SILVER is Neighbor's Rock Odyssey. It consists of 10 songs and tells a story of an epic voyage into space. Silver was performed in full 8 times (2019-09-24, 2019-12-17, 2020-11-28, 2021-09-03, 2022-04-30, 2022-11-05, 2023-08-05, and 2023-12-28). Below is the track listing and an explanation of the story from Richard James and Lyle Brewer.
The journey begins where we (2 young men) are sick of being on earth. Political structure has fallen apart, the earth is slowly deteriorating from humans not caring for it, technology is taking over, and human interaction is becoming less and less ‘real’. There is ‘too much’ of everything, and it’s become overwhelming to deal with and try to understand. That’s when we meet a man named Milwaukee Talkie who happens to captain a craft that takes people into outer space. Milwaukee Talkie tells us that if we come with him, he will show us places in space that are so amazing, we won’t ever want to leave... Here are the lyrics to Milwaukee Talkie:
Too much sun, too much rain
All the joy and all the pain
Too much yours, too much mine
Time to leave this world behind
Too much right, too much wrong
In this place we don’t belong
I’m Milwaukee Talkie and I’ll take you far away
To places that you’ve never seen
Where no one knows your name...
Too much dark, too much light
Always wrong and never right
Too much Life, too much death
Never time to catch Breath
To much Need, too much fear
There’s nothing left for us down here
I’m Milwaukee Talkie and I’ll take you far away
To places that you’ve never seen
Where no one knows your name...
After Milwaukee Talkie we move on to a song called Magic Marble Crew. The Magic Marble Crew is the group that we meet on the ship that travels the universe with Milwaukee Talkie. Here are the lyrics to Magic Marble Crew:
15 thousand gallons of your finest rocket fuel
20 million miles with the magic marble crew
You don’t have to worry
cause there’s nothing we don’t know
All is clear just sign right here
and let us take control
Instrumental
When we land you’ll understand
the reason why we’re here
You’ll receive a blessing
and your mission will be clear
You may see some things
that you have never seen before
If you feel uncomfortable
just take a little more
Instrumental
After that we move on to an instrumental piece called Silver I. This is an arpeggiated melodic guitar piece that we envision as a ‘leaving the planet’ song.
The Magic Marble Crew gives us a substance that we ingest to help us understand our surroundings and what we’re about to experience on our first planet called, Magna Zero. Magna Zero is a planet where anything goes. No one takes good care of themselves, they can do as they please, and there is no form of authority. This planet is a free for all, inhabited by a race of ‘Oolachs’ (Male) and ‘Gimbanalas’ (Female). Here are the lyrics to Magna Zero:
Shooting like a star
out of the sky we start to notice
That the planet that we’ve landed on
Is dirty and corroded
From the oolachs and the gimbanalas
Lying in the streets
It’s a free for all on planet zero
Life is obsolete
Destiny is endless
No one sees a greater good
Understanding everyone’s a bit misunderstood
Captain walkie talkie and the magic marble crew
Land the ship on planet zero
Shouting now it’s up to you....
Everything is starting to get different
in a very sort of strange way
I’m seeing things I’m not sure if I like it here
Everyone and everything is melting to the core
Not sure what is real or not
the ceiling’s on the floor
Looking back the captain smiles
laughing with the crew
Milwaukee has betrayed us
and there’s nothing we can do
Everything is starting to get different
in a very sort of strange way
I’m seeing things I’m not sure if I like it here
After Magna Zero, we perform Silver II. This is a chaotic fast tune where the bass line and melody are performed in rounds between the guitar and piano. This piece signifies coming down after leaving Magna Zero and heading towards Planet Ulsa with Milwaukee Talkie and The Magic Marble Crew.
