Transatlantic Official Thread

[bosk1]

I've had almost 3 full listens to Forevermore now and I enjoyed each listen although over the last 3 albums now I am noticing that Transatlantic is sounding more and more like Neal Morse solo music and less and less like those first two albums, which seemed more...varied...or something. 

I do agree that it's less varied.  But to me, that works in their favor.  To me, their first two albums had a lot of peaks and valleys.  On SMPT:e, I love All of the Above, We All Need Some Light, and My New World.  Those are fantastic.  I didn't like Mystery Train much at first, but that one has grown on my, so I can put it in the "like" column now.  But I actively dislike the final song.  And, yes, I realize it is a cover.  But still, it takes up over 17 minutes on the album, so it is hard to ignore.  That's about 1/4 of the album that I skip.

On Bridge Across Forever, I love the title song and Stranger.  I don't love Duel with the Devil, but it is solid.  Suite Charlotte Pike is just "okay."  I don't hate it, but I find it uninteresting. 

Then there's The Whirlwind...  How do you even rate an album that is a single song?  Thankfully, I feel that it is their best song, so it isn't hard.  Love it.  And a lot of the bonus tracks on the deluxe are solid. 

But anyway, the first two albums are a bit inconsistent to me.  They have some of the band's best material, which rank VERY highly for me in terms of stuff I still want to listen to after all this time and would easily find its way onto an "all time" list.  But there is other stuff I would pass on altogether.

TAU is a bit of an oddity in that it has neither of those.  I mean, I hate to sound like "one of those fans" who just pines for a band's "classic sound" and doesn't like anything else, but it this were DT, I would kind of be saying that this new album doesn't really have any Metropolis or Learning To Live.  Just nothing that quite reaches those peaks.  But it also doesn't have anything that approaches the valleys either.  To me, it is a very consistent album, and it is consistently very good.  Going back to DT, it is very much like the Mangini era of DT for me in that the albums during that time are far more consistently good IMO than anything the band has ever done before.  And while it may not reach the peaks that some songs on earlier albums did, that consistency earns big points for me. 

That said, it's really hard for me to try to rank it.  Do I "reward" it for being more consistent than the band's prior albums?  Or do I knock it down a peg for not having the highs that really draw me on on some of those earlier albums?  I don't know.  Prior to this one, I would rank them like this:
1.  TW:  Perfection.  Hard to imagine them ever beating this.
2.  SMPT:e:  Really solid classic. 
3.  Bridge:  Also really solid, and I hate that it is #3.  But SMPT:e is just a shade better.
4.  Kaleidoscope:  I don't dislike it, but was really disappointed.  This album just kind of came and went. 

The new one doesn't reach TW level.  It just doesn't.  But it is far above Kaleidoscope.  It ranks somewhere in among those first two albums, but I'm not sure where.  Some days, it is my #2.  Others, I have to but it behind both of those.  But I do know that I like it a lot, and that's what really matters.

And I'll say again that Pete is the album MVP for me, on both vocals and bass.  Take him away, and the album falls considerably for me.

[HOF]

I really miss the more whimsical nature of the first two albums. I think there was less of a preconceived, "this is what TA is" element to them, though I think Bridge Across Forever set the expectations really high in terms of making sort of a grand musical and lyrical statement. They do seem to have a habit of maybe forcing epic themes and lyrics since then trying to recapture the magic. Go back and listen to All of the Above and see how playful a lot of the music and lyrics are. Mystery Train even more so. Suite Charlotte Pike had a lot of that too. That's just not where Neal has been musically or lyrically since his solo career started.

[Fritzinger]

I really miss the more whimsical nature of the first two albums. I think there was less of a preconceived, "this is what TA is" element to them, though I think Bridge Across Forever set the expectations really high in terms of making sort of a grand musical and lyrical statement. They do seem to have a habit of maybe forcing epic themes and lyrics since then trying to recapture the magic. Go back and listen to All of the Above and see how playful a lot of the music and lyrics are. Mystery Train even more so. Suite Charlotte Pike had a lot of that too. That's just not where Neal has been musically or lyrically since his solo career started.

I don't think any of the epicness is forced. That's just the way Neal's music is by now...

[Ben_Jamin]

I think there is a certain charm with Pete's vocals. They work well on Forevermore in my opinion. It has that soft, pleasant quality that adds a new dimension to their vocal palate. Especially compared to Roine's rough voice and Mike's sometimes rather agressive bits.

