''The Similitude of a Dream'' is the second studio album by

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

supergroup The Neal Morse Band, released on November 11, 2016. It is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, loosely based on ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...

'' by

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In addition ...

and follows Christian, who is tormented by spiritual anguish and told he must leave the City of Destruction to find salvation in the Celestial City. The album was released as a two-CD package, a special edition with a bonus making of DVD, and as a triple vinyl version.

Background and writing

Morse began writing in December 2015 and started researching ''

'' when he thought he needed some direction and presented his idea to the band one month later. As the band began working on the album,

Mike Portnoy Michael Stephen Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American musician who is primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. In September 2010, Portnoy announced his departur ...

was adamant that the album be a single disc whereas Morse felt there was much more to the story that needed to be explored. Morse wrote additional material to complete a second disc and as the band was finishing the album,

told the band, "we just made the album of our careers.". Portnoy later made these comments public when the album was announced saying, "Neal and I have now made 18 studio albums together, and I consider 'The Similitude Of A Dream' the absolute creative pinnacle of our collaborations together, after a career of almost 50 albums, I honestly consider this to be one of the defining works of my career". These comments caused much excitement and anticipation in the prog rock community. The band released five videos in support of the album release. Long Day/Overture, City of Destruction, So Far Gone, The Ways of the Fool, and The Man in the Iron Cage.

Track listing

Personnel

;The Neal Morse Band *

Neal Morse Neal Morse (born August 2, 1960) is an American singer, musician and composer based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1992, he formed the progressive rock band Spock's Beard with his brother Alan and released an album which was moderately successful. ...

– lead vocals, keyboards, 6 & 12 string electric guitars, percussion,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

– drums, vocals * Randy George – bass and

bass pedals Bass pedals are an electronic musical instrument with a foot-operated pedal keyboard with a range of one or more octaves. The earliest bass pedals from the 1970s consisted of a pedalboard and analog synthesizer tone generation circuitry packaged ...

* Bill Hubauer – organ, piano, synthesizers, lead vocals *

Eric Gillette Eric Gillette (born August 14, 1984) is an American multi-instrumentalist from Dallas, Texas. He is the lead guitarist, vocalist and keyboardist for the Neal Morse Band as well as a solo artist and session musician. Although primarily a guitari ...

– lead and rhythm electric guitar, lead vocals ;Special guests * Chris Carmichael – violin, viola, and cello *

Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...

– percussion ("Breath of Angels") * Ann, Alfreda and Regina McCrary – background vocals ("Breath of Angels") * Sarah Hubauer – baritone and alto saxophone ("Overture") * Spencer McKee – marimba ("The Battle") * Dave Buzard – stomps ("City of Destruction") * Bruce Babad – saxophone ("Shortcut to Salvation") * Steve Herrman – trumpets ("I'm Running") * Jim Hoke – tenor and baritone saxophone ("I'm Running") * Rich Mouser – pedal steel Technical personnel * Rich Mouser - mixing

Critical reception

''The Similitude of a Dream'' was received with high praise, being honored as "Album of the Year" (2016) by several online music magazines, including Prog Radio, The Prog Report, The Fire Note, and Rock at Night. The Prog Report said, "‘The Similitude of a Dream’ does the impossible and exceeds all expectations. It is absolutely a jaw-dropping release that will no doubt rank alongside the best albums by Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy, if not above them." Two years later, in 2018, The Prog Report ranked ''Similitude of a Dream'' as the all time best album in the Neal Morse discography. Sonic Perspectives added, "'Epic' doesn’t begin to describe what these five musicians have managed to pull off here. It is a fantastic progressive rock opus in the best tradition of the finest prog of the 70s and is an album that I find tremendously satisfying, both spiritually and musically. It has everything any prog fan can ask for and then some, it is really the prog fan’s wet dream."

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Similitude of a Dream 2016 albums Music based on novels Neal Morse albums Concept albums