Transatlantic - superb band, but those religious..

Yes' Close to the Edge (song) is about searching for God. 

Tales From Topographic Oceans is about God and the Creation.

Both are amazing prog pieces.

What's the problem? Although I'm an atheist, I'm not bothered by this kind of things. It's their vision, and they have the right to believe in any God, as I have the right to be an atheist as well.

If Neal Morse thinks God saved his life, good for him. He's happy with that. And I don't care, I think Spock's Beard and Transatlantic are just too good to stop listening to them only because I don't agree with Morse's beliefs.

I don't understand why it's any different than any other lyrical content. It's not like he's trying to convert you with they lyrics. It's a very powerful piece, because Morse is singing about something that really moves him.

I'm an atheist, but I rather like 'Dancing with Eternal Glory.' Even more controversially, I am really enjoying 'The Whirlwind' these past few weeks. Perhaps it IS candy, but it is bright, shiny, tasty candy. I don't think it's on par with "Gates of Delirium" or TFTO, but I kind of like how Transatlantic's music always feels happy, rather than serious. 35 years after first buying TFTO, I still listen to it fairly often. I don't think 'The Whirlwind' will live up to that, but I think it's great for a night of no-strings-attached aural fun.

I too think Morse has gotten some complaints about his lyrics for along these lines simply because of the political climate, the mistaken belief that Christians want to "make a theocracy," and the hypocritical behavior of some high profile Christians. Whereas I believe Christianity is a spiritual journey and a state of mind guided by Scripture, it is a shame many Christians have made it into a "do as I say" ordinary religion. My sense is that Morse feels the same way and is just expressing the joy in his heart.

While Christians I know would love to see America return to God (as the Founders stated, it was for a religious and moral people that the Constitution was intended, so that by most people "governing the self" out of a sense of responsibility to the Creator, a NON-intrusive government would be possible), NO rational Christian expects to force anyone into that direction, or wants the religious tenets encoded into law except so far as to reflect the sense of having "guard rails" so society doesn't drive off the cliff at the bend in the road. Our sense of right and wrong comes from the Judaeo-Christian moral code which ultimately derives from the Ten Commandments, and as I read them I can't help but wonder what a great world it would be if everyone followed  them simply of their own free will.

And as I said in another post, someone who finds God-lyrics objectionable can always just consider the subject matter to be a fantasy like some other stuff we listen to. Then he can enjoy the music again.

Mike V.
www.myspace.com/kineticelement

Eh, I'm really not that familiar with Neil, but I like Steve a lot.  Plus you don't get dosed with religion in his music unless you consider him to be a guitar God. 

Logan wrote: jplanet wrote: What is truly shocking is that Neal Morse is always under fire for his lyrics, and nobody seems to notice the truly atrocious lyrics we have all put up with for years. Take Asia's "One Step Closer", for example. "One Step closer, much closer than before". Really? If one step brings Mr. Wetton MUCH closer, it's safe to say he wasn't very far to begin with. Not much of an accomplishment that one step, then, is it? :-P Sorry, I'm in a weird mood. Asia is a joke we're largely all in on, while far fewer of us get the joke that is -. . .- .-.. / -- --- .-. ... . (I wrote it in Morse Code so as not to offend ).

Neal Morse code?  

jplanet wrote: What is truly shocking is that Neal Morse is always under fire for his lyrics, and nobody seems to notice the truly atrocious lyrics we have all put up with for years. Take Asia's "One Step Closer", for example. "One Step closer, much closer than before". Really? If one step brings Mr. Wetton MUCH closer, it's safe to say he wasn't very far to begin with. Not much of an accomplishment that one step, then, is it? :-P Sorry, I'm in a weird mood.

Asia is a joke we're largely all in on, while far fewer of us get the joke that is -. . .- .-.. / -- --- .-. ... . (I wrote it in Morse Code so as not to offend ).

Yeah it's just like in King Of Carrot Flowers by Neutral Milk Hotel, where he starts yelling out "Jesus Christ, I love you" again and again. I know he's having a serious spiritual moment and all but it's a bit too solemn and sacred for me.

As someone who has in the past reacted adversely to christian lyrics, I find this kind of interesting.  What I've discovered, for myself, is that if I just absorb the music and lyrics, without passing judgments but instead trying to feel the music and lyrics as the writer intended, then it really doesn't matter what the subject is.  Morse used to write lyrics that meant absolutely nothing (according to interviews with him I read around the time of Day For Night, a few years before he was a born again).  Now he writes about one particular subject dear to his heart. I get into that while the music is playing, and go back to my own world when it ends.

On the whole I think organized religion is a relic of mankind's spiritual adolescence (or maybe even childhood) and needs to be cast off and evolved out of.  But I find most of Morse's lyrics on the subject to be fairly interesting, or at worst tolerable.  Certainly no worse than Tolkien inspired lyrics, or lyrics about satan (a fantasy creature who would not exist were it not for Christianity..........who, of course, borrowed the idea from older mythologies).

Anyway, I don't find TA's lyrics to be very blatantly Christian, and only the last section of the Whirlwind do I find kind of tedious.  But that actually has more to do with the music than the lyrics.  The rest of the album I think is quite good and the lyrics are decent, if not particularly inspired.



 

Jeff: he's not wasting your time by having you look at it, he hasn't even asked you to look it, it's more like if you really feel that you are wasting your time, then you're wasting your own time by looking at it (and as corollary, writing a post).  The title is clear enough, and so reading the posts is easily avoided by those who don't like such topics (unless, like with admin, it's part of their responsibility to read). :p

It's interesting to me, though, that we get so many posts lamenting Christian lyrics, as well as those posts that react to such lamentation,  yet so little about pagan, atheistic, anti-Christian/ religion, satanic, non-Christian-religious etc. lyrics.

When was the last time, for instance, that we saw a topic  expressing disapproval for Matching Mole because of "God Song?"



Now go play some Coven! lol