All of the vocals work, though. I've always liked that Transatlantic has four voices that can be utilized in appropriate sections.

When I was listening to Solitude, I was thinking that there is no other voice that suits that part. Pete's vocals here have that soft, warmness to it, that while not in great pitch it has this tone that suits the song. It's why I like Roine Stolts voice, and The Flower Kings. And why I like Transatlantic.

This album is pretty much the Transatlantic sound I enjoy. It's better than The Whirlwind and is now my favorite. The Upbeat melodies, the vocals and harmonies, the tones of each instrument and vocals, and the groove of the bass and drums. The rhythm of the albums is that good uppity prog sound that I like, and it flows really good.

[kirksnosehair]

I've had almost 3 full listens to Forevermore now and I enjoyed each listen although over the last 3 albums now I am noticing that Transatlantic is sounding more and more like Neal Morse solo music and less and less like those first two albums, which seemed more...varied...or something. 

I do agree that it's less varied.  But to me, that works in their favor.  To me, their first two albums had a lot of peaks and valleys.  On SMPT:e, I love All of the Above, We All Need Some Light, and My New World.  Those are fantastic.  I didn't like Mystery Train much at first, but that one has grown on my, so I can put it in the "like" column now.  But I actively dislike the final song.  And, yes, I realize it is a cover.  But still, it takes up over 17 minutes on the album, so it is hard to ignore.  That's about 1/4 of the album that I skip.

On Bridge Across Forever, I love the title song and Stranger.  I don't love Duel with the Devil, but it is solid.  Suite Charlotte Pike is just "okay."  I don't hate it, but I find it uninteresting. 

Then there's The Whirlwind...  How do you even rate an album that is a single song?  Thankfully, I feel that it is their best song, so it isn't hard.  Love it.  And a lot of the bonus tracks on the deluxe are solid. 

But anyway, the first two albums are a bit inconsistent to me.  They have some of the band's best material, which rank VERY highly for me in terms of stuff I still want to listen to after all this time and would easily find its way onto an "all time" list.  But there is other stuff I would pass on altogether.

TAU is a bit of an oddity in that it has neither of those.  I mean, I hate to sound like "one of those fans" who just pines for a band's "classic sound" and doesn't like anything else, but it this were DT, I would kind of be saying that this new album doesn't really have any Metropolis or Learning To Live.  Just nothing that quite reaches those peaks.  But it also doesn't have anything that approaches the valleys either.  To me, it is a very consistent album, and it is consistently very good.  Going back to DT, it is very much like the Mangini era of DT for me in that the albums during that time are far more consistently good IMO than anything the band has ever done before.  And while it may not reach the peaks that some songs on earlier albums did, that consistency earns big points for me. 

That said, it's really hard for me to try to rank it.  Do I "reward" it for being more consistent than the band's prior albums?  Or do I knock it down a peg for not having the highs that really draw me on on some of those earlier albums?  I don't know.  Prior to this one, I would rank them like this:
1.  TW:  Perfection.  Hard to imagine them ever beating this.
2.  SMPT:e:  Really solid classic. 
3.  Bridge:  Also really solid, and I hate that it is #3.  But SMPT:e is just a shade better.
4.  Kaleidoscope:  I don't dislike it, but was really disappointed.  This album just kind of came and went. 

The new one doesn't reach TW level.  It just doesn't.  But it is far above Kaleidoscope.  It ranks somewhere in among those first two albums, but I'm not sure where.  Some days, it is my #2.  Others, I have to but it behind both of those.  But I do know that I like it a lot, and that's what really matters.

And I'll say again that Pete is the album MVP for me, on both vocals and bass.  Take him away, and the album falls considerably for me.

That's fair.  I strongly agree about Pete's bass playing but I just can't wrap my head around his vocals.  I found it more jarring on Kaleidoscope, though.   I think they picked better material for him here because it does tend to suit his voice better.  The other thing is, it's one of my favorite tracks on the entire Forevermore version of the album so the vocals don't bother so much as they puzzle me.  Personally if any vocalist I was working with ever handed that to me as their finished product, I'd reject it 10 times out of 10.   

