Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[bosk1]

This was a great album, but bored with it by now.  When's the next one?

[Mladen]

Some of my early favorites are City of destruction, Draw the line, The Ways of a fool (Jellyfish and The Beach Boys vibe seals the deal for me), Slave to your mind, Confrontation and The Battle. This album should do it for a Neal Morse fan for quite a while. 

[kaos2900]

Loving this album! Only song I don't dig is Running Free.

[PROGdrummer]

This was a great album, but bored with it by now.  When's the next one?

  Really?

Though honestly when I woke up this morning I decided I wasn't going to listen to it at all today. Knew I shouldn't have "overplayed" this one    I'll come back to it next week.

One tiny little MP moment that I absolutely love on this album, is the little "whoa oh whoa oh oh oh" he does right before the sax solo in Shortcut to Salvation. It's PERFECT. Sometimes its just the little things that add so much character to a song and make it that much more special.

Maybe I'll just listen to the 68 minute abridged version I made instead today.... The temptation is too great.

[axeman90210]

This was a great album, but bored with it by now.  When's the next one?

I know, right? If Metallica's releasing a double album, Neal should be cranking out at least a triple album.


Definitely need a bunch more listens before I have a good handle on TSOAD but So Far Gone and then The Mask through the end of the album are early standouts (especially The Mask, love the vibe in that song).

[kaos2900]

The melody in Shortcut Salvation is just insanely good.

[Jester]

Not much to add other than I've checked out the YouTube releases from the new release and I really, really like it.  Probably on the same level of instant love as when the DT community turned me on to Spock's Beard in the late 90s.

[The Letter M]

After a couple more casual listens at home and in the car, I've picked up on a LOT of Morse-ish moments that remind me of other Neal Morse solo songs, particularly earlier today, listening to the opening of Disc 2, it reminds me a lot of "Sweet Elation" from ?, and other times I'm even reminded of other songs that aren't even Neal's but songs he as covered in the past before.

This is a very influence-heavy album, not that there's anything wrong with that, but there's a lot of times where the music just reminds me of other music. More listens will be required for me to really let this stand as its own piece of work.

-Marc.

[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.

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

The two times I saw him with Transatlantic, he was pretty sloppy. Portnoy sometimes even looked pretty (I hope that is the right word) admonishingly/ almost a little angry at him. He was the only one having an iPad with lyrics or what ever in front of him (which is fine, but ads up to the impression that he.. you know.. just didn't practice enough).
Also I think his solos aren't very good, they have no structure and no good sound. When you compare that to, say, Steve Morse, Steve Hackett, Petrucci or Gillette, you can hear the difference. Their solos are very well thought through. I'm sorry to all Stolt-fans, I just don't like his playing

[PROGdrummer]

So, I got in my car, and was deciding between the newest Dillinger Escape Plan album, the new Devin Townsend Project, Bjork's Vespertine, or a Fear Before The March of Flames album.... and then I thought about hearing the run of songs between "The Slough" and "Breath of Angels" again, and decided to just pop in disc 1 of TSOAD again.

Guess I'm not as bored of the new record as I was thinking I was 


On Roine; he's only human. Neal's forgotten the lyrics to a few Transatlantic songs before as well according to YouTube footage I've seen. The Anderson/Stolt  album from earlier this year proves his composing abilities, and I like his singing and his riffs. He's just not a great shredder.   Then there's people like Tosin Abasi ,who can play amazingly  and have mind blowing technique but more than half of the really awesome riffs and melodies on an AAL album were actually written by Misha Mansoor or Javier Reyes. Not everyone's perfect. 

[KevShmev]

Regarding the familiar melodies, I sorta caught the Sweet Elation one as well, and there is one that is somewhat similar to the one in Father of Forgiveness.

Funny that Portnoy said that I'm Running was him channeling his inner Keith Moon, because the intro fill sounds just like the one in The Who's Bell Boy.  But hey, like he said, he doesn't hide his influences.

[ronnibran]

w00t!  Got my copy last night, and listened to it a few times today.  First impression - GREAT album, not sure if it will surpass One, Testimony, and Snow as an all time best, but it just quite might.  I wasn't a huge fan of The Grand Experiment, and this one does not disappoint at any level.  Love the band as a whole.

Initial standout songs for me are The Mask, Freedom Song, So Far Gone...  Although I could list more, literally no weak songs.  I also heard lots of influences from previous Neal work.  Some slower songs even reminded me of stuff from It's Not Too Late or Songs From November.  The last song towards the beginning felt a bit like the last song on the Whirlwind at a couple spots.  All in all, I don't mind the influences at all.  And it feels fresh overall anyway.

