kErrY_kOMpOsT
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- Joined: 12/30/2003
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Re: Kerry's The Whirlwind Review
Thursday, November 19, 2009 5:25 PM
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I rarely post here but lurk from time to time; I've been a fan of Neal Morse's songwriting since about 1998 (been a DT fan since about 2000) or so, and I've always loved his work with Transatlantic most of all.
Last night I spent a couple of hours enjoying back-to-back "headphones-and-bong" focused listenings of "The Whirlwind". Outside, here in the San Fernando Valley, the winds absolutely howled, wreaking havoc upon the slowly-turning autumn leaves -- an appropriate setting for a concept album wherein wind plays a major metaphorical role. But first - the music. I was immediately hooked by the main TW theme - Pete Trewavas came up with this? Awesome! – it’s a great progression and is, in fact, rendered in a variety of ways throughout the remainder of the piece, as are a bunch of other musical motifs. There are enough themes here, in various guises, to keep me a very happy man for a good while. At last count, I spotted at least ten different themes in the first piece alone which are elaborated and re-incorporated throughout the piece -- damn, boyee! As I thought about this album and my expectations, I came to a realization: had Transatlantic delivered another "Bridge Across Forever" -- my favorite album of all time, and no, I'm not kidding -- they would've done what I THOUGHT I wanted. But, truthfully, what I really wanted was not another BAF, but something completely new, a re-visioning of their classic sound but wrapped up in completely new packaging. I realized I should be grateful they didn't simply repeat BAF - as much as I believed that's what I wanted - and that they chose, instead, to go for a somewhat different approach to The Epic. Kudos, gentlemen, for not meeting my expectations, but, rather, exceeding them. Man, this album flows like a sonic river. Sure, there are moments that are reminiscent of previous Transatlantic and Spock's Beard songs, but I'm choosing to look at these moments as the stylistic fingerprints of this particular songwriting collective rather than mere rehashes of old ideas. As has been said before: when you're as prolific as these gentlemen (and Neal Morse in particular), ideas are bound to be re-envisioned from time to time. I can certainly give them at least that much. The opening track ("Overture/The Whirlwind") pretty much sums up most of the themes that recur in various guises throughout the piece; it's incredibly well-thought out in that regard. When Roine's vocals come in - chills, baby! There's also some jaw-dropping bass playing throughout - fantastic, biting tone. The second track ("The Wind Blew Them All Away") is a bit less musically interesting but it, too, delivers a couple of ideas that will crop up again later; Stolt also pays a cool little guitar homage to Clapton's solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which is just a blast to hear. The third track - "On The Prowl" - is a monster jam. Neal's solo at the beginning of this song absolutely kicks all kinds of ass! It also has some re-visitation of the earlier themes - it's all holding together incredibly well at this point. Track four ("A Man Can Feel") continues the hook-laden melodic pop goodness, again re-visiting some of the established themes couched within a new song. Clearly, my initial impression - that TW was a collection of songs as opposed to a true, composed epic - was dead wrong. Track five ("Out of the Night") almost feels to me like this could quite possibly have been the original ending of the piece. It heavily reuses the TW theme and the outro is as bombastic and heavy as per usual with Transatlantic. This song feels like a break-point in the epic, a pre-climax, and then... ...it transitions seamlessly into the literal centerpiece of the album, the magnificent track six ("Rose Colored Glasses"). Damn, what a beautifully written tribute to Neal's late father. This song is simply Neal completely in his element - I'm only sorry for the circumstances behind the creation of this gorgeous song. There's a transition into what might be considered the chorus, which reminds me of the dramatic change of key between the verse and chorus in Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Simply stunning. And, while my first impression was highly critical of the bridge, I can live with this one - although I maintain Neal could've gone anyplace more interesting than this, but it's all good in the center of the whirlwind. Once again, the working-in of the main TW theme here is just stunning and adds to the sense of cohesion that these guys are expert at creating. Be sure to stop by the killer guitar solo and buy yourself a big old bag of awesome - man, Roine just kills here. Track seven ("Evermore") introduces an absolutely bad-ass ELP-like section which reminds me of the insane piano work behind the "cold and misty morning" section of Karn Evil 9: First Impression Part One. Really, really, freaking cool! Later in this track, the "is it really happening?" theme is