[darkshade]

I really miss the more whimsical nature of the first two albums. I think there was less of a preconceived, "this is what TA is" element to them, though I think Bridge Across Forever set the expectations really high in terms of making sort of a grand musical and lyrical statement. They do seem to have a habit of maybe forcing epic themes and lyrics since then trying to recapture the magic. Go back and listen to All of the Above and see how playful a lot of the music and lyrics are. Mystery Train even more so. Suite Charlotte Pike had a lot of that too. That's just not where Neal has been musically or lyrically since his solo career started.

To me, each Transatlantic album is like a checkpoint on Neal and Roine's career (as they are the main songwriters, generally) both of their individual canons have evolved since the late 90s, so I expected The Absolute Universe: Forevermore to be closer to Islands meets Sola Gratia; than to Space Revolver meets V. Then you have Portnoy who's been working with Neal outside of Transatlantic for over 20 years so there is a chemistry there. Roine and Neal were writing different things back in the day, as much as they get criticized for repeating themselves.

[HOF]

I really miss the more whimsical nature of the first two albums. I think there was less of a preconceived, "this is what TA is" element to them, though I think Bridge Across Forever set the expectations really high in terms of making sort of a grand musical and lyrical statement. They do seem to have a habit of maybe forcing epic themes and lyrics since then trying to recapture the magic. Go back and listen to All of the Above and see how playful a lot of the music and lyrics are. Mystery Train even more so. Suite Charlotte Pike had a lot of that too. That's just not where Neal has been musically or lyrically since his solo career started.

I don't think any of the epicness is forced. That's just the way Neal's music is by now...

Forced might be the wrong term. Neal does sort of ooze that style of music, and he can and probably does write epics in his sleep (that might be part of the problem!). I guess I'm more saying they seem to feel that TA has to be that way now, but initially it was more playful and had more of a Beatles/pop element in addition to the epic prog ness (also a little bit of jazz as well). And Neal certainly still writes music in that vein from time to time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying this one so far (and a song like Can You Feel It is a bit more of a light hearted pop thing). Just trying to put my finger on something that seems to be missing from the band's earlier work.

[ErHaO]

So does anyone else hear minions on Belong?

[darkshade]

I really miss the more whimsical nature of the first two albums. I think there was less of a preconceived, "this is what TA is" element to them, though I think Bridge Across Forever set the expectations really high in terms of making sort of a grand musical and lyrical statement. They do seem to have a habit of maybe forcing epic themes and lyrics since then trying to recapture the magic. Go back and listen to All of the Above and see how playful a lot of the music and lyrics are. Mystery Train even more so. Suite Charlotte Pike had a lot of that too. That's just not where Neal has been musically or lyrically since his solo career started.

I don't think any of the epicness is forced. That's just the way Neal's music is by now...

Forced might be the wrong term. Neal does sort of ooze that style of music, and he can and probably does write epics in his sleep (that might be part of the problem!). I guess I'm more saying they seem to feel that TA has to be that way now, but initially it was more playful and had more of a Beatles/pop element in addition to the epic prog ness (also a little bit of jazz as well). And Neal certainly still writes music in that vein from time to time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying this one so far (and a song like Can You Feel It is a bit more of a light hearted pop thing). Just trying to put my finger on something that seems to be missing from the band's earlier work.

As someone familiar with where Neal and Roine are at musically these days, I actually find TAU:Forevermore to be a breath of fresh air, the best thing anyone in the band has done recently, but is closer to what I expected based on their own recent works. I was not expecting it to sound like their early albums or NM-era Spock's or early 00s TFK, or even The Whirlwind.

[Fritzinger]

So does anyone else hear minions on Belong?

I've never seen that movie, and I don't know what exactly you're talking about (although I know those yellow things that look like the inside of a Kinder Egg with a face)... And I won't listen to/watch any of it because Beeelong is my favorite theme of the album and I don't wanna ruin it 

[The Letter M]

So does anyone else hear minions on Belong?

It's a Tibetan singer. Picked out by Roine, according to Pete.

-Marc.

[bluefox4000]

Well since i love ranking stuff. and i'm bored.

1. Bridge Across Forever-  this to me is Transatlantic's measuring stick.  nothing on here is weak.  every track is a winner.

2. The Whirlwind-A VERY close 2nd.  Making an album long epic took balls.  they hit it out of the park mostly.  A few sections i do get bored by.  Rose colored glasses mainly. but still a killer album though.

