Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[Fritzinger]

I'm hoping for The Call. I hope they don't play TGE (the song), I dunno what everyone likes about that tune
I believe the options of Longtracks are Alive Again, World Without End, Seeds Of Gold, So Many Roads or maybe The Creation. But the latter has been done the last tour(s). I agree, they really should separate solo stuff from SB and Tr.

BTW They're not going to do an intermission between the discs. They flow into each other. Portnoy said that after Shortcut to Salvation might be the first time anyone "says" anything.

[KevShmev]

I hadn't thought of that.  That would be quite the endurance feat if they played the whole thing with no intermission. 

I'd be surprised to see Sing It High get played.  Freedom Song is a similar type of song, and I think Neal is smart enough to know that one country-esque song is more than enough for most prog fans.

Honestly, I could see them doing a medley of parts from various epics; that seems like a very Portnoy thing to do.   I wouldn't want to see an entire 30 minutes spent on The Door, but I'd love to see them play the last two sections, especially since Neal now has a full time guitar player who could play that Paul Gilbert solo.

[Darkstarshades]

Can anyone tell me which is the best song Neal Morse has ever written?
SOmeone a few paged back, or maybe in another thread said that certain song (most likely an epic) was "perfect" in every way, I can't recall which one and I wanna hear it, someone please tell me.

[Mladen]

World without end.

[KevShmev]

Can anyone tell me which is the best song Neal Morse has ever written?
SOmeone a few paged back, or maybe in another thread said that certain song (most likely an epic) was "perfect" in every way, I can't recall which one and I wanna hear it, someone please tell me.

It's impossible to narrow it down to just one, and opinions will obviously vary from person to person, but when I saw your post, the songs that popped into my head were Alive Again (Neal Morse Band), All of the Above (Transatlantic) and The Light (Spock's Beard).  Take 75 minutes, listen to those three songs, and then report back. 

[ytserush]

Fun game:

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



 

Nasty sharp teeth....

[ytserush]

It's a grower.  I can easily see why Mike thinks it's the best thing he's ever been involved with do to the fusion of styles and his experience in the studio, but I'm not quite there yet.

[me7]

Mike Portnoy praised the last album by his son's band as better than early DT.

[Architeuthis]

Ok, I just bought the album yesterday. The music and song writing is great. I'm sure this album will grow on me, however,  I've never been impressed with NM vocals which is part of the reason I could never get into SB. He is a great musician that needs a better singer. The saving grace for Similitude is the great drumming, guitars, and keys and insane musicianship and the vocal harmonies are nice. Even Mike Portnoy took lead vocals on parts which is cool!
 It's refreshing to hear the guys singing including MP on this as well.
I'm not dissing on NM as a musician at all, I just think his singing is.....average.

[KevShmev]

It's a grower.  I can easily see why Mike thinks it's the best thing he's ever been involved with do to the fusion of styles and his experience in the studio, but I'm not quite there yet.

I don't think I'll get there.  There's no way I'll ever put this ahead of I&W, Awake, Scenes, SMPTe, Bridge Across Forever, The Whirlwind, maybe both LTE records and a couple of the albums he has already done with Neal (under the Neal Morse or Neal Morse Band names), but I'm okay with that. It's still a damn fine album, no matter how you slice it.

Mike Portnoy praised the last album by his son's band as better than early DT.

LOL-worthy hyperbole aside, he's a dad talking up his kid's music; hard to fault him for that.  That's what a dad should do.

Ok, I just bought the album yesterday. The music and song writing is great. I'm sure this album will grow on me, however,  I've never been impressed with NM vocals which is part of the reason I could never get into SB. He is a great musician that needs a better singer. The saving grace for Similitude is the great drumming, guitars, and keys and insane musicianship and the vocal harmonies are nice. Even Mike Portnoy took lead vocals on parts which is cool!
 It's refreshing to hear the guys singing including MP on this as well.
I'm not dissing on NM as a musician at all, I just think his singing is.....average.

