| The Light | 1995 |
| Beware Of Darkness | 1996 |
| T'he Kindness Of Strangers | 1997 |
| Day For Night | 1999 |
| Don't Try This At Home (live) | 2000 |
| V | 2000 |
| Snow | 2002 |
| Feel Euphoria | 2003 |
Progressive rock outfit formerly led by Neal Morse that has an unpredictable sound that harkens back to the classic progressive rock sound of the late 60s and early 70s with a decidedly modern twist in the lyrics (think the nonsense of Jon Anderson with understandable modern topics), melody and arrangement, apparent in their first two very retro prog albums The Light and Beware Of Darkness, both showcasing the songwriting talents of Morse and his exceptional key for arrangement. Afterwards Spock's ventured into a more accessible direction with pop-based albums The Kindness Of Strangers and Day For Night before combining the two elements in V, and then going into concept album territory with Snow. Afterwards, though, in an eerie parallel to Genesis, bandleader Neal left to 'be with God', and the band continued on with Feel Euphoria (more details on this below).
--Nick Karn
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COMMENTS
Oh,these guys are SO charismatic!I love Neal as a songwrite-I think that no-one today can write for almost 5 hours of music every year-and good,professional music.Ryo is the most professional musician of them all-just check out his long lenthy solos on live albums.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
There haven't been too many debut albums in rock history quite as startilingly ambitious as the initial offering from Spock's Beard, and it's apparent in the running times of the songs alone - I'd say starting off a debut with the first three songs running over 15, 12 and 23 minutes respectively is fairly indicative that this band right from the getgo desired to be a major player in modern prog. These pieces, though, tend to be structured more on piecing together song sections markedly different from one another musically and melodically (effectively showcasing lead songwriter Neal Morse's truly remarkable creative vision at this point) than filling up that time with technically exceptional soloing. Spock's certainly prove technically capable, but that really isn't the focus of their sound.
Anyway, the album kicks off with the eight part, 15-1/2 minute title cut, and boy what a title cut it is. It's an amazingly creative display of musical ideas, perfectly flowing arrangement and darn catchy melody. Beginning with a modest little intro section ('what makes a dream...') connecting to a short organ based jam, it's mood shifts right into an extremely powerful, bombastic and energetic anthem, melts into an airy piano section about garden people, explodes into a phenomenal uptempo part with a melody that might refuse to leave your head, goes back into a more reflective mood before unexpectedly morphing into this twisted and truly genius little 'flamenco groove' section (beginning with the lines 'so they had a party?!'), then back to the awesome bombastic anthem part (with the immortal lines 'I AM THE CATFISH MAN, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!' being screamed - awesome beyond words), and the reprise of 'the dream' intro. It's one of the most truly amazing and well flowing prog epics ever, and maybe the band's finest moment - if they had never written anything else, I'd still definitely respect them.
The remaining three songs can't hope to live up to the mammoth title song, as musically they're more than a little derivative of Yes and Pink Floyd (kind of a combination of both), which wasn't really the case with the title song, but that's not to say they don't have their moments. The three minute intro jam of "Go The Way You Go" is dull, but the way the rest of the song is constructed so that the acoustic verses and harmony-filled chorus merge with the 'arena rock' part later in the song makes it worthwhile. The 23 minute epic "The Water" definitely works on some levels too, with the initial 'I am the water...' power section and two interpretations of the same melody (bluesier in the beginning and groove based near the end) show up throughout.
Also highlighting the song is, of all things, a catchy 'fuck you' ranting section (with angsty venom as great as anything from Seattle) contrasting with a folky apologetic one - maybe a relationship conflict somewhere here? The haunting 'A Thief In The Night' subsection is no slouch either, although I could do without a lot of the final section 'Reach For The Sky', which is just too reminiscent of Dark Side Of The Moon in melody and those damn backing singers. The more conventional length (6 minute) "On The Edge" ends the album as a uptempo rocker with a gorgeous intro and a great bassline throughout. Overall, this is a quite impressive debut that's kept from being a near classic due to its' occasional derivativeness and sections of the two middle epics that occasionally don't work. Nevertheless, this is definitely worth owning for the classic title song alone, but the album as a whole is certainly a rewarding experience.
