Neal Morse / The Great Adventure.......

[LarryD]

I'm late to the party on this one...... I didn't bite because of some of the reviews I've read, and just pure laziness in not getting around to grab it.....
I figured if it wasn't as good as "Similitude", I didn't need it ..... turns out I'm wrong.

Glenn say my ass down last week and asked if I'd even heard it yet ..... I embarrassingly answered no ......then he played some of Disc 1 for me.....

I was blown away by what I heard....... I think it was Claus who said in his post that this band has DT chops galore, and normally that would be sacrilege, but I'd already know that to be true after hearing "Similitude" - but this solidified the doubt. I described it as " the Prog Rock version of DT "...... I also think Claus had said it was much too long, but I never have that feeling or problem with any disc of this magnitude. I actually don't think any disc is too long, but that's another debate.....

Bottom line - I bow my head in shame that I didn't jump on this immediately, but I have it now, and I love the hell out of it .......

[Nos]

My take isn't the same as yours. "Similitude" was too long, but nearly everything on it was really good stuff. I don't feel that way at all about this one. They're trying to be heavier, since the character in this one is supposed to be 'angry', but I don't think Neal is good at that. His appeal is the same sort of schmaltz as Neil Diamond, and that's not what this album is about.

I actually think Neal was making consistently better records as a solo artist than he is with the Neal Morse Band (barring "Lifeline" being lousy).

[Sir Exar Kun]

Neal is a songwriting genius. I know he's not for everybody, but what he does he does REALLY well. End of the day every one of his rock / prog albums is a blind buy for me. They all range from "very good" to "oustanding", and if one of two come in on the lower end of that scale I am OK with that.

For me, this one sits a half notch below "Similitude". Again, nothing wrong with that! "Similitude" is a masterpiece to be proud of, and to be able to pull off two double disc concept albums back to back like this is an amazing feat. For me, "Similitude" felt more fresh, whereas this felt like the second Matrix film..... It's still great on so many levels, but feels a bit pale in comparison to the first.

Glad to hear you finally got around to this. If you haven't already, you NEED to work through the rest of his solo catalogue. He's probably the most consistently GOOD artist of the last 15 years. There are no "Astonishing" discs in his collection.

[GaetanL]

I saw the last two concerts from Neal Morse Band. Great shows! I really like the last 2 albums. They played each one entirely in each concert.

[sez]

I echo what's being said here. Neal is just consistently good. Blind buy, and I saw both the Similitude and Great Adventure concerts when they came here to Philadelphia--with my daughter, who loves Neal almost as much as I do (she's 13).

The core of this band--Morse, Portnoy, and Randy George--have been doing this since 2003. The two new additions--Bill Hubauer and Eric Gillette--fill some gaps. I'm not sure there's anything Hubauer can do on keyboards that Neal can't do, but his high-pitched vocals help with some of the stuff Neal would have to do in falsetto. Gillette is a huge asset to the band. His vocals sound like he's a younger Neal (with a slightly higher pitch), so he blends really well when he's singing. Neal has always employed various shredders (Paul Gilbert, Paul Bielatowicz, etc) as guests, but with Eric, he now has a guy who can not only shred, but also bring a bit more of a modern sound (he uses a 7 string). Portnoy has compared him to Petrucci.

Back catalog highlights for me are ? and Sola Scriptura. ? is a single, 54 minute song over one album and 12 tracks. Sola is heavier, and features the aforementioned Paul Gilbert.