Customer Reviews

Testimony

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Not in the music, in the reviews. [Pay attention]Is artistic merit really based upon personal belief? How many Neal Morse fans suddenly bolted when the message changed? How many of you are willing to bemoan the lyrics because you may not relate to the driving force behind the inspiration? How many of you are no longer Neal Morse fans?

I am spinning the CD as I write this, "The Land of Beginning Again" is resonating around my apartment, and I wonder, why? Now, far be it from me to judge anyone, but if you are going to scream, placards raised above your heads, "This is NOT progressive, this is NOT Spock's Beard, this is...well, this is crap." Shame on you.

Is the entire idea that "music is about personal experience, music is expression, music is passion"....is this idea gone? Is it lost on this generation? Can you honestly say that, regardless of your "religious, or non-religious" proclivites, this album is not absolutely astounding? Can you honestly say that this "journey" was not well worth taking?

I don't know Neal Morse. I have never met him. Funny thing is, I took this walk with him as I listened to this album initially. And I relished every step. Neal Morse is a mastermind, a child let loose in the proverbial candy store. A wunderkind unleashed. Christian? OH NO...forget the musical merit...leave it behind.

I see bias in these reviews. I see personal preference and levels of comfort weighed above artisic merit. Can you [gentle listener] really tell me that because the lyrics my lean toward the spiritual, the entire experience is lost? I beg to differ.

Looking back over my collection of progressive music, I can say that this album ranks in the top ten, not just musically but emotionally. _Testimony_ moves me. It motivates me, and it makes me understand what music is. I will continue to be a staunch supporter of Neal Morse, and will purchase ANYTHING that this gifted man touches, regardless. You should too.

You know, it's almost impossible to not address this as a Christian work - but don't jump down my throat until you read the next paragraph:

I truly feel like an IDIOT because I let my Agnosticism keep me from purchasing any of Neal's Christian albums. Truthfully, that was absolutely THE DUMBEST REASON ON EARTH not to buy this. (And I not only bought this disc, I bought "?" and "One," which I also love.)

As a fan of Neal-era Spock's Beard, and Transatlantic, I should have gotten this MUCH sooner than I did. If one is to look at religion as an intellectual topic rather than a spiritual one, then you really should have no problem with this album. Consider also that Mr. Portnoy is Jewish, and apparently could put his own religious beliefs aside to play on Neal's Christian works. So, really, if he can get over it, why can't you?

Now that we've gotten that out of the way ... this is perhaps Neal's masterwork, and one that should be in any progressive rock fan's library. This isn't too far off of the Spock's Beard path, nor the Transatlantic path - it's just more epic in scope. The orchestrations and arrangements are nothing short of brilliant. Neal's sense of melody and thematic development have always been what drew me to all of his work - that, and the amount of sonic diversity that you get, both within an album as a whole, and very often within the context of a single track. If this is what you like about Neal's work, then you will not be disappointed in the least. The playing here is top notch as well - when have you heard Mike Portnoy not turn in a jaw dropping performance on the drums? - and lyrically, I don't suppose you can get much more personal than this; Whether or not you care about Jesus or God or any of that, this is Neal's story. And if you respect the man and his work, you can put your personal hangups aside to listen to him.

My only regret is that I didn't get over mine sooner. And while this album has not affected my views on Christianity, it certainly made me consider the amount of cynicism and hypocrisy in my life had reached ridiculous levels when I let something like religious beliefs (or lack thereof) get in the way of listening to something that is so compositionally brilliant and truly a work of genius.

There is no doubt that Neal Morse is an incredible musical talent and I have been a huge fan. His work with Spock's Beard, Transatlantic resulted in some of the most refreshing contemporary music in the past decade. With that said, you must understand that this is a deeply personal cd for Morse, and also very Christian, which may or may not turn off some listeners. On a personal level I'm glad that Morse found something that has helped him anchor his life and provide it with more meaning and happiness. It's obvious from that he's a changed man and that he credits Jesus, for his turnaround. This was obviously profound for him. So understand that this 2 cd set is the musical autobiography of Neal Morses' journey from sinning and struggling as an artist, through to his redemption through Christ.

