Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[faizoff]

So did anyone get any shipping emails yet from Radiant? I expect something in the next day or two maybe?

[ronnibran]

I’ve read about others (on Facebook) getting those emails but I haven’t. Hoping that doesn’t mean anything.  Worst case can listen on Friday on Spotify, but I am hoping to watch the making of dvd first.

[KevShmev]

  He's definitely in my top 5 (maybe top 3) artists/bands of all time!

If I could combine all of Neal's projects together, he might give Rush a run for their money at number 1, but that is cheating.  I'd have to give it some thought to figure out where each would rank (and it has been a long while since I did a top 50 bands/artists list or something like that).   Huge fan of Neal Morse Band, Flying Colors and Transatlantic, but none of them have enough quantity to break into the top 10 and displace any of the bands that for me have just as much quality and much more quantity.  Solo Neal might rank the highest, but I'd have to think about it.

[faizoff]

I’ve read about others (on Facebook) getting those emails but I haven’t. Hoping that doesn’t mean anything.  Worst case can listen on Friday on Spotify, but I am hoping to watch the making of dvd first.

I was quite sure Neal doesn't have or like any of his stuff to be on Spotify. Then I checked Spotify and saw that there are some albums. I had thought he was completely against his stuff being on that platform seeing as how he promotes his Waterfall streaming service a lot.

[Cocopjojo]

I’ve read about others (on Facebook) getting those emails but I haven’t. Hoping that doesn’t mean anything.  Worst case can listen on Friday on Spotify, but I am hoping to watch the making of dvd first.

I was quite sure Neal doesn't have or like any of his stuff to be on Spotify. Then I checked Spotify and saw that there are some albums. I had thought he was completely against his stuff being on that platform seeing as how he promotes his Waterfall streaming service a lot.

It looks like he has 1 live album and a collection of singles - "The Neal Morse Band Collection." I assume the intent is to give folks a taste of his music without providing entire albums for free.

[425]

That has been my assumption as well. On the other hand, all of his major releases since mid-2019 are on there in full: JCTE, Live in BRNO, Sola Gratia, MF2018 and TAU (plus Flying Colors, whose whole discography is on there and maybe always has been). Maybe there's been a change in policy or a change in his deal with InsideOut.

[KevShmev]

Three days till release day!!  I am getting psyched. 

[Zydar]

For some reason I don't feel as excited about this release than for the previous two (Similitude & Adventure, which are great albums).

Perhaps it's because I've listened to the songs they've released from it so far and they haven't interested me. Hopefully they will grow on me in context of the album.

[Stadler]

For some reason I don't feel as excited about this release than for the previous two (Similitude & Adventure, which are great albums).

Perhaps it's because I've listened to the songs they've released from it so far and they haven't interested me. Hopefully they will grow on me in context of the album.

Your taste is your own, but FOR ME, this is very much an ALBUM.   "Not Afraid" parts one and two are broken up on the album, for example, and that works to both parts' advantages.  The two songs to start the album are very powerful, and there's a sort of contrast with the next couple songs on the record.   It works in context.  There's an almost Floydian vibe to the way the record ebbs and flows.   

[El Barto]

So did anyone get any shipping emails yet from Radiant? I expect something in the next day or two maybe?

Speaking of Radient and shipping, I ordered a shirt a few weeks ago (Kalaidoscope tour, as they were out of my size when I saw them). Is there any chance I'll have it before the tour begins next year? I know they're famously bad at this sort of thing, so I knew what to expect going in and I'm in no hurry. I'm just curious if we're talking weeks or months here. Are we supposed to hound them about it or anything?

[Kram]

  He's definitely in my top 5 (maybe top 3) artists/bands of all time!

If I could combine all of Neal's projects together, he might give Rush a run for their money at number 1, but that is cheating.  I'd have to give it some thought to figure out where each would rank (and it has been a long while since I did a top 50 bands/artists list or something like that).   Huge fan of Neal Morse Band, Flying Colors and Transatlantic, but none of them have enough quantity to break into the top 10 and displace any of the bands that for me have just as much quality and much more quantity.  Solo Neal might rank the highest, but I'd have to think about it.

