Author Topic: Spock's Beard Discography thread  (Read 110128 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #35 on: September 16, 2015, 06:53:54 PM »
The Kindness of Strangers



1998 saw the Beard release their 3rd studio album, The Kindness of Strangers.  I love this record, but for some reason, I never seem to rank it with the best of their best, even though I love it. I think the sound of it bothers me at times - some of the more rocking parts sound a bit muddy and noisy - or maybe I am just being a knucklehead. :lol :lol

This album was pretty much more of the same, kicking off with "The Good Don't Last," which manages to be really catchy and really proggy at the same time.  I like how the main melody is reprised on various-sounding keyboards, adding a fun and almost silly element to the song. Alan Morse's solo at the end is terrific.

"In the Mouth of Madness" has sort of fallen into that "I never listen to it on its own" category for me, but it's another fun as heck song.  This album features a lot of great mellotron moments, and it being backdrop to the chorus was a great decision.  "Cakewalk on Easy Street" is another fun rocker, although not as silly as its predecessor.

"June" is probably one of their most loved songs, and for good reason: it is insanely catchy.  It's one of those songs you could see someone playing at an acoustic at a fireside hangout on a cool autumn night. Ya know, if the Beard were popular enough to where more people knew the song. :lol  That aside, it's a great song, and shows the ability of Neal Morse to write something insanely catchy.

"Strange World" is another fun, short rocker.  In fact, three of the seven songs here fall under that description.  And they all manage to have some cool dynamic shifts, instead of rocking all the way through, including this one.  The cool little breakdown before the last chorus, where the music stops and we hear nothing but samples, is very Beatles-esque.

And then, we get to "Harm's Way," which is a borderline top 10 Beard tune, in my book. There is nothing about this song that isn't great.  And amazingly, it's not even the best song on this record. That would be...

"Flow," which is a top 5 Beard song.  I'm admittedly not always a big fan of Alan Morse, but he slays in this song.  The solo at the end is arguably his best, and his leads in the first section are absolutely stellar.  The entire band is on fire in this song, and this is one of the finest songs Neal Morse has ever crafted.   :coolio :hat

So yeah, this is another winner by the Beard, and I freaking love it. :tup :tup

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #36 on: September 17, 2015, 03:48:34 AM »
Flow never really gets the love it deserves. Great to see that you like it that much!

Harms Way really rocks, especially after seeing it live on the latest NMB tour.

The Good Don't Last is like a diet-epic. In 10 minutes everything happens that Spock's Beard is known for, I really love it for that, on of my favorites as well.

After that you get a couple of 'oh yeah cool' songs. Which makes the album overall just a little less great than Beware of Darkness, I think. But still, after 3 records you could still be debating on what the worst song is, and it would be a very difficult decision. So much good stuff up until Kindness.
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.

Online Zydar

  • Creep With Tonality
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 19207
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #37 on: September 17, 2015, 03:51:13 AM »
My 2nd favourite SB album after V. June was the first song of theirs I heard, still love it.
Zydar is my new hero.  I just laughed so hard I nearly shat.

Offline Kwyjibo

  • Worse troll than Blabbermouth
  • Posts: 5996
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #38 on: September 17, 2015, 04:19:35 AM »
I like this more than Beware Of Darkness, it's just such a really great record, probably my 2nd favorite of the Neil albums (or is it The Light?). With this record they really have found and developed their style, so you know what to expect and they don't disappoint.

The Good Don't Last is one of my favorite SB tunes.

In The Mouth Of Madness and Cakewalk On Easy Street are shorter but nonetheless interesting rocking songs.

The June is a nice acoustic driven ballad, which is a little bit overplayed (if something like this could be said for a band like Spock's Beard).

The Stanger is another short song, nice but not as good as MoM or Cakewalk.

And then the epics: Harm's Way is really strong but it's Flow that takes the cake. And the guitar solo/theme at the end is just majestic.
Must've been Kwyji sending all the wrong songs.   ;D

Online Mladen

  • Posts: 15203
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #39 on: September 17, 2015, 06:01:43 AM »
Flow is truly remarkable, one of my favorite SB tunes. As far as the shorter tracks go, Madnes, Cakewalk and Strange world are pretty great. I never really liked June that much, and Harm's way is kind of okay.

