LIFE & TIMES

I noticed that there was a brand new Neal Morse album at a good price, so I checked it out.

The song titles didn't indicate that it was one of his religious albums, and I do love most of his musical work, so I bought it.

Big mistake.

I should have been warned by the sticker announcing that this was a very personal collection of songs by Morse, but I wasn't prepared for this.

With the above mentioned sticker, I didn't think this would be like his other albums, but I expected some evidence of Morse's progressive rock background to come through.

Pretty much what this disk contains are a group of song with simple music and simpler lyrics. I felt like I was in soft rock hell as I forced my way to listen to the entire album. Every time it appeared that the music was about to take off, instead of soaring, it veered into mundane AOR.

And the lyrics, as I listened, I was surprised at how often I could anticipate the next line of a song before it was sung.

The only mentionable songs here are "He Died At Home", a moving ballad about a troubled veteran, and "Manchester", where Morse (or maybe cowriter Geoff Bailie) brightened up the song with some actual humor.

Those two track are all that raise this from the depths of a one star rating.

Sorry, Neal.