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Some people are just gifted creatively. They seem to
be brimming with musical ideas that never stop. Neal Morse
is like that. With Spock’s Beard he helped create 10 CDs,
then so far as a solo artist he’s put out 6 CDs not counting
his work with Transatlantic. THAT’S prolific! Once again Neal
has put together the trio that has proven to communicate so
well together. That’s Morse (vocals, guitars, keyboards),
Mike Portnoy (drums) and Randy George (bass). For Lifeline
he’s also included a few others including Paul Bielatowicz
(2nd guitar solo on “Fly High”), Carl Groves (background vocals),
Johnathon Wills (strings), Jim Hoke (saxophone) and Ivory
Leonard and Danielle Spencer (background vocals).
Right off the top let me say I’m a huge fan of Neal’s
work, while with Spock’s Beard and his solo material. To my
ears he represents a classic progressive rock infused with
a modern sound and sensibility. The support material makes
the point that Lifeline breaks with Neal’s recent tradition
of writing concept recordings. Instead here we have a collection
of seven tracks that hearken back sonically to different musical
periods. The title track “Lifeline” [13:28] certainly has
the same feel as Neal’s work on the Beard’s V. But on this
disc we also have some shorter, mellower, acoustic pieces
that might have made it on his first two solo releases where
Morse was writing in a more commercial style. Fact is if you’ve
been around the prog scene at all over the past decade, you’ll
have heard Morse’s style. It’s grand in scope, panoramic,
majestic; his progressive rock style is build on writing melodic
passages that are linked together with massive, dramatic instrumental
segments supported by the choir and string keyboards. You
either love it or hate it. You either think it’s a prog cliché
or you feel it’s everything prog is supposed to be, and once
again I come down on the latter side of that equation. One
of the things Morse has tried to incorporate over the past
few releases, is a somewhat heavier style and that comes across
here on Lifeline in the track “Leviathan” [6:04] which places
the emphasis on heavier guitars and keyboards but is also
produced in a dense fashion that emphasizes the darkness of
the track. For fans of epics, Morse doesn’t disappoint with
the track “So Many Roads” [28:43] built up from six parts
all trading themes in classicNeal Morse style. There are few
who are better at this progressive rock style. Some have suggested
that Morse is repeating himself, either musically or lyrically
but I find this kind of claim truly disingenuous. That’s like
saying Mozart was repeating himself when in fact he was writing
in a style that featured his sound-style. The idea that every
new disc from an artist needs to reinvent themselves is one
of those artificial measurements that once again ignores what’s
actually created.
When you put Lifeline on the player it’s instantly recognizable
and I think that’s a good thing. Fans who’ve been following
Morse’s career will know what to expect and won’t hesitate
to add this disc to their collection. For me, it’s got everything
I love about prog on display and get’s my highest recommendation.
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