Author Topic: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread  (Read 539590 times)

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Offline darkshade

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #805 on: February 07, 2012, 08:45:28 AM »
Nice list. I'd make one, but I'd have trouble deciding which cuts from "?" I like best. I always listen to that one straight through, and don't necessarily check which track I'm up to. Temple Of The Living God would definitely be one of the best though.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #806 on: February 07, 2012, 09:46:59 AM »
Yeah, it's not easy leaving off some of the songs from that, even the shorter ones.  I mean, a song like Sweet Elation is only 2 1/2 minutes, but is nothing but awesomeness.  Neal just has too many great songs to include them all! :biggrin:

Offline bosk1

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #807 on: February 07, 2012, 09:54:11 AM »
I'm not even going to try.  In addition to the "too much good stuff" phenomenon, on the concept albums, it's just way too hard for me to remove most individual songs from their respective albums.  But I will say that the 10 minute chunk of music that comprises In The Middle and The Storm Before The Calm is one of the best pieces of music composed by anybody.
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Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #808 on: February 07, 2012, 09:54:59 AM »
I'm not even going to try.  In addition to the "too much good stuff" phenomenon, on the concept albums, it's just way too hard for me to remove most individual songs from their respective albums.  But I will say that the 10 minute chunk of music that comprises In The Middle and The Storm Before The Calm is one of the best pieces of music composed by anybody.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #809 on: February 07, 2012, 10:51:23 AM »
That is a pretty awesome 10-minute section. 

I still say that Testimony could have been a truly great single album.  I know you'd lose some of Neal's story, but it would still work.  Just take these songs, rework some of the transitions, and it would have been all brilliance:

California Nights
Sleeping Jesus
Wasted Life
Break of Day
Somber Days
Long Story
It's All I Can Do
Sing It High
Moving in My Heart (Colder in the Sun and Power in the Air are basically pointless songs since they use the same melody as this song, with Moving in My Heart by far being the best of the three songs)
I Am Willing
In the Middle
The Storm Before the Calm
Oh, to Feel Him
God's Theme
Overture/Rejoice (with Rejoice faded out, which I already edited it to do on my mp3, and ending the album)



Offline Jamesman42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #810 on: February 07, 2012, 11:34:40 AM »
I would take out California Nights, but I never much dug that song. Same with Sleeping Jesus. Keep the Overture.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #811 on: February 07, 2012, 12:39:48 PM »
 :eek Sleeping Jesus is way too awesome to lose, fool! :P

Also, a brief clip of Neal and the others talking about the forthcoming CDs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AawBqG9BW5I

Offline darkshade

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #812 on: February 07, 2012, 02:38:05 PM »
Also, check out Randy George's studio diary **WARNING. SPOILER ALERT**

Quote
Welcome to the Studio Diary for the new CD recording sessions. At this time it's Jan 18th and I'm actually getting ready for NAMM. I have been trying to write some musical passages for the CD. my ideas are thematic ideas that would serve as intros and other passages... Neal is deep into the songs. I am not sure how many he has written as of yet but it's probably 4 or 5 I think. We are likely going to make and song oriented album as opposed to a concept album. This means a couple big prog epics and some shorter songs. Maybe something like V in terms of format. (I wouldn't mind musically either but that remains to be seen). It's not easy writing for Neal when he ain't here. The real magic happens when we get together in the same room. I am flying out there on the 25th. Mike comes in on the 30th to begin tracking so Neal and I have a few days to write... I suspect it will mostly be arranging things by that time. We are also planning to do some covers as well. We have not yet discussed those yet as Mike is busy at the NAMM show.

I got an email from Neal this morning (Jan 19th) saying he had used one of my ideas in an epic! I sort of wrote it that way and it was heavily inspired by the Great Nothing.

Jan 24th - I received Neal's demos today! I was pleasantly surprised to hear such an amazing album after what amounted to about two weeks of intensive writing. This is a stark contrast to Testimony 2. This harkens back to Neal's Spock's days of writing. I know we always say something like with every album... but seriously this is like instantly one of those albums you just love from the opening chords to the first song! I'm saying that very much as a Neal fan. There are 5 shorter songs and a long prog epic that will no doubt take it's place among the hardcore. I don't know if it's the whole album or if we might yet add more music. I am leaving for Nashville tomorrow to write with Neal for the next few days. Mike arrives on Monday for 6 days of tracking!

