December 4, 2018 -- THE NEAL MORSE BAND—Neal Morse (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals), Randy George (bass), Bill Hubauer (keyboards, vocals), Eric Gillette (guitars, vocals)—world premiered the first song and Christian Rios-directed lyric video, “Welcome To The World,” from their highly anticipated new album, THE GREAT ADVENTURE, today on PROG magazine’s website.
THE GREAT ADVENTURE is the band’s latest double concept album, which is due out January 25, 2019 on Radiant Records via Metal Blade Worldwide. It will be available in three formats: a two CD package, two CD/DVD Special Edition featuring behind-the-scenes video clips of the making of the album, and three vinyl LPs. Pre-orders begin December 4 exclusively on Radiant Records’ website. An instant download of “Welcome To The World” will be part of the pre-order packages in any format.
The follow-up to 2016’s critically acclaimed THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM, which critics hailed as “a masterpiece,” will be the ninth studio album with Morse, Portnoy and George, and the third as a true collaboration with this current lineup. Together, Morse and Portnoy have launched four bands, but the one that has endured the longest and thus with the most musical output has been THE NEAL MORSE BAND.
“Let the great adventure now begin…” The closing line of THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM, has proved to be strangely prophetic. The new album is exactly that: a perfect companion piece to TSOAD’s partial retelling of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. It has everything that fans would expect from an album by THE NEAL MORSE BAND, and more: rock, metal, classical and jazz elements appear throughout, as well as some killer melodies, all played faultlessly by some of the greatest rock musicians on the planet.
True to the album’s title, the creative process was indeed a “great adventure.” Unlike many previous Morse albums, which have often been written and arranged within weeks, this time around these prolific and world-class musicians spent almost a year working on the end result, producing an abundance of top quality material. This meant some ruthless decision-making: some already completed songs and characters had to go, and-–with studio time running out–new links and ideas were being composed and recorded up to the eleventh hour. “A lot of work and re-work has gone into this,” says Morse, “but I know that some of the most successful and far-reaching albums I’ve been involved with have been just like that. SOLA SCRIPTURA and Spock’s Beard’s SNOW album come to mind.”
Another key question that had to be addressed in the studio was how to pull all the ideas together into a coherent whole. In the end, what unlocked this “adventure” for Morse was the realization that THE GREAT ADVENTURE needed a new voice and perspective. This time, it is that of the Pilgrim’s abandoned son, a younger, perhaps angrier, voice than was heard on THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM.
THE NEAL MORSE BAND will bring THE GREAT ADVENTURE to fans worldwide with a new round of headlining tour dates, which begin February 2, 2019 in Nashville at City Winery. For ticket information and VIP ticket sales go to www.radiantrecords.com.
Here’s the complete chapter and track listing for THE GREAT ADVENTURE:
Act I:
Chapter 1 (12:50)
1. Overture
2. The Dream Isn’t Over
Chapter 2 (23:48)
3. Welcome To The World
4. A Momentary Change
5. Dark Melody
6. I Got To Run
7. To The River
Chapter 3 (17:59)
8. The Great Adventure
9. Venture In Black
10. Hey Ho Let’s Go
11. Beyond The Borders
—————————
Act II:
Chapter 4 (18:13)
1. Overture 2
2. Long Ago
3. The Dream Continues
4. Fighting With Destiny
5. Vanity Fair
Chapter 5 (30:57)
6. Welcome To The World 2
7. The Element Of Fear
8. Child Of Wonder
9. The Great Despair
10. Freedom Calling
11. A Love That Never Dies
Check them out at any of the following stops, with more shows to be added in the coming months:
DATE CITY VENUE
Sat 2/2 Nashville, TN City Winery
Sun 2/3 Tampa, FL The Ritz (Cruise To The Edge Pre-Cruise Party)
Mon 2/4 Tampa, FL Cruise To The Edge 2019 (through February 9)
Sun 2/10 Atlanta, GA City Winery
Mon 2/11 Charlotte, NC Neighborhood Theatre
Tue 2/12 Baltimore, MD Soundstage
Wed 2/13 Jersey City, NJ White Eagle Hall
Fri 2/15 Boston, MA The Sinclair
Sat 2/16 Philadelphia, PA Keswick Theatre
Sun 2/17 Westbury NY The Space at Westbury
Mon 2/18 Montréal, QUE. Club Soda
Tue 2/19 Quebec City, QUE. Salle Sylvain Lelievre
Thu 2/21 Toronto, ONT. Opera House
Fri 2/22 Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Smalls Theatre
Sat 2/23 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom
Sun 2/24 Detroit, MI The Crofoot Ballroom
Tue 2/26 St. Charles, IL Arcada Theatre
Wed 2/27 St. Louis, MO Delmar Hall
Thu 2/28 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey Live
Fri 3/1 Lawrence, KS Granada Theatre
Sat 3/2 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall
Tue 3/5 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
Wed 3/6 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
Thu 3/7 San Francisco, CA Slim's
Fri 3/8 Whittier, CA The Whittier Center Theatre
Sat 3/9 Chandler, AZ Bogle Theatre (Chandler Center For The Arts)
Sun 3/24 London, United Kingdom Islington Assembly Hall
Mon 3/25 Paris, France The Alhambra
Tue 3/26 Tilburg, Netherlands O13
Wed 3/27 Esch /Alzette, Luxembourg Rockhal Esch Sur Alzette
Fri 3/29 Koln, Germany Kantine
Sat 3/30 Copenhagen, Denmark Viften
Sun 3/31 Goteborg, Sweden Stora Teatern
Mon 4/1 Stockholm, Sweden Skandiascenen
Wed 4/3 Berlin, Germany Heimathafen
Thu 4/4 Hamburg, Germany Markthalle
Fri 4/5 Leipzig, Germany Halle d / Werk 2
Sat 4/6 Warsaw, Poland Progresja
Sun 4/7 Brno, Czech Republic SONO Music Club
Tue 4/9 Munich, Germany Technikum
Wed 4/10 Pratteln, Switzerland Z7 Konzertfabrik
Thu 4/11 Lyon, France C.C.O.
Fri 4/12 Trezzo sull'Adda MI, Italy Live Club
Sat 4/13 Barcelona, Spain Salamandra 1
Sun 4/14 Madrid, Spain Sala Mon
