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Neal Morse - The Neal Morse Band: The Grand Experiment CD (album) cover

THE NEAL MORSE BAND: THE GRAND EXPERIMENT

Neal Morse

 

Symphonic Prog

3.85 | 349 ratings

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Lofcaudio
4 stars This is a great album. I would love to give it 5 stars, but it comes up just short. The Neal Morse Band delivers with a very creative album that is probably like no other album you have heard....ever. It's got a little bit everything and that everything is quite good to my ears.

Track 1: The Call. Outstanding! Take the best of Queen and the best of Styx and you have the sound of this song. It's really that good (yet, not even the best song on the album in my opinion). If you are thinking that Queen and Styx aren't prog enough for you, have no fear. That's what is so great about this song. It's plenty prog, with plenty of high-quality hooks that hit all my 70s and 80s pop itches.

Track 2: The Grand Experiment. Initially I hated it. But ten listens in, this is a really nice song. Anyone who says they hate this song, I immediately dismiss it because I know they haven't heard it enough times. While I would love to think differently, prog is tough. It's so acquired that even those of us who love it (prog music) through and through can't digest it on the first few listens. This is one of those songs. It's polarizing because it's very poppy. "Oh...this sounds like pop...trash." While I agree it is very poppy, I also think it is very proggy. If this is a filler song on an album, it must be one heck of an album.

Track 3: Waterfall. GREAT SONG! We have seen in the past how Morse has been quite adept at bringing multiple voices together and this song is basically "June" (Kindness of Strangers) on steroids. One of the exceptional parts of this album is the vocal harmonies with the inclusion of Eric Gillette and Bill Hubauer and this particular song really showcases what this band can do in that department. This is a ballad quite unique from anything else in the Morse catalog and I find that it works really well.

Track 4: Agenda. This is one of those "love it or hate it" songs and I happen to love it. Great tune that jumps from hard edge verses to a floating chorus. Regardless of how you feel about it, I dare you to listen to it a couple of times and not find it haunting you throughout the course of your day. It is very catchy.

Track 5: Alive Again. Plain and simple, this is a 5-star song from start to finish. Eric Gillette steals the show with some delicious vocals every time he comes in with the dramatic phrase "Now I feel like I'm alive again..." This song is so good that you can listen to the whole thing and feel as if only 5 or 6 minutes have passed, when the total clock time is actually over 26 minutes. There is an exceptional moment from the 7:30 - 9:00 mark which truly is some of the best 90 seconds of music ever....literally spine-tingling. I could use all sorts of superlatives to describe various aspects of this track, instead I'll just say that it is a very satisfying ending to a solid set of songs. It's easily in my Top 5 epics alongside of Seeds of Gold, The Creation, At the End of the Day and The Door.

I like all 5 songs and "Alive Again" is outstanding. However, four stars is all that I'm willing to give it because there is definitely a lull that occurs in the middle of the album between the bookend tracks. It's not really fair because if those middle songs were on other albums they might be considered the standouts, but Alive Again and The Call are so good, the three other songs pale in comparison and make the album feel a little less consistent than it really is.

If you like classic Spock's Beard, Styx, Queen, ELO...you will love this album.

Lofcaudio | 4/5 |

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