Offline Dr. DTVT

  • DTF's resident Mad Scientist
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 9477
  • Gender: Male
  • What's your favorite planet? Mine's the Sun!
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #40 on: September 17, 2015, 10:05:21 AM »
As I said earlier in the thread, this is my second favorite Neal era album, and it was also my introduction to SB.  My only complaints are that June is played at almost every show - I was actually happy they left it off at RoSFest, and the rest of the album never seemed to get it's due.  I think we are all in agreement that In Harms Way and Flow are masterpieces, and I think Cakewalk would make a killer live song, and the rest of the album is no slouch either.

I was thinking of this last night - saying you think _______ album is Spock's tenth best album isn't nearly the damning statement that saying you think _________ is Dream Theater's tenth best album.  Replace tenth with any number from 6 to 12 really.  They have been remarkably consistent in producing quality material.  There are few bands that have released 10 or more albums that have managed to have their worst album be good.
     

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #41 on: September 17, 2015, 10:26:39 AM »
About that. I've only listened to one post-Neal SB album. That's basically why I'm interested in this thread so much.
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52771
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #42 on: September 17, 2015, 12:10:28 PM »
Yeah, so, this album is freakin' awesome.

Just sayin'.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #43 on: September 17, 2015, 01:05:03 PM »
How do you follow up an amazing debut and an equally astonishing sophomore album? Do it again, but a little different!

This album is not shy about its epics, as it opens with a good "mini-epic" in three parts, which provides a great taste of what's to come on the rest of the album. "The Good Don't Last" is one of my all-time favorite SB tracks, and a fave on this album, but the other epics are just as great, if not better (and they also fall under all-time faves).

The short songs here range from Gentle Giant-ish, to softer, ballad-esque acoustic, to just plain old hard rock. There's a good variety here and I think it shows off the various sides and faces of SB's sounds and influences.

The aforementioned OTHER epics include the rocking "Harm's Way", where one of my favorite SB moments comes in near the end where Nick does some tasty drum soloing for one section, then there's some great organ in the following bit. You know what I'm talking about if you've heard the song before!

"Flow" definitely doesn't get the attention it deserves, especially for a closing epic, and I wish Neal or SB would bring this one out again!

Kev - are you skipping live albums and just doing studio albums? I was wondering where The Beard Is Out There was!

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #44 on: September 17, 2015, 01:28:29 PM »
I love the fact that everybody so far has been saying that Flow doesn't get enough recognition, or is underrated. That would mean that we as a group are so avant-garde  :lol
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #45 on: September 17, 2015, 02:07:16 PM »
Wow, I need to pay more attention.  The Spock's Beard disco party is already on the third album and I didn't even know it started.

Well, now I do.

Online RoeDent

  • 2006 Time Magazine Person of the Year
  • Posts: 6029
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #46 on: September 17, 2015, 02:33:58 PM »
The Kindness of Strangers. I got this album in July, and it's my most recent SB purchase apart from the newly-released The Oblivion Particle. In fact, I gave it another spin this Monday just gone. The Good Don't Last is a great opener, with plenty of the obligatory SB cello sound that also makes its way into Transatlantic regularly. Then come four shorter songs, which are slowly growing on me. My favourite of these is definitely June. I can see why it's so popular. The way the bass and drums don't come in until the final verse/chorus is a masterstroke. Also, some softer and more subtle vocal counterpoint going on. After Strange World comes Harm's Way, which was an instant "Wow!" moment when I first listened to it. It's been one of the songs that has soundtracked my summer this year. I'm a huge fan of the "Pretty maids in a row" section, particularly Alan Morse's magnificent guitar solo. The final key-changed verse is another goosebumps moment. Finally we have Flow. I was already familiar with this song before I bought the album, and it was the one that made me get it. The instrumental coda is my favourite section here. Wonderful way to end the album; it reminds me of the similar-length outro to Pink Floyd's Sorrow. The long crescendo of buildup to this outro is great as well.

Offline Onno

  • Well, it's just entertainment, folks!
  • Posts: 4361
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #47 on: September 17, 2015, 02:35:50 PM »
I should listen to SB more. So now I'm following this thread.

