Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[darkshade]

Sola Gratia is growing on me. I try to not really think of it as Sola Scriptura part 2 even if they are related. These are two different albums.
SG sounds more like a Neal Morse Band album too, so my expectations going in were a lot different. Now with a few more listens in, I'm starting to enjoy this album a lot. I'm thinking this is a stronger album than I first thought. I got new speakers this week, and they sound pretty great, so that helps. In fact, music has come to life now with these speakers, I upgraded from an old set of computer speakers to a set of Edifier 1850, so big difference in sound.

I am sure it is lyrically a proper follow-up to Sola Scriptura (I never go out of my way to dig deep into the stories behind Neal's spiritual lyrics), but musically it doesn't feel like one at all, outside of the few musical nods to it, all of which, to me anyway, feel totally shoe-horned in for the sake of having continuity rather than feeling natural.  The "All I Ask For" section being randomly reprised in the middle of Building a Wall might be the oddest and most unnatural part of a Neal Morse song ever.  It just feels so random and out of place.

I felt the same way about the nods to SS on the initial listens, but they don't seem as unnatural to me now, and they're not overdone and beaten over the head, and in some parts I think it works really well, particularly on Never Change and Seemingly Sincere.

[KevShmev]

Sola Gratia is growing on me. I try to not really think of it as Sola Scriptura part 2 even if they are related. These are two different albums.
SG sounds more like a Neal Morse Band album too, so my expectations going in were a lot different. Now with a few more listens in, I'm starting to enjoy this album a lot. I'm thinking this is a stronger album than I first thought. I got new speakers this week, and they sound pretty great, so that helps. In fact, music has come to life now with these speakers, I upgraded from an old set of computer speakers to a set of Edifier 1850, so big difference in sound.

I am sure it is lyrically a proper follow-up to Sola Scriptura (I never go out of my way to dig deep into the stories behind Neal's spiritual lyrics), but musically it doesn't feel like one at all, outside of the few musical nods to it, all of which, to me anyway, feel totally shoe-horned in for the sake of having continuity rather than feeling natural.  The "All I Ask For" section being randomly reprised in the middle of Building a Wall might be the oddest and most unnatural part of a Neal Morse song ever.  It just feels so random and out of place.

I felt the same way about the nods to SS on the initial listens, but they don't seem as unnatural to me now, and they're not overdone and beaten over the head, and in some parts I think it works really well, particularly on Never Change and Seemingly Sincere.

I suppose.  My guess is I would feel differently if I liked Sola Gratia a lot more than I do.  It's funny because Neal's albums are sometimes accused of being overcooked in the sense of too many reprises and/or being too long, but this one feels undercooked.

[darkshade]

Sola Gratia is growing on me. I try to not really think of it as Sola Scriptura part 2 even if they are related. These are two different albums.
SG sounds more like a Neal Morse Band album too, so my expectations going in were a lot different. Now with a few more listens in, I'm starting to enjoy this album a lot. I'm thinking this is a stronger album than I first thought. I got new speakers this week, and they sound pretty great, so that helps. In fact, music has come to life now with these speakers, I upgraded from an old set of computer speakers to a set of Edifier 1850, so big difference in sound.

I am sure it is lyrically a proper follow-up to Sola Scriptura (I never go out of my way to dig deep into the stories behind Neal's spiritual lyrics), but musically it doesn't feel like one at all, outside of the few musical nods to it, all of which, to me anyway, feel totally shoe-horned in for the sake of having continuity rather than feeling natural.  The "All I Ask For" section being randomly reprised in the middle of Building a Wall might be the oddest and most unnatural part of a Neal Morse song ever.  It just feels so random and out of place.

I felt the same way about the nods to SS on the initial listens, but they don't seem as unnatural to me now, and they're not overdone and beaten over the head, and in some parts I think it works really well, particularly on Never Change and Seemingly Sincere.

I suppose.  My guess is I would feel differently if I liked Sola Gratia a lot more than I do.  It's funny because Neal's albums are sometimes accused of being overcooked in the sense of too many reprises and/or being too long, but this one feels undercooked.

As I said, this one wasn't doing much for me til today, it just clicked.

Listening to Flying Colors 2 again, much much better than the debut. To me, this is what the debut should have been.

[Fritzinger]

Sola Gratia is growing on me. I try to not really think of it as Sola Scriptura part 2 even if they are related. These are two different albums.
SG sounds more like a Neal Morse Band album too, so my expectations going in were a lot different. Now with a few more listens in, I'm starting to enjoy this album a lot. I'm thinking this is a stronger album than I first thought. I got new speakers this week, and they sound pretty great, so that helps. In fact, music has come to life now with these speakers, I upgraded from an old set of computer speakers to a set of Edifier 1850, so big difference in sound.

