Author Topic: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread  (Read 539509 times)

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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #630 on: June 27, 2011, 08:36:11 AM »
BTW, for those of us who are digging this, in what order do you like the songs on Disc 1?  I'd probably go something like this (bearing in my mind that there are no weak spots):

Crossing Over/Mercy Street Reprise
It's for You
The Truth Will Set You Free
Mercy Street
Time Has Come Today
Nighttime Collectors
Road Dog Blues
Chance of a Lifetime
Time Changer (yes, it has grown on me)
Jesus Bring Me Home
Jayda
Jesus' Blood
Overture No. 4

Offline Jamesman42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #631 on: June 27, 2011, 08:41:46 AM »
Still too early for me to rank all of them, but TTWSYF and It's For You are definitely top 2.



Edit: The "Where is the rain?" part is just perfect....amazes me every time.

Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #632 on: June 27, 2011, 10:11:52 AM »
BTW, for those of us who are digging this, in what order do you like the songs on Disc 1?  I'd probably go something like this (bearing in my mind that there are no weak spots):

Crossing Over/Mercy Street Reprise
It's for You
The Truth Will Set You Free
Mercy Street
Time Has Come Today
Nighttime Collectors
Road Dog Blues
Chance of a Lifetime
Time Changer (yes, it has grown on me)
Jesus Bring Me Home
Jayda
Jesus' Blood
Overture No. 4

Wow, this is harder than I thought.  Lots of songs and I love them all. . .  I'll give it a shot:

Crossing Over/Mercy St reprise
Mercy Street
Overture 4
Jayda
Jesus Bring Me home
Chance of a Lifetime
Nighttime Collectors
Time has Come today
The Truth Will Set You Free
It's For you
Jesus blood
Time Changer
Road Dog Blues


Offline Quadrochosis

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #633 on: June 27, 2011, 06:27:58 PM »
Time Changer is the best song on T2
space cadet, pull out.
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Offline Ħ

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #634 on: June 28, 2011, 01:17:16 AM »
Crossing Over/Mercy Street Reprise
The Truth Will Set You Free
Jesus' Blood
Mercy Street
Nighttime Collectors
**everything else**
Road Dog Blues
Time Changer
Chance of a Lifetime

That's all I could come up with so far.
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Offline Scrub206

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #635 on: July 24, 2011, 10:45:15 PM »
Wasnt one of the shows on his T2 tour recorded? anyone hear any updates about this? if im mistaken i appologize.

Offline j

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #636 on: July 24, 2011, 11:25:37 PM »
Anybody really like this album who DIDN'T like Testimony 1?  I still haven't had a chance to check it out, but I can't say the prospect of a sequel to my least favorite Neal Morse album got me too excited.

-J

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #637 on: July 24, 2011, 11:32:17 PM »
It didn't get me excited either, but while I like the first Testimony, this new one blows it out of the water on pretty much every level.  And I don't really even think of it as a sequel.  The reprises are thankfully left to a bare minimum.  And I say "thankfully" not because the first one didn't have good themes that were worthy of being reprised, but because I didn't want T2 to turn into a reprisal fest.  Which it didn't.

Offline Jamesman42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #638 on: July 25, 2011, 05:51:26 AM »
Anybody really like this album who DIDN'T like Testimony 1?  I still haven't had a chance to check it out, but I can't say the prospect of a sequel to my least favorite Neal Morse album got me too excited.

-J

I'll be honest, T1 is my least favorite NM prog album...it's really bloated despite all the great riffs/melodies. Some gems, but too much filler and reprising.

T2 is the opposite. Reprises are done very well and nowhere near as often (across the whole album I mean), and it flows so much better and is a lot more concise than T1. It's on par with his best solo prog albums (?, One).

Offline bosk1

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #639 on: July 25, 2011, 09:13:19 AM »
The reprises are thankfully left to a bare minimum.  And I say "thankfully" not because the first one didn't have good themes that were worthy of being reprised, but because I didn't want T2 to turn into a reprisal fest.  Which it didn't.

*bosk1 likes this post*

As for ranking:

1.  One
2.  Sola Scriptura
3.  Testimony
...
4.  Testimony 2
...
5.  ?
6.  Lifeline
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Offline Ħ

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #640 on: July 25, 2011, 09:16:02 AM »
1. Testimony
2. Testimony 2
3. One
4. Lifeline
5. Sola Scriptura
6. ?

