Flying Colors (Album Review)

So, what do we have here, a project that just by the look of the cover seems interesting. Well let me tell you more about it, Flying Colors is a new superband created by Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy (geee these two working together?), the formation seems interesting and if you throw them together in a studio this is what you get.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="420"] I really loved the cover[/caption]

The Band consist in Steve Morse (guitarist and founder of Dixie Dregs), Neal Morse (who needs no introduction), Mike Portnoy (who we all know and sometimes love), David LaRue (also from Dixie Dregs, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci and another shit load of projects) and the new comer Casey McPherson, (who I didn't knew shit about).

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="142"] Nice, nice[/caption]

So yeah the cover is awesome, the line-up seems really interesting, but how is the actual album?

Well let's get into the real stuff.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="341"] How can I say this?[/caption]

For this I will give a little introduction about my experience listening to Neal Morse's music, and that is that: I don't like Neal Morse's music, I only like Transatlantic, and that's the only project of him that I really loved, Testimony, Testimony 2 and all of his other projects and solo albums I... just... don't... like...them. I don't know why, I don't like them , I don't hate his music but I just don't like it, I just don't think that his music is that good. And no, it's not because he makes Christian music, I think it's because his music is just too happy, cheerful ,mellow and one-dimensional for me, and I'm sorry but his lyrics are really REALLY cliché. His instrumental pieces are really good (for example in Sola Scriptura, if that album was only instrumental progressive music, it would be a masterpiece!) but I don't know, when he starts to sing, everything falls apart for me. And on top off that, I really don't like Neo-Progressive Rock, why? I honestly cannot answer you that, besides Marillion I don't like any Neo-Prog bands.

So with that little confession I just made, you're probably wondering that I completely hated this album and this project.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="299"] And the answer is: No[/caption]

I got to say that I like the album, is really interesting. A lot of styles, a lot of genres and a lot of good songs in just one album.

Now that I'm going to actually start the review of the album, there's another thing that I have to say: This is not a Progressive Rock album, if you're expecting good old Progressive Rock you are not going to find it here, the first song and the last song are the only ones that you could call them Progressive Rock, the rest of them are... let's call them Mixed Rock. It's interesting because the premise of this band was: "Neal Morse and a bunch of Progressive Rock masterminds with a Pop singer"  and I thought that was really interesting because I always thought that Neal Morse's music was kinda Pop-ish. So, in a way you can call this album Pop Rock, if you think that's too offensive you can call it Mixed Rock. I call it a Mixed Rock album because every song almost belongs to a different genre and that was the thing that I really like about the album.

Now let's get into the album.

1.- Blue Ocean: Classic Neal Morse prog song, happy, cheerful, mellow, with a high and catchy chorus and lyrics that are just Ok.

2.- Shoulda Coulda Woulda: Nice Hard Rock song, simple, with one strong solid riff and a good guitar  solo, and that's pretty much it.

3.- Kayla: This one starts with a little folk passage and then it becomes a happy rock ballad, the song is meeeh, the chorus is just too simple it could have been a great chorus but something was missing there.

4.- The Storm: This one is a great song, really effectively emotional, the chorus is really powerful and the singing is amazing, it would make a really good radio hit.

5.- Forever In a Daze: This one is really cool, good old Funk Rock, not a masterpiece but really cool thought.

6.- Love Is What I'm Waiting For: The first time that I hear this one, I was like, what the hell?, is this a Beatles cover?,  yeah, the first half is really Beatles-inspire, the second half is more pop rock oriented, with a really good guitar solo.

7.- Everything Changes: What the hell? a Coldplay cover? jejeje, no, but you can definitively hear the resemblance, later, the song sounds like a Dream Theater ballad, and for a moment as a classic Neal Morse ballad. It's a really good song.

8.- Better Than Walking Away: Again you can hear the heavy Coldplay resemblance here and the chorus is really Disney-Aladdin-Oriented.

9.- All Falls Down: We are getting into the Progressive Metal realm here, it sounds like mixture of Ayreon and Rhapsody of Fire.

10.- Fool In My Heart: Now we finally have it, Portnoy singing a song almost in it's entirely, why this doesn't surprise me at all. Overall it's a good blues mellow karaoke song.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="354"] There, there Portnoy, let it all out[/caption]

11.- Infinite Fire: And after all those genres, and after all those styles and mixtures  you have finally reached to: Progressive Rock. Amazing song. Powerful at the beginning, then it falls down a little bit for me in the chorus and in the first two verses but the bass is amazing here. And then in 4:40 we finally get into the real stuff, here you have Progressive Rock in flesh and blood, this passage is amazing, you can hear Genesis and can hear Yes all throw together, powerful, technical, emotional, perfect.  And finally a last ballad-Morse moment before the big eclectic finale.

And that's the album.

Overall a nice, decent, fun, solid Rock album, it's not a masterpiece and it's not going to completely blow your mind. But you're definitely going to enjoy it, it's a good listen from time to time.

I remember that someone was asking which was the best album for getting into Progressive Rock, and I have to say that this one is a good option, because technically is not Progressive Rock but it gives you a nice introduction to the genre.

These are a couple of song from the album.

The Storm



Forever In A Daze



Thanks for reading.