THE TRANSATLANTIC DEMOS

I never understood the reason behind this release. Unlike the The Roine Stolt Mixes of SMPTe, that I assume improved on the original release, The Transatlantic Demos is a compilation release that has no use to anyone except for the hardcore fans of Neal Morse and Transatlantic.

It was nice to hear the demos but I'm pretty sure that I will never listen to them again. I didn't realized that Neal Morse has already pre-written 70% of all the material before the rest of the super-group joined him during the recording sessions of SMPTe and Bridge Across Forever. This fact actually takes away some of the praise that Transatlantic have received for brilliantly composing some of the best melodic and jam sessions on their albums. Personally I found the bonus tracks on the Bridge Across Forever Limited Edition and The Whirlwind to be far more superior and most importantly just plain fun!

In other words this recording is strictly for completionists of Transatlantic and Neal Morse. The demo versions here are nice but adds nothing new of interest to the compositions that were released on the two Transatlantic studio albums.

*** star songs: Hanging In The Balance (18:01) We All Need Some Light (5:23) Dance With The Devil (9:01) Bridge Across Forever (4:48) Full Moon Rising (22:34)

** star songs: Working On Mystery Train (On A Bus) (1:46) Working On Piano Solo In 'All Of The Above' (0:53)

Total rating: 2,96