We have just began to throw around some covers ideas but nothing has been decided there. I had some great ideas but I don't know of the guys will be into them or not! But the discussion has just started!

Jan 25th… I arrive in Nashville and we spend the evening discussing covers while watching the Lakers game.. We came up with a great list of stuff… of course nothing is for sure until Mike gets here.

Jan 26th… We sat down in the studio and started listening through our little rough recordings of ideas… out of those sprung a musical frame to what might become Thoughts Pt3. It's a hodgepodge of ideas of both Neal's and mine. We are also composing on the fly to fill in the blanks. The way Neal writes is to try and flesh out a vocal line to make sure he can sing to it. We are also going through the other songs to just get our foundations firm.

Jan 27th - We spent today writing lyrics to Thoughts Pt 3. I'm diggin' it! It's a worthy predecessor to the previous ones. Both music and lyrics! We had to write the lyrics first then we stacked up the vocals and outlined everything so we can get drum tracks. Also we continued to listen to the demos to further dial in the songs. Of course there is only so much we can do until Mike gets here. This will be the last update until monday as we are taking the weekend off. I am having lunch with Phil Keaggy tomorrow!

Jan 29th - I spent the morning charting out songs and re-recording my scratch bass for the Thoughts Pt 3 track. Tomorrow starts a major week of intense tracking! The album is shaping up to be one the great ones in my opinion! Jerry is in the studio dialing in drum sounds with Neal hitting the drums. We also dialed in bass. So we are pretty much ready to rock! I picked up Mike from the airport and we went out for Mexican food!

Jan 30th - Day one of tracking! Mike arrived at noon and we immediately launched into lunch. My we are hard working aren't we? We started off with Momentum. It's the title track of the album at least at this point. Right away Mike had a suggestion... there was a break where the rhythm stopped and it was just keyboards for a bit and built back up into the next section. Mike felt that it broke the flow too much and so we ended up losing the whole section and joining the solo to the last chorus. It works well that way too. That's a first… we actually shortened a song! Woo Hoo! Anyhow it come together pretty quickly. We moved on to a track titled Weathering Sky. This is one of my favorites. It took a bit longer to get drums though. Sometimes the simpler songs take a little longer. Mike is really good at finding just the right vibe for a song. He is very meticulous and thorough in his methods. Of course you would think that made a good day. It would have been had we stopped for the day. But we all felt to get another song done. We moved on to a really nice song called Smoke And Mirrors. This track has a few tender passages so it required special care. Mike noticed that the chorus sounded a lot like Solid as the Sun. So we spent some time altering the chord progression to still work with the melody but not to sound so much like SATS. We got the track done though! So three songs the first day… not too bad. Everyone is feeling good about the album and the vibe is good. We managed to discuss covers as well. I think we narrowed the field on those a bit. But we won't track those until later in the week after we get the album.

Jan 31 - Today we started off with the big prog epic! Neal and I were expecting to continue with some of the shorter songs but Mike was ready to dig in! Good thing too cause it was his day for it! His performances were absolutely stunning!We nearly completed the drums on it. It originally started out with a piano prelude very similar to Seeds Of Gold and the Doorway. But that was reason enough for Mike and Neal to change it. Neal had been working on this other theme idea that he stumbled upon yesterday and felt to use it in the song. It turned out very nice. It gives the song a different feel right from the start rather than sounding too much like something we'd already done. The pace was good all day and we covered a lot of ground. We re-arranged a couple sections in the song as well for similar reasons of sounding like something else. It's always fun to play together from scratch as opposed to following the existing demos. We really had a great time working today! It got sort of silly about 10:00 which is right on target for Mike to start going off the deep end. But it was all in good fun. We finally compiled our covers list. Although Neal is still thinking about one or two of them, it's likely going to stick! I think this song (as yet untitled) is going to be one of the best things we've ever done! I'm excited to get it done. Mike will finish the last few minutes of the song tomorrow. I guess I can tell some of the covers that got shot down since we are not doing them… Neal and I wanted to do Miss America by Styx but Mike didn't want to. Neal of course wanted to cover Wind Power by Thomas Dolby but Mike doesn't like to cover songs he doesn't know and like. I wanted to cover Hold Your Head up but it doesn't work in the key it's in and it can't be changed or else the guitar part doesn't work so overall it was too much of a compromise to make it work. We actually had an extensive list of covers but we managed to get a good selection that I think everyone will really enjoy! We had an amazing Mexican meal tonight! Cheri always spoils us! We really have to be careful not too eat too much as is easy to do otherwise we will not be worth a darn after dinner! So thus far this is shaping up to be a really killer album! I can't wait for you guys to hear it! The Inner Circle video is going out first thing in the morning! It's not too late to join up! It's mainly just us screwing around but funny nonetheless! I stayed up to work on some of the cover tunes so I'm fried as I type this!. Well it's past 1:00am and I am going to watch an episode of something and go to sleep! Not sure what… I brought a bunch of discs. Maybe some Flintstones! yeah I brought a disc of Flintstones… Simpsons and Gilligan's Island too. Too bad I already watched all the Simpsons! I got a bunch of other stuff too but it's too late to start a movie.