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #48 on: September 17, 2015, 04:52:45 PM »
Kev - are you skipping live albums and just doing studio albums? I was wondering where The Beard Is Out There was!

Yes. I'm not bothering with live albums this time around.  To me, featuring live albums or best of albums drags discography threads down.

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #49 on: September 18, 2015, 02:55:15 AM »
Listening to Flow right now, that piece between 6:00 and 6:30 is great, starting with the drum fills, Nick is an underrated drummer. I'd really love to have a live version of this song. Has it never been played/released live? Not even on an Inner Circle release, or a bootleg?
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #50 on: September 18, 2015, 06:22:14 AM »
  After Strange World comes Harm's Way, which was an instant "Wow!" moment when I first listened to it. It's been one of the songs that has soundtracked my summer this year. I'm a huge fan of the "Pretty maids in a row" section, particularly Alan Morse's magnificent guitar solo.

I didn't think to mention that part before, but you are right, it is magnificent.

From a soloing standpoint, this is Alan Morse's best album.

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #51 on: September 18, 2015, 09:12:08 AM »
Listening to Flow right now, that piece between 6:00 and 6:30 is great, starting with the drum fills, Nick is an underrated drummer. I'd really love to have a live version of this song. Has it never been played/released live? Not even on an Inner Circle release, or a bootleg?

https://www.discogs.com/Spocks-Beard-Europe-98/release/2821279

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #52 on: September 18, 2015, 01:05:49 PM »
Got out of work last night, continued listening through the first album as I drove to choir practice.  I'm reminded that Neal's spiritual lyrics were present even on the first album.  Get lost in the tunes for a little bit.  As I'm pulling into the church parking lot, "FUCK YOU!!" starts blasting out my speakers.  It was a somewhat odd and surreal moment.  Good thing the windows were up.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52771
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #53 on: September 18, 2015, 01:55:47 PM »
Nice.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Online RoeDent

  • 2006 Time Magazine Person of the Year
  • Posts: 6029
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #54 on: September 18, 2015, 02:23:35 PM »
EDIT: Sorry, ignore this. Made a mistake.

Online Zydar

  • Creep With Tonality
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 19207
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #55 on: September 18, 2015, 02:25:18 PM »
It's in the lyrics to "The Good Don't Last".


Edit: okay then  ;D
Zydar is my new hero.  I just laughed so hard I nearly shat.

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #56 on: September 18, 2015, 04:36:37 PM »
It should be noted that for this album, two bonus tracks were recorded, though only one was released with the album.

"Stratus" is a Billy Cobham instrumental, and on the SB website for theFrom The Vault page, Neal has this to say:

Quote
"Originally on Billy Cobham's Spectrum LP, we recorded it during the Kindness of Strangers sessions in April of '97 at Kevin Gilbert's studio. It was going to be the bonus track for Kindness, but, Ryo brought in a sketch of what would become 'Into Fire' and Stratus just couldn't compare! Since it's Nick's favorite way to start rehearsals, and Al and I have been jamming to it since we were teenagers, we thought it would be fun to record. And it was."

The other track, as Neal says, is "Into Fire", a more metal-inspired track for the Japanese audience.

Quote
"Dave says of this writing/recording session, "By far, that's the most fun I've ever had in the studio!". This was also recorded at Kevin's in April of '97 and was written and recorded in 4 hours. Ryo brought the charts (he had written the music that day) and while the rest of the band was cutting the track, I was in the corner scribbling down lines like "Throw yourself upon the flaming pyre". In the 3rd hour Dave, Ryo and I wrote the whole lyric. I remember Dave throwing in critical words when I was stuck like, 'tainted', to which came a resounding "ooohhhh, that's good!" from the rest of us, and the line "bathed in tainted blood" was born. collaboration at it's finest! Note: that's Ryo on the top background vocal part. While Dave, Ryo and I were doing the backgrounds we were laughing so hard we were crying! Maybe you had to be there..." Note:

"Into Fire" is the result of JVC requesting a Heavy Metal song as a bonus track for the Japanese release of "The Kindness Of Strangers"

So there you have it, two bonus tracks from the album, one original and one cover, so obviously, these two don't get any attention, if ever, even among die-hard fans! If you've never heard these, check them out at least once!

