Neal Morse
?
(Radiant/Metal Blade, 2005)

Neal Morse caused some concern among his fans back in 2001 with the announcement that he was leaving Spock's Beard and Transatlantic to pursue his faith and what he felt was a calling to Christianity. Since then, he's released six CDs: two progressive rock discs, a worship disc, his "lost" CCM album (written concurrently with SNOW, his final Spock's Beard album) and two fan-club-only releases of live material, both old and new. And now ?.

? comes with a host of expectations:

• Morse has been hinting about it on his website since last Spring, going so far as an elaborate four part contest of puzzles dealing with the musicians and concept.
• The players constitute a progressive rock A list - besides Morse and Dream Theater's ubiquitous Mike Portnoy (ubiquitous, at least, on Morse's solo work), there's Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis), Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings/Transatlantic), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater/Liquid Tension Experiment), Neal's brother Al (Spock's Beard) and Morse's friend and spiritual advisor Mark Leniger, who's a pretty terrific sax player.
• The fans ask the inevitable: "How many good albums can Morse turn out before running out of ideas and melodies?"
• A fear among some that Morse will inevitably cross over into the world of total crap CCM.

? is simultaneously a Christian album and a progressive rock album, both of the most complex sort. The music is everything one would hope from a album proudly touting the label "progressive". The challenging structures, the shifting styles, the virtuoso performances, the memorable melodies and sense of "theater" - it's all here in what may be Morse's best recording in any setting to date. And yes, it is a Christian album but before you run and hide, Morse has never been preachy in his spirituality. TESTIMONY was a terrific musical journey about a man's spiritual rebirth and ONE a retelling of The Fall. ? follows in this tradition and is a puzzlebox of annotated lyrics about the Tabernacle (the traditional dwelling place of God on Earth) more than a crap-rock CCM sermonette. While never apologizing for or downplaying his faith, Morse has also been upfront in his hope that even if someone has no interest in his spiritual beliefs , the music can stand on its own and be enjoyable to fans. As someone who is easily put off by musicians stumping (political or religious) I'd agree that the music is so extraordinary Morse could be singing the Moosewood Cookbook for all I care.

? is a tour de force of Morse's compositional skills and musicianship. The songs as a collection are stunning, the music rich and full of depth, and not to beat a dead horse, the performances are magnificent. The astonishing soloing by Al Morse and Jordan Rudess on "In The Fire" alone is worth the price of admission. Steve Hackett is instantly recognizable playing the soaring solo on "12", reminding us all that he is truly the most melodic guitar player in rock. Roine Stolt is all over the album and always welcome, being another of the great melodic guitar players. Randy George, who's been playing bass on the last two of Morse's discs, is back and terrific. His bass soloing on "Solid As The Sun" is one of the album's many highlights.

Not only one of Morse's best, but probably the best progressive rock of the year and easily in my top ten releases for 2005.

Postscript: Just this week he released a fan-cub-only collection of demos from his early 1990's musical HITMAN. I wonder what he did for the other fourteen days between that release and ?...?

Posted 15 November 2005.