Highlands Magazine, the French magazine devoted to the international progressive rock scene since 1997, reviews Morri’s Rock Boutique in issue 130. Reviewer Michel Newsouljazz awards the album three stars. (The review is print-only; quotes are translated from the French.)
The piece opens by placing the band — a Chicago progressive rock project “blending cinematic narration, classic prog ambition and modern melodic sensibility,” formed in 2020 during the lockdowns, its name taken from a word Derek Ferguson’s mother invented meaning rearrange, “symbolising the group’s creative approach: recombining musical and narrative elements to create something new.”
Newsouljazz hears the album’s lyrics as “at once inward-looking and luminous,” turning on “transformation, freedom and the search for authenticity.”
He walks the record track by track. “Storms” is “hard/prog rock in the vein of Styx (or Boston).” “The Cossack’s Dream,” with Joe Deninzon of Kansas on violin, is an adaptation of a traditional Slavic song in which “the singing is intense and powerful.” “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Tonight,” with Lynx, gets the review’s longest look:
“Dark and dreamlike, this track unfolds like a David Lynch film noir, questioning reality and memory until forgiveness is found.”
— classic pop, he adds, lifted by Mitch Lawrence’s saxophone playing.
David Jackson’s saxophone “heightens the interest” of “Hell or NYC,” and Deathless “stands out as an ambitious three-part suite, slightly more progressive than the rest of the album” — an allegory that uses the Russian folk figure of Kashchey the Deathless, the villain who cannot die because he hides his soul outside his body, “to depict modern empires stripped of all moral accountability.”
“The Lucky Ones,” “Wasteland, Part 1” and “Another Country” close the album the way it opened, “in a purely American pop/prog style.” The verdict:
“This album will appeal above all to fans of Boston, Styx and Kansas of the seventies and eighties. Good production, prestigious guests and powerful voices.”
Morri’s Rock Boutique (Melodic Revolution Records, March 2026) is available now:
- Spotify
- Bandcamp
- Apple Music
- Immersive Audio Album — Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround and binaural