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #57 on: September 18, 2015, 06:27:57 PM »
I remember checking Into Fire out way back when and not liking it too much.  Listening again now, yeah, it's okay, I guess, but if I never hear it again, I won't care. :lol

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A Land Where Crap Is King
« Reply #58 on: September 19, 2015, 03:46:26 PM »
So I've always felt like the band's first three albums form a sort of trilogy that really feels coherent. Their next three albums never really felt like them at all, even though I could say that all 6 of the Neal-Era albums have a different feels apart from each other, the first three feel like a set to me. I'm not sure why, but it just comes off that way. Perhaps it was the way I discovered the band and got those three together.

Upon thinking about that, I realized each of the first three albums has a song title with the word "Way" in it - Go The Way You Go, The Doorway, and Harm's Way. I thought that was an interesting tidbit!

I also realized last week that in the lyrics for "Waste Away", there's a line "reaching for the sky", which feels like an obvious reference to "The Water", while "June" plainly name-calls "Waste Away" in its lyrics. I love all the little references to song lyrics and titles among their songs.

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #59 on: September 20, 2015, 07:35:29 AM »
Day for Night



1999 saw the release of the band's 4th studio album, Day for Night.  Reviews have always been pretty mixed on this, and I am usually on the side of those who call it one of the band's weaker efforts - it's definitely the least best of the Neal era and their 2nd or 3rd least best overall - but I still like it a lot.

The title track, which kicks off the album, gets us off to a great start, with that fantastic intro and a song featuring some really catchy vocal melodies.  This is a song that is very hard to not sing along to.

Unfortunately, things take a mediocre turn pretty quickly with the next two songs.  "Gibberish" is just that: pure gibberish.  Pretty crappy song, featuring a multi-part harmony that is mostly really annoying, and the music sounds pretty rehashed and boring (it borrows from one of their own songs, "In the Mouth of Madness").  This is in my bottom 3 Spock's Beard songs.  "Skin" isn't awful so much that it is really bland. It's like it tried to be catchy in there, but missed the mark. The band sounds bored out of their minds in this song.

Things get back on track a little bit with "Distance to the Sun," a nice little acoustic number, featuring some great harmonies between Neal and NDV.  This isn't one of their better slower tunes, but it's a nice, enjoyable one.

"Crack the Big Sky" is next, and this song is where the album gets great.  This is a longtime favorite of mine.  Very proggy song, with an intro that ends with a section that always make you want to clap along.  Very nice dynamics throughout in this song, with some wonderful mellow moments and some great rocking sections.  Great use of the saxophone in the second half of this song.  Fantastic tune.

"The Gypsy" was my instant favorite from this record originally, and while I am not sure I would now give it the edge over the previous track on the album, I still love it.  This song is their Beard rocking their balls off!  :metal  David Meros' bass work in this one is off the charts, Neal gives us another catchy as hell vocal melody to sing along to, and Okumoto's work on the mellotron is absolutely perfect.

The next one was one co-written with Alan Morse and NDV, which you would have thought would have given us something new and cool, but instead it gave us a piece of crap, syrupy tune like "Can't Get It Wrong," which is comfortably the worst song the band has ever released on a studio album.  It's just awful.

The album ends with the 7-part suite known as "The Healing Colors of Sound."  Overall, it's a really good piece of music, although I think it could have been condensed a little bit.  Had the suite ended with Part 2 of the "The Healing Colors," I think it would have came off better, instead of having what seems like the unnecessary "My Shoes (Revisited)" reprise, following that ear-grinding static noise in "Urban Noise."  That aside, this songs shows off the quirky nature of the band, especially in "Mommy Comes Back," which is infectiously fabulous.  And "Lay It Down" is a good example of a killer vibe, and a great lead-up to the vocal reprise of the "Healing Colors" theme, which was all instrumental in Part 1.  Individually, "Lay It Down" is one of my favorite songs on this entire record.  The suite as a whole is really good, but I can't call it great.  I think this is where Neal started to get a little too reprise-happy at times when writing long songs/suites.

