Starting this piece, I should
first of all mention that I’m not a fan of Neil Morse. I surely respect him as
a composer and musician, I have many of his solo albums, and of his projects as
well, but still…
The Similitude of a Dream is
the new work of The Neal Morse band, in which many very good musicians are
participating, and Mike Portnoy is one of them.
The album is available as a double CD,
with a total length of almost 105 minutes. It includes 23 tracks, and none of
them is more than 10 minutes in length; so no epic this time. The longest song
here is the album’s closing piece, the very beautiful Broken Sky / Long Day
(Reprise), which is almost 10 minutes long, and one of my most beloved songs.
It is a concept album, having
as main theme the story of a man who decides to write his own life-story while
he is in prison.
I am not going to write about
each song separately, first of all because the songs are many, but further than
that because I usually put the CD to play and I listen to it as a whole work,
not song by song. But despite that, there are some songs I like very much, like
the song I mentioned above, (Broken sky/Long Day), City of Destruction and The
Ways of a Fool, to name a few.
The album is filled with very
beautiful melodies (which is my soft spot), many interesting turns, and of
course excellent musicianship, not to mention Neil Morse’s dramatic vocals that
are adding a lot to the album.
The Similitude of a Dream is not
an easy album, it needs many listenings in order to reveal its beauty. But once
it does, it will satisfy you without any doubt.
4 out of 5 stars is my rating,
and I’m not sure if it is enough to be honest.
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