NEAL MORSE

As will be apparent for anyone who has read my other reviews and posts on the forum, I am a great admirer of Neal Morse. For me his two best albums are Question Mark and Sola Scriptura, and I don't think he's bettered them since. However, he has come close on many occasions, and this latest album I would put in that category.

The publicity blurb for the album said that Neal compared it to Transatlantic's Bridge Across Forever or Spock's Beard's V. I don't see that myself. My point of reference would be NMB's The Grand Experiment, which also has a medium-length epic and an almost 30 minute epic bookending three shorter songs. Of the shorter songs, there is a straightforward rocker (All The Rage cf. The Grand Experiment) and an acoustic number (Ever Interceding cf. Waterfall), and I get definite "Alive Again" vibes from the title track. What makes this new album better than The Grand Experiment is that all five songs are excellent, there is no let-down like the awful "Agenda." I believe I gave TGE 4 stars, so I'll happily give this 4.5. If you're a fan of Neal's music, you will love this album.

No Hill For A Climber is, naturally, an album that sounds like what you would expect from Mr Morse. This is particularly apparent in the opening track, Eternity In Your Eyes. There are, however, some different ideas that come from working with new and younger musicians. And make no mistake, these are not just session players, these guys are seriously good. I'm sure that, once Mike Portnoy has more free time, Neal will get back with him, Randy, Eric and Bill, but I also believe that the guys who make up The Resonance should carry on making their own music. I'm sure they can count on help and support from the maestro himself.

Neal releases another samey sounding album with some new band mates, The Resonance. The musicianship and recording is top quality as usual but none of the songs, with the exception of "Thief", move me. We have heard these riffs, countless times before. And that's okay for some, but I find it tiresome with Neal's solo work specifically because of the lyrics. Once again he sings about his imaginary friend, and it is especially cringey on "Ever Interceding". As I mentioned earlier I like "Thief"... it has a cool blues vibe and the break at 2:20 sounds a lot like Spock's Beard. The faux horn arrangements towards the end of the song are kind of different.

Anyway, I can't give this release much praise. I rate this for fans only, therefore two stars.

No Mike Portnoy

With all the hooplah involved in his return to Dream Theater, was does Neil Morse do now? Jump of the nearest tall building? Curl up into a ball and cry like a baby? No he chooses to work with some talented local musicians and in my estimation at least make his best album for 10 years. What an absolutely beautiful record this is. ''2 long tracks don't make a great prog album'' someone said recently. Well what about 2 long tracks and 3 shorter tracks then? Does that work, it certainly does! This is how you make a prog record and in the process you seed the next generation. Well done Neil and thank you for this faultless gem.

Unfortunately, Neal Morse's Sola Scriptura falls short of expectations, feeling uninspired and monotonous. As a long-time fan of his work, I found this release particularly disappointing. Morse seems to recycle themes and styles from his previous albums, bundling them into lengthy epics that lack freshness. While he attempts to incorporate metal elements into his music as his latest innovation, this addition does little to invigorate the overall sound.

The most critical flaw lies in the songwriting, which fails to captivate or engage. The album's tracks blend into one another without distinct identity or memorable moments. It's disheartening to see such a talented artist, known for his creativity and innovation, produce a body of work that feels more like a rehash than a progression. This is possibly the first time a Neal Morse album has left me feeling underwhelmed, highlighting the absence of the spark that usually makes his music so compelling.

1.5/5 after three listens.

I strongly felt Neal's last album was a real return to form after his previous Christian musical, 'Jesus Christ The Exorcist', which was for me one of his weakest releases, although to be fair I do not think it is possible for Morse to put out a truly poor album. Needless to say, I have been looking forward to hearing this, and at long last we have the concluding part of the well-known story. 'The Dreamer - Joseph: Part One' finished with Joseph unjustly imprisoned, and in 'The Restoration - Joseph: Part Two,' we find him becoming the viceroy of Egypt and reuniting with his family. Neal assumes the lead vocalist role, plus there are a host of guests including Nick D'Virgilio (Spock's Beard, Big Big Train), Ted Leonard (Spock's Beard, Pattern Seeking Animals, Enchant), Matt Smith (Theocracy), Ross Jennings (Haken), Jake Livgren (Proto-Kaw, Emerald City Council) and Alan Morse (Spock's Beard), along with members of the Neal Morse Band, such as Bill Hubauer and Eric Gillette.

