Inside Out www.insideout.de [Released 16.02.15]

Does Neal Morse ever sleep? Not content with his rather good 1970′s West Coast flavoured solo album ‘Songs From November’ and the excellent second Flying Colors album, both released last year, he is back again! This time with his band and the twist here is they went into the studio to write and develop songs, rather than have a set of songs already written ready for recording. Being Neal Morse, and aided by long term musical partner Mike Portnoy, you know this is going to produce some musical magic and wonder. The band is rounded out by Randy George (bass), Eric Gillette (guitars/keys/vocals) and Bill Hubauer (keys), who all provide key moments to create a whole piece of musical wonder.

There are only five songs on here, although there is a twenty five minute epic! Kicking off with the ten minute ‘The Call’ the song has lots to enjoy from the waves of keyboards and guitar solos through to moments of Queen like pomp rock. The title track is a fantastic piece of upbeat prog/pop rock and has a chorus most bands would love to have written. Easily the album highlight for me.

‘Waterfall’ harks back to last year’s solo album as the harmonies recall those 1970′s vocal giants Crosby, Stills & Nash. Makes for a mellow moment in an otherwise very upbeat and rocking album.

‘Agenda’ features the high end vocals of Eric Gillette who is the star of the show on this song. Nice stop/start melody and Mike Portnoy keeps a rhythm tighter than the proverbial gnat’s chuff. An interesting musical diversion from the usual Neal Morse music.

The twenty five minutes of ‘Alive Again ‘ do seem to fly by, although being totally honest it is the one song that slightly outstays its welcome. Still a good song, it seemed to have a solo or two too many.

The consistently high quality and frequency of new music Neal Morse keeps making is nothing short of astounding. Needless to say if you are a fan this is a must have and for fans new to his music, a good place to start as the religious side of his lyrics is lesser on here and that does put some off, there loss really as it adds to the general ‘feel good’ factor of the music. Well that’s on one of my top 20 albums of the year already booked in then :) ****1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie

---

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

---

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 20 October 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 22 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

---

Power Plays w/c 28 October 2024

THE RASMUS Rest In Pieces (Better Noise Music)
THE PLAGUE What Else Can I Do (FiXT)
STAR CIRCUS Turn The Tide (indie)
DEFENCES Breathe It In (Long Branch Records)

Featured Albums w/c 28 October 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)

---

---

Popular (last 10 days)

---