I like Neal's storytelling better than I like his preaching, which reflects in my ranking.
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Offline Jamesman42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #641 on: July 26, 2011, 07:20:48 AM »
The previous 2 lists contain a healthy dose of failure. :)


1. One
2. ?
3. Testimony 2
4. Sola Scriptura
5. Lifeline
6. Testimony

Offline darkshade

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #642 on: July 26, 2011, 11:39:39 AM »
Even though Ive only been familiar with his solo albums since last summer, Testimony 1 never clicked for me, for similar reasons as stated above. Good; but too much. Testimony 2 is just stellar, fits on one album, and it's a breeze to get through. It also rocks a little harder than T1.

1. ?
2. Testimony 2
3. Sola Scriptura
4. One
5. Testimony
6. Lifeline (this one has been growing on me, and may move up to #5 soon)

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #643 on: July 26, 2011, 02:49:39 PM »
The previous 2 lists contain a healthy dose of failure. :)

As does any studio album rankings list that ignores Neal's first two albums. :facepalm: :biggrin:

1. Testimony Two
2. ?
3. One
4. Neal Morse
5. Testimony
6. Sola Scriptura
7. Lifeline
8. It's Not Too Late

Offline bosk1

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #644 on: July 26, 2011, 02:50:39 PM »
The previous 2 lists contain a healthy dose of failure. :)

As does any studio album rankings list that ignores Neal's first two albums. :facepalm: :biggrin:

Stop making things up.  We're only counting the real albums.
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Offline Jamesman42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #645 on: July 26, 2011, 02:57:32 PM »
The previous 2 lists contain a healthy dose of failure. :)

As does any studio album rankings list that ignores Neal's first two albums. :facepalm: :biggrin:

An even bigger failure is that you are forgetting Songs from the Highway (AND YES IT DOES COUNT).

Offline Nick

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #646 on: July 26, 2011, 06:55:44 PM »
1. ?
2. One
3. Testimony 2
4. Lifeline
5. Sola Scriptura
6. Testimony

I find minimal quality drops after 1, 2, and 3, but I think Sola and T1 are both considerably worse than the rest, though both are still good alums.
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Offline ronnibran

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #647 on: July 26, 2011, 08:36:19 PM »
I'll rank the albums. . .

1. Testimony 2
2. Testimony
3. One
4. Sola Scriptura
5. Lifeline
6. ?
7. Songs from the highway
8. God Won't Give Up
9. Neal Morse
10. It's Not Too Late

Really, 1 through 5 are all close, I consider them all masterpieces (yes, even Lifeline, because So Many Roads is like, my fav song ever!).

One and Sola Scriptura, although they aren't at top of the list, have received the most playing time.  But maybe I've overlistened, as I don't go back to them very often anymore.
« Last Edit: July 27, 2011, 10:19:39 AM by ronnibran »

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #648 on: July 26, 2011, 10:18:27 PM »


An even bigger failure is that you are forgetting Songs from the Highway (AND YES IT DOES COUNT).


No it doesn't.  If we are gonna count that, then we have to count all of those worship albums.

Offline darkshade

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #649 on: July 27, 2011, 10:14:17 AM »


An even bigger failure is that you are forgetting Songs from the Highway (AND YES IT DOES COUNT).


No it doesn't.  If we are gonna count that, then we have to count all of those worship albums.

Yea Im pretty sure most people, at least on these boards, dont have them

Offline Scrub206

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #650 on: July 27, 2011, 08:30:58 PM »
.... soooo nothing about a Neal Morse dvd?

Offline Nick

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #651 on: July 27, 2011, 08:33:49 PM »
Yes, there will be a DVD.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #652 on: July 27, 2011, 08:36:48 PM »


An even bigger failure is that you are forgetting Songs from the Highway (AND YES IT DOES COUNT).


No it doesn't.  If we are gonna count that, then we have to count all of those worship albums.

Yea Im pretty sure most people, at least on these boards, dont have them

Which isn't a bad thing.  I bought one of them years ago, 'cause it was fairly cheap, and thought it might be good.  But I was wrong.  Thank God (literally) that Neal saves that stuff for the worship CDs.  If non-believers thought his regular CDs were too preachy or whatever, their heads would explode after one worship CD song. :lol

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #653 on: July 27, 2011, 09:32:04 PM »
Yes, there will be a DVD.

Yes and IIRC, they filmed the LA show with the US band, so I hope the entire show gets released! Ideally, I'd buy a 2-DVD set, a disc for each leg of the tour - the US band and shows, and the European band and shows, since they had different setlists for each band, it'd be nice if we got video of almost all the songs they played on the tour!

-Marc.
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Offline Scrub206

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #654 on: July 27, 2011, 11:35:46 PM »
awesome! thanks :D

and yeah the US and EU sets would be awesome!  :metal

Offline Jamesman42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #655 on: July 28, 2011, 07:01:53 PM »


An even bigger failure is that you are forgetting Songs from the Highway (AND YES IT DOES COUNT).


