Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Soaring, October 27, 2009
I purchased the super deluxe version with the extra CD and the Making of DVD.
First of all, Bridge Across Forever is one of my fave CD's and Stranger in Your Soul is one of my favorite prog songs.
The Whirlwind CD is very good, and, compared to the other two Transatlantic CD's, is more consistent throughout. Bridge and SMTPe had some weak areas (Temple of the Gods).
One of the things that really stands out on the Whirlwind is the bass and guitar. The fairly well known rumors of grumbling by Roine and Pete over Bridge (and Roine's re-release of his own mix as proof) are not necessary here. The bass is strong with excellent tone! (I actually envy this bass tone). Roine's guitar parts are well executed with good tone, unlike the spacey wah-fest filler from Bridge.
The lyrics are overall very good. Some of Neal's vocals as usual are borderline too high; will be difficult to do live.
My favorite songs are The Wind Blew Them All Away, Rose Colored Glasses, EverMore, and the Finale. Although this is one big song it fits together nicely and some stand up on their own well.
This would be 5 stars.
The bonus CD (CD2) is hit and miss. The first four songs are new, but I really don't like any of them. Lenny Johnson has an interesting feel but it really doesn't go anywhere. For Such a Time is basically like I Can Only Imagine and would play well on Contemporary Christian (CCM) charts. Since I don't like candy-coated CCM, this is not necessarily a good thing.
These songs wouldn't be all that bad, but the Giant Hogweed song is SO GOOD that it makes these look like less than filler. The Giant Hogweed song has interesting parts, dynamics, funny vocals, and a great, fun feel. This song is 5 stars. The CD, however, is about 3 stars.
The Making of DVD is the usual. Not bad but about 15-20 minutes of interesting content in 90 minute DVD.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Third the Charm???, October 28, 2009
Well, here it is. The long awaited, highly anticipated third release from Transatlantic. Yeah, I'm gonna kill it here, sorry everyone. While I waited for this as much as anyone and I guess expectations run high, especially after the previous two releases, I couldn't wait for the first listen. Is the third the charm here. I would have to say no. By no means is it not a worth while effort. My expectations were somewhat different than their finished product. With that said, and it is only my opinion, I almost agree with the other 3 star reviewer here. I'll call this album Lifeline Part II by Neal Morse and company. It's an okay album, but just doesn't measure up to 'SMPT:e' and 'Bridge Across Forever'. Maybe they should have left it at two. While I've already listened to it a couple of times, this album just doesn't blow me away. Yes, their musicianship is superb. It's just that this album doesn't grab me and I find it rather boring which I didn't want to because I love their other two albums. This album doesn't have the feel of the other two and it just comes across as Neal doing his thing and he asked the other three to join him for the ride. Face it, this is a secular band doing Neal's Christian duty here. I loved the veiled references to Neal's Christian walk in the first two albums and thought they just delivered and were thought provoking. And I thought they blew away anything out there in today's Christian market which they did. This album is more in your face as far as the Christianity aspect (maybe it's subtle, but Neal is more direct this time around). Not to say, there's anything wrong with that, but I thought Neal would have kept that separate with this release and kept to the veiled references instead if he was going to pursue his faith within his lyrics. He hasn't and, for me, just continued his solo career as a Christian adding his former band mates. I'm just not sure that I will be playing this over and over anytime soon while the first two do get played again and again. I'm trying not to compare this to the first two, but it's pretty hard not to and I'm trying to rate this on its own. I think you need to listen to this as a whole and not as separate pieces as one reviewer stated that each song can stand by itself. I don't agree because then the songs listened to separately are taken out of context of the entire story. I wish I could have given this five stars, but just can't here. The bonus disk is nice, but nothing there either worth noting for this outing of four original tunes and four covers. It almost came across as filler to include with the purchase. Sorry for being so hard here, but my expectations were high and I just didn't want another Neal solo epic album.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's Like They Never Left, October 29, 2009
When I saw that Transatlantic was releasing a new album it came as a pleasant surprise. I had thought that the project was dead and buried with Neal Morse's change to Christian music. It took awhile but I'll tell you, it was well worth it. It's amazing that after all this time when I first listened to the opening of Whirlwind, the 73 minute opus, it sounded just like you would expect Transatlantic to sound. These guys have created their own style and even after 8 years it's still unmistakably Transatlantic. Of course there are some subtle and not so subtle changes. Roine Stolt's guitar work has become much more front and center than in the previous albums, and he has also demonstrated that he can rock on this one. He also has a lot more vocals than in the past. It also seems to me that Neal has taken a more supportive roll on this one. I know some felt that Transatlantic's other 2 albums were just another version of Spock's Beard with Neal's presense felt on nearly every song. Well I'm happy to say with this one, that certainly isn't true. This album sounds much more like a whole band effort, rather than just a showcase for 4 very talented muscians. You can really hear Pete's bass and he even has more vocals. Mike's drumming is amazing as usual. The thing I've always liked about Mike Portnoy, is his ability to dial back his playing to fit the progressive nature of Transatlantic compared to the heaviness of Dream Theater. After listening to this album a couple of times the only drawback and it is a minor one, is that Neal still had to slip in some preachiness. Thankfully it isn't a lot, and can be mostly ignored if you so choose. Those of you who like that sort of thing can listen to Neal's solo albums which are way to preachy for me, but as for Transatlantic, I'm glad he kept it to a minimum. All in all a great album. If you like modern prog then this is definitely one you want to pick up.
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