Flying Colors EPK - New band of Mike Portnoy, Neal Morse, Casey McPherson, Dave LaRue
- Thread starter Megametal
- Start date
AeonicSlumber
srs
- Aug 14, 2008
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He has this project and the one with Russell Allen. He also said he is doing an album with John Sykes. Is he in any other projects 
Rev. Clayton
The Singer
I love Neal Morse...even the Christian albums. I have a feeling I will love this album too. He puts out a lot of material though and I'm curious if he's flirted with returning to Spock's Beard since this album doesn't appear to be a Christian album. Oh well...one can dream.
Mardoch
Defender of the Universe
I was interested just when I heard the lineup the other day. After having heard some samples I'm leaning toward picking it up. Very cool group of players.
He's not returning to Spock's, but he is writing for the next Spock's album. He's essentially that band's Brian Wilson at this point...he's got creative input and he's kinda hanging around (he's played live with them a few times recently), but he's not in the band.
Rev. Clayton
The Singer
Question has some songs that just completely blow me away. I wish his output was a little more even.
Virtual Scott
Allroundniceguy™ and Musical Mastermind.
The melody for the first "single" is pretty darn killer. This sounds MUCH better than I thought it would, but just about as good as would be expected. Very nice...
Neal Morse needs an editor more than any other artist I can think of. Just because a CD can be 80 minutes long doesn't mean that it should be. I get the impression that the other guys in Spock's Beard had a hand in making sure that the Beard albums Neal wrote were nice and tight (with the obvious exception of Snow, which kind of gets a pass because it's clearly their stab at making The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway), but when left to his own devices, Neal has consistently produced albums that are bloated and meandering. (It doesn't help that his sounding board these days, Mike Portnoy, is another serial offender in this regard). The exception to this is ?, which clocks in at a lean 56:20. And for my money, it's his best solo album. Coincidence? I think not.
It would also help if his albums had a little more instrumental flavor. Another thing that sets ? apart from Neal's other solo albums is that he brought in some awesome guitarists and let them do their thing. Roine Stolt, in particular, kills it on that album. Neal's a really talented songwriter and musician, but his albums tend to feel a bit samey because there's no real band dynamic or standout instrumentalist. Alan Morse isn't the greatest guitarist of all time, but at least his playing has personality; the same is true of Ryo on the keyboards. On great expanses of Neal's solo albums, nothing about the music has any personality; even Portnoy's playing is blunted to an extent. I'm anxious to hear this Flying Colors album because Steve Morse and Dave LaRue both have the ability to supply this spark.
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