NEAL MORSE |
|
Written, Produced
and Performed by Neal Morse except:
It's Saturday night, two weeks before Xmas, the works party is in full swing and where am I, that's right at home with the flu! Well, never mind there's so many channels on the TV now that I have got digital, there's bound to be something to watch. Well guess what, most of the channels are just full of garbage. So, what every lover of real music needs at a time like this is an album full of good songs (not tunes) with the type of lyrics that not only make you think, but bring a smile to your face and is dead easy to get into. Well, luckily for me, I have such a beast in the solo offering from Neal Morse, principal writer, vocalist and leader from Californian based Prog Rockers Spock's Beard. Now, hang on a minute, I hear you cry, solo albums like this usually turn out to be nothing more than experimental miss mashes, full of twiddle twaddle bullshit that no one but the artist considers real music. What's going on? Well inmost cases, you'd be right, but this is one exception for Neal Morse's debut album is full of high quality melodic alternative guitar songs and for most Neal leaves his Spock's Beard connections at home. All of the songs simply leap from the speaker and demand that you listen, and listen you will because there's not a duff song to be found anywhere. Personally I loved every track, but two songs seem to be getting played more than the others, 'Lost cause', has some wonderful lyrics to it coupled with a good guitar solo, wit a great change in pace, that makes you really sit up and take note. While 'Emma', a slightly slower song reminds me a lot of Squeeze's? from oh so many years ago. Neal is obviously a very talented guy, not only did he write all the material for this album, but he played most of the instruments too. Besides producing and arranging the songs as well. So the next point is going to come as no surprise, remember I said that for most of the album Neal left his connections at home, well, I sort of lied bit because the closing number 'A Whole Nother Trip', is a typical prog rock song divided into four parts, that's somehow still doesn't sound out of place with the rest of the album. To sum up then, well
the press release that came with the CD ended with the statement "As
the winter draws in, close the curtains, mull the wine, turn down the
lights and turn on to this highly accomplished diverse collection of rock
songs", and for once I couldn't have put it better myself. Released by Ear Candy
Records (ECRCD 001) - A division of InsideOutMusic Distributed by SPV (SPV 085 31752 CD)
|
|
It's Not Too Late NEAL MORSE |
|
Musicians: Track listing: Neal Morse is a true genius! He's a brilliant songwriter, a strong vocalist and leader of Spock's Beard, one of today's best progressive rock bands. He's also ¼ of the all-star super group Transatlantic, alongside Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Pete Trewavas (Marillion) and Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings). In my opinion he's at his best in these surroundings. Now he's in the news with his second solo album "It's Not Too Late", the follow-up to his debut self-titled solo album from 1999. The new album contains compositions that are absolutely amazing. I don't know how Neal can come up with so much good music. I'm not only thinking of his solo albums, but also Spock's Beard's and Transatlantic's releases. He's almost as creative and productive as Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings. Neal's solo albums are in the straightforward singer songwriter tradition, far away from the music he creates with Spock's Beard and Transatlantic. It's piano oriented pop music with beautiful harmonies, catchy choruses and it's much better than the main part of the music and bands in this genre. There are reminiscences to Beatles, Eagles and Jellyfish. Although there are some guest musicians on this album, Neal is playing the majority of instruments. Nick D'Virgilio, Neal's band mate from Spock's Beard, is playing drums on this album. It isn't often you hear such a great pop release, but Neal Morse has come up with a album that can compete with Paul McCartney "Driving Rain", Prefab Sprout "The Gunman and Other Stories" and Timothy B. Schmit "Feed The Fire" as the best pop album from 2001.
Contact & Info: InsideOut Music InsideOut Music America Reviewer: Greger Rönnqvist
|
.jpg)