No it doesn't.  If we are gonna count that, then we have to count all of those worship albums.

Wait, what? SFTH doesn't relate to the worship CD's. How do you count the other 2 albums you did initially, but not SFTH? I can see not counting the worship CD's.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #656 on: July 28, 2011, 08:19:53 PM »
Because those first two solo albums were officially released studio albums that were available everywhere, while Songs from the Highway, like the worship CDs, are ones you can pretty much only buy at his website (not counting people who sell used copies at amazon, for example).  You can still buy the first album and It's Not Too Late at amazon (albeit the latter as an import only, but it used to be sold as a normal release there).  

In other words, albums like the worship CDs and Songs from the Highway are like DT's ytsejam releases: they are not "official" releases, which is why they are only available at the artists' site (or one ran by the artist, like ytsejam was when Portnoy was in DT).

Offline Jamesman42

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #657 on: July 28, 2011, 08:21:52 PM »
Oh crap, yeah that makes sense.

Forgot about your sig. :facepalm:

Offline ytserush

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #658 on: August 02, 2011, 07:30:04 PM »
Songs From The Road has the Metal Blade logo on it. It's not a self release.  


Songs From The Road is also one of his best releases ever in my opinion.

Offline darkshade

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #659 on: August 22, 2011, 09:13:44 AM »
Listening to Bridge Across Forever right now, and based on sheer beauty, I think it's the most beautiful Neal Morse-related album.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #660 on: August 22, 2011, 01:12:51 PM »
Listening to Bridge Across Forever right now, and based on sheer beauty, I think it's the most beautiful Neal Morse-related album.


I'll still SMPTE by a hair over it, but it's close. :hat

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #661 on: August 22, 2011, 03:49:15 PM »
Listening to Bridge Across Forever right now, and based on sheer beauty, I think it's the most beautiful Neal Morse-related album.


BAF is far and away one of my favorite albums of ALL TIME. It's just an amazing piece of music and all the songs are so well done. And the shared movements/motifs across the album give it a really good cohesive sound. And the track order is perfect - I'm glad Mike won that argument with Neal as I'm not sure the album would have sounded better any other way.

-Marc.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #662 on: August 22, 2011, 05:38:52 PM »
I love BAF, but have never thought that the title track was good with the flow.  I can't imagine it in any other spot in the running order, but it just feels out of place a bit.  I always thought it was odd that they put what is essentially a solo Neal song on a TA record.  Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful song, but given how few tracks they do per album, dedicating one to one member, when that member could have easily put it on one of his solo records, just seemed a bit weird.

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #663 on: August 22, 2011, 09:16:02 PM »
I love BAF, but have never thought that the title track was good with the flow.  I can't imagine it in any other spot in the running order, but it just feels out of place a bit.  I always thought it was odd that they put what is essentially a solo Neal song on a TA record.  Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful song, but given how few tracks they do per album, dedicating one to one member, when that member could have easily put it on one of his solo records, just seemed a bit weird.

I thought so too at first, but apparently it moved the others so well that they didn't want to touch it at all because they felt Neal did it so well by himself, and to add or change anything by the other three members might have seemed a bit damaging to the song. I remember Pete as saying he cried when he first heard Neal's demo of the song, and that Mike really loved it as well, and I'm pretty positive Roine had the same sentiments.

I think they loved it enough to let Neal put it on the album, and even name the album after it. I enjoy the Neal ballads that they have put on TA albums - "We All Need Some Light", "Bridge Across Forever" and "Rose Colored Glasses" (which IIRC was essentially a near-finished song/demo when Neal presented it to the others during the making of The Whirlwind). I think "Bridge Across Forever" is a good breather on an album of 3 multi-movement epics, and gives it some balance.

-Marc.
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Offline The Letter M

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Re: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread
« Reply #664 on: August 25, 2011, 08:23:08 PM »
https://www.nealmorse.com/

Quote
COMING SOON!!!
Fresh from Neal Morse's recent T2 World Tour, comes this amazing package consisting of 3 Audio CDs and 2 Full Length DVDs with over 3 hours of mind blowing music and a whopping 4 hours of concert footage and extras! Guaranteed to excite and satisfy the prog fan this Christmas and for years to come.

This is the closest you can get to being on the tour without actually being there! Contains professionally shot footage of the historic reunion of Neal Morse and Spock's Beard, Live from the High Voltage Festival in London and a 90 minute behind the scenes tour documentary!

-Marc.
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