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COMMENTS
Their first and their best.All songs aree almost one the same high level,but "The Water" is best of them all.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Thie band's followup to The Light focuses more on a mostly mellow mood with a lot of stripped down acoustic playing often turning up in mid-song, and the band occasionally rocking out, and the lyrics are worded in an impressively creative, introspective, and quite humorous fashion. At its' most progressive, Beware Of Darkness seems to be even more of an obvious throwback to that 70s progressive rock sound (Yes in the keyboard-bass interplay, Pink Floyd in the atmosphere, Emerson Lake And Palmer in the soloing, and occasional glimpses of the strange harmonies of Gentle Giant), with even similar production values, so the album is marred a little by its' derivativeness, but the songwriting is strong, and of course, so is the playing.
The album opens with the 'prog meets psychedelia' of the title track, which is a cover of a George Harrison song from the classic All Things Must Pass album, and it's a good rendition, although I haven't heard the original. Following is "Thoughts", the most interesting song musically and lyrically - it has captivating instrumental and vocal melodies, a strange harmony-filled chorus with organ backing in which all the members are singing different things at the same time, very witty lyrics with every line in the verses having something clever added on to 'I thought...' and great song dynamics.
The mellow 11 minute epic "The Doorway" is another success, boasting a powerful intro piano part that reappears on acoustic guitar, keyboards, and electric guitar, while selected lines in the song are also sung throughout the song with three distinctly different melodies, and the acoustic section in the middle is very reminiscent of someone like James Taylor (especially vocally), and the lyrics here sound like something you'd find in a typical folk song. The interlude "Chatauqua" is a short and pleasant acoustic instrumental that precedes another long epic track (at 9 minutes), "Walking On The Wind", which probably captures that '70s prog feel' I mentioned earlier the most, and it's probably the catchiest song, with engaging melody and instrumentation and a haunting, soft middle section leading into a majestic ending.
"Waste Away", meanwhile, is the hardest rocking tune that has a really infectious instrumental melody (on both guitar and keyboards) and solid chorus. The closing "Time Has Come" is by far the most involved and lengthy piece here at over 16 minutes, but it's not all the way interesting, with a few of the melodies and riffs being boring, the various sections of the songs not flowing together that well, and some of the lyrics are just too dumb and childish ('but the man was sharp, man this cat was cool, so we gave the jewel, to a raving fool') for a song of that length that's supposed to hold my attention. Nevertheless, that's the only real weakness (other than the band's obvious influences) of this otherwise strong effort.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
The band journeys just a little bit further into pop territory here from the hardcore retro prog of the first two albums. Sure, there are still three songs here that eclipse the 10 minute mark, but all of them are constructed much more like traditional intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, etc. pop songs with each of those parts just being really stretched out. This is particularly true of the 11 minute "Harm's Way", which consists of a fast piano intro, really pleasant slow grooves of the verses and chorus (each verse with a slightly different feel) before journeying into the breathtaking fast organ-driven anthemic middle. The 10 minute opener "The Good Don't Last" is even quite a nostalgic tune, with a contemplative melody and lyrics focusing on what life used to be like before it got all complicated, and featuring the classic line 'we live in a land where crap is king and the good don't last too long' to go along with a gorgeous lengthy coda ('The Radiant Is') and powerful jam to start the number.
As far as the shorter numbers that lie around the middle of the album, "June" is certainly the best straightforward pop tune (i.e. under 6 minute composition) thus far in their career, featuring a gorgeous melody with equally pretty acoustic guitar, and extremely clever lyrics that perfectly convey the insanity of the road (favorite line: 'and the prince and the drummer and the fire girls couldn't get our guitars in tune...'). "In The Mouth Of Madness" and "Cakewalk On Easy Street" don't fall too short of the standard either, the former with bizarre yet engaging synth parts in its' intro and a really catchy piano-laden melody (smooth flowing basslines in the chorus as well), and the latter a rather pleasant pop tune with several attractive hooks, like the hilarious bridge of 'my brain is made of plastic and wood, but I've still got my arms, that's good...' and the repeating 'on easy street...' line over beautiful piano.
