Transatlantic- The Whirlwind

[Troy]

A copy of this prog-rock 'supergroup' (Neal Morse / Roine Stolt / Mike Portnoy / Pete Trewava) new double CD jumped into my hands recently from my pal, feench. Thank you, sir!

Wow, it's more bloated than Kathleen Turner.

Just overall statements:
Man, can these guys play or what? Seriously excellent riff-age and 15-fingered arpeggiating by everyone. Yeah, it's all just a pastiche of '70s prog sounds and flavors, as obvious and perfect an homage as XTC pretending to be 'The Dukes of Stratosphere' and their loving rehash of psychedelia. For me personally, I just love how big and fat TA sounds.

Too bad none of them can sing a lick. Nope, that's certainly not new information, Roine Stolt has always had a peculiar delivery, so flat and honky. But the guys that don't sing in their regular bands? They shouldn't sing here either, it sounds like Karaoke. Morse is the only one that's passable, but even he sounds strained most of the time.

The album itself:
The first disc is a 77 minute long song-cycle. There are elements to the first disc that I'll hang onto, mainly the "Overture" which really gives me everything I need. I need to take that into an audio editor and fade it out at 6:45 before "Whirlwind" starts. I can easily lose the first 1:30 too. Near as I can tell, you hear that 5:15 edit, you've heard the album. There's a few other tracks that I like well enough, but every song at 6 or 8 minutes feels like it needs to 4 or 5 minutes without wearing out it's welcome. End the song already! If I want to hear that part one more time, I'll just play the song again. No, I won't be cluttering up my iTunes with much of this.

See, this band needs to understand that not every prog fan thinks going on for so long, beating these themes into the ground for hours at a time is a good thing in and of itself.

My take on the lyrics:
Not as overtly religious as Morse's recent solo works, but they're still loaded with "giving yourself to faith" and "Follow this path to be Right" and "pre-apocalypse hysteria" overtones. It's all so simplistic and obvious. Cliched. Strident. Utterly devoid of irony or self-awareness. I won't go so far as to call it preachy, but it really does fly the "THIS IS SERIOUS" banner far too strongly.

The other disc:
I love the covers. 'Return of the Giant Hogweed's' a total gas. And Santana's 'Soul Sacrifice.' Easily the best things on the entire set. Thinking back on the all the covers they've done on previous albums and DVDs and how much I enjoyed those (side 2 of Abbey Road just killed), it seems to me that being a covers band is why these 4 guys got together in the first place-to have some larfs and rip up on these kinds of classics. It's totally what these guys do best. I'd buy a whole double album of these guys doing covers before I'd buy one with original songs. That said, their version of 'I Need You' is like an aural toothache for me. Someone hide the microphone from the drummer!

So to encapsulate my thoughts on this album:
This would easily be an album of the year for me if it was instrumental and if they worked it down to a single disc's worth of material, even with a couple of covers (but only Morse and Stolt should sing those). As it is now, there's probably 30 minutes of music that I'd like to hear again from the 2:15 on both discs.

A disappointment? No not really. It is what I thought it would be.

[Finch Platte]

A copy of this prog-rock 'supergroup' (Neal Morse / Roine Stolt / Mike Portnoy / Pete Trewava) new double CD jumped into my hands recently from my pal, feench. Thank you, sir!

Wow, it's more bloated than Kathleen Turner.

Just overall statements:
Man, can these guys play or what? Seriously excellent riff-age and 15-fingered arpeggiating by everyone. Yeah, it's all just a pastiche of '70s prog sounds and flavors, as obvious and perfect an homage as XTC pretending to be 'The Dukes of Stratosphere' and their loving rehash of psychedelia. For me personally, I just love how big and fat TA sounds.

Too bad none of them can sing a lick. Nope, that's certainly not new information, Roine Stolt has always had a peculiar delivery, so flat and honky. But the guys that don't sing in their regular bands? They shouldn't sing here either, it sounds like Karaoke. Morse is the only one that's passable, but even he sounds strained most of the time.

The album itself:
The first disc is a 77 minute long song-cycle. There are elements to the first disc that I'll hang onto, mainly the "Overture" which really gives me everything I need. I need to take that into an audio editor and fade it out at 6:45 before "Whirlwind" starts. I can easily lose the first 1:30 too. Near as I can tell, you hear that 5:15 edit, you've heard the album. There's a few other tracks that I like well enough, but every song at 6 or 8 minutes feels like it needs to 4 or 5 minutes without wearing out it's welcome. End the song already! If I want to hear that part one more time, I'll just play the song again. No, I won't be cluttering up my iTunes with much of this.

See, this band needs to understand that not every prog fan thinks going on for so long, beating these themes into the ground for hours at a time is a good thing in and of itself.

My take on the lyrics:
Not as overtly religious as Morse's recent solo works, but they're still loaded with "giving yourself to faith" and "Follow this path to be Right" and "pre-apocalypse hysteria" overtones. It's all so simplistic and obvious. Cliched. Strident. Utterly devoid of irony or self-awareness. I won't go so far as to call it preachy, but it really does fly the "THIS IS SERIOUS" banner far too strongly.

The other disc:
I love the covers. 'Return of the Giant Hogweed's' a total gas. And Santana's 'Soul Sacrifice.' Easily the best things on the entire set. Thinking back on the all the covers they've done on previous albums and DVDs and how much I enjoyed those (side 2 of Abbey Road just killed), it seems to me that being a covers band is why these 4 guys got together in the first place-to have some larfs and rip up on these kinds of classics. It's totally what these guys do best. I'd buy a whole double album of these guys doing covers before I'd buy one with original songs. That said, their version of 'I Need You' is like an aural toothache for me. Someone hide the microphone from the drummer!