3. The Absolute Universe-I know it's early.  but i really love this.  the Abridged version more but this album has some of they're best songs/melodies for me. Darkness In the Light, Swing high/Take now My Soul, Looking For the Light, The World We used to Know, Solitude....to name a few.  very impressed.

4. SEMPT:e-This is an ok debut.  i LOVE All of the Above and My New World.  Was never huge on the rest.....even We All Need Some Light.  Noble start but they'd iron stuff out on Bridge.

5. Kaleidoscope-  Not very good at all.  thhis is one where i went...........ummmmmmm.....where's everyone else?  This is Neal Morse featuring Transatlantic.  Seriously this just could have been one of his albums.  the two longer songs are very paint bu numbers.  the slower tunes are too fluffy.  nothing works for me here.

[devieira73]

I listened to the new album few times and at least I have my ranking:

1 - Bridge Across Forever (Totally a magical masterpiece, every bit of it. Even the often dismissed title track I think it's amazingly beautiful)

2 - Whirlwind (It's a perfect album, only a bit below Bridge because that inexplicable "magic" factor. By the way, I also LOVE Spinning)

3 - SMPTe (Incredible first album, I only don't love the cover song – in fact, I don't like it)

4 - The Absolute Universe (Although early to judge, I think it won't surpass the albums above, but it's a very strong album. I wouldn't cut any of the songs/bits from the Forevermore version, honestly. The 2 CDs have a great flow, you listen to them without tiring yourself. Really happy to have bought the BluRay version! Another interesting personal perception is that, to me, this album sounds even more like one long song than Whirlwind, really).

5 - Kaleidoscope (It's truly a good album, the 2 epics have a lot of great passages, Black As the Sky is a very cool/energetic "short" song, but it's clearly their "worst" album. Its flow is still something that you have to fight a bit to listen to the album at one sitting).

[darkshade]

1. The Whirlwind - I think it's their best album, but also the best thing any member of the band has been a part of (though maybe there's a couple of DT albums that eclipse it) Talking about the main disc of course. Some of their strongest melodies. To me, this is the pinnacle of what Neal and Roine bring to the world of music. This is THE best sounding bass I've ever heard on a prog rock record. Yup, even compared to the greats. Portnoy's work is some of his best as well, possibly the last time he was this good. The bonus disc has a few nice surprises as well.

2. Bridge Across Forever - This is the best album not called The Whirlwind. The two book-ending epics is worth the price of admission and together are longer than most albums. DWTD and SIYS are both some of the best epics to come out of the prog rock world. Just magical moments, and even some heavy moments sprinkled in. SIYS main theme melody is just beautiful. The middle songs I can take or leave depending on my mood, so this drags the album down a tiny bit, whereas TW mostly perfect beginning to end.

3. SMPTe - First album is a very strong prog rock debut, All of the Above is a top 5 Neal composition. WANSL is a classic Neal ballad, Mystery Train is an underrated tune. My New World is lovely. However, the album is very much a Neal Morse side project, everything is 'Nealed up' as I call it, especially My New World (check out the demo version compared to the final version.) I know they're mostly credited to the entire band, but each song sounds more like "this is the Neal epic, this is the Neal ballad, this is the Neal rocker, oh and here is the 'Nealed-up' Roine composition, concluding with a 'Nealed up' cover".

4. The Absolute Universe: Forevermore - Too early for me to rank it higher, and I haven't listened to Breath of Life yet. That will probably get it's own ranking. For now, I definitely enjoy it way more than Kaleidoscope.

5. Kaleidoscope - Didn't care for this when it came out, and wasn't in the prog rock mood at the time. These days, I enjoy it when it's on, it's not bad. There are just other Neal Morse or Roine Stolt works I'd rather listen to over this one. It's there when you want more music from these guys. I agree that this is more of a "Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope: A Neal Morse Production" than a band effort like the 2 albums that preceded this one. I do like Into The Blue, and I really like Daniel Gildenlow's voice on it.

[Elite]

1. Bridge Across Forever
2. The Whirlwind
3. Kaleidoscope
4. SMPT:e

Can't rank the new one yet.

[gzarruk]

Pete's vocals are hit or miss for me. I actually don't have any issues with them on TAU or the bits he sang on Stranger, for example, but his solo spot on Kaleidoscope? not good. Lending a Hand? Unlistenable (Whirlwind bonus track with Pete on vocals all the way through).

