Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

From Spock's beard Kindness of strangers get's my vote.

I know just as much as you Nathan. If the October release holds true we might get a track listing, album art, etc. sometime soon.

rushfan4 wrote: Neal has now released 4 Worship Sessions CDs.  Does anybody have these?  I assume that there is nothing prog about them, that they are just Neal singing religious psalms with a choir or something along those line.  Although I am not religious I have enjoyed his solo albums, but I just wonder if these might be too much.

natewait wrote: rushfan4 wrote: Neal has now released 4 Worship Sessions CDs.  Does anybody have these?  I assume that there is nothing prog about them, that they are just Neal singing religious psalms with a choir or something along those line.  Although I am not religious I have enjoyed his solo albums, but I just wonder if these might be too much. I have all of Neal's Worship CDs and I am pretty underwhelmed by them for the most part. There isn't really anything prog about them, but they are a little more than "singing religious psalms with a choir". They are mostly half original works by Neal and half existing worship songs. If you are turned off even slightly by Neal's religious lyrics on his prog albums, these will put you over the edge, I would think.   That being said, so this isn't completely negative, there are some good tunes scattered on each of these worship CDs and some songs that do rock and remind me of his solo pop efforts he came out with while in Spock's Beard (the self-titled one and It's Not Too Late). I am a little obsessed with Neal, so I get everything he is involved with, but for those less obsessed, I wouldn't count these worship CDs as essential, and they will definitely dissapoint those looking for proggy songs like those found on his incredible solo albums.

Thank you for the quick response.  I might have to give one a try and see what I think.  I do enjoy his first 2 solo albums, and pretty much everything else he has been involved with. Heck, I even like his fan club Christmas CD.    I am glad that there is some original material on those, as that will make it more worthwhile to me.  I'm not sure how the religious aspect will work for me.  I'm not a religious person, and I get angered by people who force their religion and beliefs upon others, but for the most part I don't have a problem with the message of religion; i.e. be good to yourself and to each other.  If nothing else, with my parents and sister both becoming more and more religious these might be albums that I can share with them.

natewait wrote: I heard that in the latest Progression Magazine there is an article about the new Transatlantic. I'm tempted to buy it just to read that one article- thats how desperate I am for news on this. I thought that belonging to the Inner Circle might give me some insight into the new Transatlantic, but Neal has been surprisingly quiet about what is going on with Transatlantic. I guess it is a good thing so that it is more of a surprise when the actual album comes out. I just need to learn patience. Sigh.

I'm going to try to look up the article online. If you do end up finding it, please let us know!

natewait wrote: rushfan4 wrote: natewait wrote: rushfan4 wrote: Neal has now released 4 Worship Sessions CDs.  Does anybody have these?  I assume that there is nothing prog about them, that they are just Neal singing religious psalms with a choir or something along those line.  Although I am not religious I have enjoyed his solo albums, but I just wonder if these might be too much. I have all of Neal's Worship CDs and I am pretty underwhelmed by them for the most part. There isn't really anything prog about them, but they are a little more than "singing religious psalms with a choir". They are mostly half original works by Neal and half existing worship songs. If you are turned off even slightly by Neal's religious lyrics on his prog albums, these will put you over the edge, I would think.   That being said, so this isn't completely negative, there are some good tunes scattered on each of these worship CDs and some songs that do rock and remind me of his solo pop efforts he came out with while in Spock's Beard (the self-titled one and It's Not Too Late). I am a little obsessed with Neal, so I get everything he is involved with, but for those less obsessed, I wouldn't count these worship CDs as essential, and they will definitely dissapoint those looking for proggy songs like those found on his incredible solo albums. Thank you for the quick response.  I might have to give one a try and see what I think.  I do enjoy his first 2 solo albums, and pretty much everything else he has been involved with. Heck, I even like his fan club Christmas CD.    I am glad that there is some original material on those, as that will make it more worthwhile to me.  I'm not sure how the religious aspect will work for me.  I'm not a religious person, and I get angered by people who force their religion and beliefs upon others, but for the most part I don't have a problem with the message of religion; i.e. be good to yourself and to each other.  If nothing else, with my parents and sister both becoming more and more religious these might be albums that I can share with them.   If you do pick up one of his worship CDs, I would avoid "Lead Me Lord (Worship Sessions Volume One)" which is more like what you originally described (singing religious psalms with a choir). I would get "God Won't Give Up", which to me is the real first worship CD and all the songs on it are written by Neal. If you don't like "God Won't Give Up" I seriously doubt you would like any of the other worship CDs.

OK.  That sounds like a good place to start.

J-Man wrote: These two albums aren't religious, but they are very high quality pop- His S/T album and It's Not To Late. You should listen to those if you haven't already.

I don't really hear Bon Jovi...

I CAN'T WAIT! I am so unbelievably excited about this album! 77 minute epic? That is about as epic as it gets! I can't wait to explore it, I'm sure it will be in constant rotation in my car for months. I'm going to be checking every day for the opportunity to pre-order, as soon as its available, I'm pre-ordering the special edition.

Oh yeah, did I mention I'm excited?