Feb 1st - Well it's the first day of February! It was a strange day here… cloudy most of the day then sunshine, then a raging thunder and lightening storm! The day started off with brunch! what a novel concept! It was a really busy day around here. Chad showed up and started making his famous ribs for dinner and Mike had interviews so we initially fixed some of Neal's parts to reflect some changes that we made on Monday. Then Mike started where we left off yesterday and we immediately started rewriting this section. Of course that means that other parts went away but it was a good trade! There is now a lengthy bass solo in the prog epic which is still without a name! Neal is still writing lyrics for it as well. Mike outdid himself with the drums on this song. I think you will find that this song is one of the best we have ever done together! What's funny is that we spent yesterday plowing through this song and recorded 23 minutes of it… and today we only recorded the remaining 10 minutes… but again there were a lot of re-writes. Also the afternoon was really broken up. Besides interviews, we had the photographer stop in and take pictures. Then we had Chad's ribs for dinner… that made the rest of the long evening even longer! But we finished… pending a short review of one thing we noticed after Neal went to bed. This is the longest single track that we've ever done. I know most of you will say "but what about the Whirlwind"? And true as it may be that had several track ID points to move around. But this song will only have one track ID at the start making it the longest. It came in at 33 minutes! Well that's about it for today. It was long and busy but not much else happened. Just worked hard and ate good! Tomorrow we have 3 songs to get through. I think at least 2 of them will go smooth and quickly but the third might take a bit longer! With any luck we can start recording covers!

Feb 2nd - Crazy day. We were very productive. We finished the 33 minute epic. We also finished Thoughts Pt 3. At the last minute Neal thought it would be cool to add this other idea he had. So we played it on his iPhone for us. Of course it was him mouthing sounds so it was pretty hard to get the idea. But once he fleshed it out musically… it was the exact same riff from Gibberish! So I made a slight modification and it took on a whole new vibe. But when we inserted it into the song… and Mike got the drum part… it was totally insane!  Possibly the best track on the record! Again… some serious crazy drumming ensued! I am totally stoked for it! It still remains untitled though… but Mike has been singing Moon River the whole time because the melody somehow reminded him of it. So he calls it Lunar Creek… but that's just a running joke so it remains untitled for now while Neal fleshes out the lyrics. After we finished that track we launched into a track called Freek. (No I didn't misspell that) It will be the last song for the album. Yeah Mike sort of surprised when he showed and suggested we drop the last couple of songs. The album was already 60 minutes and musically quite full and complete. But we opted to do one of the two remaining songs. So in recording the drums for Freek Jerry brought in a this other kit to give a specific effect. it was just a small kit. But later Mike thought it would be cool to double the drum part in what is called the Dylan section of the Prog epic. It gets those names because someone will make a reference while listening to it. Then it becomes a marker for everyone to refer to. But Mike didn't really remember what he played so he was watching the computer screen with the waveforms enlarged so he could see the snare and kick hits from the previous take. It was innovative to say the least! All said and done… we completed the drum tracking for the Prog CD. Friday will be spent tracking new covers. We have a list we are working from but everything is subject to change! For those that asked… the target release dates are possibly September for the Prog CD and May/June for the Covers CD. Neal wanted to release the covers CD first. Also there live dates being discussed for July for a one off with the Testimony band… and a full blown tour in the fall with a possible new line up. But it's all still in the discussion stage so keep you fingers crossed! I can guarantee your complete and utter excitement and satisfaction for all things Neal this year, at least if myself as a fan is any indication!

