THE NEAL MORSE BAND: THE NEAL MORSE BAND COLLECTION

An apparently 100% digital release compilation for The Neal Morse Band, I have to be honest, this is actually my first serious listen to any of their material. The majority of Neal I've known before this listen (and before my review for the other Neal Morse Collection) was in the form of early early Spock's Beard and Transatlantic, the former I could really use a refresher, I feel, and the latter of which I'm a big fan. There's just so much to love about/in Transatlantic, and really, regardless of his focus, Neal at his best is really a phenomenal performer and composer. It's certainly been well proved. [I just realized that there is a second keyboardist, Bill Hubauer, now of We Came From Space, and so there may be solos that I should have but ignorantly could not attribute to him. Who knows? They do! haha.]

The compilation starts off with the heavy "City of Destruction". Vocally, there's something that was immediately reminiscent of Tommy Shaw of Styx. This is rooted in a sort of late-70s Hard Rock, equally tying the music to them as well in my mind. I'm not super into the verses. The chorus on the other hand is pretty solid. Pretty impressive performance from guitarist Eric Gillette in the middle, specifically, he a member of newer Neo-Prog band Lazzleitt. Best part of the song was, the bridge and the ending. It very rapidly ends for the piano-led "The Ways of a Fool", featuring a different vocalist (forgive my ignorance, but I am new to this band). This track features a very cool rhythm and a sort of quirky Psych Pop feel. All of the instrumentation, from Mike's drumming to the keys, is very satisfying. I really like this sort of style. The middle section is sort of Beach Boys-esque vocally. Great vocals, unsurprisingly. Reminiscent, too (and therefore?), of '90s legends Jellyfish. The sort of... breakdown?... and the organ solo with it is just... *chef's kiss* haha. Fantastic. Neal takes the fore vocally in this second half.

"The Call" then starts right off, with big group vocals a capella. This is our sole mini-epic at just over 10 minutes' length. Pretty immediately we get the Proggy bigness I anticipate we would all love. Delicious instrumentation here. Such a groove, thanks to Mike's counterpoint to the main rhythm. My mind once again goes to Styx and then... to... I dunno. It's very Neal haha. In the best way. Very bright track with sweeping, emotive optimism. The main theme, just as bright, follows a sweet guitar solo from Gillette. Goodness... This just makes me want to listen through The Whirlwind again. It's been a long while for me. Around minute 6, we get a compositional shift, a forward-driving, fairly heavy section. It's a bit spacy and very intense. Another great solo from Gillette, this one more a melodic line. This is then followed by a swelling improvised solo. A real scalp-scratcher. Goodness... He's so good. Like Steve Morse meets Steve Vai? This is then followed by a very DeYoung-esque synth solo from Neal [or is it? Likely yes.]. Good God! So intense. Then we're back, in this same full force, to the vocal passage. Big swells at the end. Epic.

"Agenda" is a very electric song. Neal's vocals are compressed and effected pretty heavily, and it features more synth padding than the norm, etc. etc. Overall, not a whole lot here. The vocals toward the end are actually quite nice. Regardless, not bad, but nothing to write home about. Next, "Welcome to the World" starts off as many others seem to, with solo vocals but then rapidly we are into heaviness... This though does not last here. Syncopated instrumentation falls under Neal's verses. The chorus is pretty good. Very... uh... pessimistic song haha. In the middle section there is an exchange of different lead vocalists and then... we have a pretty awesome instrumental bridge, plenty dark, with an amazing solo from Gillette. I have to hear more of him, for sure! Up next then is "Vanity Fair", and it is right up next. This song starts with some really cool vocals over piano. Alternatively, compared to what came before, back to super optimistic, though, of course, knowing Neal and where he's coming from theologically/philosophically, this is ironic. A great song though, regardless. Very infectious melodies throughout, in the verse and chorus. I feel some more Styx, but mixed with some Beatlesesque, thankfully and unsurprisingly. Bright Second Wave Prog meets Psych Pop here--but significantly more the former. Love the instrumentation at the end. Sort of... Fair-like. How 'bout that! haha.

Close to the closing out of the compilation, we have the very heavy "I Got to Run". But... the verse... hmmm... The second verse is better than the first haha. I think because the instrumentation there is fuller, as it is before and between the verses (which is metallic and... just real good). I will still say that the verses are still super weak compared to all else. The chorus is pretty solid though. All falls away after the middle. And we have a different lead vocalist--very interesting voice. Almost Gabriel-esque? I can't place it. Finally, we have the upbeat and bright "The Great Adventure". The instrumentation here, for me, is much superior to the vocal parts. The latter is fine. The former is excellent. Great synth solo. And Mike's backbeat is complex and so tasteful over, specifically, the second, very weird synth solo. I love that.

So yeah, of course, unsurprisingly, at their worst here the NMB is either not too too interesting or provide less than satisfactory vocal melodies, but almost always, quite consistently, the instrumentation is Prog par excellence, really. Unsurprising.

True Rate: 3.75/5.00