Flying Colors - True Colors release

I thought Casey wrote most of the lyrics on this one? Sure I read that somewhere in an interview.

 

Talking about Neal's musical. Sorry, should've been more specific.

 

Johnny Giolli has great pipes too, the closest to RJD that I've heard.

 

I like him too for sure but I think I'd have to go with Russell Allen and Jorn Lande of the recent men for the gritty side of Dio. I actually prefer the amazing Jennie Ann Smith of Avatarium as she does not only the heavy Dio voice but the subtle Dio too:



When Breath Turns to Air

AVATARIUM - Moonhorse (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO)

 

The Exorcist album is really good, but the lyrics are a bit too overtly spiritual to the point where I doubt it will ever be an album I spin that much. I saw its debut at Morsefest in September 2018 and it was incredible to see performed in full. The nature of the lyrics just doesn't give it a chance to ever become an album I spin with any regularity.

I feel like Neal has toned down the overt lyrics big time in the last 8-9 years, after laying it on pretty thick at times on his first five prog solo albums following his departure from Spock's, some of which are still among my favorite albums ever regardless, especially ? and One.

Casey is an incredible singer and deserves any recognition he gets, IMO.

Prior to the Flying Colors, I'd never really listened to Steve Morse outside of that live Dredgs CD from the early 00's which I only bought because I saw them open for Dream Theater on the M:2000 tour. I have never been much of a Deep Purple fan, although I do like a few of their classic tunes from the early days. He is definitely a helluva player.

 

I pretty much agree with all of this.

I'd probably prefer JC the Exorcist if played as straight up prog by the Neal Morse Band but then it'd sound just like many of his previous albums. So, I do give him credit for trying something a bit different.

I did find the final section I posted in the You Tube clip above somewhat uplifting, despite it being a bit cheesy to my ears. However, I'm not convinced I would ever listen to the whole thing more than a couple of times, when I could just go and listen to One, ? and both Testimonies instead, all of which I enjoy greatly.

 

I don’t think I ever made it through Testimony more than once, and that was the height of my prog/Beard fandom. I think I skipped Testimony 2 entirely. I like the more recent stuff better, it’s less annoying lyrically, and he even kept The Grand Experiment to a single album.

 

Really good album. Better than the second, but not quite up to the first which is an all time favourite of mine.

 

if you want a great singer to be in Queen, then Freddie Nelson is your man! Listen to the album he did with Paul Gilbert....phenomenal !!
I think he's easily the best candidate for the Queen singer position...but it's not too hard when you have that Adam Lambert in there....

and Sons of Apollo is easily my favorite project that Portnoy is in...i love them all, but there is just too much Neal and his beliefs, and yes, his
songwriting is very same-y....almost wish Mike would stop working on some of these projects with Neal....there needs to be far less Neal in
Transatlantic and Flying Colors...the other guys need to do more writing and singing instead of him so much.

 

Testimony 2 actually wasn’t nearly as “hit you over the head” lyrically as T1 was. The vibe is very different on T2, which I consider one of his best. I like T1, but the lyrics and dry feel of the album make it not one of my favorites.

Casey does most of the lead singing in Flying Colors, and a lot of the writing doesn’t sound like Neal’s usual stuff. Besides, Neal does have a lot of variety in his writing, but the way he structures his albums can be a bit similar at times, so I get why it can see “samey.”

 

I should check it out one day, but...I kinda already know it's going to sound exactly like a dozen other Neal albums. The problem with T1, aside from the awful lyrics, was the overuse of repeating motifs and themes...I think he had a good hour's worth of music there, but stretched it to over two for no reason. I mean, I feel the same way about certain parts of The Wall and Quadrophenia as well, but Neal's was even longer than those. I like Neal, but I struggle when his albums top out at over 70 minutes (let alone the recent doubles). I think I listened to The Grand Experiment more than any of the other ones from this decade just because it was so relatively concise.

 

I thought the last Transatlantic album was more Roine than Neal.

 

Yeah, The Grand Experiment was a real band effort. Love it !

 

T2 was the first Neal album I bought on release. Seeds of Gold is one of my favourite Neal epics, with the awesome guitar solo by Steve M.

I like the last three NM Band albums, especially the variety provided by a few non-Neal lead vocals. Eric is a great singer, whilst Bill and Mike are more than adequate. In fact, Mike's singing does seem to have improved quite a bit over recent years.

 

Mike also does a decent job singing 'Comfortably Numb ' on the Sons of Apollo live album.

 

I agree that Testimony is way too long, similar to how Snow was too long, and I think the issue is that Neal's story was so long and meant to be the focus that he had to reuse too many themes too many times in order to tell the whole story that he wanted. I still like T1 a lot, but it can be a chore to get through in one sitting. That said, songs like Somber Days, The Storm Before the Calm, Sleeping Jesus, Break of Day and Wasted Life are all killer.

