Some more thoughts on the album: This definitely rocks, and I enjoy it more than their debut, but going back and listening to their debut earlier today, then onto Prehensile Tales, I liked the debut more than I remember liking it, so I'm glad that liking the second album a lot has sort of helped me enjoy the first one a bit more.
Dave Meros is a BEAST on this album, with lots of great bass grooves and melodies, and his mix is just right. Rich Mouser definitely has the touch and knows what to do for this band. Ted's vocals are pretty great over-all, but nothing has stood out too much to me yet regarding his vocals, but they're all so good everywhere that it's hard to find a stand-out moment from him yet for me. Jimmy and John provide some suitable parts as well, and I quite like Jimmy's grooves throughout the album. He and Dave definitely click in all the best ways possible, which makes sense after having played together for nearly 2 decades now.
The music itself? There's a good bit of variety on here, especially with "Why Don't We Run", which sounds so different from anything else I've heard these guys do, with or without Spock's Beard.
Maybe it's just me, but I hear a lot of 80's rock influences in here, everything from synth-era Rush to Asia, with a lot of other flavors sprinkled throughout. I did notice an abundance of 7/4 and 7/8 though, which has been VERY common in the last few Spock's Beard albums, so it doesn't surprise me at all if it comes from John's writing, but it can be a bit tiring when you hear it in a lot of songs, especially on the same album, but thankfully, I think those meters only occur in two or three of the tunes here.
Over-all, this is a great album, and if you liked the first one, you might find yourself really enjoying this one. If you were luke-warm on the debut, give this one a spin online and see if you like it. At only six songs and under an hour, it's definitely worth your time if you're a fan of any of these musicians and Spock's Beard-sounding music in general!
-Marc.