I am sure it is lyrically a proper follow-up to Sola Scriptura (I never go out of my way to dig deep into the stories behind Neal's spiritual lyrics), but musically it doesn't feel like one at all, outside of the few musical nods to it, all of which, to me anyway, feel totally shoe-horned in for the sake of having continuity rather than feeling natural.  The "All I Ask For" section being randomly reprised in the middle of Building a Wall might be the oddest and most unnatural part of a Neal Morse song ever.  It just feels so random and out of place.

I felt the same way about the nods to SS on the initial listens, but they don't seem as unnatural to me now, and they're not overdone and beaten over the head, and in some parts I think it works really well, particularly on Never Change and Seemingly Sincere.

Where are the nods to Scriptura in Never Change and Seemingly Sincere?

[KevShmev]

Listening to Flying Colors 2 again, much much better than the debut. To me, this is what the debut should have been.

I don't agree.  I can't remember the exact wording at the time, but the whole point of the band was to write catchy short songs, not proggy ones, and the debut accomplished that perfectly.  The second and third albums, while both good (especially the third), were basically them saying, "to hell with it, we can't help ourselves, so here's the prog!!" 

[Fritzinger]

Listening to Flying Colors 2 again, much much better than the debut. To me, this is what the debut should have been.

I don't agree.  I can't remember the exact wording at the time, but the whole point of the band was to write catchy short songs, not proggy ones, and the debut accomplished that perfectly.  The second and third albums, while both good (especially the third), were basically them saying, "to hell with it, we can't help ourselves, so here's the prog!!" 

I think, that's because the first album was not produced by the band themselves, but by Peter Collins. I wish they would allow that again.

[KevShmev]

I think, that's because the first album was not produced by the band themselves, but by Peter Collins. I wish they would allow that again.

Agreed. The outside producer pushed them out of their normal comfort zone, which can often be a good thing.  Without him on the subsequent albums, it obviously became too easy to fall back on old habits and do their normal thing.  Again, I like those albums, and really like the third album, but the debut is so special because of how fresh and different it was (from the usual Neal/Portnoy stuff).

[DTA]

I agree with all of this and also find the debut to be their best, but oddly enough, I think Cosmic Symphony is probably their greatest song and it is long with multiple parts. I think the way it's structured makes it feel less like the usual NM/MP fare and more like a 'Scenes From An Italian Restaurant/Bohemian Rhapsody' type song. A non-prog prog song... so to speak 

[KevShmev]

I like Cosmic Symphony, but despite being a massive Neal fan, his part is, I feel, easily the least best of the three, and quite frankly the song sounds like three different short songs all stitched together.  The song is not cohesive at all, IMO, but Casey's parts are awesome enough that I can still get a lot of enjoyment out of the song, even with the arrangement feeling off.

[darkshade]

I see the opposite. The first two Flying Colors albums sound like prog infused pop rock. The first one may be out of their comfort zone or different or 'more' mainstream sounding, but I don't think the actual quality is all that great. There is some good quality pop music made in the last 10 years, and the Flying Colors debut is not among them. This is why I find the music forced, because they're doing something that is not a part of them, same critiques I have with modern Dream Theater.  The 2nd album works because it has just as much pop sensibilities mixed with progginess but with a brighter, fun sound, with much stronger compositions and melodies. This is because they retain a lot of who and what they are as musicians. Having outside producers is a double edged sword.

It's like when the 70s giants who started producing music in the 80s and tried to keep up with the times. Looking back, there were few good results and mostly mixed or bad results and their prior work still stands the test of time.

[425]

The first one may be out of their comfort zone or different or 'more' mainstream sounding, but I don't think the actual quality is all that great. There is some good quality pop music made in the last 10 years, and the Flying Colors debut is not among them.

This is basically why I haven't really gotten into Flying Colors. I just don't find the songs to be particularly strong qua pop music. If I want to listen to songs written by Neal Morse, I'll just listen to one of his many prog albums, where I think the songwriting is much stronger. If I want to listen to pop or pop rock, I'll listen to one of many artists who specialize in that sort of thing and do it better, in my eyes.

I did find the second album stronger than the first one because of the brighter sound and stronger melodies, but it wasn't a massive step up, either. And I didn't like either one enough to bother checking out the third. Maybe at some point I'll give these albums another chance, but they're just not ones that have interested me very much.

[gzarruk]

Flying Colors has some great stuff, but I agree some of the rest is hit or miss. I specially don't like it when they do the mandaroty Muse-inspired song for each album.

