Neal Morse for those who don't know: former failed singer/songwriter who suddenly found a career in prog rock (Spock's Beard), then got religion, left after one more album (Snow), and now has a solo "Christian prog rock" career.

This is the (double) album that started it all. Neal wrote the thing, played guitar, keys and bass, managed to persuade Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) to play drums, got other pals to do strings, backing vocals etc - and ended up with a superb prog rock release. The title says it all, he's telling us the story of his life and conversion. But you don't need to worry about being preached to, he's talking about himself and his experiences.
Neal sings a bit like Bryan Adams: Not a superhuman voice (he's no John Anderson), normal vocal range, and so relies on the tune itself.
The music is excellent. Neal can play. There are some solid guitar solos, some flashy keyboard sections, and Kerry Livgren (Kansas) drops in for some lead guitar work too.… more »

Neal Morse for those who don't know: former failed singer/songwriter who suddenly found a career in prog rock (Spock's Beard), then got religion, left after one more album (Snow), and now has a solo "Christian prog rock" career.

This is the (double) album that started it all. Neal wrote the thing, played guitar, keys and bass, managed to persuade Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) to play drums, got other pals to do strings, backing vocals etc - and ended up with a superb prog rock release. The title says it all, he's telling us the story of his life and conversion. But you don't need to worry about being preached to, he's talking about himself and his experiences.
Neal sings a bit like Bryan Adams: Not a superhuman voice (he's no John Anderson), normal vocal range, and so relies on the tune itself.
The music is excellent. Neal can play. There are some solid guitar solos, some flashy keyboard sections, and Kerry Livgren (Kansas) drops in for some lead guitar work too.
The thing about Neal is, he writes fairly straightforward vocal melodies, then surrounds them with complicated instrumental arrangements.
There are several styles here. A fair bit of hard rock, several ballads, some nifty acoustic work, some almost poppy moments, and what my wife calls "Jurassic Park music", if that makes sense. All expremely high quality.

I'd have liked a bit more of the heavy stuff (something Neal has provided on subsequent releases), but the overall standard is good enough to make this release the one against which every subsequent album should be judged.