Feb 3rd - Covers day! Well it was a good start! It's amazing much faster it is to record these songs than Neal's originals! Well the first song we did was a medium tempo classic but a good warm up song. Then we moved on to a slower classic that is a personal favorite of mine! Mike did some nice work on this one. Then we jammed a fast paced feel good song that had us all dancing in the control room! What was really funny is that Neal and some songs he wanted to do in a medley by a certain artist… who you would never think Neal would want to cover. Well Mike didn't really like the songs or the artist so they started bartering… like trading willingness to do songs that the other really didn't want to. It was fun! I can tell you that the range of artists cover it staggering. If you thought the first cover CD was an eclectic bunch of songs this one really takes the cake! Anyhow Mike is finished with the drums thus ending what was a really great week. We really had fun and enjoy it immensely! Mike was really inspired and we did some of our best work to date. Now begins three long days of tracking for me! I am thinking I'll probably finish sooner than that but it's nice to have the extra day! I am usually cramming right up till I leave for the airport! I'll post a couple more updates if I have anything worth telling you! It's been a wonderful time! I can't wait to hear the finished albums!

Feb 4th - Covers! Again! I tracked all the bass for the covers disc today! I had planned to do that and be done with those by 3 or 4… but even the best laid plans… sigh… ProTools was throwing a fit and everyone scattered and nobody answered their phone… so by the time I got Jerry over here… it was like 2:00 when I started working. But once he fixed it it ran great! So off I went! I did 7 songs but one is a medley with 3 songs in it so I guess it's more like 8 songs. In fact it was 8 songs cause the middle of the medley will be guitar and voice so the other two songs were separate for now anyway. And they are complete and not cut down just because it's a medley. Anyhow that's been my day! Tracked with the Fender Jazz Bass today too. That was fun. I felt like the tone served these songs better. Tomorrow I will use the Spector for the original stuff cause it needs that "rip your head off" tone. Interesting that on one of the songs that Mike played a style of drumming I didn't know he had in him. I have never heard him do this kind of song before. I mean I knew he could play it… I just never figured he would. Well I am finished early enough to actually watch a movie… hmm what should I watch… I'll have to look at what I brought. I have been watching Gilligan's Island all week. It's short and I barely made it through an episode each night as it was.

Feb 6th -  This is the final entry for this album. Well I finished everything except the prog epic and Smoke and Mirrors. The prog epic I am taking home to spend the necessary time on it. Smoke and Mirrors I am taking home cause I plan to do fretless bass on it. I can only take so much stuff with me. It's a pain to fly with gear. Anyhow it's all good at this point. I am actually typing and posting this in flight. It's been an amazing week. Everyone had a great time and we had a lot of fun! Thanks for reading the updates and we'll see you at the shows… whenever they are!

Offline Ħ

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #813 on: February 07, 2012, 06:43:27 PM »
That is a pretty awesome 10-minute section. 

I still say that Testimony could have been a truly great single album.  I know you'd lose some of Neal's story, but it would still work.  Just take these songs, rework some of the transitions, and it would have been all brilliance:

California Nights
Sleeping Jesus
Wasted Life
Break of Day
Somber Days
Long Story
It's All I Can Do
Sing It High
Moving in My Heart (Colder in the Sun and Power in the Air are basically pointless songs since they use the same melody as this song, with Moving in My Heart by far being the best of the three songs)
I Am Willing
In the Middle
The Storm Before the Calm
Oh, to Feel Him
God's Theme
Overture/Rejoice (with Rejoice faded out, which I already edited it to do on my mp3, and ending the album)
I agree that the Overtures are too numerous. I also agree that Land of Beginning Again Pt 2 isn't necessary.

I don't agree with the omission of the Colder in the Sun and Power In the Air -- that trio of songs has the best motif in the album. Not to mention the "...and when things didn't go my way..." verse is not present in Moving In My Heart. Oh Lord My God is another great track that you left out. And I dunno if California Nights is such a great opener...probably ought to leave LOBA pt 1 in.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #814 on: February 08, 2012, 03:53:39 PM »
I was never a big fan of Oh Lord My God, so we could have lost that and I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

I so seldom listen to Power in the Air and Colder in the Sun that I cannot remember that verse; I'll have to go back and check it out.

And I agree that California Nights would have become kind of a weird opener, so I think a reworking of the tracklisting would have worked fine.  Break of Day with the overture before it would have been a great opener.

