Spock's Beard

[The Letter M]

I've recently gotten into Spock's Beard, but I have no albums from the post-Morse era.  Which of these albums are worth getting?  The praise for the most recent effort is duly noted.

-J

The new one and Feel Euphoria.  The other two both have a few really good songs, but are fairly spotty overall.

Got Feel Euphoria yesterday and listened to it.  Awesome album, what a pleasant surprise!

Definitely will track down X when I can.  Thanks for the recs.

-J

Did you get the Special Edition of Feel Euphoria? The packaging is nice, and the extra tracks are alright as well - you get "Moth Of Many Flames" sung by Alan Morse, and an Okumoto instrumental.

Also, if you plan on getting Octane, get the Special Edition with the 2nd disc of bonus tracks and the "making of" documentary "Formulation Of Octane", which is pretty hilarious! The extra tracks on the bonus disc tend to be equal or even better than the ones on the actual album! I actually enjoy Octane more than Feel Euphoria, but both are pretty good!

I would get the self-titled last. It took me awhile to get into some of the tracks, and only after I immersed myself into the world of post-Morse Spock's Beard did many of those tracks make sense. They're really good once you understand how the band has come to compose and arrange over the last 8 years.

-Marc.

[Nick]

I wish the new CD would get to a normal distributor already.

[KevShmev]

Oh, it's worth getting.

But I will say that, as enjoyable as "The Emperor's Clothes" is, I wish they hadn't done that multiple vocal bit at the beginning of the second verse.  It sounds corny, and the last line of, "Magical, beautiful, that's irrefutable now," is the only cringe-worthy moment on a CD that is otherwise utterly fantastic. 

Still  to both "From the Darkness" and "Jaws of Heaven."

Awww... I *like* that part.

To each his own.

Got Feel Euphoria yesterday and listened to it.  Awesome album, what a pleasant surprise!

Nice!  I have listened to it a few times recently, too, and it still sounds pretty damn good to me.

Did you get the Special Edition of Feel Euphoria? The packaging is nice, and the extra tracks are alright as well - you get "Moth Of Many Flames" sung by Alan Morse, and an Okumoto instrumental.

Alright is probably giving those songs too much credit.  Okay, the instrumental is probably alright, but "Moth of Many Flames" is dreadful.  The music ain't bad, but Alan Morse singing...YIKES.  He makes Mike Portnoy sound like Freddie Mercury.

I wish the new CD would get to a normal distributor already.

Or you could just order it from the band's website and throw a few extra bucks their way.

[j]

Did you get the Special Edition of Feel Euphoria? The packaging is nice, and the extra tracks are alright as well - you get "Moth Of Many Flames" sung by Alan Morse, and an Okumoto instrumental.

Also, if you plan on getting Octane, get the Special Edition with the 2nd disc of bonus tracks and the "making of" documentary "Formulation Of Octane", which is pretty hilarious! The extra tracks on the bonus disc tend to be equal or even better than the ones on the actual album! I actually enjoy Octane more than Feel Euphoria, but both are pretty good!

I would get the self-titled last. It took me awhile to get into some of the tracks, and only after I immersed myself into the world of post-Morse Spock's Beard did many of those tracks make sense. They're really good once you understand how the band has come to compose and arrange over the last 8 years.

-Marc.

Nah, all I saw was the regular version.  I will definitely look for the special edition of Octane though, if/when I do decide to pick it up.  And I'll save the s/t for last, as you suggested.  Looks like I'm gonna have to get X through their website.

-J

[Nick]

@Kev, I'm all for buying direct and supporting the band, I do it on a regular basis, but the prices they are asking are ridiculous.

[KevShmev]

Eh?  It is only like 23 or 24 bucks.  The $200 thing was for those who ordered it last year way ahead of time and got a bunch of swag and their names in that one song.  The way I see it, paying a few extra dollars (it will probably be around 14 or 15 bucks at amazon or iTunes in a month) to support the band doesn't bother me at all.  Granted, who knows how long it will take them to get it to you , but I still think that current price is not ridiculous.

