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: : Neal Morse – Testimony Live DVD : : |
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Band/Artist:
Neal Morse
Title: Testimony Live
Release Date: 2004
Label:
Format: DVD, NTSC, Full Screen, Region: all, Audio: 2 channel stereo
Track listed at bottom of page |
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: : The Players : :
Neal Morse - Vocals, guitars, keyboards | Eric
Brenton - Guitar, violin, flute, petal steel guitar, mandolin, vocals | Randy George
- Bass, keyboards, backing vocals | Mike Portnoy - Drums, backing vocals | Rick
Altizer - Guitars, keyboards, percussion, backing and lead vocals | Bert Baldwin -
Keyboards, backing and lead vocals | John Krovosa - Electric Chello | Mark Leniger -
Percussion, saxophone, backing vocals |
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: : Testimony Live DVD : :
You Neal Morse fans are in for a treat! Or at
least those who are still fans. It seems there is a split between religious and
non-religious prog fans over Neal’s shocking departure from Spock’s Beard and
Transatlantic. You progressive fans that aren’t into Christian theology will
probably pass this one up, which is a shame because this is one class act.
Testimony Live was recorded at the 013, Tilburg, NL on November 17th, 2003. At
first, the DVD starts out looking amateurish, but only for a moment; it’s camcorder
footage of the band walking out to the stage. From this point on, the production is
very professional in all aspects. Many cameras were utilized during the performance,
including one, perhaps two crane mounted aerial cameras. Neal starts out with an
inspiring solo acoustic track that is the prelude to the overture of Testimony. Neal
then gives salutations to the audience and exclaims, “This is my story”. During this
intro, the band takes their places on stage and Testimony album is performed in its
entirety. His story is one of past, present and future. It’s all here: why he left
and where he is going. What hasn’t changed is his exceptional talent for writing and
performing exceptional progressive music.
Neal assembled a group of highly skilled musicians for this performance. Eric’s
violin playing is interesting and inspiring. He also knows how to pick away on the
mandolin and guitar. John spends the whole concert sawing on an electric cello. Rick
is as competent as Neal when he takes over brief passages as lead vocalist. Mike is
energetic as usual on drums. Everyone in the band is extremely competent in his
backup vocal talents. And there is Neal, who hasn’t lost his touch as the
charismatic, energetic front man we’ve come to know all these years. This band
meshes together perfectly like a well-oiled machine, and as I mentioned, the vocal
harmonies are simply delicious. I won’t go into details about the composition
itself, since most of you reading this are already familiar with Testimony. I will
say I interpreted from the lyrics a hint of Neal returning to LA one day. Could this
mean Neal hasn’t completely written off returning to his past musical endeavors some
day? Only Neal knows for sure.
Now, for you Spock’s Beard / Transatlantic fans: disc 2. Three tasty tracks are all
you’ll find on this disc: two from Transatlantic and one from the Beard. They are as
well performed as any of the material on disc 1. In one highlight, Neal shows his
dexterity by stealing the drums from Mike during Stranger In Your Soul and the
exchange never misses a beat. The performance of The Light is terrific!
Technically, this is a superb DVD. Obviously,
a lot of time went into the production and editing of this performance. Each track
is easily navigable in a well-structured menu. Although it is never mentioned in the
documentation with The DVD, the audio is strangely displayed as German 2 channel
stereo. No, it is not in German (maybe mastered on German equipment?). The MPEG
playback stream is good, averaging 7200 BPS, resulting in excellent picture quality.
The only reason I will not give this jewel 10 keyboards is because the audio is not
perfect, but don’t get me wrong, it’s very good! My guess is it’s too expensive or
too involved to produce this in 5.1 Dolby surround sound. For those of you that are
practicing Christians, you will find inspiration in this performance. For those that
aren’t, you’ll find this extremely satisfying from a progressive standpoint.
9 keyboards
Reviewer: Dana Holmes
: DISCOGRAPHY :
:
Neal Morse
Testimony Live DVD - 2004
Testimony - 2003
It's
Not Too Late - 2001
Merry Christmas From The Morse Family - 2000
Nea; Morse - 1999
Spock's Beard
Feel Euphoria
- 2003
Snow - (2 cd,
2002)
There And Here Live - 2cd 2001
All On A Sunday cd single - 2001
Don't Try This @ Home Either Live - 2000
V - 2000
Don't Try This At Home live 2000
Skin cd single 1999
Live at the Whiskey and NEARfest - live 1999
Day for Night - 1999
The Beard Is Out There - Live 1998
From the Vault - 1998
The Kindness Of Strangers - 1997
Beware Of Darkness - 1996
The Official Live Bootleg - live 1996
The Light - 1995
Transatlantic
Live
in America - 2002
Neal Morse - The Transatlantic Demos - 2003
Bridge Across Forever - 2002
SMPTe - 2000
: : Track List, DVD 1 : :
Part 1
1. The Land Of The Beginning Again
2. Overture No. 1
3. California Nights
4. Colder In The Sun
5. Sleeping Jesus
6. Interlude
7. The Prince Of The Power Of Air
8. The Promise
9. Wasted Life
Part 2
10. Overture No. 2
11. Break Of Day
12. Power In The Air
13. Somber Days
14. Long Story
15. It’s All I Can Do
Part 3
16. Transformation
17. Ready To Try
18. Sing It High
Part 4
19. Moving In My Heart
20. I Am Willing
21. In The Middle
22. The Storm Before The Calm
23. Oh, To Feel Him
24. God’s Theme
Part 5
25. Overture No. 3
26. Rejoice
27. Oh Lord My God
28. God’s Theme 2
29. The Land Of The Beginning
: : Track List, DVD 2
: :
1. We All Need Some Light
2. The Light
3. Stranger In Your Soul |
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