[KevShmev]

I see the opposite. The first two Flying Colors albums sound like prog infused pop rock. The first one may be out of their comfort zone or different or 'more' mainstream sounding, but I don't think the actual quality is all that great. There is some good quality pop music made in the last 10 years, and the Flying Colors debut is not among them. This is why I find the music forced, because they're doing something that is not a part of them, same critiques I have with modern Dream Theater.  The 2nd album works because it has just as much pop sensibilities mixed with progginess but with a brighter, fun sound, with much stronger compositions and melodies. This is because they retain a lot of who and what they are as musicians. Having outside producers is a double edged sword.

It's like when the 70s giants who started producing music in the 80s and tried to keep up with the times. Looking back, there were few good results and mostly mixed or bad results and their prior work still stands the test of time.

Looking at just Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy, pop music is absolutely a big part of them.  They are both HUGE Beatles fans, and the Beatles are the biggest pop band of all time!

[The Letter M]

For those of you who are familiar with Survivors, I am running the Neal Morse Survivor 2021 Edition soon, starting in a couple of days actually. You can check out the Results & Discussion Thread, and read up on what I have planned. It's been over 5 years since I ran the last one, and since then, Neal has released two more NMB albums and Sola Gratia, so I've got a lot more to go over this time around!

I hope to see some familiar faces over there and voting as the more the merrier! Would love to see at least 10 voters per round for each album, but I understand that not every Neal Morse fan is familiar with all of his prog albums, so I'm posting here in the hopes that more folks will join in! This will take a few months, but I'm looking forward to it, especially coming off of my Rush Survivor this year, which took quite awhile itself with 19 albums, Consolation, and Finals involved! Neal isn't a slouch either, with 11 albums that I'm covering in this survivor, three of which are lengthy double albums, so I can see this running til at least next April or May!

-Marc.

[Zydar]

Nice! Since I haven't listened to all his albums I'll only be participating in the ones I am familiar with.

[darkshade]

Glad you're skipping JC Exorcist, I've not checked that one out yet myself and I'm not sure there's any rush to do so.

[bluefox4000]

Glad you're skipping JC Exorcist, I've not checked that one out yet myself and I'm not sure there's any rush to do so.

it's super cheesy.  and i like some songs mostly on disc 1....but yea this project was ill advised.

I liked it at first but it quickly wore off.  it just comes across as a way inferior remake of Jesus Christ Superstar.  and if i want that.  i'll just play that album.  now Neal's is closer to the new Testament but.  it's so heavy handed and cheesey.

i'm even skipping for the first time the Morsefest Blu ray/cd live version of it........zero interest.

[Kwyjibo]

I think that JCTE is a really good record, I like it a lot. And of course it's cheesy, it's a musical, it's got to be cheesy. 

[MinistroRaven]

BLACK FRIDAY SALE AT RADIANT:



- So Many Roads - Live in Europe 2008 - $4.99

- Morsefest 2014 - Testimony, One & Encores - $7.99

- Morsefest 2015 - ?, Sola Scriptura & Encores - $7.99

- Morsefest 2017 - Testimony of a Dream - $7.99

- The Similitude of a Dream - Live in Tilburg 2017 - $7.99

- Spock’s Beard - Progfest 1995 - $4.99

- Spock’s Beard - Live at the Whiskey and Nearfest - $4.99

- Spock’s Beard - Don’t Try This At Home Complete - $4.99

- Spock’s Beard - Snow Live at Morsefest 2016 - $7.99

Hi Res - 48k/24 bit audio:

- The Neal Morse Band - The Similitude of a Dream - $9.99

- The Neal Morse Band - The Great Adventure - $9.99



FOR OUR INNER CIRCLE MEMBERS...

Check out the 20 Inner Circle downloads available today for just $4.99 – demos, live shows, commentaries… and much more! (Available to Inner Circle members only! If you aren’t yet a member, you can join today.)



