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| Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 18 2007, 09:34 AM (249 Views) | |
| zeitgeist | Mar 18 2007, 09:34 AM Post #1 |
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Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura![]() It's quite nice to have the pressure of deciding what my album of the year is going to be taken off my shoulders so early in the year. There'll be none of that faffing around come December umming and awing over so-so albums with a handful of good tracks scattered across them. For this is both the Dogs and the Bollocks. 'Nuff said. Of course, churlish knaves that you are, you will be wanting a few more details, instead of doffing your caps in deference, taking my word for it, scraping together your florins and scuttling off to buy it like you should. Gits. So, Mr Morse has been on an upward curve over the last few years. Ever since leaving Spock's Beard, a band I can leave or take, Neal has slowly been putting together a stunning selection of albums, each one striving for perfection. And he keeps on getting closer. "Testimony", "One" and, especially, "?" should never be far from your ceedee players. OK, the covers album was a covers album but even that had the most sublime version of 'Can't Find My Way Home' on it. So how can he keep cranking up the classometer? Well, naturally you've got Dream Theater bod Mike Portnoy banging away on drums, but this time Neal has brough tin former Racer X / Mr Big guitarist Paul Gilbert to do all the widdly bits, something that has notched up the performance levels above and beyond the sharp intake of breath that was "?". It also means that the rawk has been notched up to the levels of the prog, particularly on 'The Conflict'. In case you're wondering what the subject matter is this time, Neal has taken the easy way out and went for the 95 theses written by Martin Luther, rejecting the practices of the church that he felt were in conflict with Biblical scriptures. Which is why the album is called "Sola Scriptura" - the Latin for only according to the scriptures. Opening track 'The Door' is a mere 29 minutes long, takes in more musical ideas than you'll find in an entire Top 20 of albums, and features some stunning guitar battles between Gilbert and Morse. Frankly, it's as stunning a half hour of music as you'll hear this year, and would be worthy of album of the year all by itself. You also get 25 minutes of 'The Conflict' and 16 minutes of 'The Conclusion', so I wouldn't be taking any holidays anytime soon as the CD stretches to 75 minutes and 58 seconds. How Morse can keep on coming up with so much incredibly good music is beyond me. Unless there is something in that whole divine inspiration thing. Oh, and if you've been doing some mental arithmetic, yes that does leave 5 minutes or so to spare, which is reserved for a classic prog power ballad in the shape of 'Heaven In My Heart', a delightful song that could have easily come of a John Elefante solo album. Awesome, breathtaking, insert your own adjective here, this is why music was invented.
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12:37 AM Jul 11