introduced for the first time, adding to the melodic arsenal of this World Power of an epic. On track eight ("Set Us Free") there's an attention to detail that kills me: Neal sings a line (paraphrasing here) about "look at the person to your right, watch them slowly going mad" and during the "mad" part, the sound of a whirlwind is heard in the background. I love little details like this! Track nine ("Lay Down Your Life") is driving me crazy - what '80s metal vocalist is being channeled here? It's on the tip of my tongue - I thought it might be Eric Dover (Slash, Imperial Drag) - but I can't for the life of me figure out where I've heard this voice before. It's cool tho, great song, slightly Beatle-y in that "Suite Charlotte Pike" way, only much more streamlined. The guys take a dark "orchestra hit" melodic sequence - heavy as Hades - and just twist that sucker up in a manner most bad-ass. I absolutely adore the drumming turnarounds in here - total genius. Not sure if this is part of track nine or ten ("Pieces of Heaven"), but man, this thing really is crazy-cohesive. It's truly working as one giant THING. Which leads into track eleven ("Is It really Happening?"), which builds up slowly and winds up being a total Yngwie Malmsteen Euro-shred faux-classical motif delivered expertly by Stolt. Really fun, and I thought it was exceptionally cool to throw in such an obvious homage to his part of the musical world. Which leads to the ending ("Dancing With Eternal Glory/The Whirlwind Reprise"), another mellow, "almost too cliche to believe but heartfelt nonetheless" Morse ballad. Damn. I want to crucify the guy for having the balls to write such blatantly AOR/pop melodies, but when you hear him singing it, like with some movies, you just have to suspend disbelief and roll with it, baby. The chorus - which I originally thought of as being "Diane Warren quality" - in my most humble of opinions would've been far more effective had the band decided to bring back the Em-to-A (not sure of those are the right chords but it's the right interval) sections from "Rose Colored Glasses" and built it from there. THAT is what my mind hears when this song goes from the lovely, simple melodic verse to the otherwise simplistic chorus Morse chose to utilize. But it's not my song and Neal will do what his heart tells him, so instead we get a chorus that is not unlike - in vibe and feel - Fish's "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" or Chris DeBurgh's "Lady in Red". It's far too AOR for my tastes but it is what it is and it is - if anything - very effective if you can get past the somewhat schmaltzy show-tune vibe. It's not dark and heavy like the outro of "Duel With the Devil", it reminds me more of Neal's post-Beard stuff, which seemed to lose a darker edge in favor of a more uplifting, sanitized, generic Christian AOR feel. This is the most "Christ-like" of the songs, based on the title alone, with lyrical references to "He is at the center of the whirlwind" or some such concept (as well as sharing a "dancing" theme with "A Gentleman's Excuse Me"). As I said, it's very effective but just a little too uplifting and light for my tastes. When Neal sings "Liiiiifeeeee" over that awesome little climbing string section - which was introduced in the very beginning of the album - it's pretty spine-tingling. Then it fades away into a big old "Day in the Life" chord that rings out for a minute or so. I'm finding myself really being drawn in by the lyrics, "eternal glories" notwithstanding (I am steadfastly not a Christian although I was raised one). Early on in the piece Neal sings "When the climate changed...", introducing a timely subject if ever there was. To hear four guys from different parts of the planet questioning "is it really happening?", I can only assume they're referring to climate change and, more metaphorically, a greater change in mankind. It's pretty jaw-dropping and quite somber and I find myself really, really liking the concept. Also, the obvious concept of a whirlwind - calm in the center, chaos around the edges, blowing men into the sky (no subtle resurrection reference there LOL) - is an effective device to help convey many related ideas. Overall, I think this album equals "Bridge Across Forever" in several respects; the overall lyrical concept is at least as comprehensive, but TW offers a lot more musicality and thematic development than BAF. It is a masterful slice of collective songwriting, offering boatloads of sonic snacks to chew on as well as offering some lyrical ideas to give one pause for thought. And, contrary to my first impression, this is NOT A COLLECTION OF SONGS STRUNG TOGETHER TO MAKE AN EPIC! Not even close. It's gonna take me a lot more exposures to figure out all of the themes, where and how they occur, and how they interlock, but it is, without question, one giant THING. A masterpiece, if I dare say. Which is exactly what I was hoping for in this long-awaited follow-up. Thanks, Transatlantic, for giving my brain something to chew on for the next several months, if not a lifetime. Fantastic work! kErrY
www.myspace.com/marshollow (HUGE Transatlantic influence here)
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