Neal Morse Band will release Innocence & Danger on August 27 via InsideOut. But unlike the group’s previous two double albums albums, its songs are completely unconnected.
Says drummer Mike Portnoy, “After two sprawling back-to-back double concept albums in a row, it was refreshing to get back to writing a collection of unrelated individual songs in the vein of our first album.”
Making this album came easy to the band; while the initial inspiration came particularly from keyboard player Bill Hubauer and bassist Randy George, the ideas flowed from everybody. George recalls: “I’m excited about the level of collaboration that we achieved on this one. We even went in with a lot of ideas that weren’t necessarily developed, and I think in the end we have something that represents the best of everybody in the band.”
In fact – like its two predecessors – Innocence & Danger is a double album by inspiration, rather than design, as Portnoy explains: “As much as we wanted to try and keep it to a single album after having just done two double albums, we wrote so much material that we found ourselves with our third double album in a row! That’s pretty prog!”
There’s also plenty in Innocence & Danger to excite those prog fans who have a thirst for epics. Frontman Neal Morse explains: “There's one half hour epic and another that's about 20 minutes long. I really didn't realise that they were that long when we were recording them, which I guess is great because if a movie is really good, you don't realise that it's three hours long! But there are also some shorter songs: some have poppier elements, some are heavier and some have three part acoustic sections. I’m excited about all of it, really.”
The album will be released as a limited edition 2CD+DVD Digipak (featuring a Making Of documentary), 3LP+2CD Boxset, Standard 2CD Jewelcase & Digital Album, featuring artwork by Thomas Ewerhard (Transatlantic). Pre-orders begin on June 18.
Neal Morse Band will tour North America in October 2021 and in Europe throughout May and June 2022. More dates will be announced soon.
Tracklist
CD 1 (Innocence):
1. Do It All Again
2. Bird On A Wire
3. Your Place In The Sun
4. Another Story To Tell
5. The Way It Had To Be
6. Emergence
7. Not Afraid Pt. 1
8. Bridge Over Troubled Water
CD 2 (Danger):
1. Not Afraid Pt. 2
2. Beyond The Years