- May 2017 - The Similitude Demos Part 1 (Audio)

- July 2017 - Neal Morse and Friends 2015 Morsefest Acoustic Concert (Audio and Video)

- September 2017 - Testimony 2 Demos (Audio)

- November 2017 - Spock's Beard - Morsefest 2016 Inner Cicle Jam (Audio and Video)

- January 2018 - Morsefest 2017 Inner Circle Show (Audio)

- March 2018 - Morsefest 2016 Storytellers Part 1 (Audio and Video)

- May 2018- Morsefest 2016 Storytellers Part 2 (Audio and Video)

- July 2018 - Life & Times Tour: Live in NYC and a Few Other Places (Audio)

- August 2018 - Jesus Christ The Exorcist: The Demos (Audio)

- November 2018 - The Similitude Demos Part 2 (Audio)

- January 2019 - The Neal Morse Band: Live in Limbourg - TSOAD Live (Video)

- March 2019 - The Neal Morse Band: The Great Adventure Commentary (Video)

- May 2019 - NMB 3: Beginning the Adventure (Audio)

- July 2019 - Neal Morse and Friends: Voices of the Beard - Storytellers 2 (Audio)

- September 2019 - Flying Colors: Second Nature Roughs (Audio)

- November 2019 - More Songs About Coffee & My Wife (Audio)

- January 2020 - Spock's Beard: But Wait ... There's More! (Video)

- March 2020 - NMB 3: Continuing the Adventure (Audio)

- May 2020 - Morsefest 2019 Inner Circle Concert (Audio and Video)

- July 2020 - Covers and Encores (Audio)

https://www.nealmorse.com/2020/11/27/black-friday-sale/

[425]

At this price, if you're not wedded to physical media, I think you'd almost have to go for some of the Morsefest audios. Those are such great performances.

I'm thinking I'm going to grab the three SB shows (I already got Snow Live on a previous Radiant sale).

[HOF]

At this price, if you're not wedded to physical media, I think you'd almost have to go for some of the Morsefest audios. Those are such great performances.

I'm thinking I'm going to grab the three SB shows (I already got Snow Live on a previous Radiant sale).

I picked up the CD of Don’t Try This At Home during either a Black Friday or some other deep sale at Radiant a while back. It’s not easy on the ears from a sonic perspective. Would be interested to know if either of the others are better presentations of the sound of the original lineup.

[425]

So, I just downloaded them, and while I obviously haven't listened all the way through, here's what I'd say just from sampling.

The Official Live Bootleg (Progfest 1995) sounds pretty good. I wouldn't say it sounds any worse than an official label release from today would. That one has the full Light album plus Thoughts.

Live at The Whisky and NEARfest does not sound as good. It sounds a little more distant, and Neal's voice is a bit low in the mix some of the time. He tries to get the crowd to sing on June, and they are completely inaudible from what I can tell. It's not terrible, but it's definitely more in the area of a solid soundboard bootleg in terms of audio quality, not what one would expect from a professional label release today. This one has a mix of songs from the first four albums.

Both sound significantly better, from what I've sampled, than Don't Try This at Home

[HOF]

So, I just downloaded them, and while I obviously haven't listened all the way through, here's what I'd say just from sampling.

The Official Live Bootleg (Progfest 1995) sounds pretty good. I wouldn't say it sounds any worse than an official label release from today would. That one has the full Light album plus Thoughts.

Live at The Whisky and NEARfest does not sound as good. It sounds a little more distant, and Neal's voice is a bit low in the mix some of the time. He tries to get the crowd to sing on June, and they are completely inaudible from what I can tell. It's not terrible, but it's definitely more in the area of a solid soundboard bootleg in terms of audio quality, not what one would expect from a professional label release today. This one has a mix of songs from the first four albums.

Both sound significantly better, from what I've sampled, than Don't Try This at Home

Thanks for the scouting report! Sounds like the Progfest 95 is the highest quality, but truthfully wouldn’t be my favorite set list. Will probably pass on these.

[425]

No problem! I'm happy to get these for $5 each, though I don't think I'd want to pay significantly more. Looking forward to enjoying my three new versions of The Light and Go the Way You Go.

[OpenYourEyes311]

I was hoping to pick up a bunch of the old Inner Circle CDs, but only the recent downloads are on sale, and I have all of those already. I actually have everything that's on sale already. Oh well, next time.

[KevShmev]

Eh, after the Flying Colors vinyl fiasco, I won't buy from Radiant ever again, but glad to see some fans are getting some good deals.

[Fritzinger]

Eh, after the Flying Colors vinyl fiasco, I won't buy from Radiant ever again, but glad to see some fans are getting some good deals.

What happened?

[KevShmev]

Eh, after the Flying Colors vinyl fiasco, I won't buy from Radiant ever again, but glad to see some fans are getting some good deals.

What happened?

I pre-ordered the first two Flying Colors album on vinyl back in late June, which were set for a new release in the middle of September.  By the middle of October, after no vinyl, no emails from Radiant about any delays, and no replies to multiple emails I had sent asking about it, I basically had to call them out on the FB forum page (and I try to avoid FB mostly now) and eventually one of the guys there who I think is friends with the lady who runs Radiant reached out to me via PM and I expressed my dissatisfaction.  After some back and forth and whatnot, Radiant eventually emailed me about it, and I did end up getting the vinyl a week or so ago.  But it is recurring problem with them.  I see countless other peeps having to get their attention by posting about it on FB because their emails to Radiant went unanswered.   

