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.
Morse's performance on this DVD is gloriously long at almost three hours, which doesn't even include the live bonus material. He actually jokes about how his wife just doesn't understand why he has to play for three hours at every show. "Well, I'm glad you understand," he tells the crowd.
Morse kicks off the show with "The Creation," a four-part song that also opens his 2004 album, One. After a couple of classic Beard songs, "The Good Don't Last" and "Open Wide the Flood Gates," Morse digs into the three multi-part epics of Sola Scriptura — "The Door," "The Conflict," and "The Conclusion" — which left me transfixed for nearly an hour.
For a band that was thrown together right before the tour, these guys (and one gal) sound incredibly tight. British guitarist Paul Bielatowicz (who also plays in The Carl Palmer Band), really sneaks up on you throughout the show and he nearly steals it altogether on "The Door" with his amazing guitar wizardry. He also lends some excellent backing vocals that are so crucial to many of Morse's songs. As well, drummer Collin Leijenaar is particularly impressive in his handling of Mike Portnoy's not-so-rudimentary drum parts.
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