Ex-Spock's Beard frontman — and everybody's favorite Christian, prog-rock minister — Neal Morse, has hit another home run with his latest concert DVD masterpiece, Sola Scriptura And Beyond. Morse abruptly quit the mighty Beard in 2002 in order to follow his born-again Christian heart in pursuit of some of the most righteous Christian-prog the world has ever witnessed. Sola Scriptura And Beyond brilliantly captures the results of that pursuit.
I was expecting Morse's Christ-inspired hybrid to sound closer to Jars of Clay than to Spock's Beard, but his solo material has actually gotten increasingly heavier and more progressive. His lyrics almost exclusively still deal with aspects of his Christian faith, but if an atheistic heathen like myself can still enjoy all of the man's albums and DVDs — in spite of his lyrics — then, believe me, anyone can. The music is just too good to pass up.
Although Morse had only achieved moderate success during his 10-year tenure in Spock's Beard, it was his short stint in the prog-rock supergroup, Transatlantic (featuring Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, Royne Stolt of The Flower Kings, and Pete Traveres of Marillion), that I thought would finally give him the stardom he deserved. And it just may have done so, but he also quit Transatlantic around the same time he quit Spock's Beard. I only hope that his solo career yields enough success to allow him to continue touring and recording into the distant future.
Sola Scriptura And Beyond captures Morse on tour in the Netherlands last year with a mostly-Dutch backing band, playing songs from every phase of his career, including a near-entire performance of his latest solo work, Sola Scriptura. The album's title is Latin for "by Scripture alone" and its lyrics tell the story of the Protestant Reformation as led by Martin Luther, the controversial German monk.
Article comments
1 - Lee Lucas
Yes I myself was disappointed this DVD was not in 5.1 especially having watched Neal's first trailer for it on is website stating that it was in 5.1. Never the less I love Neal's work and its a truly fantastic purchase with super bonus features.