I must admit that when Morse left the band last year I was distraught. I felt an incredible connection to his music, his lyrics and its departure from the mainstream garbage that the music industry serves up to the mindless masses. Spock's Beard was that rare band able to put together a consistent string of incredible albums, each equally original and as good as the last. The music was new, fresh and upbeat. By comparison this is not, and that, in a nutshell is where I think Testimony strays.

Lyrics aside the music on these disks is full of incredible effort and talent. Morse pulled out all of the stops with layer upon layer of orchestrations, harmonies, instrumentation and reoccurring themes and melodies. His musicianship is quite impressive and his weakness is covered superbly by drum ace Mike Portnoy. However, despite all of the emotion, grandiose themes and theatrics, the music itself is, in this listener's opinion, a far cry from his best work. It appears that Morse is so determined to tell his story that he sometimes forces the lyrics or molds the songs around them to send a message. In its entirety the resulting product is impressive and has many beautiful moments, whether melodic such as "Wasted Life" or the emotionally charged "It's all I can do". However, intermittent songs lack the spontaneity and originality of his work with both Spock's and Transatlantic. As I listened to each new song, I found my mind wandering back to the triumphant finale of "The Great Nothing", or "The Healing Colors of Sound." There's simply nothing on this album that matches the originality of those creative moments musically. And, while some of his more melodic and slower songs are touching, they simply lack the magic of "June", "The Distance to the Sun" or "We All Need Some Light."

The disk opens with "The Land of Beginning Again" which kind of sets the tone, dripping with meaning for Morse, but lacking the songwriting his followers have come to expect. The inner struggle of the album seems to be whether it should be a more subdued Christian piece or a progressive masterpiece, or both? He tries to cross both bridges, and in many cases he comes close. "Overture No. 1" followed by "California Nights" and "Colder in the Sun" seem to pick up right where Spock's last effort "Snow" left off, sometimes sounding too much the same. But then "Sleeping Jesus" kind of knocks the whole groove down with one of the worst songs in the set. The music picks up with heavy prog on "Interlude". And that's how the entire effort goes, good moments followed by let downs with forced lyrics into songs that musically never would have made a Spock's or Transatlantic disk.

The second cd is full of majestic songs with full and sweeping orchestrations, but it starts off dry with "Transformation." The second disk just oozes with emotional Morse's passion which is really quite touching, but the content gets simply too "churchy" for this listener.

But, once wasn't enough... so, after the second listen to Testimony I thought to myself what an incredible accomplishment this is for Neal Morse. He put his heart and soul into the music. And, while I'm glad he made it and I hope it brings him the peace and comfort he so badly craves, I also hope he got it out of his system. There are other ways to musically deliver spiritual messages without forcing songs or beating listeners over the head with religious lyrics. Morse may never be able to out "produce" or perform this album, but there is no doubt that he is capable of writing better and more appealing music. The question remains, does he want to?

Having listened to Spock's Beard, Transatlantic & Neal on his own I was very curious about his latest release. It blew me away. If only the Christian music market could listen to this; this is what it's all about. Great lyrics and just great music. But I'm sure the Christian market will just keep generating the same old stuff. Too bad, but great for artists like Neal. What isn't great about this cd, nothing. It rocks and gives you insight into Neal's journey in becoming a Christian. It has all the elements of prog but has enough there for the casual listener that just might stumble onto this. I'm sure many fans of Neal won't care for the direction he has taken, but this doesn't mean he won't come back with more of a secular cd next time. But you kind of had to expect this especially after listening to the two Transatlantic cd's and the 'Snow' cd from Spock's Beard, his last. Spiritiuality was running amuck in those so this was just a short step away. Being a Christian myself I don't listen to too much Christian music because it doesn't have what secular music does and just not lyrically either. (I agree with dpmomberg's comments about this) Although I'm sure they're trying just look at this cd and you can see that they are not even up to this level yet. Great CD. Check It Out! You'll be glad that you did.