[The Letter M]

Eh?  It is only like 23 or 24 bucks.  The $200 thing was for those who ordered it last year way ahead of time and got a bunch of swag and their names in that one song.  The way I see it, paying a few extra dollars (it will probably be around 14 or 15 bucks at amazon or iTunes in a month) to support the band doesn't bother me at all.  Granted, who knows how long it will take them to get it to you , but I still think that current price is not ridiculous.

Glenn (SB's merch guy) has recently posted on the SB Boards that he is ALL caught up with old and back-up orders, so ordering from him now shouldn't take much longer than it did for me or anyone else who ordered in the last few months. If you order this week, it'll likely be there in 2-3 weeks but if you are that curious as to how long it'll take, you could always ask him when you order it.

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

If you check out the Polls/Survivors forum, I'm on Round 8 of my SB Survivor, and down to the final five songs - "The Light", "The Water", "The Good Don't Last", "Crack The Big Sky" and "At The End Of The Day". I'm saddened that "The Doorway" did not make the top as it would've been nice to see one song per album from the first five albums in the top five, but alas, such is not the case.

After these Finals are over, I will begin my Post-Morse Era Survivor (on approximately August 8th), starting with Feel Euphoria of course.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

I am voting now, but I would like to see something like this with more voters.  What happened to all of the SB fans?  A survivor with four or five people voting per round doesn't really say much, but you have gone this far, so might as well see it out till the end.

[The Letter M]

I am voting now, but I would like to see something like this with more voters.  What happened to all of the SB fans?  A survivor with four or five people voting per round doesn't really say much, but you have gone this far, so might as well see it out till the end.

True! I do plan on doing a 2011 SB Survivor, however, so hopefully there are more SB fans here by that time! Also, this is only for the Morse-Era albums right now and I do plan on continuing on with the four Post-Morse/Nick-Era albums in a week or so once these finals are over with! Hopefully I get more than 4-5 committed voters!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

I am voting now, but I would like to see something like this with more voters.  What happened to all of the SB fans?  A survivor with four or five people voting per round doesn't really say much, but you have gone this far, so might as well see it out till the end.

True! I do plan on doing a 2011 SB Survivor, however, so hopefully there are more SB fans here by that time! Also, this is only for the Morse-Era albums right now and I do plan on continuing on with the four Post-Morse/Nick-Era albums in a week or so once these finals are over with! Hopefully I get more than 4-5 committed voters!

-Marc.

Bump for SB fans who don't often voyage to the Polls/Survivor forum. I just finished my Morse-Era Survivor and, expectedly, "The Light" came out on top, beating "At The End Of The Day" in the final round. Thanks to everyone to voted over the last few months for the Morse-Era survivor! Now on to the Nick-Era survivor...

I am now running the survivor for Feel Euphoria, which will run for four days to allow as many voters to participate as possible.

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Resurrection!!! Also, I believe the Mascot Records release of X should be coming out soon for retail shops. As noted because, it won't have the exclusive limited edition-only track "Their Names Escape Me", but apparently, the track listing is a BIT different ("Kamikaze" and "The Emperor's Clothes" have switched places) and the track times are a bit longer ("From The Darkness" is a bit longer, presumably the ending is) because the CD with the exclusive track was packed tot he brim, so without it the edits are now "restored".

Also... just want to plug my SB Survivor, going on now in the Polls/Survivors forum... I have 3-4 regular voters, but I just *KNOW* there are more fans here than that! Right now, I'm in the middle of the Spock's Beard album survivor, in the final four. After that, I'll be doing a quick "Bonus Tracks" survivor, using the 2 bonus tracks from Feel Euphoria and the 5 from Octane... then I will move on to the survivor for X.

-Marc.

[glaurung]

I haven't listened to any post-Morse SB yet, sorry. 

[The Letter M]

I haven't listened to any post-Morse SB yet, sorry. 

