ONE

Neal Morse followed up his Testimony with another lengthy album. Thankfully thought, this time all the new material fits on one CD!

One mixes many different songs, both style and quality-wise, and unlike the previous work from Neal Morse's solo career it does contain one definite highlight called The Separated Man which incorporates everything I love about his music. This 18 minute performance has excellent melodies combined with the over the top instrumental jam moments that make the time pass by rather quickly. Unfortunately most of the ballads are actually below the usual quality standard, but who cares about that when the lengthy compositions work so well.

This album marked a step in the right direction for Neal's solo career. While the first few albums felt like Neal Morse putting together all of his composed material on whichever album he was releasing at the time, One still suffers from this problem but at least he learned from this and made the next two albums into a real treat of an experience.

***** star songs: The Separated Man (17:58)

**** star songs: The Creation (18:22) Author Of Confusion (9:30) Help Me/The Spirit And The Flesh (11:13)

*** star songs: The Man's Gone (2:50) Cradle To The Grave (4:55) Father of Forgiveness (5:46) Reunion (9:11)

Total rating: 3,94