This being Neal Morse's first explicitly Christian progressive album, I was a little concerned about how it would turn out. After all, his work with his previous bands would be a hard act to follow in any case and much of the "Christian" genre of music lends itself to the melodramatic and the mawkish.
I have owned this CD since its release and initially found it unimpressive when measured against his work with Spock's Beard and Transatlantic. But now that I have heard and enjoyed his two Christian prog follow-ups, I can listen with a better sense of perspective.
For all those who do not yet know, Testimony is Neal's story of his journey from an unfulfilling hedonistic rock star lifestyle to a new life as a devoted family man with a deep and abiding faith in God and Jesus Christ. Now there are some that are going to be turned off instantly on that news, but they shouldn't be. Despite the often corny lyrics, Morse's story is like a parable and there is some occasionally great music to go with it.
Though it may seem drawn out, the listener will hear flashes of brilliance throughout and know that Morse still has a lot of music in him. I like the guitar interlude in The Promise, the solemn All I Can Do, the stirring guitar work in Sing it High and some magnificent keyboard in Calm Before the Storm. Kansas and Proto-Kaw fans may thrill to Kerry Livgren's guitar solo in Long Story.
Old-time fans may find it hard to adapt to Morse's new direction and Testimony may appeal only to rabid Neal Morse fans. But I think its important to hear this CD with the view that its the first of a trilogy of albums which define his journey to God. Hearing Testimony first will help you appreciate the much better One and ? CDs more. Though I give it only three stars mostly because there is too much chaff with the wheat, that does not mean I don't enjoy the CD overall. Testimony will continue to have an occasional slot in my CD rotation and an honored place in my CD cabinet.

One word..Masterpiece. For those who were disappointed with the lack of "Prog" in the new Spock's Beard, I have great news. Testimony is everything that Feel Euphoria isn't. Like SNOW, Testimony is essentially a 2-hour progressive opus of passion, intelligence, and...whoa..faith! I'm someone who generally doesn't care for Christian music, not because of the Religious content, but because the lyrics are typically the same dogmatic praising over and over again, telling you nothing new or substantive about faith or it's relationship to life. Testimony is a Christian album that doesn't really sound like one, not lyrically, or obviously musically. I find it interesting that you keep hearing the same phrases over and over again from people regarding the christian bent of the lyrics: "beaten over the head" "Preachy" "Forced down my throat" etc. Curious why no one uses these complaints when Bono is "Hitting you over the head" with his social agenda, or when Bruce Springsteen is "preaching" about social injustice, or Jello Biafra is "Forcing his politics down your throat". Religious faith is as legitimate a subject to sing about as any other. Those hackneyed complaints really tell you far more about the reviewers than the reviewed. The lyrics of Testimony don't preach anything. It's merely the autobiography of Neal Morse, done in song, the final 1/3 relating to his conversion and the joy it brought him. Bravo! Lyrics aside, musically this is one of the best progressive albums of the last few years. The great melodies of vintage Spock's Beard left with Neal, and luckily ended up here. Mike Portnoy does an amazing job here, and shows a remarkable amount of restraint, drumming with a subtlety and taste usually lost in the double-kick bombast of Dream Theatre. If you want to hear the best prog album of the year, buy Testimony. If the story of a man's life that happens to have a Christian, and for him, happy ending bothers you, then you have alot more issues than he does.

That's the best way for me to put it. Since I wasn't expecting Spock's Beard, and I like Neal Morse's other solo work, I got the set and found I liked it lot. It's for the most part better than his previous solo efforts, especially in terms of production. Quite a number of prog elements remain, yet I would not call it a prog album.

In 'Testimony,' Neal brought in some impressive studio talent, but they seemed to be there to contribute their talent only, and not much creative input. Well after all, it is a solo album. This work is nothing like either Spock's Beard or Transatlantic.

Neal alone delivered enough creativity to carry my interest throughout both discs. His production and musical skills are phenomenal, but at the same time it didn't have any melodies that lingered in my brain either. Nothing really screamed out to leave on 'repeat' in my CD player. I found myself pulling out 'Testimony' and putting Transatlantic in for comparison after the first hearing. As other reviewers have noted, I have to agree Neal's talents shine much brighter when he collaborates with other talented musicians and they are directly contributing to the direction of his work.

When compared to Neal's previous solo efforts, 'Testimony' has a lot more depth and variety. It is much more personal, not just lyrically, but musically. It's sometimes lush and simple - ballads and light themes. Other times it's varied - interludes of frenetic prog syncopation, orchestral interludes, and Latin rhythms.

Neal's vocals are in top form, although I do miss hearing his Lennon-ish style (Example: 'Fourth of July' on 'Snow'). Here it's a straight-forward and personal vocal style, with most vestiges of showmanship gone.