As far as the remaining two tracks, they're a bit less impressive, but not nearly enough to drop the album below its' really solid rating. The lyrics of "Strange World" are somewhat dumb and corny, and the heavier chorus just doesn't gel well with the rest of the song, but the main melody is quite memorable. The closing 15 minute "Flow", meanwhile, has a simply awesome opening part (the ballad 'True Believers' that captures a stunningly beautiful atmosphere) that the rest of the epic unfortunately doesn't come close to living up to, though I wouldn't call the rocking 'A Constant Flow Of Sound' and the memorable coda 'Into The Source' weak by any means. Most of this album, though, finds the band getting progressively more and more focused, even if still too derivative of their counterparts, in their sound. After this one, they'd dive even further into a pop mode.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Album number four from the Spock's Beard gang finds Neal Morse in an unfocused kind of rut in attempting to find a balance between the pop and progressive elements of their sound. The combination really does work wonders in the opening 7-1/2 minute title track, which is a sort of explosive arena rock/prog anthem, with excellent energy and some of the most infectious melodies of their catalog - quite a nice acoustic bridge used as contrast in the middle of it as well, and by a long shot, it's overall the ultimate album highlight. The other two really long tracks near the middle of the album, though, are on the opposite end of worthwhile - both "Crack The Big Sky" and "The Gypsy" are catchy in places, but are just substandard prog epics that suffer from poor rambling arrangements and unmemorable musical themes. Plus the latter's lyrics are extremely stupid and cringe-worthy.
Elsewhere, "Can't Get It Wrong" is such a blatant attempt at commerciality in a totally generic, crappy piano ballad, and the harmonizing of the utterly stupid meaningless lyrics of "Gibberish" (apt title) and the ripoff of the intro from "In The Mouth Of Madness" undermines the fine melody of the song. The hard-hitting and engaging "Skin" and the pleasant acoustic number "The Distance To The Sun" fare better, but are hardly up to the level of the band's best stuff. The last few tracks consisting of pop-oriented tunes that flow together in an almost medley-like style do make the album a litttle more worthwhile, though for every gorgeous and soul searching number inside like "The Healing Colors Of Sound" and "My Shoes" there's a stupid pedestrian rocker like "Mommy Comes Back" or a bland ballad in "Lay It Down". In all, definitely not one of the Beard's shining moments. I guess it's either a good pop record marred by substandard prog or a good prog record marred by substandard pop - you decide.
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COMMENTS
This is good record,only-it is pop.No prog at all,just pop and I think that's why everyone uderrate this album good."Gibberish" is really the best song Spock's Beard ever did.Love this one.
Whoever wrote some of these reviews is out of their mind. Day For Night is a great album right along with the rest of their stuff. I'd love to hear someone of such insolence as the person who wrote this review turn out anything that comes close to the musical prowess and ingenious of this album. If this is supposed to be "pop" music, I sure would prefer to hear it on the radio versus any of the horrible stuff I hear on it now.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
I really don't understand the point of this live release. I guess they wanted to be like Genesis and Rush and release their first live recording after their fourth studio album, but while the individual songs generally aren't weak, as far as the track listing goes and the relative quality of these performances to the originals, this is quite a big disappointment. The track listing comes almost entirely from Day For Night (in my humble opinion their weakest album) with just a small dose of The Kindness Of Strangers, and nothing from their first two albums. Please, do they really think gibberish like "Gibberish" and the very hit and miss 20 minute "The Healing Colors Of Sound" suite are more worthy of this album than monumental epics like "The Light" or "The Doorway"? Granted, the best chunk 35 or so minute of Day For Night is played more or less, so you might want to skip that album and come here, but don't get both, or you'll just end up feeling ripped off.
Generally, the performances of this stuff are pretty much exactly the same as the originals (though not necessarily better), but the Kindness songs fare somewhat worse. "In The Mouth Of Madness" suffers from substandard vocals, and I absolutely hate the wimpy acoustic sound during "June", and the harmonies in that song sound very offkey, making it far inferior to the utterly awesome original. I know they're a much better live band than this, seeing them as a concert opener - even with technical difficulties, Neal Morse's humor and stage banter was in full swing, the performances were really energetic, and the set list was great (one song from every album, including the at the time not yet released V). None of this is really captured here, so I can safely say avoid this album unless you're a huge fan or completist.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Coming off the exceptional quality of the Transatlantic side project, which lead vocalist and principle songwriter Neal Morse was the driving force for, the subsequent release from Spock's Beard continued that momentum, as it's essentially a collection of impressively melodic pop tunes with progressive elements. The two really long epic songs here bookend the album, while the four songs in the middle clock in at a more conventional length. Plus, Neal Morse and the band have really found their own musical ground here - not merely bringing to mind their old progressive influences as in the past, but taking them to the next level and making the music sound somewhat more unique, especially with the improved pop sensibilities and the down to earth, but still cryptic, lyrics.
