Well here goes. My first blog on this site. Although the genre certainly didn’t originate here is US there have been some great artists like Kansas, Ambrosia (before they turned all LA on us), Journey (before they turned all arena rock), and in recent years, Glass Hammer. The band and track I’m promoting with this initial post is “Open Up Your Eyes” by Flying Colors. This is their second release and first one self produced.
Steve Morse – lead and rhythm guitar 
Casey McPherson – lead vocals
Neal Morse – keyboards, vocals
Dave LaRue – bass guitar
Mike Portnoy – drums, percussion, vocals
Quite possibly a progressive rock supergroup with Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Transatlantic), Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Kansas, Deep Purple), Neil Morse, no relation to Steve! (Spock’s Beard, Transatlantic), David LaRue (Dixie Dregs, Steve Morse) and lead vocals by Casey McPherson. This 12 minute cut, “Open Up Your Eyes” is from their 2nd release, Second Nature. This first track opens with a classic keyboard intro by Neil and metamorphoses into a progressive groove with Steve on guitar and Portnoy on drums. Later on you’ll hear that familiar keyboard sound from Neil, reminiscent from his days with Spock’s Beard. This instrumental virtuosity continues for over 4 minutes before you’re introduced to Casey on lead vocals. If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to see Mike Portnoy live, you know his drumming just sounds crisper and more powerful than other drummers. And it’s all here! The signature time changes that we love performed by superb musicians. Now I’m only highlighting this 1 track but the entire LP (what do we call these things now?!) appears on several lists for top progressive rock releases for the year 2014. That should add some credibility to my comments here doesn’t it? So check this band out! Their sound is both classic and new progressive. Throw in some rock and pop-leaning vocals and mix it up with great musicians one and all on their respective instruments and you get Flying Colors. Now I can only hope that unlike other supergroups no matter what genre they perform in, they’ll still be around to create more studio releases in the future.
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