Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[Kwyjibo]

This has probably more to do with the distorted voice effects but that song (Man In The Iron Cage) reminds me of the One Man part in The Light.

[KevShmev]

I think it does, because those two songs are really nothing alike.

[Architeuthis]

Has anyone noticed how much the guitar player seems to be very influenced by JP on this new album? He even plays a JP music man model guitar. Not that that's a bad thing, the guy has some monster chops and great sense of melody in his solos..

[NoseofNicko]

Yes he really sounds like JP on the album.

[Kwyjibo]

I think he sounds nothing like John Petrucci on that album. He has some fast playing and some good solos but nothing reminds me of JP.

[Moor]

Yes he really sounds like JP on the album.

One of the melodies reminds of the Ministry of Lost Souls' outro! I can't remember which one.

[KevShmev]

Has anyone noticed how much the guitar player seems to be very influenced by JP on this new album? He even plays a JP music man model guitar. Not that that's a bad thing, the guy has some monster chops and great sense of melody in his solos..

Yep, it's pretty obvious.  The guitar solo in The Man in the Iron Cage is right out of the JP playbook, especially the way it starts.  And like JP, he does a great job of combining chops with melody.

[Cyclopssss]

Man, that's a great album..

[Moor]

Man, that's a great album..

Absolutely!

[devieira73]

Has anyone noticed how much the guitar player seems to be very influenced by JP on this new album? He even plays a JP music man model guitar. Not that that's a bad thing, the guy has some monster chops and great sense of melody in his solos..

Yep, it's pretty obvious.  The guitar solo in The Man in the Iron Cage is right out of the JP playbook, especially the way it starts.  And like JP, he does a great job of combining chops with melody.

I guess JP influences are more evident on his guitar solos, but not much in his rhythm guitar. Anyway, IMO Eric is a great musician. Listen to The Great Unknown (his last solo album and a very good one) and it's pretty evident that he is influenced a lot by Neal Morse in his compositions (and I'm not meaning to say only by Neal).

[BRGM]

Finally 

[KevShmev]

Where'd you see that??

[devieira73]

Apparently, according to MP forum, it was posted by him in Facebook.

[The Letter M]

I can confirm, MP posted it on Facebook yesterday and said to look out for it early next year, which corroborates Neal's timeline for its release.

Honestly, I am more excited for this than I was Morsefest 2014 because we're finally getting full versions of these songs with Randy and Mike. And yeah, I know, we've gotten good chunks of ? and most of SS over the last few tours, but hearing the WHOLE band together, playing these albums front to back will be a treat to finally hear, especially with the additions of Bill and Eric, as well as a choir, brass and winds, and so much more!

Also, the 2nd sets and encores from each night are amazing in their own right!

-Marc.

[King Postwhore]

I cannot wait to see The Neal Morse Band at RoSfest this year.

[KevShmev]

I cannot wait to see The Neal Morse Band at RoSfest this year.

And yet you are going to have to.

I can confirm, MP posted it on Facebook yesterday and said to look out for it early next year, which corroborates Neal's timeline for its release.

 

Sweet.  I will definitely grab that.

[NoseofNicko]

Yes he really sounds like JP on the album.

One of the melodies reminds of the Ministry of Lost Souls' outro! I can't remember which one.

Yeah I know what you're talking about. The first 30 seconds of the album right? I think that part is repeated on guitar later on the album and it sounds even more like it.

[Kwyjibo]

The more I hear TSOAD the more I like it, a really quality release fron Neal and the band. This could become my second favorite after the mighty "?". My only critcism is that "The Ways Of A Fool" and "Freedom Song" don't match that well with the rest of the album. For me they feel a little bit tacked on and hinder the flow of an otherwise great album.

[Moor]

The more I hear TSOAD the more I like it, a really quality release fron Neal and the band. This could become my second favorite after the mighty "?". My only critcism is that "The Ways Of A Fool" and "Freedom Song" don't match that well with the rest of the album. For me they feel a little bit tacked on and hinder the flow of an otherwise great album.

I fully agree that "The Ways Of A Fool" and "Freedom Song" are different from the rest of the album, but for me they represent a very proggy breather, and they perfectly fit.

[The Letter M]

Some sad news regarding the release of Morsefest 2015, from the recent Inner Circle Newsletter -

This one is taking a bit longer... We are still in production and making changes. We had hoped to be done by now and to release this in March as well, but it looks like it's going to be delayed as we are trying to incorporate more of the cool video that Christian Rios created into the DVD and it is taking time. Rich has done a wonderful job on the audio and it's going to be a wonderful package for your listening and viewing pleasure, but will probably not be coming out until later in the spring.

Well, we've waited this long, so at this point, I don't mind waiting until late-spring for this one, just as long as the complete package is an amazing one.