The first epic track comes in the stunning 16-1/2 minute opener "At The End Of The Day" (and the highlight of the album), which is really an extended celebratory pop song, with phenomenally uplifting melodies and gorgeous five part harmonies, meaningful lyrics (really), and a wonderfully flowing structure. The three separate sections of the song are connected together by horn arrangements, flamenco guitars (whose melodies are also later reprised on electric guitar), and a totally original and beautiful melodic theme that comes at the beginning and just before the final chorus and verse to end the song.
The next four normal length songs don't disappoint either - "Rain Of Revelation" is a pretty good ballad with a haunting guitar tone and a heavy chorus, while "Thoughts (Part II)" (a sequel to the original "Thoughts" on Beware Of Darkness) is less than 5 minutes but is musically adventurous within that time, again utilizing the fantastic band harmonies (reminiscent of the fast tempos of Gentle Giant in that department in particular) and two different rocking instrumental bridges between them, melodic acoustic verses that serve as a continuation to the original. The incredibly catchy "All On A Sunday" is the most realized moment in terms of pop mastery, with a phenomenal stick in your head verse and chorus melody and organ line, and the second ballad "Goodbye To Yesterday" is intimately acoustic with a gorgeous horn-led instrumental bridge.
That leaves the deceptively intimidating 27 minute closer "The Great Nothing", which really isn't pretentious at all as its' title or length suggests, but instead it continues in the vein of Transatlantic's 30 minute "All Of The Above" opus, effortlessly making six seemingly unrelated song segments flow together perfectly, connecting them together by reprising the best melodic themes of the song in slightly different forms (most notably the beginning section, which plays out like the opening credits of a movie). I don't exactly know what the lyrics are trying to say, what with the timeless one note coming out of nowhere, the boy being submerged and having potential but not commercial success, the extremely catchy part dealing with a woman from Montreal, and missing some sort of calling, but it doesn't matter - they're very very charming, especially effective with different catchy melodies all over the place.
The only problem with the song, though, as it's not paced quite as well as the earlier "At The End Of The Day" epic, so it almost seems as long as it is, particularly halfway through. It's still quite an impressive ending to the album, though, as there's a lot to like within its' melodies and the beautiful ending melodic reprise jam. In all, V is a truly excellent, unique and consistent effort that places Spock's Beard near the top of the most worthy recent progressive bands, and it's fairly close to a 9. Note: This is also the first time in the history of this site an album has ever been reviewed before it's scheduled release, as I wrote this review two days before V hit the racks. Let's hear it for pre-ordering albums off the internet and used CD stores!
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COMMENTS
And this is VERY overrated-Neal threw all forces away too Transatlantic project.The only song I'm sure I LOVE is the sequel to "Thoughts".
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: I Will Go, The 39th Street Blues (I'm Sick), Looking For Answers, Open The Gates Part 2. LOW POINTS: Love Beyond Words, All Is Vanity.
I think now is about time for me to share one of the things I've noticed about modern prog/art rock - the idea of the concept album is way overabused. It seems like everyone and their brother is doing one these days, and let's face it, it's hardly exciting anymore. As far as this particular album goes, I've heard things like 'oh, this is everything Spock's Beard was ever leading up to', 'Neal Morse's lyrics are genius', and that it's comparable to such earlier landmarks as Tommy and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, opinions which I find a little ridiculous to say the least. First off, pushing two hours in total time, Snow is way overlong (obviously). Second, about the only thing new it has going for it is Neal pouring out his emotions (though it's not always easy to relate when the concept is a lame takeoff on the movie Powder, with an albino psychic as the title character), as so many of these melodies and ideas have been exploited by earlier bands and Spock's Beard themselves. Third, there's only about four or five really great songs out of oh, 26 (though most of them are at least good). And finally, so many of the items on the 'concept album cliche' scavenger hunt can be found here.
