New Spock's Beard, er...Neal Morse

[BarryL]

I've been listening to disk 1 of the new Neal Morse CD, Testimony, for a few days now. It's a pretty good disk, overall, although references to Jesus may put some people off. It sounds just like Spock's Beard. It has the same flow and texture, and is certainly a progressive rock album, not a soft accoustic disk.

Essentially, the album is composed of five parts, which each are composed of sub-parts that make up those five parts. The story tells of Neal Morses conversion to Christianity. As hokey as that is, it isn't half as hokey and stupid as the concept for Snow, and the album is much more cohesive and interesting musically as well.

Part One is 41 minutes long, and is very remeniscent of The Light from the first SB album. It ranks up there as a pretty decent offering, although no new ground is being broken. He does make good use of additional string and horn players to add texture overall.

Given that for the most part, Morse is a prolific, but not very good writer of lyrics, the banal quality of the lyrics here should come as no surprise. Overall, the concept is extremely juvenile and niaive, which is reflected in the lyrics. Here's a sample from the first song:

I wish there was
a way to start again
just blink and count to ten
in the land of beginning again

where no one knows
the bad things that you've done
the past is truly gone
in the land of beginning again.

The lyrics are overly self-pitying and euphoric about "the prince of the power of the air."

I haven't really paid attention to disk 2 yet, which contains song titles like: "Sing it High," "Moving in my Heart," "Oh, to feel Him," "God's Theme," and "Oh Lord My God."

If they lyrics were slightly different, or less direct, I'm sure this fine effort would find a much bigger audience. It's a quality outing if you can get past hearing the name of Jesus in a song lyric.

Hopefully he can put this behind him now. I don't really need Neal Morse preaching to me about how Jesus can deliver me from suffering. I've done a good job of living a rational life free from any suffering without the help of Morse or Jesus, and I expect that to continue.

[Dave_G]

Barry!


I am shocked!




You should know why this cd sounds like Spocks Beard.


Because Spocks Beard was essentially the "Neil Morse Band".


And their new cd without him doesn't sound too terribly different.


But he does play and perform pretty good on the new Transatlantic dvd.


Regards,

Dave

[Troy]

Man, I saw a HUGE flamewar between the Christians and the Heathens about this album on a prog BB a while back.

Like you say, there's a way to be spiritual without being so obvious, without being so literal. Who the heck is gonna buy this jive besides other Sky Pilots? He's alienating all the SB fans expecting some fun rock and roll, not a day in his pew. Morse is a boob.

[BarryL]

Morse is a boob.

I'm listening to disk two, and so far it is killer!

Is Morse a boob? Certainly qualifies as a fool, and IMO has made a fool of himself with his antics around SB.

But, if you can put that aside, this CD is everything you would want in an SB CD. It's not a fluff effort at all, and his singing is the best in years. Make of it what you will, but it shouldn't be boycotted because of the subject matter. Think of it in its historical context as the first openly Christian progressive rock album of the 21st Century.

Yeah, the autobiographical story is hard to take. It's overly pompous and self-serving, but that's his prerogative as an artist.

I think of it like Jesus Christ Superstar. If he had claimed that it was a biographical story of redemption about some historical figure, people would have looked at this album in a whole different light. But because it's supposedly autobiographical, he's probably being flamed for all the wrong reasons.

[Troy]

Yeah, the autobiographical story is hard to take. It's overly pompous and self-serving, but that's his prerogative as an artist.

Then it's my perogative as a customer to not buy it. Whee!

I think of it like Jesus Christ Superstar. If he had claimed that it was a biographical story of redemption about some historical figure, people would have looked at this album in a whole different light. But because it's supposedly autobiographical, he's probably being flamed for all the wrong reasons.

Not a fan of JCSS either . . .

If you want to do a story of redemption, make your redemption story more abstract and open to people of all faiths. Why make it soley about Christians? It implies that only Christians can be redeemed.

[Dave_G]

I have liked Kerry Livgren's "Seeds of Change" album for years, and it's a "christian rock" album. I guess. It has tons of innuendo in the songs about "religon" topics, but heck I don't care, it rocks and the words are actually very thought provoking.

But he doesn't gush the scripture or anything like that.

And Neil Morse does ham it up on that Transatlantic dvd too ya.

But I give NM credit, he's a pretty decent musician, much better than me, but I still don't like his "sound" in The Beard or solo.

Dave

[DarrenH]

I've been listening to disk 1 of the new Neal Morse CD, Testimony, for a few days now. It's a pretty good disk, overall, although references to Jesus may put some people off. It sounds just like Spock's Beard. It has the same flow and texture, and is certainly a progressive rock album, not a soft accoustic disk.

I have always been interested in the CD and your review was encouraging Barry so thanks for posting that.

This CD has been on my back burner for awhile now, since it was released actually. Been putting off buying it mostly because of the $24 price tag (I guess it is 3 CD's fwiw) and I kept finding things I wanted instead that weren't so expensive.

I look forward to hearing this.

