Having had the album for a couple days, I have no had a chance to REALLY listen to it, just opting to play it as I went to bed, hoping to absorb some of it through my dreams. Tonight, however, having had the day off work ,I've given the album a full listen front-to-back, and I've got to say, this is pretty fantastic.
It's quite a dense album, with a lot of songs and moments and motifs and themes, which will take weeks and months, if not years, for me to really digest and absorb and pick apart. I could listen to an album like The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, or The Wall, or even Snow and just pick out moments of songs and be like "Oh, this theme is lifted from this other song, and that motif is reprised later on in that other song", but this one is still so very fresh and sprawling that it will take awhile for me to get everything.
It'll also take me a few more hard listens to really pick out any stand-out tracks. I haven't really picked any out yet as the whole thing just runs together so well that it feels like a huge cohesive piece, and with the few breaks that are present in-between songs, it really does feel like a giant piece. Musically speaking, this album is on par with anything Neal has ever put out IMO, there's a lot of variety in terms of his musical influences being shown here, from the most complex of prog to straight rock to heavier, borderline metal, all performed excellently by the whole band.
And speaking of the band, it's great to hear Mike, Bill, and Eric do vocals throughout the album. It's really beginning to sound like Neal put together a new SB of his own in terms of sharing vocals and what not (though the Gentle Giant-esque SB vocal trade-offs are missed). All in all, this band has been elevated to a whole new level. I knew The Grand Experiment was pretty great and it would stand the test of time, but it might slowly get over-shadowed by this album. Only time will tell. At least there aren't any other major albums for me to get into until next year, and thankfully so, because it'll take awhile for me to digest this whole thing!
-Marc.