Many of these sort of complaints here can be directed at the first quarter of the album. The 'Overture' portion of "Made Alive/Overture" takes up most of its' time with a boring simplistic guitar riff constantly repeating itself and predictable thematics (even though the 'Made Alive' acoustic bit with lyrics is good), while "Stranger In A Strange Land" and "Long Time Suffering" just feel like Morse is recycling the whole vibe of "The Great Nothing" from the last album (and some of its' main melodies), as really awkward and cheesy lyrical passages abound. Add to that "Love Beyond Words" is a really listless piano ballad that ranks as one of their all-time worst moments, a simplistic acoustic theme gets predictably repeated at almost every damn song in this portion, and every one of these particular songs feels familiar melodically, and the album is seemingly ready to collapse under its' own weight.
What's surprising after all these faults, though, is how a lot of the rest of the album holds up as a nice, though not outstanding, piece of work. I guess the best element Snow has is convincing rawness, as side one's best tracks attest, like the exciting organ-led hard rock of "Welcome To NYC" (with great screams of 'I LIKE IT!!!!') and the gritty "The 39th Street Blues (I'm Sick)", a narrative mostly told by a prostitute character with some of Neal's most convincing vocal and lyrical workouts (I especially love the 'I'm sick of PITY AND MORPHINE' yells), with an excellent riff, and effective horn playing, making it one of the best songs here. Elsewhere on the first disc, "Open Wide The Flood Gates" is a nice ballad with bluesy guitar soloing touches and a 'healing' chorus that's actually eclipsed by its' immediate sequel, "Open The Gates Part 2", a heck of a catchy piano pop song where members take turns singing lines over an infectious melody, and the harmonized chorus is a real treat. You might think it's filler by the title, but it's actually one of the most satisfying songs here. Go figure.
The first disc (or side two, if you're going by vinyl) is rounded out by the Day For Night-esque organ rocker "Devil's Got My Throat", which has decent jamming, more conviction-filled singing (these lyrics being told from the point of view of an addict) and neat group harmonizing. There's also the haunting 'plight of the homeless' ballad "Solitary Soul", a song where Snow gains a particular following among said group, with a cold-sounding melody and an actual effective reprise of the "Love Beyond Words" chorus, and the closing "Wind At My Back", with bouncy acoustic guitar verses followed by a spirit-lifting refrain that continues for most of the song (although that melody is a bit reminiscent of "Walking On The Wind" from Beware Of Darkness, but we'll excuse Neal there, I guess).
Moving on to disc two, it's actually somewhat better (mostly because it feels more consistent and umm... fresh). Granted, it's not brilliant by any means, and there's some filler (the pointless rehasing instrumental opener "Second Overture", the dull lengthy jam ruining the potentially climactic "All Is Vanity", the insubstantial pop song "4th Of July", and maybe those couple of reprises later on), but the impression is positive in general. This includes a neat rearrangement of an earlier melody ("Made Alive" turned into a nice jazzy pop song on "Reflection"), an addictively rumbling groove ("I'm Dying", where Snow is at his lowest point, and the 'dying' noises at the end are a great addition), and touches of humor (the 'looks like I'm going out with these guys' keyboard dominated jam sequence of "Snow's Night Out" and the hilariously titled fake live solo "Ladies And Gentlemen, Mister Ryo Okumoto On The Keyboards").
Of course, maybe the mood isn't positive, as on the sinister 'ego trip' "I'm The Guy", with a menacing rhythm and brash lyrics, and the 'falling in love with a girl and subsequently being dumped' sequence, but most concept albums aren't exactly happy. That last sequence is actually noteworthy, since drummer Nick D'Virgilio actually sings on two of those three tracks, the pretty acoustic / piano ballad "Carie" and the very uplifting pop song "Looking For Answers" (which actually sounds exactly like the songs on his Karma solo album - really great guitar and piano lines popping out of there and well-written lyrics) before the album crashes into the lyrically stupid, but raw, grungy "Freak Boy" as a crushing end to that subplot.
The most powerful moment on the second disc and the album as a whole, though, actually comes after the most lighthearted moment (the aforementioned "Snow's Night Out" / "Ryo On The Keyboards..." part). This is the brilliant ballad "I Will Go", the one time where Neal really gets me to care about the concept. It quietly builds up with light piano touches and extremely well-placed echoey sighs in the couple minutes or so, and the lyrics tell the tale of how Snow finds his purpose in life after all his troubles. Sounds cheesy, but the melodic and lyrical build somehow work. And finally, the story of Snow ends with an extended "Wind At My Back" sung with more conviction, bringing a genuinely satisfying closure on that lengthy satisfying coda. Whew. Well, Snow is certainly too much to take in at one time, as I have no doubt it would be better at 80 minutes or so, and there are definitely several moments where it seems Spock's is at a dead end creatively. But what makes the album worthwhile in the face of potentially tired conceptuality? Good songs. Simple as that.
