Ex-SPOCK'S BEARD Frontman NEAL MORSE

Ex-SPOCK'S BEARD Frontman NEAL MORSE - "I’ve Been Making Concept Albums For So Long, Which Is Really Funny Because I Really Resisted The Idea In The First Place"






Ex-SPOCK'S BEARD frontman Neal Morse is featured in a new interview with Ryan Sparks at Classic Rock Revisited. An excerpt is available below.

Ryan: How would you say (new album) Lifeline differs from your previous albums? I mean for one thing this isn’t really a concept record is it?

Neal: "No that’s one of the main differences, that it’s not a concept album. I didn’t know there were albums that weren’t concept albums [laughing]. I’ve been making concept albums for so long, which is really funny because I really resisted the idea of making a concept record in the first place. I remember Greg Walker, who’s a well known guy in the progressive rock world, when I was in Spock’s Beard he was always asking me 'When are you going to make your Lamb Lies Down?' and I thought 'Oh man, how cliché,' you know? The prog band has to make the concept album. Then after Snow I don’t know what got into me, it was like I couldn’t stop making them. So this is the first record that isn’t a concept album and it’s a nice break, and hopefully it is for the fans as well."

Ryan: Was there any particular reason why you went in the opposite direction this time around?

Neal: "It just kind of flowed out that way. I always just try to follow the flow of what God wants me to do at any given time, on any given day, so that’s what I felt at that time and that’s what came out. It’s sort of interesting because Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER) said to me I think it was when we were doing Sola Scriptura, he told me that he wanted to put in a request as a fan. He said that he hoped that on my next album it would be more structured like a Kindness Of Strangers or Day For Night, with a kind of longer prog thing at the beginning, then some separate shorter songs followed by maybe a longer piece at the end. So Mike kind of gave the call a year or two years ago, whatever it was [laughing]. That was how it ended up and I always think about what he said, and it’s funny that’s how it ended up. I did have it in my mind, so I don’t know how much of an influence that was but it did end up like that."

Go to this location for the complete interview.