THE NEAL MORSE BAND - THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM ALBUM DUE IN NOVEMBER; MORE DETAILS REVEALED, LYRIC VIDEO STREAMING "...the current lineup of The Neal Morse Band - Morse, Portnoy, bassist Randy George, keyboardist Bill Hubauer and guitarist Eric Gillette - brings forth The Similitude Of A Dream, a concept album to be released November 11th on Radiant Records via Metal Blade Records/SONY. Pre-orders for The Similitude Of A Dream are live at Radiant Records’ website. This will be the eighth studio album with Morse, Portnoy and George, and the second as a true collaboration with this current lineup. A lyric video for the song, “Overture” is streaming below..." Tour dates: January 14 - Nashville, TN – venue tba 17 - Seattle, WA – Triple Door 18 - San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom 21 - Whittier, CA - Center Theater www.calprog.com 22 - Phoenix, AZ – Nesbitt-Elliott Playhouse Theater 24 - Denver, CO – Oriental Theater 25 - Dallas, TX – Curtain Club 26 - St Louis, MO – Delmar Hall 27 - St Charles, IL – Arcada Theater 28 - Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom 30 - Toronto, ON – Mod Room 31 - Montreal, QC – Club Soda February 1 - Quebec City, QC - Salle Jean Paul Tardif 2 - New York, NY – Highline Ballroom 3 - Washington DC – State Theater 4 - Atlanta, GA - City Winery May 6 - Gettysburg PA - RosFest EDIT: dates as of 10/19/16
If Neil Morse wasn't so preachy he would be the most interesting progressive force out there! In saying that, Neil Morse is one of the most interesting progressive forces out there! He's an absolute juggernaut! His band is an assembled group of amazing musicians. If I was Portnoy, I would not give one single fuck about Dream Theater and "The Astonishing"ly bad career choice they made. This goes on my blind buy list along with anything else Morse decides to do
I think Portnoy knows exactly where he is at and where he wants to be. And, I think he does give a single f*ck about DT and "The Astonishing" else he wouldn't make sure everyone knows his thoughts about the upcoming NM disc: "I'll just say this: If you think you've heard the Prog Album of 2016, you ain't heard nuthin' yet! Wait 'til you get a load of this..." More Portnoy musings about "...the GREATEST album of my career..." in the following links: MIKE PORTNOY CHECKS IN FROM THE NEAL MORSE BAND RECORDING SESSIONS; NEW DOUBLE CONCEPT ALBUM "AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE" MIKE PORTNOY REVEALS "THE GREATEST ALBUM OF MY CAREER" MIKE PORTNOY, NEAL MORSE GUEST ON ONE ON ONE WITH MITCH LAFON; “START OF NEXT YEAR I’LL BE OUT WITH THE NEAL MORSE BAND,” SAYS PORTNOY (AUDIO) MIKE PORTNOY TALKS FORTHCOMING NEAL MORSE BAND CONCEPT ALBUM - "BY THE TIME I WAS ROUNDING THE ALBUM'S GRAND FINALE I ACTUALLY WEPT LIKE A BABY"
I just can't take Morse music seriously since he went full-on Christian. It really does not have to do with disparaging his belief or religion. I understand that all kinds of people make music about what is important in their life, and religion is important to him. But the fact that he basically can't not talk about this single subject in his music is kinda annoying. Also, I don't like how he went from being able to write broadly appealing metaphors about spirituality in early Spock's Beard and Transatlantic to awkward ham-fisted blatant lyrics about "the lord" etc. Again, not insulting any religion or anyone's beliefs, it would be annoying if a band sang that constantly and clumsily about sushi too BTW, You can find some of Portnoy's comments online about how amazing Adrenaline Mob was too
I think you have to take Portnoy's comments with a grain of salt. His promotion of this album and others have hurt is credibility from a promotional standpoint with me. I'll just judge the music regardless of what he says. Love a lot of his stuff but the hyperbole with musicians, not only Portnoy, kills me these days.
I can certainly appreciate your point of view regarding his preaching. That said, The Grand Experiment doesn't reference religion at all. It's worth a listen.
Some parts in Alive Again, mostly at the end, are moderately overt but much of the rest is cloaked. For me I feel his spirituality in his musical choices and colors nowadays.
The early reviews of this release seem to confirm that Portnoy wasn't just blowing smoke when he said this is the best album he's ever been part of.
THE NEAL MORSE BAND - DATES IN ST. LOUIS AND ATLANTA ADDED TO NORTH AMERICAN TOUR; TORONTO SHOW PUSHED TO JANUARY 30TH
THE NEAL MORSE BAND TO PERFORM NEW ALBUM THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM IN ITS ENTIRETY ON UPCOMING TOUR "...According to an update from Portnoy while answering a fan question via Facebook, "we will be performing The Similitude Of A Dream entirely in its entirety as well as other material from the NM/NMB catalog...."
Some bands actually still give you your money's worth. Just saw Kansas over the weekend..... 150 minutes straight through, no break.
Beyond The Surface: Neal Morse On Operating In One’s True Gift, What He Does To Find Quiet In Today’s World, And Life As One Big Mitzvah THE NEAL MORSE BAND - "WE WILL HAVE NEW MUSIC VIDEOS FOR YOU EVERY FRIDAY UP UNTIL THE NEW ALBUM'S RELEASE"
THE NEAL MORSE BAND - OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR "SO FAR GONE" RELEASED MIKE PORTNOY Didn't Want New THE NEAL MORSE BAND Album To Be Compared To DREAM THEATER NEAL MORSE TALKS NEW ALBUM, MIKE PORTNOY, SPOCK’S BEARD AND FLYING COLORS IN AUDIO INTERVIEW
MIKE PORTNOY - "IT’S THE NEAL MORSE BAND; THOSE FOUR LETTERS MAKE A TREMENDOUS DIFFERENCE IN WHAT THE CHEMISTRY NOW IS"
MIKE PORTNOY ON THE NEAL MORSE BAND’S THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM - “IT’S ONE OF THOSE ALBUMS THAT I REALLY THINK HAS EVERYTHING THAT I LOVE ABOUT MUSIC”
I've listened to a large portion of this cd today and I am going to say this...THIS IS A FUCKING MONSTER! Holy damn is this cd amazing! I think we need to expand ProgPowerUSA and add Sunday morning with Neal Morse, every year! He can preach all he wants if his music continues to be this great!
