Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime moments, 8 Dec 2005
This is Neal's third solo foray into prog rock, with a Christian message.
Ignoring the lyrics (based around the Tabernacle - look it up in the Old Testament), the structure is as before, some fairly straightforward vocal tunes separates by mind-blowingly complex instrumental passages. Start mellow, build, totally OTT middle, then epic finale.
The vocal parts could be used in isolation, and I think would work perfectly well with just an acoustic guitar, maybe a piano, but clearly that's not what makes Neal tick. His voice isn't anything special (sort of Bryan Adams-y but less gravel), but he writes decent melodies, plays great guitar and keys, and loves to show off.
Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) is still behind the kit, and the guest musicians reach a new high for Neal: Jordan Rudess (DT again), Steve Hackett (!!!), Ronni Stolt (Flower Kings) and his own brother Alan (Spock's Beard) among others, taking the instrumental passages to a new level of complexity.
Not sure all the tunes are quite as good as before (Testimony remains the benchmark), but the instrumental bits make up for this in my ears, so 4 stars it is.
And not quite as long as his other works. Good stuff.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A sublime christian/prog rock release, 4 Nov 2005
This, Neal’s third solo progressive rock release, continues the prolific composer’s musical and spiritual journey into and through christianity in its musical form. Full of wonderful, imaginative compositions with lyrics more or less entirely, it seems, taken from passages from the bible, the album is also supported by an array of talent from the world of prog; Mike Portnoy, Roine Stolt, Steve Hackett...The subject of the album is the Tabernacle, the biblical dwelling place of God with a constant theme that runs lyrically and musically throughout the recording of (seeing) 'the temple of the living god'. For those who have enjoyed Neal's previous work, especially his previous release, 'One', this work is every bit as good as anything he has done before, including his output with Spock's Beatd and Transatlantic, and is thoroughly recommended. Truly, if Songs of Praise was anything like as good as this it would have great audience figures!
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17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
have a little consideration and stop preaching, 7 Jan 2006
By A Customer
I am one of those that really love the Neal Morse albums, up to a point. They do get a bit samey but if you're into that sound and style then they're cool. From that perspective this is no different and probably much stronger than Testimony or One musically.
However, the religious lyrics - as a 'non-believer' - do come across as incredibly preachy and grating, and much as I try to ignore them ultimately they put me off even listening to the albums more than a couple of times, and this is no exception, let alone buying them and keeping them. He'd probably sell a lot more if he recorded the album twice with an alternate set of lyrics - i don't really care what they are about, I just wish he'd stop ramming god down my throat and let me enjoy the music without feeling like he's trying to convert me - it makes my skin crawl.Musically this is very similar to the Transatlantic and Spock's Beard albums - if you haven't bought/heard those, get them in preference to this, unless you particularly want to 'share the message'.
If you can tune out the lyrics this album gets four stars
If the lyrics are going to annoy you then it drops to a two
If you've heard loads of the previous Neal Morse/Spock's Beard/Transatlantic and are bored with the similar kind of feel this is going to do nothing to change your mind, but it's a very good example of that style so probably a three in that instance. Sorry to be so schizoid, but the whole religious aspect is very likely to play an important part in your like/dislike of this album and I wouldn't recommend buying this album 'cold', check it out if you can first.
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