Well nobody could ever replace Rush at number 1 for me - but I could possibly make an argument for NM (this is combining all of his projects including SB) to be number 3 on my list behind Rush and DT - not sure if I'd consider that cheating or not?

[ronnibran]

That has been my assumption as well. On the other hand, all of his major releases since mid-2019 are on there in full: JCTE, Live in BRNO, Sola Gratia, MF2018 and TAU (plus Flying Colors, whose whole discography is on there and maybe always has been). Maybe there's been a change in policy or a change in his deal with InsideOut.

It better be on spotify lol.  Because I am assuming that will be the only way to hear it this Friday even though I preordered it on the first day of preorders.  Back in the day (when One, ?, etc were released), I ALWAYS got my radiant releases earlier than release.  Now, I am surprised when I get them at time of release.  I only ordered through them to get the making of DVD.  When there's no bonus material, I won't order through them.

[faizoff]

So did anyone get any shipping emails yet from Radiant? I expect something in the next day or two maybe?

Speaking of Radient and shipping, I ordered a shirt a few weeks ago (Kalaidoscope tour, as they were out of my size when I saw them). Is there any chance I'll have it before the tour begins next year? I know they're famously bad at this sort of thing, so I knew what to expect going in and I'm in no hurry. I'm just curious if we're talking weeks or months here. Are we supposed to hound them about it or anything?

Honestly who knows. My experience with them has been a mixed bag, most of the items I've ordered have taken a while to arrive, there have been a few exceptions and as people say that tends to not be the norm.
I thought they hired a new firm or people or something of that nature when the store revamped so I don't know. I'm not expecting my order to arrive this weekend but I can wait as there is a lot of music to catch up or get into.

[Metro]

I preordered the I&D/MF19 bundle but never received a confirmation email. I emailed Radiant last week to make sure my order had gone through and would arrive on time. They got back to me quickly (shocking, considering their track record) and good ol' Amy Pippin confirmed that the order was in their system, but hadn't been paid for. I looked at my bank account history and that transaction isn't there. For some reason the payment didn't through.  I remember the website was a disaster that day, so god knows why that happened.
So I asked her how I can pay for the order. No response. A week went by and I emailed her again and she finally got back to me today saying I could pay via PayPal.
She also said,  "I am the only one that works for Radiant".

I love Neal and his music and I want to support him, but Radiant makes me wanna pull my hair out sometimes.

[faizoff]

I think I remember that, I just checked and saw that I had been charged during the preorder time. Hopefully they have a record of that.

[Stadler]

THey've been nothing but good to me in the times I've ordered, but if there's nothing special about the release, I go to Amazon (as I did here).   I ordered the standard CD, and while I was at it, I got Alive Again (not available at the Radiant site that I could see) and Sola Gratia, since I'm a completist.   Free shipping and it'll be here tomorrow (the latter two) and Friday for I&D.

[Learning2Live]

I preordered the I&D/MF19 bundle but never received a confirmation email. I emailed Radiant last week to make sure my order had gone through and would arrive on time. They got back to me quickly (shocking, considering their track record) and good ol' Amy Pippin confirmed that the order was in their system, but hadn't been paid for. I looked at my bank account history and that transaction isn't there. For some reason the payment didn't through.  I remember the website was a disaster that day, so god knows why that happened.
So I asked her how I can pay for the order. No response. A week went by and I emailed her again and she finally got back to me today saying I could pay via PayPal.
She also said,  "I am the only one that works for Radiant".

I love Neal and his music and I want to support him, but Radiant makes me wanna pull my hair out sometimes.

Thanks for posting this, as I just realized I'm in the same boat you are in. I see my order/order # in Radiant's site, but I too never got a confirmation email nor did my credit card ever get charged. I've reached out to Radiant as well and am hoping for a quick reply. Needless to say I can give up on getting the new album this week....