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COMMENTS
I couldn't agree less... every song you dislike I adore, and all the ones you love... I like a lot, but aren't the best. For example, the overture on here is outstanding, it kicks off the album on a powerful note, particularly the last 20 or 30 seconds. The next two songs I will agree are sort of boring, but more story line and introductory songs, and the guitar isn't too bad in there either. Finally, the album really begins with Welcome to NYC and the BEAUTIFUL Love Beyond Words, honestly, I adore the song a lot, and the piano solo is very pretty in my opinion. That riff is reused so well, in some perfect parts, especially Solitary Soul, a personal song to me, but a song that anyone can relate to, and the lovely jam portion of Devil's Got My Throat is good too... already I'm starting to lose the plot a little here, the story line of this album is rather loose, and the music is bigger than the story line itself, but it can be fun to figure out what is going on. There are some extremely effective use of vocal arrangements here. Wind at my back finishes off the first disc with a song that could be given to any true lover as a gift, it reinforces one of the main themes, true, deep, unconditional love very well. The next disc begins with another powerful overture with a cool use of stereo spoken passages ala Frank Zappa. 4th of July is nothing too special but is pretty cool and short, and next is one of the best songs on the album I'm The Guy... (wow, what a cool little song, sorta jokingly sung, but has it's own ironic truth to it.) Snow's downfall is nicely documented here with his absolute devotion to Carie (and what a beautiful little song that is too), and All Is Vanity is brilliant also, powerful again... these guys can play their instruments, and well... yet still keep things interesting (Dream Theater should try that some time.) There are a few average but still decent moments here, such as Looking For Answers and Reflection, but there are really wonderful moments such as Freak Boy (and oh dear what an effective use of Love Beyond Word's main riff... how ironic and sad, she absolutely hates him and she loves her beyond anything else, that is one of the greatest moments on here and touches me more than a lot of other music), I'm Dying provides a wonderful little almost mock emotional death scene, captured brilliantly. The album finishes abruptly, Neal sorta leaves the theme along for a second, and concentrates on music for a couple of tracks, a reprise of Devil's Got My Throat allows Neal to pass the next couple of tracks off as Snow going out and getting back in touch again, which makes way for I Will Go, not quite as wonderful as you make it to be, but still a wonderful conclusion... a happy ending, which sorta annoys me (I would have loved for once a really depressing ending to a rock opera) but alas, a wonderful conceptual moment. Then the end is nice too, Wind At My Back is repeated effectively (but who on Earth is he singing this too now?)
All together, I actually totally adore this album, one of the greatest for a long time... musically brilliant, ignore the concept a little and all of these songs shine. But to love this, you sorta gotta enjoy "Love Beyond Words", that riff is repeated in one form or another many, many times.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: East Of Eden West Of Memphis, Ghosts Of Autumn. LOW POINTS: Feel Euphoria, Onomatopoeia.
All was going successfully with Neal Morse and his fine band when one day, something happened. God came to Neal and told him to quit Spock's Beard (and Transatlantic, for that matter). Huh. I'm not exactly sure why that suddenly happened (maybe God wasn't much of a neo-prog fan?), but in any case, the former leader and primary songwriter of Spock's went the way of Bob Dylan and became a 'born again' Christian, spreading this message of love and spirituality and all that stuff through his solo work. Well, that was all good for Neal, but this presented a major problem for his band, who to this point had not been productive in songwriting, but yet, they decided to continue on anyway without their frontman. Actually, this situation also brings to mind some eerie parallels with Genesis, their biggest influence - frontman leaves after sixth effort which happened to be a double album 'rock opera', and is subsequently replaced by the drummer (Nick D'Virgilio), who had previously sung lead vocals on two songs. Heh - if Snow was their Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, is this one their Trick Of The Tail, and should we be expecting an Abacab or Invisible Touch any time in the future?
