NEAL MORSE has been around since 1992 with a plethora of records to his name. He started with his brother a progressive rock band called SPOCK’S BEARD that had a little success at the time but lasted a few years and produced a few albums. Very solid albums by the way, with elements of GENESIS, PINK FLOYD, RUSH, MARILLION, SUPERTRAMP, psychedelic BEATLES era and more. Epic compositions with a variety of moods, tempo and riffs. All  very well orchestrated with a heavy presence of keys and a special attention to arrangements. I do not call it Rock or anything close to Rock. Rock is only one of the elements used and they are an interesting band to listen to. The mastermind Neil Morse had also other projects including TRANSATLANTIC with Mark Portnoy (DREAM THEATER) and some solo work under his name. Neil Morse found God some time ago and this kinda made him a God oriented artist and this is clear in his work. As an atheist I have to confess that I enjoyed a few God oriented rock bands in the past mostly due to musicianship and composition. I am not very keen on their lyrics however. I will use more or less the same mindset in my review of his latest album The Dreamer-Joseph-Part One. This may be an interesting experience. The album has 15 long songs and it looks conceptual in its presentation. I will try not to get too lost in each tune.

 Song number one “The Dreamer Overture” starts with a bee sound and somebody marching in the background. Then you have a complete bee hive attacking your ears. Magically the bee sounds transform into a keyboard introduction in the same key. The tune turns epic and tells a story without vocals or words. Amazing orchestral arrangements mixing violins with harmonica. 7 minutes of it. Not Rock. The first song invades the second one and then it turns a little cheesy for my taste.  “Prologue / Before The World Was” has a good arrangement but sounds too soft for my rock taste. Vocals on this tune are ok but nothing jaw dropping. Sounds like a church song. “A Million Miles Away” starts with a PETER GABRIEL style vocal and not long after it turns into a nice country rock song with a great chorus. With a variety of mood changes and a great solo in the end when it morphs into “Burn Like a Wheel”. Is hard to define when one song ends and the other one starts as they are basically interconnected. There is no pause between them.This tune has a different vocal and I have to apologize for not having his name. As this is an assembly of a lot of musicians in my understanding, it is very hard to get the name of everybody that participated somehow. I just want to mention that it is a great vocal in a grat tune that gave me total JETHRO TULL vibes.

 We see the face of progressive rock much more on “Liar Liar”. A guitar plugged on the whah whah pedal mixed with some acoustic guitar and epic backing vocals in the chorus. Another good tune. It brings a lot of bands in mind like EMERSON LAKE AND POWER and YES. Each tune has a full story to tell. Great bass lick on this one dueling with the keyboard. A psychedelic BEATLES era is felt on “The Pit”. Another epic tale in progressive song form. You will notice that for each song, there will be a different style of vocal. Good arrangement  as usual. “Like a Wall" is another song too soft for my taste kinda rock. It could be the soundtrack for the Dora The Explorer tv cartoon ( I know. I have kids). Cheesy as fuck and with a Yotube video. We go back to good progressive rock material with “Gold Dust City”. Another nice arrangement and melody and good vocal performance not only from the singer, but also the backing vocals. Sticky melody and  a saxophone solo to close the deal.

Whah, whah pedal is back again in this deep bluesy song with a great female vocal and solid backing vocal work. “Slave Boy" sounds like a song that could be performed by one of these divas singers. A little more risky song on the lyrics that makes me happy. There is not much preaching on this one. Sin is Rock. Another solid tune with touches of pop diva is “Out Of Sight, Out of Mind”. Very theatrical style tune where the vocals are performed by a woman and a man. It has a few progressive rock elements but with a more pop oriented output. This is a long album so hold on there. A Citara (look on Google) announces “Wait On You”. The slow kind of romantic suffering song. Maybe too much suffering for my taste but every soft rock album must have one I believe. We go deep on the religious rock on “Will Wait On The Lord” (good luck with that) that starts like a vatican style choir. Very boring and completely anti rock. It does not belong to any album other than a church album and it sucks. Thank God it is short.

Then, for no apparently sensible reason. We have a repetition of the first track “The Dreamer Overture”. For me this is completely unnecessary. Is basically the same song besides the bees. We go back to music with “Ultraviolet Dreams”. Not the best, but at least it is an attempt to make a bluesy rock with a so-so vocal and the basic 3 chords always used. The music is also so-so and did not impress. A melancholic blues rock as they all should be, but without anything that causes any real emotion.  We continue with the God theme with “Heaven In Charge Of Hell” (that must be the reason  why the world is so good). A good composition with DEEP PURPLE vibes and a sax solo. Vocals are not the best but fits the song that has a good guitar solo as well. Another Youtube video. We finish our prayers with “Why Have You Forsaken Me?”. Kind of a very boring song that is more concerned to ask God for forgiveness than actually making a decent tune.

This is not a rock record and I have no idea why I am reviewing this. The album has some nice progressive rock moments but it does not hide the fact that their audience is not the regular rock and metal fanatic, but religious people that think that this is rock. The album mixes well composed tunes with disposable ones. A good effort but completely not my style. Rock should have a universal language that everybody can relate to and religion is not one of these languages in my opinion. For me, there is nothing rock in any religion. God is dead.