From a technical standpoint, sure, Neal is a pretty average singer, but he has a very warm quality to his voice, which is very charming, and, while it might sound like a cliche, he sings with tons of heart.  I might concede that he writes such outstanding vocal melodies that they would sound great with a lot of people singing them, meaning a guy like Neal, with his somewhat limited range, can slay them.  Not to compare him to the Beatles, but the Beatles music is so easy to cover because just about anybody in the industry can sing the melodies and it sounds pretty good because their vocal melodies were so off the charts awesome that you have to be a shitty singer to not sound good singing melodies that Lennon and McCartney wrote.  To a lesser degree, that's Neal.

[PROGdrummer]

Can anyone tell me which is the best song Neal Morse has ever written?
SOmeone a few paged back, or maybe in another thread said that certain song (most likely an epic) was "perfect" in every way, I can't recall which one and I wanna hear it, someone please tell me.

World without end.

[Architeuthis]

From a technical standpoint, sure, Neal is a pretty average singer, but he has a very warm quality to his voice, which is very charming, and, while it might sound like a cliche, he sings with tons of heart.  I might concede that he writes such outstanding vocal melodies that they would sound great with a lot of people singing them, meaning a guy like Neal, with his somewhat limited range, can slay them.  Not to compare him to the Beatles, but the Beatles music is so easy to cover because just about anybody in the industry can sing the melodies and it sounds pretty good because their vocal melodies were so off the charts awesome that you have to be a shitty singer to not sound good singing melodies that Lennon and McCartney wrote.  To a lesser degree, that's Neal.

Good call, I actually agree with all you said. I listened the album a 2nd time and liking it more and more!
I can't help but notice the re-occuring theme throughout the album that is reminiscent of DT's " The Best of Times" off of BCSL. Especially the guitar solo in Breath of Angels, which isn't a bad thing. 

[KevShmev]

I forgot to mention here that I finally got the Alive Again Blu-ray last week, and was able to watch it at a friend's last night.  Testimony Live from back in '04 was the only one I had bought before now, and I have to admit I was a little hesitant to get another one after seeing the Testimony 2: Live in Los Angeles DVD (which has really bad camera angles and bad lighting), but I checked out the live performance of Alive Again from it a few weeks ago...and I was sold.

The Blu-ray is mostly awesome.  A few sound issues (when it's really rocking, you almost hear a bit of distortion around the edges), but it was shot wonderfully and the performances are top notch.  And a stellar set list - four of the five tracks from Grand Experiment, In the Fire/Solid as the Sun, The Creation, Harm's Way (Spock's), etc.  A must get for any Neal fan.

[Fritzinger]

Beatles music is NOT easy to cover.

[Kwyjibo]

Finally got TSOAD and I've listened to it once. I liked what I heard but need many more listens to seriously appreciate and rank this.

It's typical Neal Morse for me, in that regard he's a a bit like the AC/DC of retro-prog. It's instantly recognizable from the first few notes that it's him and the music doesn't really stray that much from the core sound.

As of now it's nice but I wouldn't really call this career-defining. We'll see if my impression changes over time.

[KevShmev]

Beatles music is NOT easy to cover.

Who said it was?

Finally got TSOAD and I've listened to it once. I liked what I heard but need many more listens to seriously appreciate and rank this.

It's typical Neal Morse for me, in that regard he's a a bit like the AC/DC of retro-prog. It's instantly recognizable from the first few notes that it's him and the music doesn't really stray that much from the core sound.

As of now it's nice but I wouldn't really call this career-defining. We'll see if my impression changes over time.

I am seeing this type of opinion in a lot of places (when I get a new album I really like, I will always search the 'net for opinions and reviews of it), and it's hard to disagree with it, as I have said already.  Great album, yes, but ground-breaking or a masterpiece?  I can't go that far.  But so what, right?  I have already gotten tons of mileage out of it, and I will get plenty more.

[ronnibran]

Yeah, I feel the same way.  Back in the day I'd listen to One or Sola Scriptura over and over day after day and never tire of it.  I don't have that strong an addiction for TSOAD.  That said, it still may be my favorite release of the year.  Although... I listened to the new Redemption A LOT, so I don't know if I can compare that with this as they're too different.  #1 and #2 for the year (in a year where almost every band I really like had a release).