Well, it remains to be seen whether they'll ever become huge in the pop mainstream, but unfortunately, at least on this album, there are several weak spots where the remaining members (with the help of two outside songwriters) clearly show that their leader is sorely missed. The first four songs especially are probably the poorest stretch of music from the band to date - I appreciate them trying something different on "Onomatopoeia" and the title track, but both simply don't work at all. The 'tense raw rocker to acoustic pop' structure of the former is painfully stupid and awkward, and the slow techno-tinged latter tune has to rank as their ugliest, most plodding song ever (and that's before it goes into a faster organ-dominated part that's even more aimless - why is this crap seven minutes long?). At least "The Bottom Line" is an okay attempt at the older prog-tinged singer/songwriter style (though it's not very memorable or well-constructed), but "Shining Star"? It's certainly not horrible, but man, that's a really generic folksy love ballad anybody could have written! This album sucks!
Or at least it's crap if you shut this off in disgust after Track #4, but if you stick around for the remaining 40 minutes or so, well, that's a whole 'nother story! If you didn't, you'd be missing the entertaining "East Of Eden, West Of Memphis", which has not only the best poppy melody of the album and a cool droning riff, but also has enough excellent prog jamming to convince me that, Neal Morse-less or not, this band still has great chops going for it. And gimmicky as it may sound on paper, the ending where they actually sing over the backing music in reverse is actually really effective. Also of note are two more very good ballads in "Ghosts Of Autumn" (it might have a bit too much of a soaring power ballad feel, but the cold, solitary atmosphere and fantastic middle solo are anything but formulaic) and the nice closing tribute to the band's perserverance in "Carry On" (the melody and lyrics are somewhat cliched, but the emotion of the vocals and moving power of the arrangement are wonderful - very nice use of french horn, violin and cello).
You know they just had to include a 20 minute suite in a salute to Neal's style, though - they just had to. Sure, "A Guy Named Sid" is again really more like six separate pop songs under one conceptual theme, and it's also unoriginal in almost every way (if you're looking for specifics, the very beginning is reminiscent of the intro to Yes' "Endless Dream", the 'Same Old Story' part is extremely close to Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers", and it's got a similar predictable ending climax that so many prog epics have). I must say, though, that it is decent overall, and on the whole I like it more than their previous uneven 'Healing Colors Of Sound' suite. There's some impressive portions of jamming, the short 'Sid's Boys Choir' bit is some of the most spectacularly eerie harmonizing they've ever done (if it were longer and more fleshed-out, I'd call it a highlight!), Nick's vocals and nicely personal tinge to the 'outcast' lyrics hold their own, and so on. Again, not great by any means, but respectable and professionally played (Ryo's keyboard playing in particular catches my ear). A decent, though flawed, beginning for the 'NDV era' of Spock's - to make it even better, get rid of those first four songs, and the rating goes up a point.
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| Neal Morse | 1999 |
| It's Not Too Late | 2002 |
| Testimony | 2003 |
Reviews for his last two albums and proper intro coming eventually.
--Nick Karn
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released by Neal Morse
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
You'd normally think that a solo album from someone who almost completely dominates the songwriting duties in their respective band would be just like getting another album from the same band, but this is not always the case. The approach Neal Morse employs on his solo debut, in fact, is quite unlike Spock's Beard in many ways. While straightforward four-minute pop songs are really only occasional diversions for that band, this album is pretty much built on that style, and it's more mellow than their typical efforts. The lyrical approach also changes for Neal here - apparently such personal stuff that appears on this album wouldn't really work in the bombastic, cartoonish and self-mocking world of the Beard, but it suits the often acoustic and keyboard dominated pop tunes here just fine. We get to hear about how he's a loser, how he has troubles with women, how he was a child genius, how everything is wrong, etc. Woohoo!
However, there are a few problems that come with this venture. For one thing, nearly all the pop songs seem to share that same mood, which is pretty much pleasant, catchy and totally inoffensive, but it does get dull after awhile. This approach reaches its' nadir in the ridiculously cliched and generic "That Which Doesn't Kill Me" and a really lifeless and faceless piano ballad about artists and such in "Everything Is Wrong". The opening "Living Out Loud", as lively as it may be, is just too straightforward and passes by easily, and the same can be said for the otherwise very amusing lyrics of "Nowhere Fast", which really goes to the borderline of crappy adult alternative singalong stuff in the chorus, but thankfully doesn't quite reach it.