As fo Solitude specifically, I think his vocals fit the song well, I just found myself liking the short version much more than the long one. The one in Forevermore unnecessarily adds a soft bridge section and another chorus before going to the "emotional" Love Made a Way bridge section. The shorter one flows so much better.

As for my ranking, it's still very soon, but I think it might be something like this:

1. The Whirlwind - Their perfect album, not much else to add here. Disc 2 was completely unncecesary, but it has a couple good songs in there (Spinning and For Such a Time).

2. Bridge Across Forever - I LOVE both epics and BAF isn't a bad song at all. I can't stand Suite Charlotte Pike, but I still have a very strong hour-long album without it.

3. The Absolute Universe - As Bosk said, it's the consistency about this album(s) that makes it rank higher, though I don't think anything here reaches the highs of the previous albums. This is also a harder one to rank because there's two versions of the album and I find Forevermore to be a bit long/tiring sometimes, but TBOL feels like it's missing a couple cool things from it. Just weird.

4. SMPTe - I love AOTA and WANSL, but I don't find myself going back to MT or MNW too often. Don't care about the cover song, though.

5. Kaleidoscope - Everybody is ranking this one last, even though it's not bad at all. I just think they tried too hard to make an album similar to the first two that they ended up accidentally re-writing some of their earlier songs into it. It just feels like new versions of All of The Above + We All Need Some Light + a song from TW + BAF + Stranger in Your Soul.

[HOF]

I always thought SMPTe has a little stronger Roine influence than Bridge Across Forever. I'm glad we are all agreed that In Held (Twas) in I is awful and is the only blemish in an otherwise amazing album. I just skip it and it doesn't bother me. There's plenty of original music for a full album without it.

[kirksnosehair]

I always thought SMPTe has a little stronger Roine influence than Bridge Across Forever. I'm glad we all agreed that In Held (Twas) in I is awful and is the only blemish in an otherwise amazing album. I just skip it and it doesn't bother me. There's plenty of original music for a full album without it.

I never really got why they did that but I suspect they were a bit short on material and needed a something so they did a long cover tune.  I would have preferred something different too.  I routinely skip it when I listen to SMTP:e


Prior to the release of this new album I'd rank them as:


1. Bridge Across Forever - as close to flawless an album as I can think of. 
2. SMTPe: (minus the last track)
3. The Whirlwind (again, minus the last track)
4. Kaleidoscope - it's...OK


I'm not sure where the new one will fit in, but if I HAD to put it somewhere it would go after The Whirlwind. 

[Mladen]

I've never heard the original version of that Procol Harum tune, but I've always loved the Transatlantic version of it. It's filled to the brim with great prog bits. I had no idea it was disliked. 

[kirksnosehair]

So does anyone else hear minions on Belong?

It's a Tibetan singer. Picked out by Roine, according to Pete.

-Marc.

OK, I was wondering WTF that was every time I heard it.  I wasn't even entirely sure it was part of the album and not something originating somewhere outside of it.     All 4 times I've heard it I turned around to see what was behind me, because in the mix it almost sounds like it's behind me.  Or panned hard left, IIRC.

[Skeever]

Unfortunately, I think what happens is that bands sometimes fall into the trap of sounding like themselves after they have fully gelled.

For me, Transatlantic "fully gelled" on the Whirlwind. Yes, the first two albums are very special and pioneering, and have a lot of more experimental elements that never show up again in their later discography. They're special to me, but the quality is certainly less homogenous, and probably those albums might have been overlooked by me if I weren't already very big fans of all four players. But the Whirlwind is the first album where it's like, "everything that worked about the first two albums, with very little of what didn't".

Then you have Kaleidoscope, the first one that just kinda sounds like TA sounding a bit like themselves. And this one suffers from that a little bit too.
This isn't a full-time band, and I doubt anyway comes to the project with the mindset of, "let's just let loose in the studio and see what happens" anymore. If anything, I would imagine each guy comes into the studio thinking "let's make a Transatlantic album", which would have been impossible during those earlier days. And, though a subtlety, the results of that thinking speak for themselves when you listen.

[HOF]

Unfortunately, I think what happens is that bands sometimes fall into the trap of sounding like themselves after they have fully gelled.

