Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Morse, Neal
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2015
Runtime: 52:44
Rating: 3.5/5
»The Grand Experiment« is the latest studio project from American prog rock icon, singer and multi-instrumentalist Neal Morse (Transatlantic, Flying Colors, ex-Spock’s Beard) and his solo band, which is rounded out, almost as equal partners, by drumming megalomaniac Mike Portnoy (Transatlantic, The Winery Dogs, ex-Dream Theater) and guitar virtuoso Randy George (Ajalon). Besides those three heavyweight virtuosos, Morse’s band also features guitarist Eric Gillette and keyboardist Bill Hubaeur, who keep up admirably with their more seasoned and better-known bandmates. All the members of Neal’s band also pitch in with rich vocal harmonies, with plenty of them again this time around.
The main reason »The Grand Experiment« came out so soon after Morse’s recent adventures with Transatlantic and Flying Colors is a completely changed writing process, which let him record the album in very little time. Neal, who usually writes most of his material before he even steps into the studio, decided for the first time in his career to compose the new album right in the studio, with no big preparation and in collaboration with the rest of his backing band, mainly Portnoy and George.
The rush in which Neal’s band put together »The Grand Experiment« produced some great results and some thoroughly average ones, so this studio effort definitely doesn’t rank among the peaks of Morse’s career so far (and not just his solo career), landing more somewhere in the ‘golden middle’. While listening to »The Grand Experiment«, which, as you’d expect given the names involved, is played flawlessly, you often get the feeling that Neal is following a somewhat worn-out songwriting formula a little too faithfully. So »The Great Experiment« packs in quite a few clichés from Morse’s solo career, headed by at least one obligatory (power) ballad, one mini-epic and one epic of more than twenty minutes.
Morse’s Christian beliefs have rarely been a nuisance on his prog rock creations so far, as long as you didn’t dig into them too deeply, but this time he goes past every reasonable limit in the lyrics, and at moments he sounds like an outright religious fundamentalist who has blown past all common sense and turned into a full-blown preacher of pathetic neoconservatism, Republican-style. Luckily, the album (the standard version, that is) doesn’t overstay its welcome, running just the right length (about 53 minutes), while the two longest tracks turn out to be the most successful ones, where Neal’s band shows the most imagination and manages to cover up the irritating lyrics.
The album’s best moment is the excellent closing epic »Alive Again«, almost twenty-seven minutes long and on par with Morse’s best work from the Spock’s Beard and Transatlantic days. The opening »The Call« is another highlight; it’s over the top and overly sappy at times, but as a whole it’s still very listenable, and then there’s the ethereal ballad »Waterfall«, which stylistically sounds like a close encounter between Neal Morse-era Spock’s Beard and Steve Hackett. On the clichéd and therefore weaker side of »The Grand Experiment« you’ll find the title track, built on seriously threadbare hard rock phrases from the old Deep Purple school and packing a badly worn-out chorus too, as well as the below-average »Agenda«, with its alt-rock chorus and dreadful lyrics based on narcissistic religious extremism.
The most devoted followers of Neal’s career will of course go for the special edition of the album with a bonus disc, which, besides two live versions of past standards and two new songs, »New Jerusalem (Freedom Is Coming)« and »Doomsday Destiny«, also includes a pretty nifty cover of the evergreen »MacArthur Park«, originally sung by the late Irish actor/singer Richard Harris, though prog fans know it best from the version by the cult Scottish band Beggars Opera.
»The Grand Experiment« is strictly for the biggest Neal Morse devotees, who’ll be able to forgive the somewhat clichéd nature of certain arrangements and the leaning on some seriously worn-out instrumental and vocal tricks. Everyone else won’t miss a thing if they skip this one when the roundup of the most interesting prog rock albums rolls around at the end of 2015. The composition that saves »The Grand Experiment« from mediocrity is undoubtedly »Alive Again«, which will surely become part of Neal’s live shows in the future, but there are simply too few such brilliant moments for the album to deliver a perfect listening balm from start to finish, the way it was with some, if not most, of Morse’s past projects.
Line-up
Neal Morse – lead vocals, keyboards, guitar
Mike Portnoy – drums, backing vocals
Randy George – bass guitar, backing vocals
Eric Gillette – guitar, lead and backing vocals
Bill Hubauer – keyboards, lead and backing vocals
Production
Neal Morse
Tracklist
1. The Call (10:15)
2. The Grand Experiment (5:30)
3. Waterfall (6:32)
4. Agenda (3:45)
5. Alive Again (26:42)