Thankfully, the rest of the normal-length songs on here are very good. The lone classic is "Emma", a tragic and emotional tale of young love sung over acoustic guitar and strings, with an absolutely hypnotizing melody and moving lyrics to boot (too bad it's the shortest song on here!). "Lost Cause" is a more Spocks-ish sort of pop tune, and the memorable, entertaining lyrics and melody serve as great fun, while "Landslide" avoids the elevator music that "Everything Is Wrong" comes close to, mostly because of its' striking chorus featuring the friggin' great line 'you're one rock shy of a landslide'.
Oh, and as for the not-so-normal length 'song', apparently, to satisfy prog fans who would never go for a straightforward pop album, there's a 23 minute suite to close the album called "A Whole Nother Trip", and it's predictably a bit mixed and forced-sounding at times. The opening 'Bomb That Can't Explode' has nice jamming and a majestic melody over personal lyrics ('give the genius son nowhere to run'), and 'Mr. Upside Down' has a good heavy and catchy edge added to it, but we also have 'The Man Who Would Be King' beating the flamenco guitar thing to death, plus another dull mellow ballad part ('It's Alright') that drags somewhat. In all, this is a bit of an empty-sounding, overly mellow affair, but it's mostly a nice, fairly decent listen if nothing else. If you appreciate the pop songwriting talents and interesting lyrical style of Mr. Morse, you might as well give it a shot (if you can find it, that is).
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| Karma | 2001 |
released by NDV (Nick D'Virgilio)
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
What we have here is a solo album. A drummer's solo album. From someone (Nick D'Virgilio) who at the time had very little songwriting output in his respective band (Spock's Beard). And yet it's good! Forget all that crap about Neal Morse being the only songwriting talent in Spock's (and forget about Nick's own appearances on a few tracks during Genesis' Calling All Stations, which is as of this writing the worst album in my collection, though certainly through no fault of his) - this is quite a respectable collection of songs that maybe surpasses Mr. Morse's much overrated 'masterpiece' Snow in my opinion. Sure, it's not all that much more than a collection of 13 slightly artsy pop numbers and ballads, but there are several fine melodies and ideas all throughout this album. Nick's voice is certainly a pleasantly welcome treat as well (why didn't he just become the next Genesis singer?), and surprisingly, he plays a good amount of the music himself, including several tracks completely solo. Nice.
Okay, maybe it's not a classic album or anything like that, as a lot of the songs are mostly just good, but it does have some real keepers here, and not really a bad tune in the bunch. For instance, the 7 minute opener "The River Is Wide" (probably my favorite on the album) is one heck of an inventive acoustic/electric pop song, going thtough at least three or four neat riffs in the lengthy intro before settling into an excellent folky pop tune that has two different, but equally catchy, melodies. There's also the really neat title track, a song almost entirely dominated by a whole bunch of tribal sounding percussion and background singing, both of which push forward the well-written main hook. A couple other experiments can be found in the somewhat industrialized, hard-edged "Forgiven", with fast paced verses and distorted vocals, and the slightly ambient synth instrumental "Untitled".
There's not as much interesting to say about the other normal-length songs (I'll get to the closing three part suite in a minute), but they're still nice, if not particularly outstanding, whether they be the introspective acoustic dominated pop of "I Dream In Red", the nostalgic, slowly building Kevin Gilbert collaboration "The Game", the atmospheric, questioning "Anything", the multi-part, tormented "The Waters Edge" ('shadows have no feelings, shadows feel no pain' being the representative lyric in the second part there), or decent, though not particularly distinguished piano ballads "Come What May" and "Will It Be Me".
Oh, and as for that 'art rock' suite ('Paying The Price'), it sounds much more like three shorter songs than a 17 minute epic to me, but in any case, it generally works better than Neal Morse's similar solo attempt. All I can figure is that, at least in the first part ('Dysfunction'), it basically chronicles a troubled household and the kids affected by it, with an interesting atmospheric tinge in the way the programming/keyboards and bass work combine with the melody. The second part ('Paid The Price') appropriately rocks a bit harder, with the strong points here being Nick's vocal delivery at the chorus and guest guitarist Alan Morse's fantastic slow-building middle solo, while the final resolution ('Unknowing') is a lengthy, spacey mantra that wedges the infectious 'when there's a time... of unknowing... move ahead.... hold on' chant into your head, with really kickass trebly bass work backing it up. All in all, a surprisingly unpretentious and well-paced close to things. The album's a little long at 64 minutes, maybe, and not always that special, but what a pleasant surprise it is, anyway!
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