In GOOD news, it looks like we'll be getting Testimony on vinyl in March, and hopefully this will be the start of his albums getting re-released on vinyl. This has me wondering about the vinyl for One, and whether or not they'll re-insert the 3 B-Sides that were originally part of the running order. If that happens, the vinyl would probably look like something like this (as I have imagined it might):
Neal Morse - One (Special Edition) (3 LP) - 113:50

LP 1 - 38:37
Side 1 - 18:22
1.   "The Creation"           18:22
        "I. One Mind"          6:51
        "II. In A Perfect Light"       4:52
        "III. Where Are You?"       4:18
        "IV. Reaching From The Heart"    2:21
Side 2 - 20:15
2.   "Back To The Garden"             4:26
3.   "The Man's Gone"             2:50
4.   "Nothing To Believe"             3:29
5.   "Author Of Confusion"           9:30

LP 2 - 34:06
Side 3 - 17:58
6.   "The Separated Man"           17:58
        "I. I'm In A Cage"          4:04
        "II. I Am The Man"          5:30
        "III. The Man's Gone (Reprise)"    6:04
        "IV. Something Within Me Remembers" 2:20
Side 4 - 16:08
7.   "Cradle To The Grave"             4:55
8.   "Help Me/The Spirit And The Flesh"     11:13

LP 3 - 41:07
Side 5 - 19:45
9.   "King Jesus"                4:48
10.   "Father Of Forgiveness"         5:46
11.   "Reunion"                9:11
        "I. No Separation"          3:20
        "II. Grand Finale"          1:29
        "III. Make Us One"          4:22
Side 6 - 21:22 (Covers)
11.    "What Is Life?" (George Harrison)    4:28
12.   "Where The Streets Have No Name" (U2)    5:46
13.   "Day After Day" (Badfinger)       3:25
14.   "Chris Carmichael's Aria"       1:07
15.   "I'm Free/Sparks" (The Who)       6:36

It works out fairly evenly to be on 3 LPs, which isn't impossible for Neal (all of the Transatlantic albums were 3LPs). This way, all of the sides are under 22 minutes long and not risking the quality of the music to cram everything into four sides of vinyl.

Either way, I guess I better save up if I want to collect these solo Morse vinyls!

-Marc.

[Mosh]

I recently got V on vinyl and was pleased with it. I'm not a huge fan of Testimony but I also haven't really given it a fair chance, maybe having it on vinyl would inspire more listening.

[KevShmev]

Just when I give Radiant Records another chance...

Ordered the Alive Again DVD for my brother two weeks ago (amazon only had the Blu-ray, and he doesn't have the capability to watch a Blu-ray, hence me getting him the DVD), and how nice of Radiant to put nothing on there site about them all being out of the country, meaning it wasn't shipped until the other day. Suffice it to say, it won't arrive till sometime next week.

I hope the Morsefest DVDs will be available for sell elsewhere, because Radiant is never getting another penny from me. They suck.

[KevShmev]

Less than a week to the first show in Nashville!!

My breakdown of the songs from TSOAD:

The absolute best songs
The Mask
Confrontation
The Ways of a Fool
The Man in the Iron Cage
So Far Gone
The Slough

Great songs that are just a notch below the above
City of Destruction
Slave to Your Mind
Broken Sky / Long Day (Reprise)
Makes No Sense

Really good songs
Draw the Line
Shortcut to Salvation
Sloth
I'm Running
Breath of Angels
Back to the City

Good tunes
The Dream
Freedom Song

Solid tunes that I don't go out of my way for, but enjoy within the context of the record
Long Day/Overture
The Battle
We Have Got to Go
The Road Back Home

So yeah, with 16 of the 23 songs being at worst really good, and most of those great, I would say they really did hit it out of the park with this one.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Have spun this enough times to be really familiar with it, and I have to say this is a masterpiece.  The Mask-The Battle section is my favorite part of the album. I also love the Overture, City of Destruction and Ways of a Fool. Tremendous musicianship and great vocal performances (I'm partial to Bill's voice).

This was my first Neal Morse album. I have most of Transatlantic's discography and really only gave this a chance due to Mike Portnoy's hype job. I'm glad I did, and perhaps, I'll visit more of Mr. Morse's works. 

[PROGdrummer]

Have spun this enough times to be really familiar with it, and I have to say this is a masterpiece.  The Mask-The Battle section is my favorite part of the album. I also love the Overture, City of Destruction and Ways of a Fool. Tremendous musicianship and great vocal performances (I'm partial to Bill's voice).

This was my first Neal Morse album. I have most of Transatlantic's discography and really only gave this a chance due to Mike Portnoy's hype job. I'm glad I did, and perhaps, I'll visit more of Mr. Morse's works.

Might as well work your way backwards. The Grand Experiment and Momentum are some of his best probably.

[The Letter M]

Have spun this enough times to be really familiar with it, and I have to say this is a masterpiece.  The Mask-The Battle section is my favorite part of the album. I also love the Overture, City of Destruction and Ways of a Fool. Tremendous musicianship and great vocal performances (I'm partial to Bill's voice).

This was my first Neal Morse album. I have most of Transatlantic's discography and really only gave this a chance due to Mike Portnoy's hype job. I'm glad I did, and perhaps, I'll visit more of Mr. Morse's works.

Might as well work your way backwards. The Grand Experiment and Momentum are some of his best probably.

