Have you woke up screaming in the middle of the night? For Transatlantic, more is never enough, ever. Naturally.

Release Date: 26th April 2024

Label: Inside Out Music

Format:  5CD + 2 Blu-ray Artbook

Just when you thought The Final Flight was the last we’d see of the Stolt/Morse/Portnoy/Trewavas Prog supergroup that first appeared on SMPTe (when the fresh faced quartet first took flight back in the year 2000), think again.

Neal Morse’s Morsefest of 2022 saw the Prog supergroup rebound into the air with a two night extravaganza that surely sets a final seal on what’s been a truly epic adventure from the Fab Four. This set captures the lot: from night 1 we get a full performance, the first in a decade, of the classic album The Whirlwind in its entirety while night 2 saw the full performance of The Absolute Universe – The Ultimate Edition, combining all of the tracks from the 2 versions of the album.

Of course, that would never be enough to satisfy the huge demands of setlist meister Mike Portnoy, so the two epics are supplemented with choice cuts and medleys. One might argue that the two night stand provides two sets which wouldn’t be too far away from reflecting the fantasy choice of the majority of TA supporters. It might be hard to think what else they could have included with night #1 kicking off with the Kaleidoscope pairing of Into The Blue and Shine plus a ‘never played live before’ In Held Twas In I, the Procol Harum cover from their first album. For anyone concerned about the overlap between this set and The Final Flight, here’s starters for proof that there’s something new on offer.

With added strings that make an immediate mark (while contributing a general richness to the sound pallette) on Into The Blue and ‘choir’ of backing singers plus fifth member Ted Leonard, The Absolute Universe pulls together a kitchen sink and all production. The twenty odd minutes of the mighty Into The Blue and the recurring “The Dreamer and the Healer…The Caller and Conceiver” theme is a mere aperitif. The contrast between the hugely overblown prog comes via the relatively light Shine and acoustic doodling that precedes We Al Need Some Light that requires a mass Prog singalong and the Morsefesters duly weigh in before Ted begins the second verse.

It concludes a four ‘song’ mini set that heads into a full performance of The Whirlwind, just as they did on the Whirld Tour back in 2010. All the way through via several revisits to musical themes to the ultra climax of Dancing With Eternal Glory. Possibly…possibly their crowning glory and Morse seems to manage to get through the “when the ending came I said goodbye...” without his voice cracking although he might break briefly at the “scattering the ashes” moment.

The unabridged Absolute Universe that flows in much the same way as The Whirlwind – maybe “a new deck of cards but the smell of foul play lingers on“? – with a steady flow of climactic episodes punctuated with the quirkiness of the ‘other’ Fab Four. The finale of Looking For The Light – The Greatest Story Never Ends – Love Made A Way being possibly (amongst many – answers on a postcard please… ) one of the most exciting Transatlantic passages of music.

The bonus of Bridge Across Forever that’s essentially a Morse solo piece and one of his most poignant and emotional, made more effective if that’s possible, by the subtle string accompaniment. The contrast with the Transatlantic signature bombast couldn’t be more obvious with the tour de force of The Final Medley – for the final time? Another a chance to relive some of Transatlantic’s greatest hits/greatest bits, cleverly stitched together for their final tour and reprised here.

From the looks of the whole package which includes a shedload of CDs and Blurays in a nice artbook to add to the Transatlantic collection , the photos in particular look mighty impressive. Hats off to inside Out Music (as per) for giving Neal and the lads a grand send off.

Here;s a flavour of what to expect from the visuals:

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