Darren

[BarryL]

I have always been interested in the CD and your review was encouraging Barry so thanks for posting that.

This CD has been on my back burner for awhile now, since it was released actually. Been putting off buying it mostly because of the $24 price tag (I guess it is 3 CD's fwiw) and I kept finding things I wanted instead that weren't so expensive.

I look forward to hearing this.

Darren

What a change when an album becomes controversial for a reason other than explicit lyrics and violence. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. That the man was able to put togther over two hours of solid music with no weak tracks, and prog full-out through a lot of it, is amazing. I was really down on Morse for the trashy Snow. I hope his new positive outlook leads to more great music, but hopefully he'll tone down the praise the lord routine. U2 and other bands have very religious and preachy lyrics also, but they usually make them more ambiguous. Also, I find that after the first few listens, I don't actually listen to they lyrics. Most of the time the music is there is the background.

Anyway, this rates highly. I didn't know there was a three-disk version. What's on the third disk?

[DarrenH]

What a change when an album becomes controversial for a reason other than explicit lyrics and violence. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. That the man was able to put togther over two hours of solid music with no weak tracks, and prog full-out through a lot of it, is amazing. I was really down on Morse for the trashy Snow. I hope his new positive outlook leads to more great music, but hopefully he'll tone down the praise the lord routine. U2 and other bands have very religious and preachy lyrics also, but they usually make them more ambiguous. Also, I find that after the first few listens, I don't actually listen to they lyrics. Most of the time the music is there is the background.

Anyway, this rates highly. I didn't know there was a three-disk version. What's on the third disk?

Lyrics written to express a religious belief don't bother me. What's being played by the band is most important with me. Crappy music will ruin even the best lyrics whereas cheesy lyrics can be forgiven as long as the music flows well with good melody and a decent beat. And I agree, I find myself not paying attention to the lyrics after awhile anyway.

I guess the 3 CD version is a limited edition thing. Most likely in a digipak. The 3rd CD has some extra cover tunes performed by Neal and Mike (Tuesday Afternoon - Moodies and Can't Find My Way Home - Blind Faith to name just a couple). Probably some videos. That's all I really know about it. I wouldn't have bothered with it actually except my favorite online CD vendor, The Lasers Edge, only had that version.

Something extra to look forward to at any rate.

Darren

[BarryL]

I guess the 3 CD version is a limited edition thing. Most likely in a digipak. The 3rd CD has some extra cover tunes performed by Neal and Mike (Tuesday Afternoon - Moodies and Can't Find My Way Home - Blind Faith to name just a couple). Probably some videos.
Darren

I usually try to buy the CDs with the bonus material, which usually is only a couple of bucks more. I ordered mine on-line and there was only one choice, so that's what I got. Sometimes the bonus material of cover versions is pretty good.

Let me know what you think after you give yours a few listens.

[mad rhetorik]

I can understand why a lot of people find Neil Morse's new direction controversial. I don't like 99% of Christian rock, and I'm a Protestant myself. It's not like I disagree with the content of the message or anything, just that I find most of their attempts at preaching to make for insipid and dull lyrics. I feel the same way about metal bands who use either agnoticism or Satanic imagery (OooooH!) as a crutch for their lack of songwriting skills.

Even early on, U2's lyrical content, while containing Christian messages, wasn't overly preachy or corny but heartfelt and sincere. I liked U2 up to The Joshua Tree, which I found to be a dull, commercially slick record for the most part. Another band that seems to write good Christian lyrics is King's X (despite the fact that they don't claim to be a Christian outfit).

Anyway, Neal Morse isn't even the only artist to do this "Christian prog" thing either. Have a look at Glass Hammer: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=music

As far as Neal Morse himself is concerned, he doesn't appeal to me much. I never got into Spock's Beard, they are too prog-by-numbers for my liking, and while Neal is a decent musician I can easily find better examples in the same genre. Steve Wilson, for instance.

[Dave_G]

Glass Hammer is pretty good stuff, I like them but not a ton.

Didn't know they were associated with religious types of music, I thought they were just regular old proggers.

Dave

[3-LockBox]

>[QUOTE=mad rhetorik]I can understand why a lot of people find Neil Morse's new direction controversial. I don't like 99% of Christian rock, and I'm a Protestant myself. It's not like I disagree with the content of the message or anything, just that I find most of their attempts at preaching to make for insipid and dull lyrics. I feel the same way about metal bands who use either agnoticism or Satanic imagery (OooooH!) as a crutch for their lack of songwriting skills. <

PFR and maybe the first Jars Of Clay album are the only acts who hold my attention for more than two songs (probably why comps work so well for this genre). I like songs that are evocative, not provocative or blatant (don't know why, just do). Most Christians I know feel that I should like all songs with the word Jesus in them, and not critique them in the slightest. But I don't believe in canonizing a song just because it someone's singing "I love Jesus". I'm just as touched by a song like The Rebel Jesus by Jackson Browne, as I am song like Amazing Grace. A lot of Christian songs are terribly self serving and ingratiating, and isn't that just a tad un-christian?