as I went to bed, hoping to absorb some of it through my dreams. Tonight, however, having had the day off work ,I've given the album a full listen front-to-back, and I've got to say, this is pretty fantastic.

It's quite a dense album, with a lot of songs and moments and motifs and themes, which will take weeks and months, if not years, for me to really digest and absorb and pick apart. I could listen to an album like The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, or The Wall, or even Snow and just pick out moments of songs and be like "Oh, this theme is lifted from this other song, and that motif is reprised later on in that other song", but this one is still so very fresh and sprawling that it will take awhile for me to get everything.

It'll also take me a few more hard listens to really pick out any stand-out tracks. I haven't really picked any out yet as the whole thing just runs together so well that it feels like a huge cohesive piece, and with the few breaks that are present in-between songs, it really does feel like a giant piece. Musically speaking, this album is on par with anything Neal has ever put out IMO, there's a lot of variety in terms of his musical influences being shown here, from the most complex of prog to straight rock to heavier, borderline metal, all performed excellently by the whole band.

And speaking of the band, it's great to hear Mike, Bill, and Eric do vocals throughout the album. It's really beginning to sound like Neal put together a new SB of his own in terms of sharing vocals and what not (though the Gentle Giant-esque SB vocal trade-offs are missed). All in all, this band has been elevated to a whole new level. I knew The Grand Experiment was pretty great and it would stand the test of time, but it might slowly get over-shadowed by this album. Only time will tell. At least there aren't any other major albums for me to get into until next year, and thankfully so, because it'll take awhile for me to digest this whole thing!

-Marc.

[Lynxo]

Half-way through my first listen to CD 1. (Damn, there's much music on here.  ) And I gotta say, what I've heard so far is awesome!

[Mladen]

I've been enjoying most of the album so far, but it will certainly take a while to absorb all of it.

[theanalogkid7]

Man, this album is just incredible.  Breath of Angels is breathtaking, and The Ways of the Fool is a song that you can't help but be happy to while listening.  Holy cow.

[KevShmev]

I love that little acoustic bit at the beginning and end of Breath of Angels.  Great tune.

The instrumental section in Slave to Your Mind is standing out to me as a highlight of the record thus far.  Love the dark vibe there.

[arkdtmp]

The Battle's music was actually written almost entirely by Neal as a crazy piano piece on which MP began tracking drums over as well as orchestrating and adding stuff. He (MP) did a live video commentary over the full album a few hours ago.

[KevShmev]

I stand corrected, then.  I'm sure it will be a fun tune live, but similar to The Dance of Eternity on Scenes, it seems kind of shoehorned in there for the sake of having a technically proficient instrumental on a prog record. 

Really so far, that song is my only "complaint," if you want to call it that.  The rest is sounding pretty great.

[Darkstarshades]

Well excuse me, it isn't even that crazy.
It's actually one of the weaker instrumentals in Portnoy's career. While not entirely bad, it's almost as if someone ripped Outcry's instrumental and made it a track for the sake of having a short instrumental.

Keyboard-wise it's a lot easier than TDOE from what I've been hearing/doing.

The only way I see it being good, is melodically, it was some really nice melodies going on.

[KevShmev]

That's fine. I'd rather focus on the good, of which there is much, so I will digress. 

The Mask has a really awesome, and different, vibe.

[Darkstarshades]

That's fine. I'd rather focus on the good, of which there is much, so I will digress. 

The Mask has a really awesome, and different, vibe.

The Mask is easily one of the strongest songs on the album, it's just so fucking awesome.
Also being an electronic music fan, the vibe made me eyaculate so much.

[KevShmev]

Those weird ass keyboards at the end were so unexpected, yet so cool.

[KevShmev]

Just watched the Portnoy thing on FB.  I have to admit, that was pretty awesome. Seeing this live is gonna be bananas.

[Fritzinger]

I have heard the album for about ten times now, not counting the live stream yesterday. I love the album, I think it could be Morses best indeed, although I am a huge Snow-Fan. I was impressed by Portnoy last night and how touched he was at the end. He really loves this one and I think the tour is going to be awesome!!!
I agree with him, the last chunk, starting from The Mask is simply amazing. Eric's "come on" and the following theme give me goosebumps. What's to say.. Neal Morse just knows how to compose a concept album.

[Kwyjibo]

Haven't picked this up yet. I've grown a bit tired of NM's style lately but you got me excited again for this.

Is this more in line with Snow and Testimony or more like ? or something completely different? Can you compare it?