Offline bosk1

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #815 on: February 09, 2012, 09:15:26 AM »
Testimony is a difficult album.  The sheer length keeps me from listening to it as much as I otherwise might.  But the sheer length of the album is one of the devices Neal uses as a vehicle for portraying how long and difficult his journey was.  It's kind of like The Lord Of The Rings.  Sure, there are some things are are not integral to the major themes and overall plot that could have been eliminated to streamline the story and make it more compact.  But the long, plodding nature of the story and all those extra little details that are there simply because Tolkien takes the time to tell them in excruciating, poetic detail make you feel the length and burden of the journey (both the physical journey and the journey in terms of character growth and development) right along with the characters.  Admittedly, although there are a few albums out there that I feel would benefit from editing, my default in general is to leave albums as is, so I'm a bit biased that way.  But I think there are good reasons for Testimony to be left well enough alone.  I think removing anything from Testimony would take away from the album.  IMO, given how much detail is left out of T2, T2 is a great collection of songs, but doesn't work on the "concept album" level nearly as strongly if Testimony doesn't already exist.  In other words, you don't really feel Neal's story just from listening to T2 in a vacuum. 
« Last Edit: February 09, 2012, 10:35:28 AM by bosk1 »
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #816 on: February 09, 2012, 10:31:21 AM »
I can see that line of thinking working, almost where, in a journey that long, there are gonna be ups and downs, and enjoying them all is part of the journey.  I get it.  But like you said, it is soooooo long (kind of like SB's Snow) that listening to the whole thing almost takes setting part of your day aside, and who has time for that? :lol  But my beef is that too many musical sections are reprised too many times.  I can deal with the length, but it's almost like Neal wrote so many lyrics to tell his long story, and instead of writing that much music, he wrote a bunch and then just decided to use tons of reprises to get out of writing as much music as he did lyrics.  Typing that almost sounds goofy, as Neal is such a prolific writer than it is hard to imagine that he would have had a shortage of musical ideas to fill up even a double album, but I am just saying, that is how it sometimes comes across to me.  I get that it helps with the musical continuity, but after a while, it's like, did we really need to hear that musical theme again?

In the case of T2, I agree that is more of a regular album, almost like snapshots of stuff he didn't fully touch on on the first Testimony album, but it is still his best overall album, IMO.  For me, many of the best solo songs he has written are on T2, and there are no weaker songs or spots at all. 

Offline bosk1

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #817 on: February 09, 2012, 10:36:41 AM »
On a somewhat related note, I still don't get what the fuss is over Seeds Of Gold.  Every time I see it praised in a thread, I go back and listen again to see what I'm missing, only to come away still feeling like, "Eh, it's okay, but I don't get why people seem to love it so much."  I JUST DON'T GET IT!
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Online The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #818 on: February 09, 2012, 10:48:35 AM »
I can see that line of thinking working, almost where, in a journey that long, there are gonna be ups and downs, and enjoying them all is part of the journey.  I get it.  But like you said, it is soooooo long (kind of like SB's Snow) that listening to the whole thing almost takes setting part of your day aside, and who has time for that? :lol  But my beef is that too many musical sections are reprised too many times.  I can deal with the length, but it's almost like Neal wrote so many lyrics to tell his long story, and instead of writing that much music, he wrote a bunch and then just decided to use tons of reprises to get out of writing as much music as he did lyrics.  Typing that almost sounds goofy, as Neal is such a prolific writer than it is hard to imagine that he would have had a shortage of musical ideas to fill up even a double album, but I am just saying, that is how it sometimes comes across to me.  I get that it helps with the musical continuity, but after a while, it's like, did we really need to hear that musical theme again?

In the case of T2, I agree that is more of a regular album, almost like snapshots of stuff he didn't fully touch on on the first Testimony album, but it is still his best overall album, IMO.  For me, many of the best solo songs he has written are on T2, and there are no weaker songs or spots at all.

Look at it this way - the musical reprises provide a sort of continuity to the story. Does anyone blame Dream Theater for using the "Regression" musical progression again in "The Spirit Carries On"? Sure it's a SMALLER reprise, and not as frequent, but SFAM was a single disc album.

I think, as a biographical album of Neal's life, the musical reprises show us that they are things that are consistent through HIS life, and are constant, and they show that his life isn't a singular linear journey in a new direction, but rather a bunch of circles and turns that sometimes return to various points in his life, be it places, or people, or things, and perhaps those musical themes are representative of those recurrences. I mean, if you have a job, you go to work everyday. If you wrote a concept album about your job, you'd probably write a "Clock-in theme", a "lunch-hour theme", a "here comes that hot co-worker theme", and use them in reprises.

