TESTIMONY

I was a huge fan of Neal's from his Beard days. After the amazing masterpiece that is Snow, and his leaving the band, I looked forward to this record eagerly. However, I must say that I was less than blown away, although it is a pretty good album in the final analysis. I tried for a long time to figure out why it wasn't as satisfactory as I thought it would be, especially given the many stylistic and compositional similarities between it and Snow. I finally realized that what is missing is the other 4 Beard guys. It's the inimitable chemistry and explosive, powerful synergy that occured when those 5 guys would interpret Neal's compositions in the studio and live that is simply not there on this album. I will say, though.....I'd rather listen to this than to most other things out there, and there are some parts that do approach greatness, but on the whole it's not as consistently satisfying as his work with the Beard. I'll still be curious to hear what he does next. It's Neal, after all.