No doubt about it, since his departure from Dream Theater, drummer Mike Portnoy has been anything but idle.
From his stint with Avenged Sevenfold, to his collaboration on an EP and full-length by Adrenaline Mob (actually, a second full-length's been added to that only recently); to working on two Neal Morse albums, and a collaboration of those for the Morse Portnoy George album Cover2Cover; the Beatles cover album One More Night In New York under the monicker of Yellow Matter Custard (which saw him work with Pau Gilbert, Kasim Sulton, and again Neal Morse); and an album entitled A Proggy Christmas, released by The Prog World Orchestra...with an additional self-titled alum by the outfit The Winery Dogs (issued earlier in the year) to boot. That, of course, wasn't all, because not only did he go on tour with Tony Macalpine, Billy Sheehan, and Derek Sherinian in October/ November of 2012 (with as result a pre-tour DVD entitled Instrumental Inspirations and the recently tour document Live IN Japan – find the review posted...at about the same time as this, actually), but there was also the lengthy process of getting the first Flying Colors album together. Before we go on with the actual food for this review, however, we need to touch on that album's history, seeing as we never got it for review! So, here goes...
The idea for a band such as Flying Colors goes back quite a couple of years now, executive producer Bill Evans toying with the idea of bringing together a bunch of musicians with high technical skills with a Pop singer and producer. In 2008 he finally decided to bring his thoughts into fruition. Having selected through some artists he knew, on the basis of wanting them to already know each other from having worked together in previous collaborations, he approached drummer Mike Portnoy (then still with Dream Theater), guitarist Steve Morse and bassist Dave LaRue who'd been collaborating for 25 years (going back to the legendary Dixie Dregs, and currently in the Steve Morse Band – Steve himself is of course also known as the guitarist for Deep Purple, whereas Dave has numerous studio sessions with other bands to his name), keyboardist Neal Morse (formerly of Spock's Beard – had worked with Portnoy in Transatlantic, and now a successful solo artist), and producer Peter Collins (whom in the past has worked with Rush, Bon Jovi, Jewel, Elton John, and many more). Each artist renowned in his own field of expertise, the project promised to bring together the best in Rock, Metal, Pop, Prog, and Jazz Fusion. To Evans' pleasure, each of the approached people showed a willingness to collaborate on the project.
The next task was to find a suitable lead singer from the Pop genre. For both Steve and Mike are of course very god singers in their own right (oh yeah...Mike sings, all right!), but the project warranted a special extra lead singer, and so Evans and Collins started reviewing over 100 contemporary vocalists in the genre, but none of them really turned out to be what was needed. Meanwhile, the musicians were probably already throwing ideas to each other over the Internet, although it's almost certain that Mike and Neal also shared ideas while working on the latter's solo albums. Just when things started to get desperate about getting the kind of singer they wanted, Mike came up with the solution, suggesting one Casey McPherson. Currently the lead singer/ guitarist of the band Alpha Rev, it was actually through an album by Indochine (which became his favorite record of the last decade) through which Mike had come to know about Casey. So, Collins contacted Casey, and sure enough...the man was even eager to participate in such a venture. So, with the music written, months apparently went by before the guys started working on the vocal parts, and again months went by, as the producer was checking everyone's schedules, in order to get everyone together in a studio to make the actual recordings. In the end, that eventually happened during just 9 days in January of 2011!
Quite some time went by before Collins eventually went into the mixing of the album, and with the time frame involved, it shouldn't be surprising that the guys didn't really know their parts anymore by the time the self-titled album was actually released in late March 2012. So rehearsals were scheduled, as a tour was upcoming in September of 2012. The guys eventually did their debut gig as a band in California, flew over to New York for another show, and then boarded the plane which would bring 'em to the UK and Europe. Not even three weeks after that first gig, the tour was over, and a new bond was created between the musicians, as well as a wish to continue the project for a second album. In fact, rumours have already been spread hat the first new song ideas have already been punched around between the concerned people, by use of the Internet.
Meanwhile however, there's this double live CD, as a reminder to what the tour was like. The show featured on the two discs was recorded at the 013 venue in Holland's Tilburg, on September 20. It was already toward the end of the tour (in effect the second to last date), and therefore the set-list (which Mike jumbled about a bit in the first part of the tour) had been settled on. As the guys had only the one album to pick songs from, it was decided to play it completely, and to add songs from each of the members' pasts in order to make for a set-list lasting a good hour and a half. Following the FC songs “Blue Ocean”, Shoulda Coulda Woulda” and “Love Is What I'm Waiting For”, attention is given to a song out of Casey's past in his Indochine days, the song “Can't Find A Way” actually chosen by Mike. Following the FC song “The Storm”, the guys continue with the Dixie Dregs instrumental “Odyssey”. It is followed up by FC's “Forever In A Daze”, before the stage is left to Casey's solo rendition of “Hallelujah” (a routine developed on-tour, from Mike witnessing an a capella voice practice during a soundcheck before a Swiss show...and insisting he do something more with it). Now, I tell you, that track really brings out the absolute best in Casey's voice, and I'm sure that most people having come to that part of the CD's will go and check the rest of the material for a more in-depth listening session, to find out the marvelous things this guy does with his voice on the rest of the album! The first disc in the set finishes with the FC song “Better Than Walking Away”...but of course the show itself went on without interruptions.
The second disc starts off with the FC songs “Kayla” and “Fool In My Heart” (with Mike as lead singer), before the stage is left to Dave LaRue for a moody bass solo (instigated on by Mike), which bridges over into a rendition of Dream Theater's “Repentance” (again with Mike on lead vocals), and then finds Casey inviting Steve to the front of the stage to start off the Spock's Beard song “June” (which also find Mike coming to the front stage, for a 3-layered vocal rendition of the song with minimum musical accompaniment...before both Steve and Mike jump back behind their instruments to give the song an heavier ending). Following that calmer passage in the show, the band shoots off into the splattering FC track “All Falls Down” and the concert ending “Everything Changes”. Well, that's what the band wanted people to think at first, apparently. But those having read reviews of the shows that had already been done, may have known that the band was playing the whole of the album, and sure enough, among the audience in Tilburg there were some people in the audience whom realised that one last song off the album was still to be played. And sure enough, after some extensive hollering by the audience the band comes back on stage to play “Infinite Fire”. Having played that, the five do another show of bowing and throwing memorabilia to the audience, before going off-stage once again. Then...nah, I won't tell ya...you'll have to read the DVD review to know what came next!
Meanwhile, all that's left for me to do, is to give this a very nice rating, eh?