I didn't love Ways of a Fool when I heard the single, but it sounds so great in the context of the album.  I love the song now.  I listened to the overture single many many times before release.  Glad I did, it was cool to recognize stuff from it scattered throughout the album.

[KevShmev]

Still way too early to know if it can equal or top Testimony 2, ?, The Grand Experiment or One, for me as far as Neal solo/NMB albums go, but I think I can safely say it will fit in the top 5 with those others.

I think they did a solid job with the Overture here, but I think that track will be similar to the overtures on T2, Whirlwind, Snow, etc., in that I will almost never listen to its own, only when listening to the album from start to finish, which will be hard to do often because of its length.  As much as I love Neal's music, I think I am just over his need to always give us that overture where all of the main themes are force fed to us at once.

[KevShmev]

Fun game:

Watch this gif while listening to the beginning of The Way of a Fool:



 

[Fritzinger]

Fun game:

Watch this gif while listening to the beginning of The Way of a Fool:



 

Didn't he actually say, "I think this will be a gif or somethin"?

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Alright, done with my first listen. It's a great album, but it's nowhere as life-changing as Scenes from a Memory or The Whirlwind to me . I mean, it's a standard Neal Morse album with all the elements you've come to expect from him in all their glory. The songs that stuck the most to me, funnily enough (being something that doesn't happen so often), were the slow songs like Breath of Angels or Sloth More.

Maybe a bit overlong, but which NM album isn't?  There are some incredible melodies throughout, and some very memorable moments. MP did nice as always, but he sounds just the same as he does in every NM album. I literally could hear all the fills and rhythms in my head before they happened, and I hate that; but that doesn't take away from the performance which was flawless as it usually is. I LOVE when the other singers get their shining moments, even MP. Their voces make such a nice contrast with NM's, and that's a breath of fresh air that is always welcome.

It was really nice, but I don't have the urge of going through the entire thing any time soon.

[KevShmev]

Alright, done with my first listen. It's a great album, but it's nowhere as life-changing as Scenes from a Memory or The Whirlwind to me . I mean, it's a standard Neal Morse album with all the elements you've come to expect from him in all their glory. The songs that stuck the most to me, funnily enough (being something that doesn't happen so often), were the slow songs like Breath of Angels or Sloth More.

Maybe a bit overlong, but which NM album isn't?  There are some incredible melodies throughout, and some very memorable moments. MP did nice as always, but he sounds just the same as he does in every NM album. I literally could hear all the fills and rhythms in my head before they happened, and I hate that; but that doesn't take away from the performance which was flawless as it usually is. I LOVE when the other singers get their shining moments, even MP. Their voces make such a nice contrast with NM's, and that's a breath of fresh air that is always welcome.

It was really nice, but I don't have the urge of going through the entire thing any time soon.

I know what you mean.  Despite the new sounds and elements, thanks to the two newer members, it still sounds very much like a Neal Morse album, which can be both good and bad.  Good in that his sound and style is great; bad in that his sound and style is very samey, meaning a lot of has that "yeah, I've heard this before" feel to it. 

For example, the final song certainly is the signature Neal Morse "ending an album with an overly dramatic/epic written song featuring the main themes again" song, ala Crossing Over/Mercy Street Reprise (ending Disc 1 anyway) or Made Alive Again/Wind at My Back Reprise, but the major contributions by Gillette, with his playing and singing, does give it a new twist that makes it pretty unique.  And let's face it, the song itself is just phenomenal.

Ultimately, Neal could write a melody and sing the phone book, and I'd love it.

Didn't he actually say, "I think this will be a gif or somethin"?

Haha, yep.

[The Letter M]

Maybe a bit overlong, but which NM album isn't? 

?, and maybe Momentum. Short, concise (especially on the latter's part), and two of my favorites by Neal. One isn't too bad either, even with the 3 bonus tracks thrown in to the mix (which I think is still my favorite Neal solo album of all time, to be honest).

It'll be awhile before I can place where this album lands, but I like it more than Lifeline at least, and it's slowly crawling up the rankings for me, side-by-side with Sola Scriptura and The Grand Experiment, but just below Testimony 2 and Momentum, both of which win me over because of their closing epics!

Having been awhile since Neal's released a full double-disc concept album, I can tell that this one will take a looooong time to settle into my soul. Heck, as much as I love his previous 2 albums, they're still "fresh" to me, as I enjoy them a lot, but sometimes new things will pop out to me, or I won't remember some rhythms or melodies, but with older albums like his first three solo albums post-Snow, I feel like I recall a LOT more of those than I do his more recent releases. Then again, I must have spun those albums hundreds of times, even within the first year of owning them.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Songs for November is pretty short - only 48 minutes - but, oh yeah, we always ignore the non-prog albums when talking about Neal. 