And hey, it may still end up being my favorite Neal Morse album someday, but I'm not betting on it.  But it's still very, very good! I may consider buying the live version assuming they make a dvd/blu ray of this down the road.  It's been a while since I've bought a live album.

[Kwyjibo]

It's no problem for me that it's not ground-breaking, I wasn't expecting it to be and I wasn't expecting it to sound very different from the other Neal Morse records. I can live with that as long as the final product is good. I have now listened for a second time and it's definitely growing.

[Fritzinger]

Beatles music is NOT easy to cover.

Who said it was?

Erm, you did? Or did I get that totally wrong?

Not to compare him to the Beatles, but the Beatles music is so easy to cover because just about anybody in the industry can sing the melodies and it sounds pretty good because their vocal melodies were so off the charts awesome that you have to be a shitty singer to not sound good singing melodies that Lennon and McCartney wrote.

[RoeDent]

Beatles music is NOT easy to cover.

Because anyone who attempts it is met with an angry squadron of extractor fans* who cry sacrilege.

(Extractor fans - A brilliant term to describe the type of fan who think they're more of a fan than anyone else, who suck the joy out of music.)

[The Letter M]

Steering this thread back on topic to Neal himself, I've been wondering if he'll be announcing Morsefest 2017 anytime soon, seeing as December begins tomorrow, and 2017 is just around the corner.

If he DOES announce it, what do you all hope he'll do? With the Snow performance earlier this year, it's now not out of the realm of possibility that Neal could do a non-solo work for the Morsefest weekend, so I offer up some options:

1 - Neal's solo band will perform the next two solo albums in sequence, Lifeline and Testimony 2, and here's some good reasons why this would be great:
While Lifeline is typically regarded as Neal's weakest solo effort since he left SB, it's still got some great songs on it, like the title track and the epic, which has only been performed TWICE, and I think some of the songs haven't even been performed at all before! Play the whole album in sequence, and add the two original bonus tracks "Set The Kingdom" and "Sometimes He Waits", and it would be the definitive recordings of these songs, especially "So Many Roads", which was only performed with Neal's European band.
And for Testimony 2, it would be great to hear the new band play this album, and it's been 5-6 years since it was last played, so I think it's been long enough for it to make a come back. Throw in all 3 songs from the second disc into the second set of the night, and you've got a winning concert!

2 - Neal performs the first two Transatlantic albums live, with Roine, Pete and Mike. This would be a great warm-up for the band to go into the studio for their fifth album next year, if they plan on it. Let them play the two albums that started it all with them live, and have them get charged up by it, get their creative and performing mojo flowing, and make an amazing album after playing together for a week. It would also mean their first live performance of "In Held ('Twas) In I", and they could possibly do other covers as well. It would be an interesting and fun weekend, I'm sure!

3 - Neal performs the first two Flying Colors albums with Flying Colors. I know, the first album is only 4 years old, and the second just about 2 years old, but since the band is recording next month and possibly releasing their third album next year, and eventually touring on it, a Morsefest weekend with the band could make sense. Perform the first two albums in their entirety, then fill the rest of each concert night with new songs!

4 - Neal performs with Spock's Beard...again. This is probably VERY unlikely, as it seems that the Snow performance with SB would be a one-off for Morsefest, it's still a possibility. And if not with ALL of SB, then maybe just with Nick or Al (again). They could do two SB albums, or random songs. Who knows... I'd be less excited for this option to be honest.

5 - Neal doesn't do Morsefest 2017 at all and takes a year off. This is pretty possible too, since no announcement has been made so far, and Neal seems like he'll be busy with touring with the NMB early next year, then possibly touring with FC later next year, so who knows if he'll even have time to put together another Morsefest.

-Marc.