It must be said that some of this does seem somewhat like Morse by numbers, and there is no doubt we have previously heard the vocal approach on "The Argument" on songs like "Gibberish" ? it is very clever but there is definitely the feeling we have come across this before. It is a shame as the driving guitar which precedes it is simply wonderful, and then we morph into "Make Like a Breeze" where we are into classic driving prog which makes me almost forgive what just came before. The man is a genius, of that there is no doubt, but when working in a multi- instrumentalist fashion there is always the risk of not taking on new ideas and falling back on what is safe. The result is an album I have thoroughly enjoyed but is not at the heights of being truly indispensable, and given how much I enjoyed the first part I must admit to being somewhat disappointed. I understand that Neal feels it is his duty to keep spreading the word of Christianity as it is incredibly important to him, and over the years he has released some truly great albums (seeing him perform 'Testimony' in London was a very special event indeed), but if he is going to have the impact he desires then he also needs to rethink his musical approach, as while there are times when this is truly brilliant there are also others where we feel we have heard it before and are looking for something new.

It may not have been the brilliant conclusion I was looking for, but it is still worthy of investigation for those like me who have followed his career with interest ever since the arrival of 'The Light' all those years ago.

If you are regular readers of ProgCritique, you know that the first part of the work devoted to Joseph by Neal Morse, namely 'The Dreamer ? Joseph: Part One', excited me. I invite you to go and read this column if you have not already done so. Some six months later, Neal returns with the second part of the project: 'The Restoration ? Joseph: Part Two', which constitutes the continuation and the end. The format is unchanged (concept album, rock opera, musical comedy, your choice), and the narration picks up where we left Joseph at the end of the first part, namely: at the bottom of the hole. We find in this second part many musical themes already present in part 1, but under slightly different arrangements. However, I find this one a little more Rock, a little more adventurous, and even more Prog, which is not to displease.

From the start of "Cosmic Mess", the instrumental virtuosity is there. Prog fans, settle in, you are at home here. Then the title takes a Rock turn with the arrival of Neal Morse 's singing lost in a reverb supposed to evoke the character's situation. The song is enhanced by dynamic brass parts and segues directly into the next "My Dream", where the trio D'Virgilio , Morse , Jennings is reconstituted (don't forget to listen to their album 'Sophomore'), for a set of high-level vocal jousts. Ross Jennings (Haken) stays on track for "Dreamer in the Jailhouse", a title still part of the Prog, dotted with interesting keyboard touches and some metal guitar insertions. The fervor does not diminish on "All Hail", which contains a bridge with a soaring 60s Psyche Rock atmosphere, and a finale which gains in intensity led by beautiful keyboards. A furious Prog title with vocal performances reminiscent of Gentle Giant, "The Argument" is a pure virtuoso demonstration and serves as a sort of introduction to "Make Like a Breeze", a resolutely Rock/Metal piece with the arrival of Ted Leonard on vocals and enhanced with grandiose organ and guitar parts.

The "Overture Reprise" reminds us of the opening theme of part 1, 'The Dreamer', then Neal Morse displays his talents as a composer on " I Hate My Brothers" which skillfully mixes Hard Rock guitars and brass. On "Guilty as Charged", we recognize the melody used on "Heaven in Charge Of Hell" from Part 1. It is from here that the two parts seem to begin to interact. The title also features a very beautiful string part, shifting the story to a more emotional angle. And on "Reckoning" it's the riff from "Gold Dust City" from 'The Dreamer' that emerges! Return of cannon vocals in Gentle Giant mode on the introduction of "Bring Ben", which then evolves into a more accessible Classic Rock style à la Toto. Then comes "Freedom Road", a ballad in the purest Neal Morse style, emotionally charged, with the support of the strings.

Return of the melodic theme of "Heaven in Charge Of Hell" from 'The Dreamer' on "The Brothers Repent Joseph Revealed", an extremely rich piece with numerous reminders of themes and marked by very successful string and brass arrangements. "Restoration" leans for a moment towards Jazz and Samba and brings a little lightness to this end of the story via a style that recalls the luminous side of the Extreme group's album 'III Sides to Every Story'. On "Everlasting", it's party time for the reunion of a large part of the protagonists who embark on a sort of jam session. The story closes with "Dawning of a New Day (God Uses Everything for Good)" in which Neal Morse can freely deliver his message of hope by speaking directly to us. The title (and the entire work) ends in apotheosis with a very orchestrated crescendo and the repetition of the words "God uses everything, Everything for good".

