Favorite song from "Tug of War"?

[The Stormbringer]

"Comatose" live? Uh oh, I sense a lot of people breaking into tears during that song... me included.

 

[mgirishfan]

"Comatose" live? Uh oh, I sense a lot of people breaking into tears during that song... me included.

I'll give ya a tissue if you have one for me! This will be an emotional set with Comatose and What to Say!!!! Not to mention the rest of the numbers - Under Fire, Sinking Sand, etc etc.....that is what Enchant is all about - real life emotion!

 

[jjmannford]

Mare, Neal Morse - Testimony.....any good, whats it like?? Musically, like SB??? I am a bad Catholic as they would say and not too heavy on preachy religion (I do think the basic ideas of religion are good in nature, but some people take them over the limit...my $0.02 diatribe_), so is the lyrical content a bit too overbearing? I find Christian Rock lyrically a bit too intrusive, and intimidating.

 

[DiscoDave]

I was actually interested in his opinion of Testimony as well.

First of all, the special edition cost $25 (I bought it from Radiant Records) which is way too much. With the special edition basically buying a big box and a bonus cd that has a grand total of ~15 minutes of music on it, and a sheet of liner notes which are interesting, but not THAT interesting.

I'm an athiest, and while I have nothing against religion itself, hearing stuff like "God's grace kept me aliiiiive" 20 times can get a little mind-numbing. The music itself sounds pretty good...I haven't properly digested it yet, but there are some pretty nifty highlights. I was listening to "Sing it High" on the way into work this morning, and it's got a pretty ass-kicking instrumental -- in a purely "praise the lord" type of way, of course. Whoever was playing the guitar on that track had it going on!

 

[mgirishfan]

I was actually interested in his opinion of Testimony as well.

Hey Jim, Dave....well for starters I'll say that you and I have a good bit in common on the spiritual front, Jim. (Although Dave, just to clarify, I am a dude-ette, not a dude!) I never went for the Christian-oriented rock at all either -- for whatever reason. Compared to a lot of organized religions, Catholicism (as I know it anyway) doesn't go in for the hell fire and brimstone preaching and we aren't all that fanatical. Please, everyone, don't turn this into a religious discussion!!!!
So it's funny, to me, that lately I find myself really enjoying a variety of music which has a spiritual message - some stronger than others.

First Balance of Power, then Theocracy, then Neal Morse, have found their ways into my CD rotation. Some (many?) people might not even see/hear the message in Balance of Power so I would say they are least obvious (and caveat - this is all Lance King-fronted BoP that I'm talking about. I don't have the new CD yet - it's coming! - so I don't know if they have changed any with the new band member). I really enjoy their sound and their songs and I followed Lance to his work on Empire, Mattsson, and now Pyramaze….the dude’s got a great set of pipes!

Theocracy is the new S/T disc from an amazing talent named Matt Smith. God-given talent? Oh yeah, in a big way. Grab this CD and see what I mean - he does everything on this disc. Everything. I love it! Progressive Power Metal -- and roughly equal parts of all three. And it is probably the strongest Christian message of the three artists. Even if that is something you don't want to listen to, the music is friggin amazing so give it a spin. Go to his site and d/l a couple of the tracks -- Mountain was his entry on the PP IV CD and he has gotten a LOT of mileage with it - it is a killer track!!!

Neal's CD is longer, but the time-spanning, storytelling aspect of his material tones down the overall preachiness. And the music? The songs? My immediate first thought after hearing the first two tracks was "Oh, here's the newest Beard CD!" As it went on, though, I loosened up on that a bit, but I have to say, when I hear Neal's voice it just says ‘Beard’ to me. And face it, he wrote all the music and the lyrics on Testimony. He largely did the same thing with Spock’s Beard. So….doesn’t it follow? Bien sur!!

IMHO, though, this disc is head, shoulders, and a 8-foot step ladder above Snow - and a very personal look into Neal as a man. I have only gotten through both discs a couple of times and can’t really give a blow-by-blow account of the CD, but it’s dynamite stuff. He has a pile of studio (and not so studio!) musicians on this with him creating an enormous variety of sounds, and he even gives us flashes of Beard tunes – on the second CD he launches into a few bars of The Doorway, and I’m sure there are some others scattered about that I haven’t picked up on yet. There are songs with killer guitar riffs, dizzying drum work, and a chamber-orchestra’s worth of other instruments to reach you and move you, and Neal’s lyrics this time are very REAL. He is not the first musician to have become disillusioned, feeling that there was something missing, and then finding a savior in God. He won’t be the last. But he certainly is one of the most talented!

 

[DiscoDave]

(Although Dave, just to clarify, I am a dude-ette, not a dude!)

Bah, whatever...same thing on the Net.

I really don't understand why so few people seem to like Snow. It's definitely my favorite Beard album. *shrug*

Anyway, I doubt Testimony will make it much longer in my car's cd changer. Ayreon is moving in slowly but surely taking everything over, along with a bunch of other new stuff that just arrived today (Kaipa, Jadis, Thomas Bodin, Star One, Vanden Plas). In fact, the era of 7 Enchant disks in my changer may soon come to a pass!

*boggle*

 

[DTArtstar]

The new Kaipa and Tomas Bodin are incredible! You will not be disappointed, it's Tomas's best solo work easily, and ther new Kaipa is a drastic improvement over Notes From The Past

 

[DiscoDave]

I was listening to the new Kaipa on the way home today, and yea...it was only my first listen, but so far I'm really impressed.

And this Space One cd kicks major buttage as well.

 

[Steve]

Comatose