It's a fairly engaging work. If you appreciate Neal's other solo CDs, you will likely be impressed with many of these tracks. I get the impression though that some of the music was more of an afterthought to fit the lyric, rather than both being written together. Notable exceptions were the "Land of Beginning Again" and "God's Theme 1 & 2." I found the compositional structure on these to be better than average. Neal is capable of much better from a music-composition standpoint. I thought the three 'Overtures' were interesting compositionally, but beyond them it was hard to get excited.

Most artists tend to do better within the single disc format.

Still, it's a respectable double disc set, with not too much filler.

Pick it up if you like Neal's solo work.

I cannot believe that this other guy wrote something like "if only this was the new Spock's Beard album with different lyrics but the same music" ... and you claim to be a "long time prog listener"?

You cannot separate the music from the lyrics with this one, no way.

This is a masterpiece, there's no other way to describe it. It's far better than Snow, maybe not concerning production or "polish", but regarding the music and the message. And no, I'm not Christian, in fact I don't believe in any God. But I'm open for discussion ...

The interested listener will find many tunes from Snow hidden in the complex arrangements in this recording. In a way, Snow was a hint of things to come ("I Will Go" ...). But listening to Testimony, it's clear that this is more related to Neal than Snow, there's a message where Snow only avoided conclusions.

Those who long for the "old" Spock's Beard and wish Neal hadn't left: Listen to "Sid", the concept piece from the new Spock's Beard album ... now this sounds just like Snow, but stripped of all the heart and emotion ... I'm beginning to understand why Neal left the band. They're fantastic musicians, but they're not what Spock's Beard was about.

Seems like Neal has returned from the parallel universe he was exploring ... now he has finally shaved ;-)

This is my third revision of my review here. When I originally purchased this album, I had my preconcieved notions. One of the major contributing factors to my being a fan of SB for so long was Neal's ability to write progressive music (and lyrics) which were accessable. Most music which is labeled as "progressive" tends to be pompous or intellectual (or both). While with SB, Neal wrote music which was accessable to a wide audiance, yet was still considered progressive.

I don't think anyone who has listened to the album could argue that the music is not excellent. Neal proves himself as both a Keyboard player and a fairly accomplished guitarist. And when you put his talent together with Mike Portnoy, watch out! However, I couldn't put my finger on what I didn't like about this album. At first, I thought it was simply what most people were saying...that the album suffered because Neal is now writing progressive music under the CCM guise. After listening to the album a couple dozen times, I don't entirely believe this is true. The thing that's bothering me is that I believe progressive artists are supposed to challenge themselves to break new ground. Lyrically, this album does not. Furthermore, I believe if Neal continues in this direction (which it looks like both of his newest post-Testimony projects are shaping up this way) then the CCM world may be finding itself with a new great talent while the progressive world may soon be losing one.

That having been said, the reason I'm giving this album as high a rating as I am is because this is one of most heartfelt and touching albums to which I have ever listened. Progressive -- CCM -- whatever you want to call it, you can feel the pure emotion pouring into the microphone when he sings "I Am Willing" and "Somber Days." Testimony simply is a truly touching story of one man's struggle to find himself. Coupled with the fact that this is the creative genius behind SB (teaming up with, arguably) the most talented drummer on the face of the earth (save for Neal Peart, anyway) this album is definitely worth the price tag.

Having listened to Spock's Beard, Transatlantic & Neal on his own I was very curious about his latest release. It blew me away. If only the Christian music market could listen to this; this is what it's all about. Great lyrics and just great music. But I'm sure the Christain market will just keep generating the same old stuff. Too bad, but great for artists like Neal. What isn't great about this cd, nothing. It rocks and gives you insight into Neal's journey in becoming a Christian. It has all the elemnts of prog but has enough there for the casual listener that just might stumble onto this. I'm sure many fans of Neal won't care for the direction he has taken, but this doesn't mean he won't come back with more of a secular cd next time. But you kind of had to expect this especially after listening to the two Transatlantic cd's and the 'Snow' cd from Spock's Beard. Spiritiuality was running amuck in those so this was just a short step away. Being a Christian myself I don't listen to too much Christian music because it doesn't have what secular music does and just not lyrically either. (I agree with dpmomberg's comments about this) Although I'm sure they're trying just look at this cd and you can see that they are not even up to this level yet. Great CD. Check It Out! You'll be glad that you did.