That's it, end of story. In total, combining parts 1 and 2, Neal Morse offers 2 hours 20 minutes of high quality music, all in less than 6 months. It's incredible to see such creativity from such a prolific artist. Perhaps some will see it as the work of the hand of God. In a more Cartesian way, we can imagine that the musician finds the capacity to surpass himself by tackling a theme of such dimension and which is so close to his heart, as many other artists have done before him.

Review originally posted on www.progcritique.com.

A solid, and improved follow-up to last year's The Dreamer: Joseph Part 1. Once again, Neal has brought in many guest vocalists (Ted Leonard, Matt Smith, Jake Livgren, Nick D'Virgilio, Ross Jennings) to round out the cast of characters in his biblical prog rock opera telling of the story of Joseph, along with his Neal Morse band cohorts guitarist Eric Gillette and keyboardist Bill Hubauer to enhance Neal's own multi-instrumental musicianship. Although a long album (16 tracks, 75 min), and certainly dramatic and theatrical in nature, Neal tries to keep things interesting by varying the tempo and musical styles from song to song. That and the different vocalists, keep things moving through the various stylistic choices of Morse and Co. Mixing in familar prog elements (reminiscent of Spock's Beard, Gentle Giant, ELP, etc) with hard rock, choirs, vocal harmonies, orchestration, jazz, and even a bit of latin swing, as only Neal Morse could. Although much of this may seem quite familiar to other projects from Morse, he still manages to surprise occasionally, and entertains quite consistently, as it builds to a rousing and satisfying conclusion, and saves the best songs for the last sequence. Better than expected. Best Tracks: My Dream, the Argument, Make Like a Breeze, The Brothers Repent, Restoration, Everlasting, Dawning of a New Day. Rating: 3.5 stars

Joseph Part 2 just blew me away like no Neal album has for a long while. It's like Neal made exactly the album that he wanted to make; unabashedly all of things that his music gets grief about: bombast, huge key changes, themes being explored to their uttermost. I didn't stick this on for 10 weeks, not sure why, but when I finally did the ending was so epic. I think Neal's voice now he's older really suits his aggressive - almost shouting - parts, it gives it so much emotion. Let's hope it's not a swan song and that there is much more for Neal and the gang.

I am writing this review directly after reviewing The Dreamer (Part One), and many of my critiques (both positive and negative) apply to this album, but only to the first 12 out of 16 tracks, because something very strange to my ears happens to close out the album, and thus I'll structure this review accordingly.

Highlights: My Dream, Dreamer in the Jailhouse, All Hail. Perhaps not surprisingly, the parts that involve Ross Jennings on this album are fantastic. These tracks remind me of some of my favorite, more sinister moments of Sola Gratia, and hearing Ross in there in spots helps the music feels especially fresh to ears that have listened to literally dozens of hours of Neal Morse music. One caveat: Neal's truly terrible falsetto in All Hail--that thing wasn't working 20 years ago and it has only gotten worse, and it's especially annoying because Neal literally has numerous other talented vocalists appearing at other points on this album who would have done a better job here.

Lowlights: tracks 5-11. Every time I listen to this section of the album, I honestly can't believe how bad it is. I don't throw around the word "bad" easily, and I don't think Neal does much that would be considered bad, but whether it's the too-tight-pants Ted Leonard vocals to the awkward vocal round exposition to the poor lyrics (rhyming "grain" with "insane"? Give me a break, Neal!), this is just one tough listen, every time through. You have been warned.

And now for something completely different: tracks 13-16. The Brothers Repent and Restoration is basically 10 minutes of musical whiplash: Here's Matt Smith! Here's NDV! Thanks for coming back Talon! Let's run back this previous theme, but only tease it...also, here's a Testimony-ish, latin-timbale break, but don't get your groove on, because it's back to another leitmotif. Is this objectively good? I don't know, but I think I like it, and I'm having fun. Also, anything I'm still caring about regarding the story seems to be wrapping up. Is it satisfactory? I don't know, but I think I'm done hearing about grain and polygamy, thank you.