Overall, this is a good album. It has some clunkers, a couple of great tunes, and then a few songs that are really good.  It's not even close to being one of their best, but it's still one worth having if you are a fan.  :coolio



Online Mladen

  • Posts: 15203
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #60 on: September 20, 2015, 08:06:10 AM »
This is a fairly mixed album. I personally love the first three songs - the title track is a classic, Skin is extremely catchy and one of their better crafted poppier tunes, and Gibberish shows their multi-part vocal harmonies at their best as far as I'm concerned, it's inspiring how they pull such stuff off. Crack the big sky is also a classic, and the epic tune at the end took me a while to appreciate it, some of the sections are great and some of them are just okay, but overall it's still pretty neat. I think seeing it live last year improved it for me, they changed the key on it and some of the melodies suddenly stood out much more, which happens often.

Can't get it wrong is one of my least favorite Spock's Beard songs as well. The Gypsy is another lesser favorite of mine, truly below their standards. Overall, yeah, the album has its great and its bad moments, it's my least favorite Neal era record, but it's still good.

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #61 on: September 20, 2015, 08:39:56 AM »
I'm more on the side of Mladen than with you Kev. I really like Gibberish and don't really like The Gypsy. The Healing Colors though makes up for everything, my first love of Spock's's' music, I believe. I dig this album a lot when I'm in the mood for poppier stuff. Sometimes Snow is just too long, and The Light is too much prog, and that's when I really like this album.
I must say though that after checking out the tracklist right now, this could be the album with the least 'great' songs on it.
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #62 on: September 20, 2015, 05:24:33 PM »
Day for Night was my intro to the band.  Like many of us, Transatlantic had led me to check out Spock's Beard and The Flower Kings (I was already familiar with Marillion and of course DT) and I was still in the CD club, that's how long ago this was.  It was a great intro, actually, because as others have said, it's not weak, it's just one of the less-great albums in a very strong discography.  With nothing to compare it to, it pretty much blew me away, and it only got better as I dug more into The Beard.

"Crack the Big Sky" is awesome.   :metal

Offline Kwyjibo

  • Worse troll than Blabbermouth
  • Posts: 5996
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #63 on: September 21, 2015, 03:44:25 AM »
Day For Night is definitely a mixed bag. When I first got the record I thought they were going away from prog. Fourteen tracks and no epic? Turned out it wasn't that bad and that there was an epic, it was only hidden because it was divided into separate tracks.

Does someone know if this was label forced? Shorter songs to maybe appeal more to the masses and produce singles? And the epic was divided into separate tracks to "hide" it from the label? Or are their other reasons?

Day For Night is a great opener, Gibberish is kinda nice and Skin is okay but nothing special. The Distance To The Sun is a good laid back tune and Crack The Big Sky is probably the album's highlight. The Gypsy is meh and Can't Get It Wrong is just not good at all. And sadly The Healing Colours Of Sound can't live up to the epics on the previous records. It's good but not great.

On the european editions there is a bonus track called Hurt, with a heavy guitar riff but nothing special going on. I always thought that this was the "metal" song the label requested as a bonus track for Japan. But maybe I got this wrong.

So all in all not a bad record but not a great one either. Second least favorite from the Neal era.
Must've been Kwyji sending all the wrong songs.   ;D

Offline jingle.boy

  • I'm so ronery; so sad and ronery
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 44538
  • Gender: Male
  • DTF's resident deceased dictator
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #64 on: September 21, 2015, 06:56:46 AM »
Like Bob, this was my first introduction... but coming from it's reference in 8vm/Full Circle.  I never was a huge 70s prog fan, but this blew me away, and stunned that music like this was still being made.  It was like the first time I heard DT... smart, well crafted, unique, diverse - so many adjectives to use as I heard this for the first time.  At one point, it was still my favorite SB album.  Looking and listening back, sure it has some flaws, and it's probably dropped a few spots nowadays, but still holds a special place for me in the history of my musical discovery

Back on TKOS (finally listening to it this morning)... this is my probably my 2nd or 3rd fave album by them now, not a bad song on the disc.  Two epics, arguably their most 'popular' song in June, a great rocker In the Mouth of Madness, and a 10 minute opener that doesn't feel anywhere close to 10 minutes it's so cohesive and smooth.