[OpenYourEyes311]

1 - Neal's solo band will perform the next two solo albums in sequence, Lifeline and Testimony 2, and here's some good reasons why this would be great:
While Lifeline is typically regarded as Neal's weakest solo effort since he left SB, it's still got some great songs on it, like the title track and the epic, which has only been performed TWICE, and I think some of the songs haven't even been performed at all before! Play the whole album in sequence, and add the two original bonus tracks "Set The Kingdom" and "Sometimes He Waits", and it would be the definitive recordings of these songs, especially "So Many Roads", which was only performed with Neal's European band.
And for Testimony 2, it would be great to hear the new band play this album, and it's been 5-6 years since it was last played, so I think it's been long enough for it to make a come back. Throw in all 3 songs from the second disc into the second set of the night, and you've got a winning concert!

This would be my vote, as these are my two favorite Neal albums (no kidding). Lifeline is SEVERELY underrated IMO, and I think T2 is some of the best music I've ever heard (especially disc two). I would only hope to be able to make it to the show if this one happens, which is unlikely next year. Maybe he pushes it off and does this in 2018 and I could be all over it!

[Fritzinger]

Beatles music is NOT easy to cover.

Because anyone who attempts it is met with an angry squadron of extractor fans* who cry sacrilege.

(Extractor fans - A brilliant term to describe the type of fan who think they're more of a fan than anyone else, who suck the joy out of music.)

Sorry for the off topic, I'd just like to respond to this.
I think that is one part of it. The other would be that most of the Beatles covers done by other people aren't very good. I admit that I might be one of those Beatles fanboys who let no one say anything against The Beatles (a friend of mine told me a few weeks ago that he thinks they are overrated, you should have seen my face ).
BUT: I think there are some great covers or interpretations. Joe Cocker comes to mind first, he did more than just the great With A Little Help. Toto did a great cover of While My Guitar. Transatlantic (ha, back to topic! ) covered the Abbey Road Suite and mixed it with their own Suite Charlotte Pike. Great idea. Deep Purple played Help at almost half speed. Yes played Every Little Thing. Ozzy Osbourne covered In My Life, also almost half speed.
All those songs weren't just covered by the artist, they were interpreted in their own way (hope you get what I want to say). That makes most of them hard to compare to the original. Whenever it comes to the song is ONLY being covered, as in, play the thing note by note, I think I have never heard a version of any Beatles song that was better than the original. How often have I seen blues bands in bars that were GOOD and did good blues covers, good Hendrix covers (yes!) and then they tried Come Together or While My Guitar.. and I thought "oh no you don't wanna touch that one.." - and sure enough, it wasn't very good.

Again, sry for the off topic.

[bosk1]

Eh, I've done Taxman and Back in the USSR in my band, and I think we sound fine.

[Fritzinger]

I think I should stop here before I incur the bosses wrath 

[hefdaddy42]

We did All You Need Is Love, and we killed it.

[KevShmev]

Beatles music is NOT easy to cover.

Who said it was?

Erm, you did? Or did I get that totally wrong?

Not to compare him to the Beatles, but the Beatles music is so easy to cover because just about anybody in the industry can sing the melodies and it sounds pretty good because their vocal melodies were so off the charts awesome that you have to be a shitty singer to not sound good singing melodies that Lennon and McCartney wrote.

I meant covering their vocals, if you read everything I wrote, but to be fair, I could have worded that better and been more clear.

Steering this thread back on topic to Neal himself, I've been wondering if he'll be announcing Morsefest 2017 anytime soon, seeing as December begins tomorrow, and 2017 is just around the corner.

If he DOES announce it, what do you all hope he'll do? 

I'd love to see him play all of his first solo album.  That album is too good to never see the light of day again.

Also, did he not release the 2015 Morsefest stuff on DVD or Bly-ray?  That was all of ? and Sola Scriptura, right?

[rumborak]

Neal Morse has been outside my radar for quite some time now, but today somebody mentioned the Similitude album to me (mostly because of MP's rant on his forum).

Bummer really, considering how I was the world's biggest fan of his early output, there's just nothing that grabs me about his music anymore. By about song 4 or so I was starting to get actively annoyed by it and switched to something else. I guess people still hear new things in his output, but it just sounds so self-derivative to me. The whole "it's not Neal, it's the band" thing is also silly. Of course it's 90% Neal, the music, the lyrics etc are obviously his.

