Apart from "A Whole 'Nother Trip", Neal's first two solo albums, and Songs From November, are decidedly NOT very prog, but are still very Neal. There's some good songs among them, especially ones line "Emma", "The Wind And The Rain", and a few others, but those two stick out in my mind the most, as well as the title track from "It's Not Too Late".
I cannot wait to get Morsefest 2015 because of the live debut of "A Whole 'Nother Trip", which I've wanted Neal to play live for AGES now, and I'm glad he finally got around to playing that early epic of his (which has some early Neal trademarks, like the latin section, and the heavy-guitar riff section, and more!).
My rankings might change on a day-to-day basis, but here's how they rest right now:
Top Tier - One, ?, The Grand Experiment
Second Tier - The Similitude Of A Dream, Testimony 1 & 2
Third Tier - Sola Scriptura, Momentum
Fourth Tier - Lifeline
For me, One (especially the 11-track correct order) is pretty much a masterpiece, and I really enjoy ? as well, as it was the newest album Neal had released just around the time I discovered SB/TA/Neal music, so it got a LOT of attention. And as for TGE, it's an amazing balance of long and short songs, a really great re-interpretation/cover, and an astounding epic - it's a really well-rounded album by a very talented band!
My second tier, oddly enough, make up the longer concept albums, and I love them all just the same as the top tier, but they can take a lot of time to get through, and I can only truly appreciate the albums as wholes, which mean there are some weaker parts here and there when taken as tracks or chunks of tracks. These three are really greater than the sum of their parts.
Third tier are just the remaining two albums above what I (and many others) still consider his weakest effort among his solo/NMB prog works, and I think even Neal feels that way. Since that album came out, he's only regularly played two tracks ("Lifeline" and "Leviathan"), and only occasionally played one or two of the other shorter songs. The epic "So Many Roads" has only ever been played twice, and never by Randy or Mike. I think it would be great if Neal did the whole thing, bonus tracks and all (and perhaps "Starless" as well) in the next Morsefest. Play Lifeline and Testimony 2, give us definitive live versions of "So Many Roads" with Randy and Mike (and Eric and Bill, of course, which would be awesome considering the clarinet solo in there), as well as another version of "Seeds Of Gold", just so I can hear Eric play Steve Morse's guitar solo! Make it happen, Neal! Morsefest 2017...or 2018 - Lifeline & Testimony 2 Live!
-Marc.