Get X!!! Either the limited edition or the retail release (and get the exclusive track single on iTunes)... you won't regret it!

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Resurrection!!! Also, I believe the Mascot Records release of X should be coming out soon for retail shops. As noted because, it won't have the exclusive limited edition-only track "Their Names Escape Me", but apparently, the track listing is a BIT different ("Kamikaze" and "The Emperor's Clothes" have switched places) and the track times are a bit longer ("From The Darkness" is a bit longer, presumably the ending is) because the CD with the exclusive track was packed tot he brim, so without it the edits are now "restored".

Say what?  Tell me that is a joke, and that those of us who bought the CD from their site didn't get edited down versions of any of the songs.

[The Letter M]

Resurrection!!! Also, I believe the Mascot Records release of X should be coming out soon for retail shops. As noted because, it won't have the exclusive limited edition-only track "Their Names Escape Me", but apparently, the track listing is a BIT different ("Kamikaze" and "The Emperor's Clothes" have switched places) and the track times are a bit longer ("From The Darkness" is a bit longer, presumably the ending is) because the CD with the exclusive track was packed tot he brim, so without it the edits are now "restored".

Say what?  Tell me that is a joke, and that those of us who bought the CD from their site didn't get edited down versions of any of the songs.

Just telling you what I read on the SB message boards. Someone with a copy of the retail version of the album had noticed "From The Darkness" was 17 seconds longer. Here's Dave Meros' quote on it, as well as the re-ordered track list:

The flow from song to song works better in this new sequence. After the Limited Edition CD was mastered and sent off to the manufacturer we realized that going from "Emperor's Clothes" to "From The Darkness" might have worked better sonically than going from "Kamikaze" to "From The Darkness", so we changed the order around when we remastered it for the Mascot release.

And you are correct, we had to fade a couple of songs out sooner on the Limited Edition because we needed to make room for Their Names Escape Me. When we remastered the CD for the Mascot release we restored the longer fades at the end of the songs.

https://spocksbeard.yuku.com/topic/4853

-Marc.

[Mladen]

Not a huge difference. I don't mind...

[yorost]

Fade outs usually end songs weakly, anyways, so shortening them sounds good to me.  They work really well on the occasional song, but are employed all over the place.

[The Letter M]

Fade outs usually end songs weakly, anyways, so shortening them sounds good to me.  They work really well on the occasional song, but are employed all over the place.

I think you're confused about the "fade-outs" on the record. It's usually just the last chord that's fading out, think SDOIT (the song)... not a fade-out groove like "Learning To Live" or "Scarred" or "The Ministry Of Lost Souls". "From The Darkness" has a real ending and an ending chord, but the final ringing chord goes on for a bit, but I suppose it goes on longer on the Mascot Records version.

-Marc.

[The Curious Orange]

I struggled with X. Sure, it's good, but it's not great. SB9 was a great record, with a great guitar-driven, modern sound, but X just seems a bit retro and old fashioned somehow. Best track by far is From the Darkness (for no other reason than the guitars are up front) but much of the rest of it feels like Al Morse wasn't present for the writing and recording, and added his guitar parts later. Edge of the Inbetween has a 70s feel to it and wouldn't sound out of place on Octane (that's not meant as a compliment), Quiet House goes on too long, and the two Al Morse songs are just.. not good. There's nothing on the album that really blows me away.

I love the Beard, but this one was a bit of a disapointment for me.


In terms of the Special Editions, go for Octane, the extra tracks are brilliant and worth every penny. Moth of Many Flames on Feel Euphoria SE is a nice oddity, but not worth spending serious money on.

[hefdaddy42]

I haven't been impressed with any of the post-NM Beard output.  However, I haven't yet heard X, which I have seen good reviews for.