[The Letter M]

Steering this thread back on topic to Neal himself, I've been wondering if he'll be announcing Morsefest 2017 anytime soon, seeing as December begins tomorrow, and 2017 is just around the corner.

If he DOES announce it, what do you all hope he'll do? 

I'd love to see him play all of his first solo album.  That album is too good to never see the light of day again.

Also, did he not release the 2015 Morsefest stuff on DVD or Bly-ray?  That was all of ? and Sola Scriptura, right?

His first solo album is pretty good, and while he might never play the whole thing, at least he played "A Whole 'Nother Trip" at Morsefest 2015!

And speaking of that, no, Neal and Radiant have NOT yet released the Morsefest 2015 stuff yet. He and his crew have been busy all year with other things, leading up to the release of TSOAD, as well as getting Morsefest 2016 ready, much earlier in the year than the previous two were. In the most recent Inner Circle Fanclub Newsletter, he announces that the finishing touches on Morsefest 2015 were being done:

Rich is almost done with the audio, the video is about complete and we are trying to get this baby into manufacturing so we can release it in March before the Europe tour. That is my goal... But as I said the creative process is always a little bit unpredictable. So... Don't hold me to it. No angry emails please! :-)

So, look for it in March. Hopefully this means we get Morsefest 2016 before 2017 ends. Rich will be busy next year, though, with Morsefest 2016 to do, then the inevitable TSOAD live tour CD/DVD/BD set that will come out late 2017, then the eventual Flying Colors third album and it's inevitable tour's live album.

Also, where the heck are the Transatlantic shows from the Prog Nation cruise?! I want to hear Kaleidoscope live, plus the Yes covers with Jon Anderson!!!

-Marc.

[axeman90210]

Neal Morse has been outside my radar for quite some time now, but today somebody mentioned the Similitude album to me (mostly because of MP's rant on his forum).

Bummer really, considering how I was the world's biggest fan of his early output, there's just nothing that grabs me about his music anymore. By about song 4 or so I was starting to get actively annoyed by it and switched to something else. I guess people still hear new things in his output, but it just sounds so self-derivative to me. The whole "it's not Neal, it's the band" thing is also silly. Of course it's 90% Neal, the music, the lyrics etc are obviously his.

Oh lawd, what's he ranting about now?

[PROGdrummer]

Neal Morse has been outside my radar for quite some time now, but today somebody mentioned the Similitude album to me (mostly because of MP's rant on his forum).

Bummer really, considering how I was the world's biggest fan of his early output, there's just nothing that grabs me about his music anymore. By about song 4 or so I was starting to get actively annoyed by it and switched to something else. I guess people still hear new things in his output, but it just sounds so self-derivative to me. The whole "it's not Neal, it's the band" thing is also silly. Of course it's 90% Neal, the music, the lyrics etc are obviously his.

To be fair, the album really picks up around the middle of disc 1 and doesnt really lose momentum from there. The first few tracks are a bit of an uphill climb on the first few listens when you're expecting something different.

[KevShmev]

Also, did he not release the 2015 Morsefest stuff on DVD or Bly-ray?  That was all of ? and Sola Scriptura, right?

His first solo album is pretty good, and while he might never play the whole thing, at least he played "A Whole 'Nother Trip" at Morsefest 2015!

And speaking of that, no, Neal and Radiant have NOT yet released the Morsefest 2015 stuff yet. He and his crew have been busy all year with other things, leading up to the release of TSOAD, as well as getting Morsefest 2016 ready, much earlier in the year than the previous two were. In the most recent Inner Circle Fanclub Newsletter, he announces that the finishing touches on Morsefest 2015 were being done:

Rich is almost done with the audio, the video is about complete and we are trying to get this baby into manufacturing so we can release it in March before the Europe tour. That is my goal... But as I said the creative process is always a little bit unpredictable. So... Don't hold me to it. No angry emails please! :-)

So, look for it in March.

Sweet.  I'd get that just to get the performance of ? in full.  Getting A Whole Nother Trip would be an added bonus.

To be fair, the album really picks up around the middle of disc 1 and doesnt really lose momentum from there. The first few tracks are a bit of an uphill climb on the first few listens when you're expecting something different.

