Line #5 Music/NealMorse


1	[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/88b238da02c51c0ea4ebfbc6910bcafd.jpg]]
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3	Neal Morse (born August 2, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and composer based out of Nashville, Tennessee. He was a founding member and front man of the ProgressiveRock band Music/SpocksBeard before leaving in 2002, is the lead vocalist/keyboardist of Transatlantic and Flying Colors, and has enjoyed an extensive solo career as a [[ChristianRock Christian]] ProgressiveRock artist.
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5	Originally from Los Angeles, California, Neal Morse learned to play guitar at the age of 9 and piano at the age of 5. He wrote two musicals, "Hit Man" and "Homeland" and did some session work, trying to get a record deal as a singer-songwriter. Eventually, he grew tired of the Los Angeles music scene and traveled around Europe playing on streets and in small clubs. He returned to the US in 1995, forming Music/SpocksBeard with his brother, Alan Morse. They enjoyed some moderate success with their first album, ''The Light'', and became one of the most successful Prog groups of the 1990s. In 1999 he, along with [[Music/DreamTheater Mike Portnoy]], [[Music/TheFlowerKings Roine Stolt]], and [[Music/{{Marillion}} Pete Tewavas]], would form the ProgressiveRock supergroup Music/{{Transatlantic}}.
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7	In 2002, he became a born-again Christian and left Spock's Beard, wanting to incorporate his new-found faith into his music. He has enjoyed moderate success as a solo artist, making albums in a number of genres ranging from ProgressiveRock and ProgressiveMetal to straightforward [[ChristianRock Praise & Worship and Christian Rock]] albums. In 2013, he was invited into another supergroup called Flying Colors with Mike Portnoy, David [=LaRue=] (Dixie Dregs), Casey [=McPherson=], and Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Music/DeepPurple).
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9	!!Discography:
10	* ''Neal Morse'' (1999)
11	* ''It's Not Too Late'' (2002)
12	* ''Music/{{Transatlantic}} Demos'' (2003)[[note]]Early demo recordings of songs that would make it onto the first two Transatlantic albums, ''[=SMPT:e=]'' and ''Bridge Across Forever''.[[/note]]
13	* ''Testimony'' (2003)
14	* ''One'' (2004)
15	* ''Lead Me Lord (Worship Sessions Volume 1)'' (2005)
16	* ''God Won't Give Up'' (2005)
17	* ''?'' (2005)
18	* ''Send the Fire (Worship Sessions Volume 2)'' (2006)
19	* ''Songs from the Highway'' (2007)
20	* ''Sola Scriptura'' (2007)
21	* ''Secret Place (Worship Sessions Volume 3)'' (2008)
22	* ''Lifeline'' (2008)
23	* ''The River (Worship Sessions Volume 4)'' (2009)
24	* ''Mighty To Save (Worship Sessions Volume 5)'' (2010)
25	* ''Testimony 2'' (2011)
26	* ''Momentum'' (2012)
27	* ''Get in the Boat'' (2013)
28	* ''Songs from November'' (2014)
29	* ''The Grand Experiment'' (2015)
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31	!!Neal Morse provides examples of the following tropes:
32	* ChristianRock
33	* ConceptAlbum: A staple of his Prog output. ''Testimony'' and ''Testimony 2'' are about his personal Christian testimony, ''?'' is about the tabernacle of David, ''Sola Scriptura'' is about the Protestant Reformation, and ''One'' is about the creation of Adam and man's relation to God.
34	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Sola Scriptura'' is heavier musically than the rest of his output.
35	* EpicRocking: Happens almost once per album in the Prog album:
36	** ''One'' has "The Creation" (18:23), "The Separated Man" (17:59), and "Help Me/The Spirit and the Flesh" (11:14).
37	** ''Sola Scriptura'' has "The Door" (29:14), "The Conflict" (25:00), and "The Conclusion" (16:34).
38	** ''Lifeline'' has "Lifeline" (13:28) and "So Many Roads (28:43).
39	** ''Testimony 2'' has "Crossing Over/Mercy Street Reprise" (11:46) and "Seeds of Gold" (25:59).
40	** ''Momentum'' has "World Without End" (33:39).
41	** ''The Grand Experiment'' has "The Call" (10:15) and "Alive Again" (26:42).
42	** Outside of the Prog albums, his self-titled album has "A Whole Nother Trip" clocking in at 23:58.
43	* GenreRoulette: '''Absolutely'''. ''Sola Scriptura'' is ProgressiveMetal, a lot of the albums are Praise & Worship, ''Songs from November'' is 80s-tinted Rock, ''Songs from the Highway'' is folk. And that's not even counting the occasional foray into other genres on individual tracks.
44	* GodIsLoveSongs: Pops up in the worship songs, occasionally in his other genre outputs.
45	* GratuitousLatin: "''Sola Scriptura''" means "Scripture Alone" in Latin.
46	* {{Instrumentals}}:
47	** ''Testimony'' has "Overture No. 1", "Interlude", "Overture No. 2", "Transformation", "God's Theme", "Overture No. 3", and "God's Theme 2".
48	** ''Testimony 2'' has "Overture No. 4".
49	* ProgressiveMetal: ''Sola Scriptura''
50	* ProgressiveRock: ''Testimony'', ''One'', ''?'', ''Lifeline'', ''Testimony 2'', ''Momentum'', ''The Grand Experiment''.
51	* RockOpera
52	* ShoutOut: "Mercy Street" from ''Testimony 2'' is obviously one to Music/PeterGabriel.

Context Music / NealMorse