[Metro]

I preordered the I&D/MF19 bundle but never received a confirmation email. I emailed Radiant last week to make sure my order had gone through and would arrive on time. They got back to me quickly (shocking, considering their track record) and good ol' Amy Pippin confirmed that the order was in their system, but hadn't been paid for. I looked at my bank account history and that transaction isn't there. For some reason the payment didn't through.  I remember the website was a disaster that day, so god knows why that happened.
So I asked her how I can pay for the order. No response. A week went by and I emailed her again and she finally got back to me today saying I could pay via PayPal.
She also said,  "I am the only one that works for Radiant".

I love Neal and his music and I want to support him, but Radiant makes me wanna pull my hair out sometimes.

Thanks for posting this, as I just realized I'm in the same boat you are in. I see my order/order # in Radiant's site, but I too never got a confirmation email nor did my credit card ever get charged. I've reached out to Radiant as well and am hoping for a quick reply. Needless to say I can give up on getting the new album this week....

I had a feeling I wouldn’t be the only person to have this problem. Hope you get it sorted out!

Amy sent the PayPal request earlier today. I paid and got a shipping confirmation email within an hour so there’s still hope for getting this on time. Usually Radiant stuff arrives pretty quickly for me.

[ronnibran]

I was just listening to some Similitude tracks and rediscovering some of it (yeah I know, I actually never really over-listened to this one and haven't heard any of it in years, although I go to older Neal stuff often).  Great stuff...  Got me thinking - it's been a while since we had new "epics".  I mean, we've had plenty of concept albums (Similitude, Great Adventure, The Absolute Universe, Sola Gratia), but it's been a while since we got a massively long song.  (yes I realize this is all trivial and Neal and the bands he's in spoil us).  Last one was probably Alive Again (2015)?  And before that World Without End (2012)?

Looking forward to Friday.  Ignoring that I won't have it yet, I can for sure stream it anyway and am totally planning a personal listening party.  I have the day off of work and everything.  Dying to hear the new epics on disc 2.

[the_silent_man]

Do we think this new album will be on spotify? I see the singles are so I am hopeful, but most of Neal's stuff isnt, including Simultitude and Great Adventure...

[darkshade]

Do we think this new album will be on spotify? I see the singles are so I am hopeful, but most of Neal's stuff isnt, including Simultitude and Great Adventure...

I think Neal is doing newer stuff on spotify now (and other streaming sites? I don't know) but anything released before JC The Exorcist is only on Waterfall.

[ErHaO]

Do we think this new album will be on spotify? I see the singles are so I am hopeful, but most of Neal's stuff isnt, including Simultitude and Great Adventure...

I expect it to be. All of this newer major releases are on there (both live and studio).

And honestly not being on Spotify and similar services will probably negatively affect the artist at this point. Even stubborn Steven Wilson saw this and changed his mind.

Even my dad in his 60's now uses streaming services to listen to albums before buying these days.

[RoeDent]

The difference between Morse and Wilson is that Neal has his own streaming service. That said, the fact the new album is on InsideOut rather than Radiant, and the singles appeared on Spotify, gives me a glimmer of hope that the album will be there.

In 2021, it's kind of silly to not be on the main streaming services, if you want your music to reach the widest audience. As you said, Steven Wilson admitted that he lost. Everyone has to swim with the tide if they want to make it.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, fighting against streaming at this point is like fighting Ticketmaster.  Just like a massive band like Pearl Jam couldn't take down Ticketmaster back then, no one artist is taking down Spotify or Apple music.

[ronnibran]

Kind of kicking myself for paying so much for the new album when I know I'll be streaming it anyway tomorrow (wasn't in today's mail, on Radiant's website it shows that my order hasn't even been processed yet - and yeah I "bought" it months ago).  Maybe this will be the last time I get burned by Radiant.  I actually only started streaming as my main source of listening earlier this year.  Now that they are on streaming services, having gotten burned by Radiant yet again, on future releases I'll probably just stream and not bother to buy.  Really pisses me off.  I remember getting Similitude like 2 weeks after release date also, so I guess I can only blame myself for giving Radiant yet another chance.