I think, for Teastimony, it CAN get a little tedious, but it IS a 2-hour album, so there's bound to be a lot of repetition. Had albums like The Wall or Tommy or The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway been over 120 minutes, you can be they would've had more musical reprises than they already did.

-Marc.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #819 on: February 09, 2012, 01:50:48 PM »
But those artists were smart enough to keep those albums at the lengths they are at and not overdo it. ;) :P

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #820 on: February 09, 2012, 02:04:37 PM »
But those artists were smart enough to keep those albums at the lengths they are at and not overdo it. ;) :P

Depends on who you are and who you say that to - I've heard plenty of Pink Floyd and Genesis fans say that their respective double-disc concept albums were bloated with filler  ;)

I do think Testimony could've trimmed a bit, but I cannot listen to One unless it's the complete, restored track listing with the 3 Bonus Disc tracks inserted into the story (which I have burned on CD-r for car-use, and then an iPod/iTunes playlist). It makes for a DAMN good 92:28 minute album, but I can understand why Neal wouldn't want to release another 2-disc album so soon. I'm just glad he chose to include it on the Bonus Disc!

-Marc.
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Offline bosk1

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #821 on: February 09, 2012, 02:07:35 PM »
Curse you and your bonus disks!!!  >:(
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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #822 on: February 09, 2012, 02:14:33 PM »
Curse you and your bonus disks!!!  >:(

I could anger you more and tell you that I have the Special/Limited Edition versions of:
Testimony (3CD)
One (2CD)
Lifeline (2CD)
Testimony 2 (2CD+DVD)
SMPT:e (2CD)
Bridge Across Forever (2CD)
The Whirlwind (2CD+DVD)

 :angel:

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #823 on: February 10, 2012, 04:45:49 AM »
Curse you and your bonus disks!!!  >:(

I could anger you more and tell you that I have the Special/Limited Edition versions of:
Testimony (3CD)
One (2CD)
Lifeline (2CD)
Testimony 2 (2CD+DVD)
SMPT:e (2CD)
Bridge Across Forever (2CD)
The Whirlwind (2CD+DVD)

 :angel:

-Marc.

Nice! I don't like Lifeline, so I don't have that one, and I haven't been able to find the SMPTE and Bridge bonus disc versions, but I've got the rest too. Nice collection though.

How about the limited rerelease of The Light?
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Online The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #824 on: February 10, 2012, 08:10:14 AM »
Curse you and your bonus disks!!!  >:(

I could anger you more and tell you that I have the Special/Limited Edition versions of:
Testimony (3CD)
One (2CD)
Lifeline (2CD)
Testimony 2 (2CD+DVD)
SMPT:e (2CD)
Bridge Across Forever (2CD)
The Whirlwind (2CD+DVD)

 :angel:

-Marc.

Nice! I don't like Lifeline, so I don't have that one, and I haven't been able to find the SMPTE and Bridge bonus disc versions, but I've got the rest too. Nice collection though.

How about the limited rerelease of The Light?

The large version? No, not yet, but I do have that version of The Flower King. The collector's version of The Light is on my list of to-buy things. I also have the 4-disc book-case version of Transatlantic's Live In Europe, The Flower King's Meet The Flower Kings and Instant Delivery.

-Marc.
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Offline Nihil-Morari

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #825 on: February 10, 2012, 08:41:24 AM »
Curse you and your bonus disks!!!  >:(

I could anger you more and tell you that I have the Special/Limited Edition versions of:
Testimony (3CD)
One (2CD)
Lifeline (2CD)
Testimony 2 (2CD+DVD)
SMPT:e (2CD)
Bridge Across Forever (2CD)
The Whirlwind (2CD+DVD)

 :angel:

-Marc.

Nice! I don't like Lifeline, so I don't have that one, and I haven't been able to find the SMPTE and Bridge bonus disc versions, but I've got the rest too. Nice collection though.

How about the limited rerelease of The Light?

The large version? No, not yet, but I do have that version of The Flower King. The collector's version of The Light is on my list of to-buy things. I also have the 4-disc book-case version of Transatlantic's Live In Europe, The Flower King's Meet The Flower Kings and Instant Delivery.

-Marc.

I've got all three of those too! I don't have The Flower King, wasn't really into TFK before, at least not enough to spend lots of cash on their studio albums, but those live boxes are great.