For me, Transatlantic "fully gelled" on the Whirlwind. Yes, the first two albums are very special and pioneering, and have a lot of more experimental elements that never show up again in their later discography. They're special to me, but the quality is certainly less homogenous, and probably those albums might have been overlooked by me if I weren't already very big fans of all four players. But the Whirlwind is the first album where it's like, "everything that worked about the first two albums, with very little of what didn't".

Then you have Kaleidoscope, the first one that just kinda sounds like TA sounding a bit like themselves. And this one suffers from that a little bit too.
This isn't a full-time band, and I doubt anyway comes to the project with the mindset of, "let's just let loose in the studio and see what happens" anymore. If anything, I would imagine each guy comes into the studio thinking "let's make a Transatlantic album", which would have been impossible during those earlier days. And, though a subtlety, the results of that thinking speak for themselves when you listen.

Yeah, you're saying (better than I did) what I was kind of trying to express. Transatlantic has more of an established identity now, so when the members reconvene to make an album they are going to focus on making what they think of as (and probably what the fans expect from) a Transatlantic album.

[bosk1]

Unfortunately, I think what happens is that bands sometimes fall into the trap of sounding like themselves after they have fully gelled.

For me, Transatlantic "fully gelled" on the Whirlwind. Yes, the first two albums are very special and pioneering, and have a lot of more experimental elements that never show up again in their later discography. They're special to me, but the quality is certainly less homogenous, and probably those albums might have been overlooked by me if I weren't already very big fans of all four players. But the Whirlwind is the first album where it's like, "everything that worked about the first two albums, with very little of what didn't".

Then you have Kaleidoscope, the first one that just kinda sounds like TA sounding a bit like themselves. And this one suffers from that a little bit too.
This isn't a full-time band, and I doubt anyway comes to the project with the mindset of, "let's just let loose in the studio and see what happens" anymore. If anything, I would imagine each guy comes into the studio thinking "let's make a Transatlantic album", which would have been impossible during those earlier days. And, though a subtlety, the results of that thinking speak for themselves when you listen.

Yeah, well said.  I was going to post similar thoughts earlier.

[Elite]

5. Kaleidoscope - Everybody is ranking this one last

Literally the post above yours I ranked it 3rd

[krands85]

5. Kaleidoscope - Everybody is ranking this one last

Literally the post above yours I ranked it 3rd

It's my favourite, but I feel like I'm the only one 

[Peter Mc]

Are people just going to ignore that Bosk said that he wasn't keen on Duel With The Devil?

I'm joking obviously but I can't believe that anyone, who likes TA, dislikes that song.  I think Duel, All Of The Above and Stranger In Your Soul are their 3 masterpiece epics.  I also think Into The Blue off the much maligned Kaleidoscope has a lot of really great stuff in it, just a little too much repetitive noodling let's it down slightly.

The new one is growing on me quite a bit and it's something, by and large, I enjoy all the way through, iffy vocals notwithstanding.  It's gets a big tick for consistency then even if the highs don't hit the heights of previous albums.  If the end epic was on a par with other albums, I would maybe end up ranking this right up with the others but that does let it down a bit.  Just seems like very little thought went into it.

As far as the Neal influence goes, I've always felt they sounded like his stuff miles more than any of the others members projects.  It always felt like Neal with a healthy sprinkling of Roine and that's were the magic was.  The new one is no different but I agree that Kaleidoscope maybe was more of a Neal thing with less to differentiate it from his solo stuff.

[bosk1]

Are people just going to ignore that Bosk said that he wasn't keen on Duel With The Devil?

I'm joking obviously but I can't believe that anyone, who likes TA, dislikes that song. 

No, I don't dislike it at all.  I said, "I don't love Duel with the Devil, but it is solid."  I "like" it just fine.  But it is my least favorite of the epics on the first two albums. 

[Max Kuehnau]

although IMHO, it works well as an opening piece on the album (and it was on their 2001 tour as well, which I attended)

[DTA]

Does Neal realize he plagiarized his own song Everything Is Wrong for the Overture's beginning theme?

I really miss the more whimsical nature of the first two albums. I think there was less of a preconceived, "this is what TA is" element to them, though I think Bridge Across Forever set the expectations really high in terms of making sort of a grand musical and lyrical statement. They do seem to have a habit of maybe forcing epic themes and lyrics since then trying to recapture the magic. Go back and listen to All of the Above and see how playful a lot of the music and lyrics are. Mystery Train even more so. Suite Charlotte Pike had a lot of that too. That's just not where Neal has been musically or lyrically since his solo career started.