[The Letter M]

Kind of kicking myself for paying so much for the new album when I know I'll be streaming it anyway tomorrow (wasn't in today's mail, on Radiant's website it shows that my order hasn't even been processed yet - and yeah I "bought" it months ago).  Maybe this will be the last time I get burned by Radiant.  I actually only started streaming as my main source of listening earlier this year.  Now that they are on streaming services, having gotten burned by Radiant yet again, on future releases I'll probably just stream and not bother to buy.  Really pisses me off.  I remember getting Similitude like 2 weeks after release date also, so I guess I can only blame myself for giving Radiant yet another chance.

I had just checked my order on the website as well and noticed it said Payment was "Currently Pending" even though I paid in full through PayPal months ago when I ordered on June 18th. I also never received an order confirmation email but the order exists in my account on the website, so I assumed it went through. I had just emailed them to make sure I was actually getting my I&D + MF19 bundle, but we will see if they ever email me back.

-Marc.

[Cocopjojo]

Yeah, fighting against streaming at this point is like fighting Ticketmaster.  Just like a massive band like Pearl Jam couldn't take down Ticketmaster back then, no one artist is taking down Spotify or Apple music.

Good comparison. Or Metallica vs. music downloads, or Garth vs. single-track downloads.

That said, Neal's audience is somewhat niche, and they all mostly know exactly how to get his music. He and Spotify can probably co-exist. I'd bet he makes good money off of Waterfall.

[RoeDent]

How much accountability should Neal have for how Radiant is run? I frequently see stories here about purchases not going well. And Burning Shed got hacked that one time so that's not an option for me should I ever go down that road.

I've never had trouble with Amazon. Usually albums get here on release day or the day after. Frost* took a week but that was a rare exception. 1 mishap in well over 10 years of otherwise reliable service, and even then I still got my disc.

[HOF]

How much accountability should Neal have for how Radiant is run? I frequently see stories here about purchases not going well. And Burning Shed got hacked that one time so that's not an option for me should I ever go down that road.

I've never had trouble with Amazon. Usually albums get here on release day or the day after. Frost* took a week but that was a rare exception. 1 mishap in well over 10 years of otherwise reliable service, and even then I still got my disc.

If you’re in the US and don’t want to use Amazon or Radiant, Laser CD usually has Neal’s releases and is probably the best way to go.

https://www.lasercd.com/

[King Postwhore]

Bought the CD from Amazon and it shipped today and it says I'll have it tomorrow.

[bluefox4000]

speaking of Radiant.....I seriously hope Someone puts morsefest 19 on amazon someday.  it's says exclusively available through radiant and i in no way wanna deal with radiant ever again.

Anyway should be getting the new NMB album tomorrow.

[The Letter M]

speaking of Radiant.....I seriously hope Someone puts morsefest 19 on amazon someday.  it's says exclusively available through radiant and i in no way wanna deal with radiant ever again.

Anyway should be getting the new NMB album tomorrow.

If by "someone" you mean a third party seller who will jack up the price, sure, that will probably happen. But Neal has said time and again that the MF 2019 stuff was only getting sold through Radiant and I believe he was only ordering 1 production run, so once those are out, they are out for good. Last I saw, he posted the other day saying there were something like 60 of them left to order.

-Marc.

[SomeoneLikeHim]

The new album is indeed on Spotify! Listening right now.

[RoeDent]

Same. Currently on the singles though; the real fun is going to be track 4 onwards.

This is definitely my most hyped album of the year. I cannot wait for this to be the soundtrack to my autumn, my favourite time of year.

[Mladen]

Four tracks in. I'm already enjoying it more than I thought I would. Some of it is very different. Some of it reminds me of Neal's early solo stuff before Testimony. It sounds nothing like the band that gave us Similitude.