[bosk1]

I haven't even come close to being able to really comment on this album at all other than to say that I like it.  SO much going on.  I did watch the bonus documentary last night, and there was some good stuff there. 

[red barchetta]

I listened to all the song samples (about 1 min. per song) on ITunes. I really loved many of them right from the start.  The backing vocals are really good.  The songs are selling quite a lot as far as I can see and for sure I'm going to buy it.  They are coming in Montreal in January and I'll probably go to the show even though I'm not crazy about the place they will be playing in.

[dtvoices94]

I've listened to this non stop since Friday and it is all coming together for me.  This may very well be Mike's masterpiece.  Everything is top notch...the music, the lyrics, the pacing.  This may very well be album of the year for me (look out DT and Tedeschi Trucks Band).

[ronnibran]

I've given up on it showing up in the mail, and am not getting a response from Radiant records.  At this point, I just want a refund. 

[KevShmev]

I have heard the album for about ten times now, not counting the live stream yesterday. I love the album, I think it could be Morses best indeed, although I am a huge Snow-Fan. I was impressed by Portnoy last night and how touched he was at the end. He really loves this one and I think the tour is going to be awesome!!!
I agree with him, the last chunk, starting from The Mask is simply amazing. Eric's "come on" and the following theme give me goosebumps. What's to say.. Neal Morse just knows how to compose a concept album.

I agree with all of this.

Not sure it if it son or sun (probably son) on Eric's last line (before the "come on!"), but the way he delivers that line ("The sun's/son's coming hoooooooooooooooooooome!")and holds it for a good 6-7 seconds is incredible.  Major goosebumps moment there.

The Mask is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

And I agree about Portnoy.  As someone who has been a vocal critic of him over the years, it was very cool to see how much he loves the album and talk about it.  Something about Neal and being around his music really does bring out the best in him.

Is this more in line with Snow and Testimony or more like ? or something completely different? Can you compare it?

Hard to say.  It sounds very Neal Morse-ish a lot of the time, but the addition of Bill Huber and Eric Gillette really add a lot new elements to the music.  Gillette is the awesome guitar player Neal has never had in his solo work.  I have long said that the lack of a regular great guitar was the one thing I thought his music was missing, and Gillette now fits the bill to a 't.'  If you're a fan of Neal Morse, you will love this, plain and simple.

I've listened to this non stop since Friday and it is all coming together for me.  This may very well be Mike's masterpiece.  Everything is top notch...the music, the lyrics, the pacing. 

It's hard to top I&W, Awake, Scenes and the first three Transatlantic albums, but I could see this emerging as my favorite Neal album post-Spock's.  It is that good.

[Fritzinger]

I also felt that Neal Morse needed a strong guitar player in addition to Portnoy.

I think Roine Stolt is a VERY overrated guitarist and can't keep up with the others in Transatlantic, sorry (just in terms of playing, I still think he is a great composer). Dare I say, I would like Gildenlöw or even Leonard in the band instead?

I wasn't a big fan of Paul Bielatowicz (hope I spelled that right), although he is an insane player. His playing is very technical, not as melodic as Erics.

Then finally Flying Colors happened and the unbelievable Steve Morse joined Neal. I think, Steve made a lot of songs way better just by his playing (Love Is What I'm Waiting For, Mask Machine).

Now, Neal has a guitarist, that is on a very high level technically, but has no need to show off, and instead plays very melodic and adds a lot to the overall sound of the band.

[KevShmev]

Eh, I disagree with that totally, regarding Stolt; he is a perfect fit for Transatlantic.  For one, he can keep up with the others when it comes to playing (especially Neal, who isn't a flashy player either), and for two, even if he couldn't, does it matter?  It's music, not a mathematical exercise to see who can outplay the other. 

[Darkstarshades]

I also felt that Neal Morse needed a strong guitar player in addition to Portnoy.

I think Roine Stolt is a VERY overrated guitarist and can't keep up with the others in Transatlantic, sorry (just in terms of playing, I still think he is a great composer). Dare I say, I would like Gildenlöw or even Leonard in the band instead?

I wasn't a big fan of Paul Bielatowicz (hope I spelled that right), although he is an insane player. His playing is very technical, not as melodic as Erics.

Then finally Flying Colors happened and the unbelievable Steve Morse joined Neal. I think, Steve made a lot of songs way better just by his playing (Love Is What I'm Waiting For, Mask Machine).

Now, Neal has a guitarist, that is on a very high level technically, but has no need to show off, and instead plays very melodic and adds a lot to the overall sound of the band.

I just can't see where do you get all this.
He's pretty much nailing every solo in the Whirlwind dvd at London.