Oh and TA's Whirld Tour deluxe version?
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Offline bosk1

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #826 on: February 10, 2012, 08:46:02 AM »
Curse you and your bonus disks!!!  >:(

I could anger you more and tell you that I have the Special/Limited Edition versions of:
Testimony (3CD)
One (2CD)
Lifeline (2CD)
Testimony 2 (2CD+DVD)
SMPT:e (2CD)
Bridge Across Forever (2CD)
The Whirlwind (2CD+DVD)

 :angel:

-Marc.

Yes, I know.  Eventually, I am going to have to pick up some of those.  One is probably the one I want the most.  And given that it is probably my all-time favorite album by anyone, it makes no sense that I don't have the Special Edition.
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Offline Jamesman42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #827 on: February 10, 2012, 09:02:52 AM »
Curse you and your bonus disks!!!  >:(

I could anger you more and tell you that I have the Special/Limited Edition versions of:
Testimony (3CD)
One (2CD)
Lifeline (2CD)
Testimony 2 (2CD+DVD)
SMPT:e (2CD)
Bridge Across Forever (2CD)
The Whirlwind (2CD+DVD)

 :angel:

-Marc.

Yes, I know.  Eventually, I am going to have to pick up some of those.  One is probably the one I want the most.  And given that it is probably my all-time favorite album by anyone, it makes no sense that I don't have the Special Edition.

Oh man. The 3 extra tracks add so much to it. I listened to One so many times that at first it was weird inserting the 3 tracks into the list (I believe there is a certain order to insert them), but it makes the album even better. They are great standalone tracks, much like any song from that album. That's one reason why it's my favorite NM album.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #828 on: February 10, 2012, 09:53:55 AM »
Having watched the first DVD of the T2 LA show, it was definitely great stuff.  I loved seeing all of The Separated Man performed, the Sola medley was nice (even though it ended right at the climax of The Conclusion), Seeds of Gold was pretty sweet for the most part, and even Lifeline was a nice opener.  The inclusion of Leviathan is still a major WTH, however.  Not a bad song, but Neal has dozens and dozens of better songs that would have been far better choices.  But almost everything else was great.

Also, if Randy George is correct in that they will do a one-off in the summer and a full-blown tour in the fall, it opens up the question of what will they play to record for another likely live DVD.  Assuming Portnoy is a part of it, and that he has a huge hand in picking the songs, you gotta figure they will go for mostly songs that weren't on this last DVD set or the first Testimony DVD set.  Assuming all or most of the new CD Neal will be releasing later this year, I'd like to also see:

-A 20-25 minute ? medley.
-So Many Roads (this song has finally really grown on me)
-The Creation or Author of Confusion
-A handful of songs from both Testimony albums (which would make them repeats across multiple DVDs, but you can't ignore those two albums altogether)
-The Conflict (although who would handle those rather difficult Paul Gilbert leads at the beginning of the song)
-Maybe another short song or tune like Cradle to the Grave or King Jesus

Offline bosk1

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #829 on: February 10, 2012, 10:36:18 AM »
As much as I love Neal, we really don't need yet another live DVD.  Kev, those are great choices, but we already have them on the Sola Scriptura and Beyond DVD (at least, most of them).  Although I am somewhat of a completist, I doubt I would buy another live DVD from a tour this year other than for a BIG chunk of new material.
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Offline TheStinger

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #830 on: February 10, 2012, 10:44:07 AM »
I became a fan of Neal Morse through his connection with some of the DT boys.  He is a remarkable musical arranger.  Some of his concepts might be a little out there but as a musician and a composer he is certainly right up there with the best.

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #831 on: February 10, 2012, 12:24:32 PM »
I've got all three of those too! I don't have The Flower King, wasn't really into TFK before, at least not enough to spend lots of cash on their studio albums, but those live boxes are great.

Oh and TA's Whirld Tour deluxe version?

Yeah, I've got it but it's the American/Radiant cheap-thin-cardboard case, not the European/InsideOut super-deluxe hard-cardboard case, but I plan on getting that version as well, as soon as I have the money to spare for it. Unfortunately, with all the new music coming out this year, it's looking less likely :(

-Marc.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #832 on: February 11, 2012, 09:47:10 AM »
I became a fan of Neal Morse through his connection with some of the DT boys.  He is a remarkable musical arranger.  Some of his concepts might be a little out there but as a musician and a composer he is certainly right up there with the best.