Agreed.  Long Day is similar to the beginning of Snow or Testimony, with Neal singing a main theme over a simple arrangement, and then the Overture is your run of the mill Neal "let's pack all of the main themes into one song" overture.  City of Destruction is where the album really picks up and takes off.

[rumborak]

Neal Morse has been outside my radar for quite some time now, but today somebody mentioned the Similitude album to me (mostly because of MP's rant on his forum).

Bummer really, considering how I was the world's biggest fan of his early output, there's just nothing that grabs me about his music anymore. By about song 4 or so I was starting to get actively annoyed by it and switched to something else. I guess people still hear new things in his output, but it just sounds so self-derivative to me. The whole "it's not Neal, it's the band" thing is also silly. Of course it's 90% Neal, the music, the lyrics etc are obviously his.

Oh lawd, what's he ranting about now?

I think he was dismayed at the poor pickup of the album, complaining that nobody outside his inner fan circle knows about it.

[rumborak]

Neal Morse has been outside my radar for quite some time now, but today somebody mentioned the Similitude album to me (mostly because of MP's rant on his forum).

Bummer really, considering how I was the world's biggest fan of his early output, there's just nothing that grabs me about his music anymore. By about song 4 or so I was starting to get actively annoyed by it and switched to something else. I guess people still hear new things in his output, but it just sounds so self-derivative to me. The whole "it's not Neal, it's the band" thing is also silly. Of course it's 90% Neal, the music, the lyrics etc are obviously his.

To be fair, the album really picks up around the middle of disc 1 and doesnt really lose momentum from there. The first few tracks are a bit of an uphill climb on the first few listens when you're expecting something different.

FWIW, I probably wasn't listening in order. Those were YouTube videos, so I assume they were being played to me in order of popularity.

[KevShmev]

I think he was dismayed at the poor pickup of the album, complaining that nobody outside his inner fan circle knows about it.

I think people know about it, but just aren't a fan of Neal's, a fact Portnoy seems unwilling to grasp.  As big a fan as I am of Neal's, I get why many are not. 

I will repeat a story I told elsewhere last week:

At my office, our operations room where we all work is a big room and we are allowed to listen to Pandora all day in the background. One speaker on each side of the room. Basically, anyone can pick a station to put on, and then we always keep it on shuffle, so we get stuff from stations for classic rock, 80s, Pink Floyd, Lady Gaga, country (gross), Muse, Doobies Brothers, Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Phil Collins, Tears for Fears, Rush, Michael Jackson, etc., and of course I've managed to sneak Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater and Neal Morse in there. Whenever Dream Theater plays, no one ever protests or says anything bad (and even something as long as In the Name of God is one of the songs it manages to pick pretty often), and they aren't exactly the most accessible band because of their over the top playing at times and song lengths. Our group of 15 is pretty good about rolling with whatever is playing, since it's a shuffle and we all know that everyone is going to get to hear what they want at some point, but more often than not, when something by Neal Morse plays, I get the occasional, "What is this we are listening to?" And it's not because of the occasional Jesus lyrics; his sound just isn't appealing to the masses. You almost have to be a major prog head to enjoy his music. If it's a shorter song, I will let it go, but if it's a longer song, I will usually tell the customer service lady who has the Pandora account on her phone, "This song is 34 minutes; you might want to skip over it." (which I did once for World Without End)

Now, I am going off of the small sample size of people at work (almost all of whom are in the 30-45 age range, with a couple exceptions), but whenever his more simple songs play (Emma, June, Wind at My Back) play, I never hear any negative feedback, but when the super proggy stuff comes on, that is when the occasional "What are we listening to?" remarks pop up.

I think Portnoy did a great job with that simulisten, and I even came away liking him more as a person (or maybe disliking him less, LOL), but he seemed a bit miffed that some people are still turned off by the g-word, and I thought, he can't be that obtuse. By and large, I am not bothered by the overtly spiritual lyrics he wrote from 2003-2011 (he really has toned it way down on the last three prog albums), but I can totally see why some are. Not everyone wants to hear about God and Jesus and redemption on every album, and let's face it, Neal loves to sing about redemption.