Another Neal Morse fueled Prog Rock concept album – this time, you choose the meaning…
ANOTHER COMING OF THE NMB
After outings under his own name and with Cosmic Cathedral and The Resonance, Neal Morse returns to the familliar fold of the Neal Morse Band – aka NMB. The reliable and hugely talented team of Portnoy, George, Gillette and Hubauer join their leader in his epic visions that once again draw on his spirituality and knack for delivering a never-ending steam of Prog tonic.
The band outlet finds each doing their fair share of the heavy lifting. A genuine team effort that shape shifts from emotional angst to fearsome Proto/Prog Metal with Portnoy leading the charge with an assault on his kit and Eric Gillette testing the whammy bar.
The preamble is how L.I.F.T. stands toe to toe with NMB’s greatest works like their much-acclaimed concept album Similitude Of A Dream, combining an emotional depth with the band’s trademark progressive rock grandeur. “A prog concept album that follows the journey of someone seeking to belong to something greater than themselves,” says Morse. “It starts with feeling connected to the world and life, then there is a break in belonging, after which comes the turmoil and desperate cry, leading to a return to that place of profound connection.”
A NEW TESTIMONY
Might be me, but that teaser and from a deep-ish dive and prolonged exposure to L.I.F.T. and the Morse lyrics (whether sung by him or one of the band) seems more akin to his outpourings in his Testimony albums. The journey to enlightenment at the core.
The album title came late, though its meaning remains intentionally vague. “We thought it could stand for different things,” says long term buddy/bassist Randy George. “It’s kind of whatever the listener wants it to be.” And having scrutinised the words, the direction is one which, while clearly having their strongly religious overtones, immediately relatable to those who might find the spiritual aspect overpowering.
An album of musical contrasts, the inner visions of I Still Belong run straight into Gravity’s Grip – a passage packed with stirring instrumental parts. Keys and guitars duel and MP refuses to simply keep the tempo, hurtling in his trademark fashion, around the kit. Hurt People then recalls some of the quirkiness Morse brought to Spock’s Beard (although not as quirky, or bizarre as Thief from the No Hill For A Climber album).
INNER REFLECTION
The moments of inner reflection and almost classical piano on Contemplation allow for the band to take a breather in Shame About My Shame that’s followed by the quest for clarity. “I feel like I’ve wasted my life, I don’t even know why” he sings in Reaching. Lyrically and musically, the latter even feels alike a turn for some Townshend-y Tommy-esque searches for fulfillment.
In a not unexpected journey, all roads lead to a majestic twenty minute sequence that begins with Carry You Again. Opening with just Morse and acoustic guitar, the overblown is briefly parked to remind that Neal is often at his best when less is more. The inevitable influences sees the NMB turn into U2/Coldplay – that guitar line that kicks in is impossible to ignore, but comes with a sweet helping of some sparkling decorative keyboard lines from Hubauer (o could be Morse himself).
The return to Fully Alive Pt II is an uplifting aperitif and outpouring of celebration as Gillette and Portnoy exchange vocal lines before the grand finale. A mere ten minutes of so where Love All Along – yes…it was “love all along” much in the same revelation back on the ? (question mark) album, that “the temple of the living God is you” – plugs some of the gaps left by the absence of Transatlantic. Prog Gospel in the massed voices capture the revelation of “the storm that brought me here” and celebration of ‘his‘ glory. No-one does it better.
Morse rarely fails to come up with anything other than music that inspires his peers into giving their all in a show of spiritual strength. L.I.F.T, whatever you read into it, is no exception.
Here’s Fully Alive: (live from some forest)
Neal Morse Band : Facebook