I'd be curious if there is any Neal fan who thinks Lifeline isn't his least best prog album (post-Spock's).  I mean, it's not a bad record, but it really stands out as not nearly as good as all of the others.

[ronnibran]

Yes.  I fall into that category. I just don't love "?". Lifeline is definately better than that. And I'd also put it above the grand experiment. I mean, I like the song Lifeline better than the Call and So Many Roads better than Alive Again. The rest are mostly "meh".

[Mladen]

Yep, Lifeline is clearly my least favorite as well. Slightly higher ranked are Testimony, The Grand experiment and One. I think TSOAD will end up at number 5, but it's still early to tell.

I started liking Freedom song. It sounded like an ordinary Neal Morse songs, but something about the twangy, country-esque slide guitar gives it a fresh touch.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Maybe a bit overlong, but which NM album isn't? 

?, and maybe Momentum. Short, concise (especially on the latter's part), and two of my favorites by Neal. One isn't too bad either, even with the 3 bonus tracks thrown in to the mix (which I think is still my favorite Neal solo album of all time, to be honest).

It'll be awhile before I can place where this album lands, but I like it more than Lifeline at least, and it's slowly crawling up the rankings for me, side-by-side with Sola Scriptura and The Grand Experiment, but just below Testimony 2 and Momentum, both of which win me over because of their closing epics!

Having been awhile since Neal's released a full double-disc concept album, I can tell that this one will take a looooong time to settle into my soul. Heck, as much as I love his previous 2 albums, they're still "fresh" to me, as I enjoy them a lot, but sometimes new things will pop out to me, or I won't remember some rhythms or melodies, but with older albums like his first three solo albums post-Snow, I feel like I recall a LOT more of those than I do his more recent releases. Then again, I must have spun those albums hundreds of times, even within the first year of owning them.

-Marc.

I know what you mean, but I don't entirely agree because even though I love dearly most of his material I feel most of his albums are a tad overlong. That being said, I think he has done a couple of albums which feel great length-wise like Testimony 2 (talking about the first CD) to me . It's just that I get the feeling that he sometimes fills up his albums with songs and moments which aren't precisely necessary just for the sake of making it long. Songs like World Without End could've been 10 or 15 minutes shorter and they would be much more concise and better. I know Neal is a man of A WEALTH of musical ideas, but part of the beauty of composing, arranging and producing is knowing when to stop.

I rarely listen to full NM albums from beginning to end, and when I'm in my NM frenzy stage I usually put some different tunes from all of his albums until my thirst is quenched. The only two albums I LOVE listening in their original format are ? and Testimony 2.

[KevShmev]

Yes.  I fall into that category. I just don't love "?". Lifeline is definately better than that. And I'd also put it above the grand experiment. I mean, I like the song Lifeline better than the Call and So Many Roads better than Alive Again. The rest are mostly "meh".

  Woah.

I started liking Freedom song. It sounded like an ordinary Neal Morse songs, but something about the twangy, country-esque slide guitar gives it a fresh touch.

I like the song, but it sounds very out of place, like it didn't belong on there.  The sound of it doesn't help, nor does the fact that it's isolated from the tracks before and after it.  It reminds me of Looking for Answers from Snow, which also had that "just thrown in there in the middle of the record" feel to it, and of course that also stood out as about the only track that didn't have fade in from or to another song.

I rarely listen to full NM albums from beginning to end, and when I'm in my NM frenzy stage I usually put some different tunes from all of his albums until my thirst is quenched. The only two albums I LOVE listening in their original format are ? and Testimony 2.

I'm generally that way, too, largely because it's so hard to have the time to listen to full albums, especially ones as long as Neal's often are.  ? stills stands out to me as the best when it comes to flow and having that "once you start it, you can't stop till it's over" vibe. 

[bosk1]

Regarding the familiar melodies, I sorta caught the Sweet Elation one as well, and there is one that is somewhat similar to the one in Father of Forgiveness.

Totally!  I love that one, but it is SO derivative.  Can't help but wonder whether it was intentional or subconscious.