So to encapsulate my thoughts on this album:
This would easily be an album of the year for me if it was instrumental and if they worked it down to a single disc's worth of material, even with a couple of covers (but only Morse and Stolt should sing those). As it is now, there's probably 30 minutes of music that I'd like to hear again from the 2:15 on both discs.

A disappointment? No not really. It is what I thought it would be.

One of the huge disappointments for me (being a drummer) is Portnoy's fills down the toms. Seems like (especially on side 2) that you can set your watch to when the fill is coming, and what toms he's going to use.

I guess there's a DVD of the making of these discs. I'd love to see that & see what kind of thinking went into his playing, and to see the things he's playing that I'm not hearing on the drumset.

[ForeverAutumn]

Portnoy should never sing. Never! He sucks.

Nice review Troy. I'll have to borrow it from Mr. BarryL.

[poppachubby]

Portnoy should never sing. Never! He sucks.

Nice review Troy. I'll have to borrow it from Mr. BarryL.

As a musician I am naturally partial to Prog rock. I think what turns me off almost instantly is when some of these groups add vocals. It's rarely needed and usually lacklustre.

I think I'll check out Transatlantic...

BTW have you guys heard Blotted Science? This was technically a great album but I found it droll when listened from start to finish. I think Alex Webster is one of the most underrated bassists currently active. His genre choice has sewered his credibility amongst mainstream media and such. Anyone who is familiar with him and his playing ability knows better.

I had the chance to see Cannibal Corpse in Montreal at Le Fou-Fou Electrique. This was years ago on their tour for "The Bleeding", still with original vocalist Chris Barnes. It was a crazy gig but I basically just watched Webster with my jaw on the floor.

I'm not into death metal by any means, but these guys were killer in terms of musicianship. They are basically pylons live, but they do bang their heads like mad which is commendable considering the work they are putting in.

Anyhow I'm rambling on, Blotted Science anyone?

[Finch Platte]

Portnoy should never sing. Never! He sucks.

Oh, I should believe you. You're the one that goes ape caca over James LaCheese's vocals.

[ForeverAutumn]

Oh, I should believe you. You're the one that goes ape caca over James LaCheese's vocals.

Ape caca is little over the top. I don't mind Labrie the way some other people do. I think he's well suited to DT. Who else is gonna sing those cheesy lyrics and get off the stage so that Petrucci can ego trip?

Do I think there's better singers than LaBrie out there? Sure I do. But Portnoy's NOT one of them.

[Finch Platte]

Ape caca is little over the top. I don't mind Labrie the way some other people do. I think he's well suited to DT. Who else is gonna sing those cheesy lyrics and get off the stage so that Petrucci can ego trip?

Do I think there's better singers than LaBrie out there? Sure I do. But Portnoy's NOT one of them.

Hey, I have an idea for a new singer for DT!



Whadya think?

[ForeverAutumn]

Hey, I have an idea for a new singer for DT!



Whadya think?

I think she looks like your blow-up doll.

[Troy]

Anyhow I'm rambling on, Blotted Science anyone?

I listened to a few samples and it's way too much for me. I'm just not that angry.

[Finch Platte]

I think she looks like your blow-up doll.

And how would you know that, Missy?

I've told you to stay away from my windows!

[Finch Platte]

It's funny, I was in line at Bevmo yesterday & the guy in front of me had a brand new Transatlantic tour shirt on. He had seen them in the Bay Area a few weeks ago and said he really enjoyed the show.

I wanna party with this guy- he was buying about 4 or 5 different beers!

[BarryL]

A copy of this prog-rock 'supergroup' (Neal Morse / Roine Stolt / Mike Portnoy / Pete Trewava) new double CD jumped into my hands recently from my pal, feench. Thank you, sir!

Man, can these guys play or what? Seriously excellent riff-age and 15-fingered arpeggiating by everyone. Yeah, it's all just a pastiche of '70s prog sounds and flavors, as obvious and perfect an homage as XTC pretending to be 'The Dukes of Stratosphere' and their loving rehash of psychedelia. For me personally, I just love how big and fat TA sounds.

It was in my top 10 list for last year. I never go back to the other Transatlantic disks. I think this one has a bit more staying power. I do mean a bit. The band and it's content is a short-lived affair. More interesting for who's in the band. But at least Whirlwind has focus and enough pomp and circumstance to keep it interesting. Yeah, it's all recycled energy and more of the same from Morse, but he knows how to do progressive for the masses.

I'm surprised Troy had anything good to say. I thought I recalled him dissing this big-time in the past - that he had a copy and ditched it really fast.

New Spock's Beard without Neil coming soon. I haven't been a fan since NM left. The playing is good, but the song writing has suffered big time.

[MasterCylinder]

I think she looks like your blow-up doll.

LOL...........From this point forward, I will have a different opinion of her.

[MasterCylinder]

...............One of the huge disappointments for me (being a drummer) is Portnoy's fills down the toms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of all the times I've seen this guy live, he really sucks as a technician.
You should jot down your fills on staff paper and send a PDF to Mike through this link :
http://www.mikeportnoy.com
Put that amatuer mofo in his place.............LOL !

[Finch Platte]

...............One of the huge disappointments for me (being a drummer) is Portnoy's fills down the toms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of all the times I've seen this guy live, he really sucks as a technician.
You should jot down your fills on staff paper and send a PDF to Mike through this link :
http://www.mikeportnoy.com
Put that amatuer mofo in his place.............LOL !

I know, I know. Maybe I've just been listening to too much prog lately.