So, I've finally come around to listen to this album....and I'm certainly not disappointed I did. What an awesome piece of work! Sure, I don't love the whole album but most of it is highly enjoyable with some fantastic highlights. The musicianship is what you would expect from these guys, of course, and the production/sound is excellent. I'm actually glad they didn't record yet another progressive album with 8 to 12 minute songs, which I'm sure many expected and perhaps wanted. I like the more "song" based approach and some choruses are sensational. I'm sure it would've been on my best of 2012 list had I only heard it last year. ;-) // Figgehttp://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926839#msg-926839Fri, 24 May 2013 18:23:39 +1000 Phorum 5.2.16 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,927140#msg-927140 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,927140#msg-927140Just phenomenal work!]]> iraklis NoticeboardThu, 17 Jan 2013 18:21:39 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926960#msg-926960 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926960#msg-926960 Terry K. NoticeboardWed, 16 Jan 2013 07:45:41 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926897#msg-926897 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926897#msg-926897
Debut:

I worked with Peter Collins and Steve Morse for four 12 hour days on it from helping engineer, to playing keyboards on a cut. I swear when I walked into the studio on day one, I thought I was getting punked because given the cast of musician's musicians the particular track they were on Steve was playing one chord for many bars, and my mind was blown away. I looked at Steve and Peter and nobody was laughing it was definately surreal, so I just sat stunned and in disbelief that everyone put aside their amazing chops and just played as a team with a focus. When Steve introduced me to Peter as the "producer", he didn't mention his last name and I thought it was Peter Frampton for about 10 minutes until he mentioned something about producing Rush.... I met Frampton 20 years ago, and now they're the same size and hair cuts and English accents :) Peter Collins is a very interesting guy, he actually was a tape operator on the Beatles white album, 80 million records later, he's beyond fascinating to hang with. Mike Portnoy was a great choice for singing a song, it doesn't insult my senses I like the song, and he's very expressive. Neal Young and Bob Dylan aren't Steve Perry either and they do ok. He's a hero in my book for laying it out there to take a pie in the face. There were a lot of firsts on this record and I think everyone should buy it to send a message to the recording industry to take some chances, in fact buy 10 copies and give them to people who you know that complain that there is nothing to buy anymore that's good. People seem to want to dissect it to far, sure Neal could have sang it all, but Casey was a big part of the writing too and that gets overlooked by the critics. I love that they brought in a Disney artist to front the band, Portnoy is a genius with his thumb on the pulse of the underground, check out Alpha Rev one of Casey's other bands. Dave LaRue combined funk and pop in way that you just never have heard except maybe Chris Bevridge with the band Giraffe. The outtakes were insane, in order to keep the more pop focus. I can't wait to hear what's next with these guys. I'm so glad a live DVD and new record are in the works with everyone's busy and difficult schedules to coordinate. It's a labor of love for these guys. It's a record that owes more to the Beatles than fusion. It owes more to the team than the individual players. When's the last tmie you could say that about a list of progressive rock stars? The lyrics are increadible, positive and uplifting and heartfelt. I wished the record hit with more of a bang (reviews were all excellent), but that's this world we live in. I guess if they had reality TV shows, and their own line of fragrances everyone would own it ;) If you've thought about buying it, put on your man panties and whip out your credit card or realize you're part of the problem with our lack of disk buying choices these days!

Peace, Brian]]> Brian_Moritz NoticeboardWed, 16 Jan 2013 00:01:42 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926894#msg-926894 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926894#msg-926894 lowdz NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 22:21:47 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926889#msg-926889 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926889#msg-926889 Daredevil NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 21:47:02 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926872#msg-926872 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926872#msg-926872 Dan NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 13:27:21 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926869#msg-926869 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926869#msg-926869
Maybe it'll make my Best of 2014 at this rate]]> the ORIGINAL brent NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 12:25:42 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926864#msg-926864 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926864#msg-926864Thanks very much!
Niv]]> nivjourney NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 11:17:33 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926862#msg-926862 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926862#msg-926862
Carl]]> Carl1 NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 10:52:39 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926857#msg-926857 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926857#msg-926857I've heard nothing but good stuff about this, and it's one I think I would really have liked.
It's been out a few months, so if it's under a tenner yet, I might well remember to pick this up! (This time round).
Niv]]> nivjourney NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 10:35:00 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926844#msg-926844 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926844#msg-926844 drowningdeep NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 09:58:32 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926841#msg-926841 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926841#msg-926841 Terry K. NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 09:52:23 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926839#msg-926839 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,926839,926839#msg-926839
Sure, I don't love the whole album but most of it is highly enjoyable with some fantastic highlights. The musicianship is what you would expect from these guys, of course, and the production/sound is excellent.

I'm actually glad they didn't record yet another progressive album with 8 to 12 minute songs, which I'm sure many expected and perhaps wanted. I like the more "song" based approach and some choruses are sensational.

I'm sure it would've been on my best of 2012 list had I only heard it last year. ;-)


// Figge]]> Figge NoticeboardTue, 15 Jan 2013 09:49:08 +1100