[Skeever]

Seems like a tough CD to get. Usually, I can get the bigger Mike releases at Best Buy (where I bought all TA albums, all Flying Colors albums, Winery Dogs, and others). But I head to BB at lunch today, and nothing. Checked the site, and nary an album to be found in 250 miles. Seems this is always the case with Neal and Radiant Records. You either buy through his store, or you buy through Amazon. This one is on iTunes, but $24.99 for an MP3 album seems pretty steep to me. Seems odd to see a double album priced at the price point of two albums, since in my experience double albums are usually the same price as single albums, or maybe just a few dollars more. Is it really worth that much? What do you guys think?

[ronnibran]

Seems like a tough CD to get. Usually, I can get the bigger Mike releases at Best Buy (where I bought all TA albums, all Flying Colors albums, Winery Dogs, and others). But I head to BB at lunch today, and nothing. Checked the site, and nary an album to be found in 250 miles. Seems this is always the case with Neal and Radiant Records. You either buy through his store, or you buy through Amazon. This one is on iTunes, but $24.99 for an MP3 album seems pretty steep to me. Seems odd to see a double album priced at the price point of two albums, since in my experience double albums are usually the same price as single albums, or maybe just a few dollars more. Is it really worth that much? What do you guys think?

I think that I-tunes is overpriced.  If downloading, I would get from Radiant for $13.99 (mp3 320kbps).  Or there's a higher definition download for I think $15.99.  Definitely worth it.

Yes.  I fall into that category. I just don't love "?". Lifeline is definately better than that. And I'd also put it above the grand experiment. I mean, I like the song Lifeline better than the Call and So Many Roads better than Alive Again. The rest are mostly "meh".

  Woah.

Don't get me wrong, The Call and Alive Again are both excellent.  But I always though Lifeline had its two gems as well, even if it was an unpopular record.

And man, loving this album so much.  I got misty eyed on my way home from work today when the Long Day (reprise) came on.  Cool decision to have Eric sing the last couple parts of that song.  Goose bump city.

[KevShmev]

Regarding the familiar melodies, I sorta caught the Sweet Elation one as well, and there is one that is somewhat similar to the one in Father of Forgiveness.

Totally!  I love that one, but it is SO derivative.  Can't help but wonder whether it was intentional or subconscious.

I doubt it was intentional; Portnoy probably would have mentioned it during his listen last week.  I think that Neal writes so much music, that certain melodies are bound to be a bit similar.

And man, loving this album so much.  I got misty eyed on my way home from work today when the Long Day (reprise) came on.  Cool decision to have Eric sing the last couple parts of that song.  Goose bump city.

Yep, it was totally the right decision to have Gillette sing those sections in the final song; it knocked it out of the park.

Regarding the cost, I do wish I would have bought the physical CDs.  I think where some of the tracks are indexed could have been done a lot better - where So Far Gone turns into Breath of Angles is terrible; should have been a few second later - and it's hard to fix that with the mp3s since you get little blips where you connect the songs on Audacity when trying to fix the indexing.

[ronnibran]

It's hard to stop talking about this album. Just have to say that the song Shortcut to Salvation is fabulous. Works perfectly in the album and has that feel good singer- songwriter feel. Catching on to more of the lyrics and making the connections. Oh and i love that solo in Shortcut. Sax or whatever it is. Brilliant.

[King Postwhore]

First spin tomorrow at work. 

[KevShmev]

First spin tomorrow at work.

 

It's hard to stop talking about this album. Just have to say that the song Shortcut to Salvation is fabulous. Works perfectly in the album and has that feel good singer- songwriter feel. Catching on to more of the lyrics and making the connections. Oh and i love that solo in Shortcut. Sax or whatever it is. Brilliant.

Yep, very fun song. And like always, it's the little things that make songs like that great.  That little bass drum thing Portnoy does before the 2nd chorus is so great.  So simple, yet so effective.

[KevShmev]

What songs do you think they will play on the tour next year besides the new album?  I figure the new album will take about two hours, counting the intermission between discs 1 and 2, and then we'll likely get an encore of three songs.  My guess would be a super long one to close the show, an acoustic song second, and then a rocker first.  I could see:

The Call
We All Need Some Light
Seeds of Gold

Alive Again seems like a natural again, given that it gives them the chance to all change instruments in the middle again, a for sure great live moment, but Neal/Portnoy tend to shy away from playing the super long ones on consecutive tours (not counting Transatlantic tours), so I think it's likely that they go back to Seeds of Gold, rather than playing Alive Again for the second tour in a row, especially since I am sure Portnoy will have a large hand in deciding and he was on the record as thinking Seeds of Gold was an all-time Neal song (he hyped that as an individual song more than I can remember him ever hyping any one song before an album's release).