I've been listening to The Light at work and I couldn't believe how different his writing was back then. Lots of quirky parts with gaps for the bass/guitar to stand out in front and just an overall feeling of quirkiness and "anything goes". Once Snow came around, I feel like all traces of that sort of went away and his writing became a bit more clinical and restricted to ore familiar prog-tropes. Those first 5 Beard albums are truly unique and brilliant.

My ranking (still digesting TAU but I'm feeling like it will go before or after The Whirlwind)

1. SMPT:e - nothing they've done since captures the magic of AOTA or MNW for me
2. Bridge Across Forever - nearly perfect album though the title track is heavily overshadowed
3. The Whirlwind - I'm not as big on this one as most fans are, it feels a bit too familiar and the last segment is painfully overlong
500. Kaleidoscope - two predictable epics (aside from Pete and Daniel's vocal parts in the title track and ITB), a cheesy singalong song, a decent progger, and a dreary piano ballad

[emtee]

Warming up to it more after each spin. Too early to rank except to say it's above K-scope.

BAF
Very close 2nd-SMPT:E
Whirlwind



K-scope. Not an engaging record at all.

[Elite]

Apparently, even though it's 7 years ago this year, I saw Transatlantic at their last ever show that wasn't the CTTE one-off MP thing without Roine Stolt.

That's quite strange to think about and I didn't realise it until I just randomly checked the setlist from that particular show

[gzarruk]

5. Kaleidoscope - Everybody is ranking this one last

Literally the post above yours I ranked it 3rd

Yes, but I started writing my post before that one was posted

[HOF]

Does Neal realize he plagiarized his own song Everything Is Wrong for the Overture's beginning theme?

I really miss the more whimsical nature of the first two albums. I think there was less of a preconceived, "this is what TA is" element to them, though I think Bridge Across Forever set the expectations really high in terms of making sort of a grand musical and lyrical statement. They do seem to have a habit of maybe forcing epic themes and lyrics since then trying to recapture the magic. Go back and listen to All of the Above and see how playful a lot of the music and lyrics are. Mystery Train even more so. Suite Charlotte Pike had a lot of that too. That's just not where Neal has been musically or lyrically since his solo career started.

I've been listening to The Light at work and I couldn't believe how different his writing was back then. Lots of quirky parts with gaps for the bass/guitar to stand out in front and just an overall feeling of quirkiness and "anything goes". Once Snow came around, I feel like all traces of that sort of went away and his writing became a bit more clinical and restricted to ore familiar prog-tropes. Those first 5 Beard albums are truly unique and brilliant.

Yeah, I think there are a lot of people who got into Neal Morse more through his solo stuff who don't connect so well with SB, but I'm the complete opposite. I just love those early SB albums so much, and there really was a pretty big change in Neal's writing starting with Snow (which I also really love). It did still have some major quirkiness (stuff like 4th of July and I'm The Guy), but there was definitely a more serious tone that carried over to his solo career. Now, I don't begrudge Neal going in the direction he did at all. I just really love that early stuff.

[MinistroRaven]

STATEMENT FROM NEAL MORSE

Hey everyone,

So, here's a little history of what happened with the current Transatlantic release:

We ordered our stuff back at the end of November/beginning of December. January 13th, InsideOut Europe confirmed to us that our shipment was being shipped. (The vinyl, Blu-ray and UE are manufactured there.)

Of course, Amy has been all over it tracking from the beginning. I thought it might be a few days late, due to what's going on with the pandemic, but never dreamed that on Feb. 3rd the shipping company would contact us, asking for additional info.

Anyway, as fast as is humanly possible we followed up, and they said that we were going to get the shipment on Friday, February 5th.

Then Amy told me yesterday, Saturday, Feb. 6, that the shipping company passed it to another shipper and it's still in Atlanta and we're supposed to get it beginning of the week.

I am, and we are all, so very, very sorry about this unexpected delay and we are going to be talking to the shipping company and all the people involved to try to figure out what appropriate action to take in the future, so this doesn't happen again.

Anyway, thank you all. TA5 is a wonderful album and you will be blessed... Thank you for your patience!

Neal

[bosk1]

Does Neal realize he plagiarized his own song ...

Um...that isn't really how plagiarism works.