SMPT:E

Long instumental passages, upbeat and positive lyrics, a good singer, mood changes - a perfect starting point for new proggers!

The first track, the 30 minute epic "All of the Above" starts with a four minute jam, then has three more throughout the track. Each instrumental passage is slightly different. The beginning jam the most "prog" like, the passage after "Full Moon Rising" slightly jazzy, the passage after "Half Alive" hard edged guitar, and the final grandiose outro.

The shortest track "We All Need Some Light" is an acoustic guitar piece by Neal Morse with inspiring lyrics. That this song was not picked up by mainstream radio just shows how screwed up the radio industry is. Other than being played by a "prog" band, there is nothing to this song that would stop the masses from enjoying it.

The next track "Mystery Train" is my least favorite of the album. A good song, but not compared to the rest of the music on this disk. I can't describe it, as I tend to skip this track.

Roine Stolt's contribution "My New World" follows. This piece provides a nice change of pace from the sound of the rest of the album, as Neal Morse wrote the previous songs. A 17 minute piece that flows as one long song (unlike the separate pieces of "All of the Above").

The disk closes with the remake of "In Held Twas In I". I have never heard the original Prool Harum version (much to my detriment), so I cannot compare this version to the original. This track definitely fits with the rest of this disk however.

This is a great starting point for someone just getting into progressive music, and therefore I award it a 5 star rating. It is a good starting point for two reasons: first, the music is fantastic. But once the listener appreciates this disk, they can then sample from the cannon of the musician's other bands. They will discover prog metal (Mike Portnoy's DREAM THEATER), neo-prog (Pete Trewavas' MARILLION), Christian prog (NEAL MORSE's solo masterpiece), and spacier prog (Roine Stolt's THE FLOWER KINGS).

Highly recommended!!

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