[aurorablind]

The only post-NM album i've really gotten into. Im in love with this album 

[ich bin besser]

Oh btw: my pics from last Friday: https://entertainment.webshots.com/album/578596204AzuMAA?navtype=search
Great gig! The band was enjoying theirselves a lot. I LOVED seeing the old songs like "The Doorway" or "June" again. Nick is a great frontman, Al is partying all night long, Jimmy is a real 5th member by now, Ryo is Ryo, and Dave is still awesome. They seemed to enjoy playing live again a LOOOOOT.
Hope it doesn't last more than 3 years again to see them live...
 

[KevShmev]

Good stuff.  

What was the set list?  I am curious as to which new songs they played...

[The Letter M]

Good stuff.  

What was the set list?  I am curious as to which new songs they played...

They played all the songs from X except "Their Names Escape Me", which is being played over the PA before they enter the stage - but technically, it's the whole retail version of the album.

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Bump...speaking of X, I will be starting my Survivor for the album sometime tomorrow night between 9-11pm EST.

First round will run 3 days, so make sure you guys get your listenings in before voting! I hope to see more than 4-5 voters for this album, especially since it's fairly new and fresh!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Bump...speaking of X, I will be starting my Survivor for the album sometime tomorrow night between 9-11pm EST.

First round will run 3 days, so make sure you guys get your listenings in before voting! I hope to see more than 4-5 voters for this album, especially since it's fairly new and fresh!

-Marc.

Fans of SBX, vote now! Please?

-Marc.

[faizoff]

Got this album from Amazon for $5.99 and got the limited edition track from itunes. Hands down my favorite post Neal album. Amazing amazing album.

[Mladen]

Good to have another SB fan aboard. You might be interested in Spock's beard survivor going on in Polls and survivors forum, so join the fun.

[faizoff]

Thanks I'll join in. Just finding my way around here as you can tell I'm a noob.

[RoeDent]

Aah!   I've just discovered 'On A Perfect Day'. It's an absolute STUNNER of a song!  

FTR, I've put together a playlist of the songs that are in the SB Survivor finals, so I can make an informed decision when I vote. I'm pretty sure it won't, but I want On A Perfect Day to win at the moment.

--------

Now I've said that, everyone will come on and say that it's one of SB's worst songs, like what happened with tracks 2-4 and 6 of Octavarium...  
 

[cthrubuoy]

Nah, that song is awesome. Probably my favourite post-NM song.

[The Letter M]

Aah!   I've just discovered 'On A Perfect Day'. It's an absolute STUNNER of a song!  

FTR, I've put together a playlist of the songs that are in the SB Survivor finals, so I can make an informed decision when I vote. I'm pretty sure it won't, but I want On A Perfect Day to win at the moment.

--------

Now I've said that, everyone will come on and say that it's one of SB's worst songs, like what happened with tracks 2-4 and 6 of Octavarium...  
 

Actually, I really quite enjoy "On A Perfect Day" and I think it it's one of the band's best openers, with and without Neal. When I first heard the self-titled album, that opening track got me excited! Then came the blazing instrumental "Skeletons At The Feast", but then the wild rocker "Is This Love?" came on and I was stunned, and not in a great way. For a VERY long time, I saw half of the album as filler and questioned why they went with a full CD instead of 50-60 minutes like they did with their prior album, which ironically should not have had it's 2nd Disc songs relegated to the 2nd disc...

Either way, since then, I've come to have a growing love for most of those formerly-found-as-filler tracks, and even appreciate "Is This Love?" to some extent, but I still feel it drags a bit in the middle of the album. I love the last 3 songs though (counting "As Far As The Mind Can See" as one song). "Hereafter" is the perfect precursor to the 4-part epic, and "Rearranged" is a great closer.

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Hey... so I'm bumping this because I think fans of Neal-era Beard will want to vote in my SB Final Finals Survivor!

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=18274.0

Take part, vote, and if you're a fan of Neal-era, then by all means, please vote! We have the top 5 Neal-era songs up against the top 5 Nick-era songs!

-Marc.

[Ħ]

I was thinking, Neal Morse is pretty much the Kevin Moore of Spock's Beard.  After Snow was completed, he just up and left.  What is the general sentiment toward Morse from SB fans?