Flawless album.
That's a word salad - and take it from me, I know word salad
I fear for the day when something happens on the right that is SO nuts that even Stadler says "That's crazy".
Quote from: Puppies_On_Acid
Remember the mark of a great vocalist is if TAC hates them with a special passion

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52771
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #65 on: September 21, 2015, 10:34:14 AM »
This was one of my first SB albums.  I still like it a lot, and will always have a soft spot in my heart for it, but I agree that it is the least of the NM-era albums.

I still like a lot of these songs better than Kev does lol.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline jingle.boy

  • I'm so ronery; so sad and ronery
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 44538
  • Gender: Male
  • DTF's resident deceased dictator
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #66 on: September 21, 2015, 11:56:00 AM »
This was one of my first SB albums.  I still like it a lot, and will always have a soft spot in my heart for it, but I agree that it is the least of the NM-era albums.

I still like a lot of these songs better than Kev does lol.

So this is the least them?

:lhk:
That's a word salad - and take it from me, I know word salad
I fear for the day when something happens on the right that is SO nuts that even Stadler says "That's crazy".
Quote from: Puppies_On_Acid
Remember the mark of a great vocalist is if TAC hates them with a special passion

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52771
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #67 on: September 21, 2015, 01:44:34 PM »
Well, among the Morse era.

But not overall, no.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #68 on: September 21, 2015, 06:53:30 PM »
Agreed with the sentiment that DFN is the least them of the NM-era albums. It's still GOOD (in most spots), but it doesn't have the coherent strength that the albums before or after it have.

"Skin" and "Can't Get It Wrong" are great songs for any average band, but for the high bar that SB set on their three previous albums with better short songs, they're just average. I mean, "Skin" sure is catchy enough, but it doesn't quite reach the level that "Strange World" or "Cakewalk" do on TKOS. And "Can't Get It Wrong" is pretty bland for SB, and I might agree, it could be one of their worst songs in their vast catalog!

Everything else ranges from really great to AMAZING. "The Gypsy" and "Crack The Big Sky" are pretty great mini-epics in my eyes, almost as great as "The Good Don't Last" or "Harm's Way"....ALMOST. I love all of CTBS and the middle section of "The Gypsy" is pretty sweet, and there's some tasty drumming over-all through both songs. They've been and still are two of my most enjoyed tracks on this album.

The other two shorter songs on this album are fairly good, and on par to me. "Gibberish" features some complex vocal harmonies and counterpoint, which I REALLY enjoy from Neal/SB, but still can't get into Gentle Giant for some reason. Maybe in a couple more years, I'll try them again now that I've really settled into the idea from Neal. It's a frantic track with some fun ideas and sounds, and it stands out from the rest because of it. The album's beautiful ballad comes in the form of "The Distance To The Sun", a touching song that Neal still plays at his concerts to this day! This is as touching as "We All Need Some Light", "Bridge Across Forever", "Shine" or any other acoustic-driven song that Neal has written, and it's one of his better ones IMO, and he seems to enjoy it enough to keep playing it!

The remainder of the album left includes the rocking opener, the title track "Day For Night", which is as good of an opener as any of them! It's a shame this one isn't played live much anymore, either by Neal or SB, as I think it's a really good one. The other track is the 6(or 7?) part epic track, "The Healing Colors Of Sound". I've always enjoyed this quirky epic, and while it doesn't sound like it makes much sense, I love the instrumentation and the experimentation with sounds and vocals. It's very different from "The Water", "Time Has Come" or "Flow" in regards to previous long-form songs from Neal and company. The live version on Don't Try This At Home is particularly performed well, although I've hoped that Neal would pull this one out for a future Morsefest so we can get real horns on the closing section of the epic!

Over-all, this is a mediocre Spock's Beard album, but that doesn't mean it isn't an album full of good music! Definitely my least favorite of the 6 albums with Neal, due to not being as consistently good as the surrounding albums, but it's got some great moments.

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: Spock's Beard Discography thread - v. A case of Mellow Yellow
« Reply #69 on: September 23, 2015, 01:45:21 AM »
I spent a big part of yesterday in my car, and listened to everything from The Light up until Day for Night. One thing that struck me when played back to back is that in terms of production quality and sounds, the band appears to make a giant leap between Kindness and Day for Night. It really sounds like the band recorded the first three albums on exactly the same equipment, making it sound almost like a trilogy, but they went nuts for Day for Night.
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.