Portnoy's occasional lead vocals somehow managed to work well enough in the bands he's in with Neal (NMB, TA, FC), while rarely working in other bands. Just about every time he would take a lead vocal in Dream Theater, it was not good, especially live where he would try to put too much attitude into it and it ended up sounding bad.

I love the fact that Eric and Bill have had so much lead vocal work on the last two NMB albums. I hope that balance continues on future albums.

 

Have both the studio and Live Sons albums. Like the live one more. I passed three times already on seeing them like, but I might go see them next time if I like the 2nd album more than the first. I really don't know how it will turn out. We'll see.

My friend both the Exorcist album at the Flying Colors show and the intention was to listen to it on the way back home but we were so blown away by Flying Colors that we listened to Third Degree on the way back too. I should really ask him what he thinks of it.

 

I don't really mine his singing unless he's doing the cookie monster vocal thing. That I can do without. But the rest of it I think is pretty passionate and tasteful.

 

I'm on my 4th listen of Third Degree and the album is really clicking now. Standouts so far are The Loss Inside, Cadence, Love Letter and Geronimo. I love the variety in tones and feels of these songs and they really hit on what I think the band has been going for all along with the prog/pop hybrid. Production and mastering is on point as well with great dynamics and some of Portnoy's best recorded drum tones. This one's highly recommended!

 

Well said! I love how their overall sound has such warm tones and sounds very colorful, which I am sure is intentional given the band name.

I haven't seen the dynamic range score of this one, but it sounds great to me. Portnoy always does a great job at getting his drums to sound great on record, so that never surprises me.

 

Just wanted to let you guys know that I had the opportunity to get a CD called "Island of the Lost Keyboards", which is the Neal Morse mix of the debut album. I have to admit it was a complete revelation sound quality-wise. Although I haven't heard the "true-colors" release, I can't imagine it's better than this one. Granted, since it's Neal's mix there are different nuances and details here and there not present in the original mix, but this sounds impressively pleasant to my ears, it's now my go to version of the album.

I hear clipping and distortion at times, but they're not as constant or annoying as the original release, so if you're a fan of the album or band it's definitely worth getting this release. The missing stuff from the original release which is present here doesn't spoil the experience and sometimes improves it. This is the same experience I had with the Roine Stolt mix of the first Transatlantic album which I consider superior to the original CD, I wish other mixes were also available for the second Flying Colors album and the TA catalog.
Please don't take my word for it since I've been told my preferences are sometimes very different and odd regarding mixes, production and sound quality, so let me know what you think about this mix, as you might not agree with me. By the way, I also got the chance to listen to the vinyl version at a friend's house and it sounded fine. Definitely less harsh than the CD at times, but the hiss and background noise is not worth it for me. He sent me the needle drop and it sounds excellent, but the hiss is too distracting so I prefer this Neal mix to it as well.

I've looked for it on youtube and unfortunately I found nothing, maybe you guys might find it elsewhere since I'm not experienced in streaming video websites.
By the way, I've listened to it on an extremely simple setup of a Sony Discman and ATH M50x headphones, my simple audio setup while I'm away from home, so your experience might even be better than mine.

On a different subject, it's been four months since the FC concert and at least 20 spins of the third album and honestly, it still isn't doing much for me. Even spun the records a couple of times and though it sounds pleasant I come back to the first two by the end of side two. What about you guys, has it grown stronger than upon release?

Regarding the "Island of the Lost Keyboards" release, and for those not in the know regarding Neal Morse releases, he is constantly putting out albums with his multiple bands, but in-between releases he also puts out exclusive content for those who are subscribed to his inner circle for a monthly fee. In this group he releases exclusive CDs, DVDs and downloads containing rare demos, solo acoustic covers, original songs, live material and other stuff regarding solo and band projects that I guess are not really considered worthy of wide release outside the hardcore fan base for whatever reason. This CD is part of that subscription, where fans got the chance to get this release. You might be lucky enough to get this as it sometimes shows up on eBay or Discogs, so be on the lookout for it, I highly recommend it.

Cheers!

 

I am still a big fan of the third, but I think I still prefer the first one. Seems like when I listen to the third one now, I tend to always gravitate towards the same songs - Love Letter, More, Geronimo and Guardian - while the first album is still a seamless listen from start to finish.

 

Same here. Two really good albums and one truly great one!!

 

Hi. Does anyone know where I can get the True Colors release now?

It seems to be unavailable. I'm sure you knowledgeable lot can help.

Thank you.

 

Seem to be several cds on 'discogs', but if you mean the 'raw' download, try asking at http://www.calliopia.org