Speaking of fun, then comes the real party: Everlasting. Party time. Let's kick up the tempo, get the backup vocalists rocking, get those timbales clanging, get all those Disney characters singing together...and don't forget your whistle...twice! Neal Morse is just Morse-ing the crap out of this. Is it a problem that we've kind of heard this before? Yes, a little bit, but it's still fun, so just go with it!

But unlike the Disney movie, Neal isn't done. At this point in his career, he appears to feel called to more proactively help people walk with God, rather than explaining it in his music and hoping God just takes it from there. I think that's what God Uses Everything for Good represents--just like former addicts rehearsing the Serenity Prayer in difficult times, if people who listen to this album remember nothing more than this simple mantra, perhaps this song might also help people in their most distressing moments.

I think this is ultimately pretty cool, but there are two problems--one thematic and one musical. First, I think that simple message is pretty clear to anyone who has made it to the end of the Joseph albums, so for someone like me, the music better make it worth the extra run time. Here's where this is a clear mixed bag: the closing minutes are truly epic, there's so much going on (strings, horns, harmonized vocals, heavy timpani and symbol swells) that it juuuuust starts to sound a little muddy. However, there is a bigger issue, which is that underlying melody sounds sooo close to a main Testimony melody that the first couple times I heard it, I couldn't help but hum that in my head instead.

Having said all of that, my experience with this album supports two potential conclusions. First, this to me sounds like a musician/composer who might be almost done--go out with a bang, taking all of your signature sounds and cranking them to 11. The other potential conclusion is that Neal is going to at least have to conclude this period of his writing, in which taking a biblical story and Morse-ing it up is at a point of clear diminishing returns.

Will Morse keep going to the drying well, or will he pivot and evolve? Or will he hang it up?

Being a huge Neal Morse fan, it is with some trepidation that I even write this review, but I also don't want to (at least completely) pigeonholed as reviewing only material that I love. This album seems to be polarizing, but not in the usual, "I don't like the Christian themes" way--instead, I think this album is polarizing because of the music. Specifically, for a concept album, I personally don't think this album holds together particularly well. I'm only slightly familiar with Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, so I'd like to think I'm not particularly biased in any direction in that regard.

First off, when I think of what I like most about Neal's work, my favorite stuff is the grand instrumental themes, which, when teased and supported with other interesting bits that lead to a fantastic crescendo, can rank up there with my favorite musical experiences. Hitting the sweet spot with this approach has obvious potential flaws: too much reliance on repeating or only slightly altered themes, and too much instrumental widdly wankery before you get to the good parts. As you can infer from that, I don't listen to Neal as much for the lyrics, story or concept (although I can feel uplifted by some of the positive, God-affirming moments).

Given that, this album perhaps was not ever going to be for my ears. There are few extended instrumental moments, and the most prominent one (the overture) I would characterize as just mildly interested, and only somewhat melodically linked to what comes later, at best. There is a clear story, and characters, and I find myself thinking about what's happening in the story, and how similar or different a section is to Dreamcoat, rather than just getting lost in good music. Perhaps that part of the intent in Neal's effort here.

Highlights: Before the World Was, Gold Dust City, Ultraviolet Dreams. Aside from the sheer ambition involving numerous guest musicians and vocalists, strings, horns, and multipart vocal harmonies, this album does have some top-notch tunes. Before the World Was is the best of Neal's new gospel trend, and building up to the Steve Morse trademark solo is awesome. Gold Dust City perhaps most effectively merges traditionally good music with the guest vocal and chorus strategy. Finally, Ultraviolet Dreams is another great track, highlighted by some crunchy, memorable guitar from Neal. There are other clear highlights to be found as well, from Talon David's work in Slave Boy (though I don't feel comfortable actually singing this lyric myself, or to picture a young woman seducing much, much older man) to the mega-man harmonies of Heaven in Charge (upwards of 6-parts, perhaps?).

The Dreamer is a great buy, no hesitation, due to the ambition, creativity, and quality production found within. However, it is a story-based album first and foremost, which is certainly fine, but the concept is not strong enough to overcome the uneven quality of the music in the end. Let's see where Part Two goes from here...