When we land on Ulsa, we realize that Milwaukee Talkie & The Magic Marble Crew are just trying to sell us off, and we’ve been a bargaining chip for him the whole time. Ulsa is inhabited by millions of brainwashed slaves that work all day in an extremely hot environment. When we realize that we’re being sold off as slaves to the planet, it’s up to us to escape before we are brainwashed and have to spend the rest of our existence working on Ulsa. Here are the lyrics to Ulsa:
Welcome to our world
you’re gonna hit the ground... runnin
You’re gonna slave Away,
break you down to nothing
Work you all day long,
work you to the bone
We own your mind and body
and your heart and soul
It’s 1000 degrees
it’s 1000 degrees in this machine
It’s 1000 degrees
it’s 1000 degrees and you can never leave
Look at all the madness
look at all the slaves
They’re erasing senses
and they’re washing brains
Everyone’s a number
no one has a face
Gotta climb aboard
and leave this place
It’s 1000 degrees
it’s 1000 degrees in this machine
It’s 1000 degrees
It’s 1000 degrees and you can never leave
Time to run there’s nothing here,
Milwaukee was a scam
We were just a pawn within
the captains master plan
If we don’t escape tonight
then we’ll forever be
Bound to planet Ulsa
just a Part of the machine
Guitar led jam over verse changes
Everyone’s asleep
the time is now or never
Leave Milwaukee here
with the crew forever
Hit the gas and fly
before they see we’re gone
Up and away we speed
into the great beyond
It’s 1000 degrees
it’s 1000 degrees in this machine
It’s 1000 degrees
It’s 1000 degrees and you can never leave
After we steal Milwaukee Talkie & The Magic Marble Crew’s ship, we fly around space aimlessly, trying to find our way back home. Just as we start to worry that we’re never going to make it back, a comet appears in the distance, and it’s heading right towards our ship... Here are the lyrics to The Comet:
Floating through the atmosphere
We don't know where we are
just another satellite
Among the shooting stars
On our own we wonder
if we'll ever make it home
What if all the engines fail
We're out here on our own
Instrumental Line
Counting down the days
As we ration out the food
The sounds of an alarm
start screaming loudly in the room
A comets coming closer
and there's nothing we can do
Watching through the windows
as we face impending doom
1/2 time guitar solo
Narration Over Hits
Braced for impact
they both stare down the giant icy sphere
as it barrels through space
speeding towards the ship...
With Sweat dripping down their faces
they count down the final moments of life
wishing they never met Milwaukee Talkie
and made this fateful trip
As the comet closes in
they realize there's a chance that it could miss
As they both close their eyes
and say their last goodbyes
the comet soars past them,
only clipping the ships orbiter
and sends them both spinning
uncontrollably out into the void...
towards a shiny silver celestial orb
in the middle of the galaxy....."
Silver III is an instrumental piece that captures the emotion of us slowly spinning towards an unknown planet with no control of the ship. We crash land on Planet Silver, and when we come out of our unconsciousness, we awake to find that we’ve made it to a place where we would like to stay forever. Here are the lyrics to Planet Silver:
What Is this place, are we alive
Could this be real, or is this heaven
I think we've finally found our home
rivers run through open fields
and filter down into the sea
No one around, can't hear a sound
aside from bluebirds singing sweet songs
while we watch the sun go down
In all our lives we've never felt
we've been so fortunate and free
Planet Silver....
Is where we'd like to be
Guitar Solo
From a distance Comes a girl
And stands before us with a grin
and says she's wondered where we've been
we've been waiting for you both
So you could see how it could be
Planet Earth will soon be gone
If you don't take what you see here
Tell the people, make it clear
Its not too late to change the way
You live your lives, I hope you see
Planet Silver...
Is where we'd like to be
Guitar Solo
Although we want to stay on Planet Silver forever, the people there demand that we go back to earth and take all the beauty, peacefulness, tranquility and love that we experienced on their planet, and bring it all back home to make our planet a better place to live. We Need You is the final piece of the concept. It is a Reprise of the music from Milwaukee Talkie, but major instead of minor, with different lyrics. Here are the lyrics to We Need You:
So much love
so much good
wish we all just understood
Time to heal
time to please
Be aware of others needs
Time to help
time to give
On the planet where we live
Time to join together now
Working hand in hand
Take a moment from your day
And give back to the land...
Repeat and build ending
Check out this video from the 2nd time Silver was played in full from 2019-12-17