Bridge Across Forever

Product Description
'Bridge Across Forever' is a new collection of epics that is sure to enthrall fans once again. TransAtlantic has again enabled Stolt, Morse, Trewavas and Portnoy to indulge a brand of song writing, totally uninhibited or restricted to any particular style or length, something which they have really taken advantage of with the opener 'Duel With The Devil' and 'Stranger In Your Soul' both clocking in at just under 1/2 hour each! A Radiant Records release.

Bridge Across Forever,Transatlantic,Metal Blade,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop

Bridge Across Forever

Average customer rating:

Harks back to classic days of yore
Another incredible prog album from the supergroup!
Couldn't Be Better
Ages like a fine wine...
Very unique music! One of my favorite side projects of all time!

Bridge Across Forever
Transatlantic
Manufacturer: Metal Blade
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Progressive | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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Stolt Morse Portnoy Trewavas
Snow
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ASIN: B00005PJ9V
Release Date: 2001-10-09

Tracks:

Duel With The Devil
Almost Home
Suite Charlotte Pike
Bridge Across Forever
Stranger In Your Soul

Album Description

'Bridge Across Forever' is a new collection of epics that is sure to enthrall fans once again. TransAtlantic has again enabled Stolt, Morse, Trewavas and Portnoy to indulge a brand of song writing, totally uninhibited or restricted to any particular style or length, something which they have really taken advantage of with the opener 'Duel With The Devil' and 'Stranger In Your Soul' both clocking in at just under 1/2 hour each! A Radiant Records release.

Customer Reviews:

Harks back to classic days of yore.......2007-03-12

I can't think of a CD I've purchased within the past decade I took a more immediate liking to than this effort. If you like "Foxtrot" or "Nursery Cryme" then you will like this CD as well. There's ample use of Tony Banks-style Hammond -- but with classic Moog and Oberheim patches more predominant than in very early Genesis, and occasional heavier riffs evocative of Spock's Beard or Dream Theater, this CD has a voice of it's own. And what a great voice it is! Catchy melodies and weaving textures that you will find hard to get out of your head.

Now let me attempt to dispel a few prog misconceptions I continue to run across in reviews that may be applied to the music on this CD:

1. Prog rock is pretentious, overblown; Rick Wakeman wears a cape - Hey, that's the genre! If the music and production didn't have a grand scope and sweeping grandeur enveloping it, it wouldn't be prog, now would it? I'm reminded of Mozart's critics in "Amadeus" who generally liked the work, except there were "too many notes." If you don't like long interwoven suites, fully orchestrated sections mixed with a variety of musical textures and lyrics more ethereal than "driving your Chevy to the levee," then don't call yourself an aficionado of the genre while declaiming it as pretentious. Rather, just admit you don't like prog rock. And Rick Wakeman only wore the cape in concert and put on one helluva great show. It was the 70s. Big name rockers wore garments a lot stranger than a cape! I can't figure out all the Wakeman-bashing going on out there.

2. New prog rock bands like Transatlantic and Spock's Beard are derivative - To a degree, yes. You can tell these guys probably wore the grooves out on their early Genesis albums. And you'll find passages evocative of Crimson and Gentle Giant thrown in for good measure. Is that a problem? Again, if the sound were totally foreign when compared to classic prog music then it would have to fit into another genre. "Bridge Across Forever" does an excellent job of blending what was great about 70s prog with their own unique vision and songwriting skills, and I think it compares very favorably to some 70s prog greats. If I had 100 CDs as good as "Foxtrot" or "Nursery Cryme" I'd be thrilled, rather than steamed that the latter was "too derivative."

3. Neal Morse's voice is too nasal, his lyrics are insipid - I don't find that to be the case. I like his voice. As to lyrics, if anyone who likes early Yes music claims Neal Morse's lyrics are insipid, then please explain the lyrics of "Starship Trooper" to me. Or anything off of "Tales From Topographic Oceans." Don't misunderstand me, I love those albums -- "The Yes Album" still stands as one of the greatest 40 minutes of music ever assembled, in my opinion -- but part of the mystique of the prog genre is that you're more likely to run across lyrics describing a Giant Hogweed gone rampant in downtown London as opposed to "good lovin' gone bad." If you don't care for the fantastical in lyrical content then once again I submit you just don't like the genre.

Sorry for the ranting. I'll likely pick up many "not helpfuls" for going off-topic entirely too often, although I think my comments apply to the CD I'm reviewing as well. If you're still unsure about purchasing this CD, reread the first paragraph -- it really says it all.

Another incredible prog album from the supergroup!.......2006-12-20

Bridge Across Forever was prog-supergroup Transatlantic's 2nd (and sadly final) album. Featuring Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Roine Stolt, and Pete Trewavas, the band is a veritable who's-who of modern prog. Their first album was an incredible effort, although all but one of the songs was written mainly by Neal Morse, which some fans criticized as sounding too much like Spock's Beard (Morse's band). Thus, this second album was a more collaborative effort, and while SMPT:E (the first album) was amazing, this newfound cohesiveness shows on Bridge Across Forever. The album can almost be seen as one continuous piece of music split among it's four tracks, as sections are reprised or built upon between songs.

