De muzikale reis van Neil Morse duurt al drie decennia. Het laatste wapenfeit is The Neal Morse Band. Morse heeft in zijn loopbaan al zeer veel succesvolle bands opgebouwd, zoals Spock’s Beard, Flying Colors en Transatlantic. Maar de meest vruchtbare zijn de samenwerkingen met Mike Portnoy (The Winery Dogs, Twisted Sister, ex-Dream Theater) gebleken.
De huidige lineup van The Neal Morse Band, bestaande uit Morse, Portnoy, bassist Randy George, keyboardspeler Bill Hubauer en gitarist Eric Gillette levert nu The Similitude of a Dream af, een concept album dat uitkomt op 11 november via Radiant Records / Metal Blade Records / SONY. Dit is het tweede studio album in deze lineup en al het achtste met Portnoy en George. Meer dan honderd minuten (verpakt in een 2CD, een speciale editie met de 2 CD’s en een “The Making of a Dream” DVD of als 3LP inclusief 2 CD’s) duurt deze progressieve wervelwind. De muziek en het verhaal pakt je beet en laat je ademloos genieten zoals alleen zeer geinspireerde muziek dat kan.
Neal Morse legt uit waar het verhaal vandaan komt: “The Similitude of a Dream is loosely and sometimes directly based on the book, Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. The book’s original title was The Pilgrim’s Progress from this world to the that which is to come, delivered under the similitude of a dream, and it was originally published in 1678. The book chronicles the spiritual journey of a man from the City of Destruction to a place of Deliverance. Someone had suggested to me that I do a concept album based on this book, but I kind of forgot about it. Then when I began writing new songs last December, the suggestion came to my mind. I had never read the book, so I Googled the SparkNotes story outline and began to write some little song bits and instrumentals based on what I had read. Those bits combined with the ideas that the other guys brought to the table then miraculously exploded into this double concept album. Funny thing is, this album only really covers about the first 75 or 80 pages. Maybe we should’ve made a five disc collection! Well, we’ll save that for later. Ha.”
En hij vervolgt: “At the conclusion of the grueling recording sessions, I remember Mike saying rather prophetically, ‘Boys, I think we just made the album of our careers.’”
“I honestly think this is THE album of my career,” verklaart Mike Portnoy. “Neal and I have now made 18 studio albums together, and I consider The Similitude of a Dream the absolute creative pinnacle of our collaborations together. I’ve always had a soft spot for double concept albums such as Pink Floyd’s The Wall and The Who’s Tommy, and I can bravely say that I think we’ve created an album here that can sit side by side with those masterpieces. Bold words, I know, but after a career of almost 50 albums, I honestly consider this to be one of the defining works of my career.”
“We weren’t sure we had enough music to make a double CD, and yet it seemed as though the concept and the music wanted to go there,” bassist Randy George voegt toe. “Ultimately, we created so much great music in the sessions that it just had to be a double album! To cap that off, we worked with a pre-imminent classic album cover artist to create painted illustrations of our concept which will grace the booklet!”
Nagenoeg ieder jaar gaat The Neal Morse Band op wereldtour en ze worden steeds populairder en trekken meer publiek. Ze tourden al in Noord en Midden Amerika, Europa, Israel, Mexico en India. De shows zijn altijd spectaculair, mede door de zeer loyale fans die vaak verre reizen maken om de band te zien.
LIVEDATA 30/03/2017 Spirit of 66, Verviers 02/04/2017 013, Tilburg