And to be clear, I get that delays are going to happen, especially this year with COVID and many other factors.  I am more than willing to wait for such things, as I am fairly patient person. Just freaking let us know.  To not update your customers in a timely fashion, and to ignore their emails (which I have seen many others online happen to them as well), is just poor customer service, especially for items where they sure as heck charge your credit card for it right away.   

The lady who runs it, Amy, probably does her best and seems like a nice person, but she posted on FB a few weeks back that she basically runs it by herself.  I get that it is a small operation and it is probably not cost effective for Neal to hire more people to help out, but it reflects poorly on him when Radiant's customers are not given good service.   It's a shame because Neal is by all accounts a great guy - you won't find a more gracious and classy individual in the rock game nowadays - but it is undeniable at this point that Radiant's bad service is costing him customers.  Whoever ran it prior to Amy didn't do a good job either (same issues always happened then). 

So yeah, I don't see myself ordering from Radiant again any time soon, future possible Morsefest tickets notwithstanding of course.

[goo-goo]

Jesus Christ The Exorcist available at LaserCD

https://www.lasercd.com/dvd/jesus-christ-exorcist-live-morsefeset-2018-blu-ray

https://www.lasercd.com/cd/jesus-christ-exorcist-live-morsefest-2018-2cddvd

[KevShmev]

Jesus Christ The Exorcist available at LaserCD

https://www.lasercd.com/dvd/jesus-christ-exorcist-live-morsefeset-2018-blu-ray

https://www.lasercd.com/cd/jesus-christ-exorcist-live-morsefest-2018-2cddvd

It's awfully tempting to order the Blu-ray from LaserCD, who always gives great service.  It could be a release that is only available for a limited time, so I probably need to not wait too long to decide.  And I was there for that performance at Morsefest, so there's that.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[darkshade]

I was able to scoop up a copy of JC Exorcist for 11 bucks on Amazon with a coupon, it came in, still haven't listened to it yet. Sola Gratia came in as well, and I watched the DVD making of which was a bit boring but it reignited my Neal listening as I had taken a break last few weeks.

I've been revisiting recent Neal albums this week, TA's Kaleidoscope is growing on me a little, mainly the epic Into The Blue. I generally enjoy this one now, a classic Transatlantic tune. Shine is ok.. The rest is hit or miss with me, and the title track is still not clicking with me. There is this section in there where Roine is singing and it's got some real strong Flower Kings vibes to me, and I liked that part a lot. Structurally, the album feels like a hybrid of the first two TA albums. Over to NM Band, The Grand Experiment is a little better overall as an album, the opening and closing tracks are the strongest, but I still need to give Alive Again a few more listens. I feel like I don't know this album at all.

Then I listened to The Similitude of a Dream and The Great Adventure back to back yesterday. What a ride. Both listened to straight through without break, other than about 20 minutes between albums. Been meaning to do something like that for a while, it was helpful in noticing more call backs to TSoaD on TGA. Both these albums are very strong, and while TSoaD might edge out as a bit better, TGA is right up there, and I think as one complete journey, there is really no lull in the 4 hour experience. It reminded me of when I listened to the Dream Theater meta-album Scenes through 8vm, but this was a better experience because those DT albums are unrelated to each other, otherwise.

[KevShmev]

The Grand Experiment should probably be right near the top on my list of favorite Neal(-related) albums since it has three of my favorite songs of his ever (The Call, Waterfall, Alive Again).  I am just a sucker for concept albums done well, and I will usually favor those (Similitude, ?, One, The Whirlwind) when "forced" to list favorites.

[425]

If pressed, I might name The Call and Alive Again as my two favorite NM/NMB songs. There are a lot of contenders, but those two are just stunning. The Call is pretty much my go-to song for a 10-minute demonstration of what prog rock is.

[Stadler]

If pressed, I might name The Call and Alive Again as my two favorite NM/NMB songs. There are a lot of contenders, but those two are just stunning. The Call is pretty much my go-to song for a 10-minute demonstration of what prog rock is.

Funny thing; never liked The Call, until I saw it live, and figured it was one of "those" songs that was a live chestnut, but needed work in the studio.  THEN I fell in love with Alive Again, and having listened to the album so much, The Call has really grown on me.  Such a catchy melody.

Top three Neal songs:

- Supernatural
- Alive Again
- Weathering Skies

[hefdaddy42]

Seeing The Call live was amazing.