I know there has been some friction between Stolt and Boldin, but it just seems odd to me that there has been an announcement of a new album and tour, with no word as to why the only other original member who had still been with the band on their last album (Desolation Rose) is no longer in the band. Not saying we the fans are owed an explanation, but I think something would be nice. I think Neal has found a niche and probably makes a really nice living off of it. Heck, the fans buy everything in site at Morsefest every year; I am sure Neal makes a killing off of that. Portnoy has done well as well thanks to all of those years in Dream Theater, but I suspect he doesn't quite make now what he did during those peak DT years. I am not sure if he overestimated his marketability (the lack of success of bands like A-Mob and Sons of Apollo indicates the name Mike Portnoy alone is not enough to draw), but I think he was counting on Avenged Sevenfold making him a permanent member, and when that didn't happen, he was left scrambling a little. I am sure he does okay from all of his projects and it adds up, but I doubt he'll ever have another gig again like Dream Theater (unless a popular band like Iron Maiden suddenly needs a drummer and offers him the spot). My New World is probably a top 3 Transatlantic song for me, along with All of the Above and Stranger in Your Soul. My New World was actually the song that drew me in right away when I first heard SMPTe, with All of the Above being a bit of a grower. 30-minute songs aren't always immediate grabbers, hehe.
I recently read somewhere that Neal Morse's net worth is over $2 million so it sounds like all his hard work is paying off. Just found the link ! Neal Morse Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth
I always take the info off that site (and the internet in general as well in regards to how much someone is worth) with a grain of salt, but if Neal is worth even close to that, as a fan I'd be thrilled as he deserves it.
I don't really know what is meant by somebody's ''net worth''. Giving plain figures sounds like showing your underwear to the world. Does it mean the size of your bank account or the value of your real estates etc. Sorry folks, I just don't know how that could be common knowledge. Maybe in the U.S?
Transatlantic is comfortably my favourite post-70s prog group - I sometimes think of them as a cross between Yes and The Beatles of Abbey Road. Neal and Mike amongst my Top 10 musicians of any era and genre. I love their enthusiasm and am in awe of Neal's seemingly inexhaustible flow of great melodies. In another era, he could have been a major star. Bridge Across Forever is my favourite of the albums, with Kaleidoscope in second. I think the main "flaw" with Kaleidoscope is possibly that it came after the previous three albums and so lacked novelty. Maybe it would be more highly thought of had it been their first album? Anyhow, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that the new album maintains the same high standard.
I am sure I will really like it no matter what, but I hope this 5th Transatlantic is a little different from their other albums, especially when it comes to structuring the album. Kaleidoscope felt very much like they borrowed the structure of the first two albums (very long epic at the beginning and end like the 2nd album, acoustic-driven song second, a mellow Neal song as the 2nd to last track, etc.). The freshness of The Whirlwind, which had all kinds of different songs with everything from shorter songs to longer ones (but not too long), was great, and I hope they do something like that again.
Judging from Mike's postings, the composing / recording sessions in Sweden are over. Now we are waiting for the usual hyping to start!
I don't think any recording has actually started. Roine Stolt said in an interview that some drum tracks had been laid down, but Portnoy later said on FB that the meeting in Sweden was strictly a writing session and that nothing has been recorded yet.
This is from Mike's twitter account, apparently late 2020 for Transatlantic. Bummer for me because I move out of Chicago next August, that means I won't be catching them on tour in the US, but Mike couldn't be more active than this very moment and I'm ecstatic that a new Transatlantic album is coming soon!
That mean Roine laid some drum tracks down? If they spend more time on it than they did the last one and they approach it like the last Flying Colors album (let it develop organically) it has a chance to be decent. That there's still an audience for this after all this time should be a clue to take some time with it and have some fun however it ends up turning out.
Last Friday Mike Portnoy tweeted that Neal Morse's Sola Gratia album will be the only original NM/MP album coming out in 2020. I suppose that means that TA5 is not coming out this year!
Neal did say in his last Inner Circle email that they have a date set now for when it will come out, but cannot say yet, just that it is "pretty soon."
Wait, what are the other two? I'd trade a dozen Neal albums in for a new TA album, but that's just me.
The live Flying Colors that's coming out next week and a live Jesus Christ the Exorcist (which I'm not sure has been announced yet) in December.
Haha, I was thinking the same thing. I saw something last week about how Mike Portnoy has released like 339 album since leaving Dream Theater, but upon closer inspection, like 320 of them were live albums (since, like Neal, he likes to release a live album from every tour from every band he is in). LOL
I like live stuff so no complaints, but when there’s one from every tour it isn’t really a special event. I’m looking forward to streaming the Flying Colors one next week, but I’m bummed that the TA album is on hold. I think originally TA was supposed to play MorseFest but maybe the whole project is just on hold until they can play some shows, I guess.
Those in-the-know were basically hinting to some at last year's Morsefest that this year's would be Transatlantic, but COVID destroyed any chance of that. There may have been some visa issues as well with both Roine and Pete that were holding things up a bit even before the pandemic. I was gonna get the new Flying Colors live Blu-ray since I hadn't gotten the first two, but the YT clips of both Mask Machine and Kayla were both so uninspiring that I have yet to pull the trigger. I am trying to be more choosy with live stuff as I get a bit older.