The album kicks off with Duel With the Devil, 27 minutes of magic going from section to section seamlessly. It segues into Suite Charlotte Pike, one of my favorite songs from this band. If the Beatles were a prog band, this is what they'd sound like, all 15 glorious minutes of it. After the short (5 minute) pretty title track, the album closes with another monster, 26 minute Stranger in Your Soul. Again, a mammoth composition flowing so seamlessly it seems as if it fell out of the sky fully formed. Truly amazing, as is this whole album.

Unfortunately, Neal Morse quit Spock's Beard and Transatlantic in 2002 to puruse a career as a Christian prog solo artist. Portnoy promptly broke up Transatlantic, as Morse was the driving force behind it, musically, and Mike couldn't fathom running the band without him.

If you are into Dream Theater, Spock's Beard, Flower Kings, or Marillion, or just great prog, the two Transatlantic albums (and their two live ones) are essential. You totally won't be disappointed!

Couldn't Be Better.......2006-06-13

I put off buying this disc for months because sometimes you read reviews that are simply too gracious, and recordings of whale noises could be given a 5- star rating. This is deinitely not the case here. This recording is great from beginning to end and each song holds little gems that keep you coming back for more. You start to think, "Hm. This is interesting." And just when you think the song couldn't possibly surpass the last line, BAM, they hit you with something even more ingenious! "Duel With the Devil" is a great opening track which goes from quiet to powerful and back again (and again!) Reminiscent of Close to the Edge, not so much in its sound but in the way so many elements are brought together and work. "Suite Charlotte Pike," as has been said, is a schizophrenic, Beatles- sounding tune that is a light- hearted, happy affair, heralding back to Abbey Road. "Bridge Across Forever" is probably one of my favorite ballads, with surreal, heart- wrenching vocals and beautiful piano, strings and vocals by Neal Morse (aren't all his vocals great?) And then there's "Stranger In Your Soul" which is another great epic that has themes begun in the first track that blend here. To put it simply, this album caused me to purchase everything by The Flower Kings because of guitarist/ vocalist Roine Stolt's contributions here,and Spock's Beard due to Neal Morse's great vocals, keys and songwriting. I was already familiar with Mike Portnoy's awesome percussion and Pete Trewavas' bass playing by owning Dream Theater and Marillion CD's, but I feel their performances here were superior to the ones with their original bands (haven't heard bass riffs like this since early Yes Chris Squire!) This is one of the best albums I've heard in years and I don't say that lightly!

Ages like a fine wine... .......2006-03-13

Music of this nature takes a lot of time to gel with my ears. At first this Transatlantic album didn't stand out for me, despite the fantastic rep it seems to carry.

With repeated listens and plenty of time to focus exclusively on the music, the initial fog of complexity has lifted revealing a brilliant beautifully orchestrated album I can not get enough of now. I'm not going to get into all the facets of musicianship and attention to the most minute musical details evident here on this disk... this sucker is just plain beautiful music. Listen to this w/ the lights off and in the company of someone special. It is worth every penny of it's admission price.

Very unique music! One of my favorite side projects of all time!.......2006-02-22

This band would have to be one of the best "side project" groups I've ever heard! I heard SMPTe and now this....! The music they come up with together with this awesome group of 4 is just purely amazing! It's unique, original and they not afraid to express a comtemporary issues with their unique music form.

They should have stayed together, but of course Neal Morse had a special "religious experience" in Christianity.

Why people don't know more about these guys and this type of music is beyond me.

I was quite surprised how heavy Stranger in your Soul was! It would have to be one of their best songs they ever did along with All of the Above -- this song blew away when I heard a sample of it and then I did the noble thing and bought the album.

It might only have 4 songs -- but 2 of them are 26 minutes long!

I cried and felt a chill go down my spine (literally) when I listened to "A Bridge Across Forever."

I LOVE THEIR ART WORK ON THE FRONT COVER BECAUSE SCI-FI IS SUCH A GREAT THING! THAT SPACESHIP IS HUGE!!! ENORMOUS!!! There's inspiration there too; even in the art work!

There are many styles of music -- even a bit of saxophone in part 1. But still the same group as they were on SMPTe.

I read online that people criticized Neal for having too much of a dominance on the previous album (barf alert). I honestly feel that people complain too much. This album is great; like the previous. They explore themes that other music groups or genres won't even touch! These guys could talk about anything -- even a cook book and it would still be cool!

I've been blown away with this album. The husky voice of Neal, Roine Stolt's innovative guitar work, Mike Portnoy's neat drumming patterns and Pete's wonderful bass which appears to be the "backbone" of the music a lot.

I think anyone I MEAN ANYONE could listen to this album. There is something for everyone on here, except techno. So God bless these people!!! (No doof! doof! music here! :) )

The music is intelligent and very meaningful. The music is well balanced and they talk about things that effect people's life. This album appears to be a concept album and about a personal, psychological crisis. Each music instrument has it's part on this album and helps to provide the right "music mood" brillantly.

If you like prog rock and you love Portnoy in Dream Theater, you've got to add this to your collection.

This music is largely not heavy and is very moderate, but it's something that everyone can appreciate with the improved background vocals on this album.