Agreed. :)

As much as I love Neal, we really don't need yet another live DVD.  Kev, those are great choices, but we already have them on the Sola Scriptura and Beyond DVD (at least, most of them).  Although I am somewhat of a completist, I doubt I would buy another live DVD from a tour this year other than for a BIG chunk of new material.

But that's the thing: if the new album is another major winner, won't we all want to see a live DVD with all or most of it being played?  I am guessing most Neal fans would.  Plus, as he releases more music, it has to get harder and harder to narrow a set list down, as he has so much music already.  I didn't realize how many minutes of music of his I really like listening to until a few months back when I went to make a new Neal mp3 CD for my car, following the release of T2, and realized that I couldn't fit it all on one CD (even with putting nothing from It's Not Too Late).  Not many artists have so much music I like listening to that I have to break it all up into two CDs for my car, but Neal is one of them.  And that is not even counting Spock's Beard!  I eventually did the stuff I really like from the debut through Lifeline on one CD, and then put all of the T2 stuff on the same CD as all of Transatlantic's stuff.  Made it nice and easy. :coolio

Offline ytserush

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #833 on: February 19, 2012, 01:01:24 PM »
Curse you and your bonus disks!!!  >:(

I could anger you more and tell you that I have the Special/Limited Edition versions of:
Testimony (3CD)
One (2CD)
Lifeline (2CD)
Testimony 2 (2CD+DVD)
SMPT:e (2CD)
Bridge Across Forever (2CD)
The Whirlwind (2CD+DVD)

 :angel:

-Marc.

Nice! I don't like Lifeline, so I don't have that one, and I haven't been able to find the SMPTE and Bridge bonus disc versions, but I've got the rest too. Nice collection though.

How about the limited rerelease of The Light?

The large version? No, not yet, but I do have that version of The Flower King. The collector's version of The Light is on my list of to-buy things. I also have the 4-disc book-case version of Transatlantic's Live In Europe, The Flower King's Meet The Flower Kings and Instant Delivery.

-Marc.


I've got all of those versions listed above and the limited book edition of The Light (although i haven't opened it).

I've got the original version of The Flower King although I'm not a huge Flower Kings fan aside from maybe Alive On Planet Earth, Unfold the Future and Wall Street Voodoo...oh wait that's a Roine solo album.

Offline darkshade

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #834 on: February 28, 2012, 09:11:30 AM »
From Neal's forum

The new issue of UK Magazine "Classic Rock Presents Prog" has not only a Flying Colors track on the free cd, but also the results of the annual Readers' Poll. Neal has numbers 3 & 4 Best DVD's for More is Never Enough and Testimony 2 Live, Number 3 best Keyboard Player (behind Jordan Rudess and Rick Wakeman) and Number 4 Prog Icon (behind Steven Wilson, Peter Gabriel and Mike Portnoy.

There's also quite a glowing review of T2 Live, and some amazing news:

In an interview with Mike Portnoy, he says that Transatlantic are trying to find space in their schedules to record in 2012. I suggest we each donate a Thursday afternoon.

Offline bosk1

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #835 on: February 28, 2012, 09:15:25 AM »
:caffeine:
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Offline darkshade

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #836 on: February 28, 2012, 09:25:28 AM »
New Transatlantic, Neal Morse solo album, The Flower Kings, and possibly Dream Theater recording later this year. This is a great time to be a fan of these guys!

Offline Nihil-Morari

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #837 on: February 28, 2012, 09:47:04 AM »
 :tup
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Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #838 on: February 28, 2012, 09:54:43 AM »
Sounds awesome.
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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #839 on: February 28, 2012, 10:46:47 AM »
New Transatlantic, Neal Morse solo album, The Flower Kings, and possibly Dream Theater recording later this year. This is a great time to be a fan of these guys!

As well as new Marillion and Spock's Beard (well, even though Neal isn't a part of them any more, his brother Al did some writing with Neal FOR the new SB record, so Neal's name may yet appear on the album's credits again!).

I think I read this news 2 weeks ago when it was posted there... I guess it slipped my mind to post it here ???

Anyways, new Transatlantic in 2013 would be awesome, along with new Dream Theater. It'll be a treat, but with ALL the great new (prog) music coming out THIS year (RUSH, Flying Colors, anything with Steven Wilson's name on it, Marillion, Spock's Beard, Neal Morse Covers album AND new Solo album as well as a third-yet-unknown-project, The Flower Kings, Hasse Froberg & the Musical Companion, and SOOOOO so many more), I think I can wait for 2013 easily!

-Marc.
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