I'll echo those sentiments - TSOAD, TGE and Momentum form a very unique trilogy of albums that sees Neal becoming less of "just a solo artist" and slowly incorporating more of his growing band into the albums. Momentum saw some guest spots from members who WOULD become his eventual band, while also beginning to introduce more ideas from Mike and Randy. The Grand Experiment came along after the band had formed and toured on Momentum, and formed a good relationship with each other, which saw additional input from Eric and Bill, not only musically but vocally as well (as both are very talented multi-instrumentalists too). TSOAD brings everything together, with solid writing from everyone involved, and tight musicianship from every player. It'll be amazing to see where this band goes next with the next album!

As for going back and listening to Neal's other solo works, you could work your way backwards, but I would say start with Testimony and Testimony 2. If you liked TSOAD, you may enjoy the motif-filled Testimony albums, and between the two, there are A LOT of beautiful themes and motifs spread throughout them. After that, I'd say listen to One, ? and Sola Scriptura, in any order really. All three are equally good to me, and most fans seem to rank them all fairly high. The only album that many fans consider to be a dud would be Lifeline, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't one of them, but there's still some good stuff on it - it's just not as stellar of an album as his prior and later works that surround it.

-Marc.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Have spun this enough times to be really familiar with it, and I have to say this is a masterpiece.  The Mask-The Battle section is my favorite part of the album. I also love the Overture, City of Destruction and Ways of a Fool. Tremendous musicianship and great vocal performances (I'm partial to Bill's voice).

This was my first Neal Morse album. I have most of Transatlantic's discography and really only gave this a chance due to Mike Portnoy's hype job. I'm glad I did, and perhaps, I'll visit more of Mr. Morse's works.

Might as well work your way backwards. The Grand Experiment and Momentum are some of his best probably.

I'll echo those sentiments - TSOAD, TGE and Momentum form a very unique trilogy of albums that sees Neal becoming less of "just a solo artist" and slowly incorporating more of his growing band into the albums. Momentum saw some guest spots from members who WOULD become his eventual band, while also beginning to introduce more ideas from Mike and Randy. The Grand Experiment came along after the band had formed and toured on Momentum, and formed a good relationship with each other, which saw additional input from Eric and Bill, not only musically but vocally as well (as both are very talented multi-instrumentalists too). TSOAD brings everything together, with solid writing from everyone involved, and tight musicianship from every player. It'll be amazing to see where this band goes next with the next album!

As for going back and listening to Neal's other solo works, you could work your way backwards, but I would say start with Testimony and Testimony 2. If you liked TSOAD, you may enjoy the motif-filled Testimony albums, and between the two, there are A LOT of beautiful themes and motifs spread throughout them. After that, I'd say listen to One, ? and Sola Scriptura, in any order really. All three are equally good to me, and most fans seem to rank them all fairly high. The only album that many fans consider to be a dud would be Lifeline, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't one of them, but there's still some good stuff on it - it's just not as stellar of an album as his prior and later works that surround it.

-Marc.

Thanks for that. I'll report back if and when I start exploring the earlier works.

[gmillerdrake]

So pumped for the concert for this.....this month on the 26th Which ALSO happens to be my Birthday!!   

The wife and I take turns each month picking a 'date night' so she's heading to the show with me as this month is my choice   

[KevShmev]

So pumped for the concert for this.....this month on the 26th Which ALSO happens to be my Birthday!!   

The wife and I take turns each month picking a 'date night' so she's heading to the show with me as this month is my choice 

Ha, nice!

I better seeing you wearing a Happy Birthday sash at the concert!!

DOC, like Marc said, you really can't go wrong with almost any of his prog albums, Lifeline being the exception (not a bad album, just not up to the level of the others).

[gmillerdrake]

I better seeing you wearing a Happy Birthday sash at the concert!!

Probably not       But I am contemplating spending the $85 for the meet and greet. But that'd mean I'd leave my wife on her own for a bit, plus....I'm trying to gauge the value of it all. It'd be a neat experience....but, is it $85 neat?

[PROGdrummer]

I better seeing you wearing a Happy Birthday sash at the concert!!

Probably not       But I am contemplating spending the $85 for the meet and greet. But that'd mean I'd leave my wife on her own for a bit, plus....I'm trying to gauge the value of it all. It'd be a neat experience....but, is it $85 neat?

Meet and greets are almost never worth it,  imo.

[gmillerdrake]

I better seeing you wearing a Happy Birthday sash at the concert!!

Probably not       But I am contemplating spending the $85 for the meet and greet. But that'd mean I'd leave my wife on her own for a bit, plus....I'm trying to gauge the value of it all. It'd be a neat experience....but, is it $85 neat?

Meet and greets are almost never worth it,  imo.

This is why I'm so leery about doing it. I think I have an expectation of how it should/would go and then there's actually how it 'will' go.

[KevShmev]

I'd save your money.

[gmillerdrake]

I'd save your money.

I'm going to, in a way. I'll just choose to spend it on some tour merch. At least I'll have full control over that...   

[MinistroRaven]

Tour kicks out today