Testimony 2 - Neal Morse

Testimony 2 (Neal Morse, 2011)

Disc 1:

1. Mercy Street - 5:12

2. Overture No. 4 - 5:25

3. Time Changer - 6:08

4. Jayda - 6:05

5. Nighttime Collectors - 4:25

6. Time Has Come Today - 4:55
7. Jesus' Blood - 5:26
8. The Truth Will Set You Free - 8:07
9. Chance of a Lifetime - 7:02
10. Jesus Bring Me Home - 4:59
11. Road Dog Blues - 3:06
12. It's For You - 5:42
13. Crossing Over/Mercy Street Reprise - 11:46

Disc 2:
1. Absolute Beginner - 4:41
2. Supernatural - 6:11
3. Seeds of Gold - 25:59

When Neal Morse left progressive rock powerhouse Spock's Beard in 2002, his first solo album was 2003's Testimony, a powerful, diverse, soaring album telling the story of how God found him and saved him from his sin. He has had other great albums since then, but for me, Testimony is his magnum opus. So when I heard he had recorded a continuation, I had to hear it, even though I was sceptical it would be as good.

It is certainly not as moving a portrait.  The narrative here is smaller - Neal strays back to the party life while on the road with Spock's Beard, then he repents and prays for a way to provide for his family off the road, and God gives him... a solo career?  In Testimony 2, the mundane "it's tough on the road" story doesn't pack the emotional punch of its predecessor's "no matter how hard I try my life is still a mess".  It even savors a little of pride - "I was in this band, Spock's Beard, and we were rocking, and my band, Spock's Beard, was touring Europe..."  That could be uncharitable - it may just be he felt the need to explain more fully why he left.

The music is solid, but it suffers from sameness.  Neal is great at crafting driving, upbeat rockers and string-soaked ballads, interlaced with occasional complicated or progressive themes. However, without a band to rein him in, his approach becomes formulaic and a little stifling.  It doesn't help that, since this is Testimony 2, he recycles themes from Testimony, which makes it sound like he has no new musical ideas (which is not true).

That said, there are several gems here.  "Time Changer" has the boys from the Beard guesting on vocals, with a rare and exciting slab of madrigal singing. "Jesus' Blood" is a down-tempo, slow-building blues with a killer guitar solo, and some true prog rock glory comes to the fore in the insistent, dramatic "The Truth Will Set You Free" (with soulful wailing from 2nd Chapter of Acts' Matthew Ward) and the horn-driven "Chance of a Lifetime". The penultimate "It's For You" delivers on an emotional and theological level, figuratively tying the disparate ends of the story together a lot better than "Crossing Over", which does so literally.

Disc 2 forms sort of a bonus EP - two more decent Morse rockers and a 25-minute prog epic "Seeds of Gold", which features some superb six-string work from virtuoso Steve Morse (no relation). It's a good song, with some grand, classically influenced piano themes, adventurous synthesizer, and effective transitions between multiple parts, but it's not on par with Neal's past glories - it seems to be about some sort of soul search, but the lyrics don't really make anything clear (and the oft-repeated "Look away" sounds a little too much like Dixie...).

I love Neal Morse, but I think he might be running out of steam.  He needs a band dynamic to flesh out his song ideas and make them fully breathe.  Maybe Spock's Beard will promise not to take him out drinking anymore? *fingers crossed*

Arbitrary rating: 4 out of 5 soulful wailers