MORSEFEST 2015

Let me say first of all that I haven't yet watched the DVDs in their entirety, so this review is of the 4 CDs that come with this set. Sola Scriptura and ? were for a long time my favourite Neal Morse albums (surpassed now by Similitude) so this was a live set that I really had to get. The two albums are performed with added orchestra and choir and some sections are lengthened - to the extent that the last song of Sola Scriptura is on a separate CD. The embellishments in my opinion are an improvement on the studio albums (excellent as those were). In addition to the two albums we have a selection of Spock's Beard, Transatlantic and Neal Morse Band songs. The first set of songs are the weakest part of the album for me. I really can't get into "Go The Way You Go" at all, whilst "A Whole Nother Trip" does have some really good bits it doesn't seem to flow like some of Neal's other epics. On the other hand, the songs after Sola Scriptura are all very good, from the beautiful acoustic "Waterfall" to the Whirlwind medley and featuring Nick D'Vigilio on a couple of tracks plus the Christian guitarist Phil Keaggy who makes a few appearances throughout. I'm really glad I bought this and I must get around to watching the DVDs sometime soon!