I figure they have to play something again from The Grand Experiment, since it was the first album as the Neal Morse band, and The Call would slay.  Then again, you never know.

[The Letter M]

What songs do you think they will play on the tour next year besides the new album?  I figure the new album will take about two hours, counting the intermission between discs 1 and 2, and then we'll likely get an encore of three songs.  My guess would be a super long one to close the show, an acoustic song second, and then a rocker first.  I could see:

The Call
We All Need Some Light
Seeds of Gold

Alive Again seems like a natural again, given that it gives them the chance to all change instruments in the middle again, a for sure great live moment, but Neal/Portnoy tend to shy away from playing the super long ones on consecutive tours (not counting Transatlantic tours), so I think it's likely that they go back to Seeds of Gold, rather than playing Alive Again for the second tour in a row, especially since I am sure Portnoy will have a large hand in deciding and he was on the record as thinking Seeds of Gold was an all-time Neal song (he hyped that as an individual song more than I can remember him ever hyping any one song before an album's release).

I figure they have to play something again from The Grand Experiment, since it was the first album as the Neal Morse band, and The Call would slay.  Then again, you never know.

Good call on "The Call", but I think it'd be fun if they played "MacArthur Park", especially since it's a great arrangement by Bill and it'd be nice to hear them play it live (AFAIK, they haven't yet, right?).

I'd like to hear them play "So Many Roads", with the new band, I bet this already good song could be taken to higher levels. It would also be good practice if they plan on playing all of the Lifeline songs for Morsefest 2017...if it happens. Honestly, either that or "Seeds Of Gold" would be pretty amazing.

EDIT - https://www.setlist.fm/stats/songs/neal-morse-3d695bb.html?song=So+Many+Roads
Looking at this link, it looks like "So Many Roads" was only ever played live TWICE!!! And one of those performances was released on the live album named after that song, so in comparison to the 13 times "Seeds Of Gold" has been played live, I think it'd be nice to see SMR get its chance in the sun.

And almost assuredly, they'll either play WANSL, "King Jesus", "Reunion" or "Sing It High", though I would love to be proven wrong and they not play ANY of those three (or "Wind At My Back" or "June"). I'd love to hear this band cover other songs that they haven't played yet, like other SB songs that Neal has probably not played in awhile, like "Thoughts" (either parts 1 or 2), or maybe something like "Waste Away" or "Gibberish" or "Goodbye To Yesterday", something rarely played or obscure, just to throw everyone off.

OR...they could just play a medley of random Neal Morse tunes, like pick a song from several albums, string them together as a sort of musical-history of Neal's solo works? Who knows... Neal (and Mike) can come up with basically anything and the encore will be fantastic!

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

As much as I like So Many Roads, I'd much rather see one of the long songs from the three previous albums (Seeds, World or Alive Again), but that's me.

I think it was Randy or Bill who said on that reddit chat thing two weeks ago that they are unlikely to play any Spock's this time around.

And no covers, please.  Considering this is a bigger tour than normal, where they are going to cities where they have never played or rarely play, bring the heavyweights, not covers.  Neal has hours and hours and hours of great original material to choose from, after all.

[Mladen]

They might as well drop Transatlantic and SB stuff completely.

I'm guessing The Grand experiment, Sing it high and Seeds of gold.

[The Letter M]

As much as I like So Many Roads, I'd much rather see one of the long songs from the three previous albums (Seeds, World or Alive Again), but that's me.

I think it was Randy or Bill who said on that reddit chat thing two weeks ago that they are unlikely to play any Spock's this time around.

And no covers, please.  Considering this is a bigger tour than normal, where they are going to cities where they have never played or rarely play, bring the heavyweights, not covers.  Neal has hours and hours and hours of great original material to choose from, after all.

"Seeds Of Gold" would be great, because as far as I know, even though it was played over 20 times on the T2 Tour, it wasn't with the band Neal put together on the following tour, which would eventually become the Neal Morse Band (sans Adson). So it would be nice to hear this band play "Seeds Of Gold" - I'd love to hear Eric play Steve Morse's guitar solo in the latter half of the song.

As for SB/TA Covers, I'd be fine with them never playing them again, even if they were more obscure songs. I do agree, with 9 major solo prog albums, Neal's got a LOT to pull from, though I hope the songs in the encore are a little more varied than "King Jesus", "Sing It High", "Reunion", or any part of "Testimony Part 5". We've gotten plenty of those on official and Inner Circle releases, so I'd like some deeper cuts, though I understand the purpose of encores is to typically play some more popular tunes, so I doubt I'll get my wish there. An epic would be great, though.

-Marc.