REVIEW: NEAL MORSE BAND

An Evening Of Innocence & Danger: Live in Hamburg (Radiant Records) #progressivesunday highlights the latest album by the Neal Morse Band, An Evening Of Innocence & Danger: Live in Hamburg. The three-disc set includes a live rendering of their 2022 studio album Innocence & Danger plus the sprawling “Great Similitude Medley,” a disc-long pastiche of […]

An Evening Of Innocence & Danger: Live in Hamburg (Radiant Records)

#progressivesunday highlights the latest album by the Neal Morse Band, An Evening Of Innocence & Danger: Live in Hamburg. The three-disc set includes a live rendering of their 2022 studio album Innocence & Danger plus the sprawling “Great Similitude Medley,” a disc-long pastiche of songs from 2016’s The Similitude of a Dream and 2019’s The Great Adventure.

One of the most prolific prog artists recording today, Neal Morse always has something to say and always makes it available for purchase. As leader of Spock’s Beard, he recorded six studio albums with the band before departing to become born again. He then recorded several solo albums chronicling his journey to Christianity and started another five or so bands—and recorded an average of three albums with each group—with prog’s elite musicians, namely ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy.

Morse founded his own label Radiant Records (distributed by Metal Blade, Sony BMG, and InsideOut Music) in 1998 and has amassed over 200 releases of mostly his own or related material. With Portnoy, he’s helmed four bands: the Neal Morse Band, Transatlantic, Flying Colors, and the Beatles tribute act Yellow Matter Custard. His NMB compadres include guitarist Eric Gillette, bassist Randy George, keyboardist Bill Hubauer, and Portnoy. 

Every NMB studio effort has been a double album, and their live albums sometimes run over four discs. Morse’s Inner Circle fan club gets exclusive content, numbering over one hundred releases. These multi-disc packages are exactly what fans crave, and recording live albums in Europe is apparently where the money is, as the band boasts sets from the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, and now Germany.

This live album flicks all of prog’s switches with Yes-like vocal melodies, keys, Genesis-esque guitars, and Portnoy’s metal-influenced drumming. Morse’s voice and phrasing puts the whole shebang in direct competition with modern Kansas. Click below to hear the Neal Morse Band play the thirty-four-minute epic “Beyond the Years” (listen for the nod to Yes’ Chris Squire in the bass solo) to a very enthusiastic crowd during An Evening Of Innocence & Danger: Live in Hamburg!

by Chris Ayers

 A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook