DreamTheaterForums.org Dream Theater Fan Site
General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: KevShmev on July 02, 2012, 02:38:05 PM
-
And away we go!
Keep in mind I am talking the totality of all:
Neal's eight solo albums (s/t debut through Testimony Two) vs. Spock's Beard of all eras (The Light through X).
-
What I've heard of both, which isn't a whole lot, I'll take Neal Morse's solo stuff.
-
Spock´s. Half of Neil's solo stuff doesn't appeal to me.
-
Goin' with Spock.
-
Awww damn...
I'd have to go with Spock's Beard. As much as I love both Testimony albums and One, the majority of Neal's solo stuff doesn't hold a candle to Spock's Beard, with AND without Neal.
This is a fitting match-up, though, and I would enjoy bringing this topic back up by the end of the fall season when both Neal Morse and Spock's Beard will have released new albums - Morse's Momentum and SBv3's new album, the band's 11th total, with Jimmy Keegan and Ted Leonard as full-time members. The snippets that I've heard of SB11 sound great, and I'm very excited for it, but the prospect of Neal's "World Without End", the near 34-minute epic, sound promising. Ironically, both albums will feature a new part in the "Thoughts" series of songs!
I love Neal Morse's writing and his solo albums, but even while I love them, I can acknowledge that they do tend to sound a lot like each other, whereas SB, after Neal left, did change/evolve/progress into a different sound/identity, while still having that signature that Ryo/Nick/Al/Dave all had when Neal was still in the band. It was still definitively Spock's Beard, and I appreciate their direction and change. Neal has tread a lot of the same ground, but many of his changes, album-to-album, are just to the lyrical content, which does offer some great moments, especially on One and ?, but it does become easy to spot the musical similarities across his body of work.
-Marc.
-
Goin' with Spock.
-
Spock's Beard. It's kinda unfair to Neal though, because the decider was "Spock's Beard did V." :lol
-
I'll go with the Beard. His solo work never did it for me.
-
To me it goes like this:
Neal-era SB >>> Solo Neal >> Post-Neal SB
Guess I'll go with SB, just because their stuff with Neal is so much better than anything else related to them.
-
Spock's Beard. The Light, V, and Snow alone are all way way better than any solo album Neal Morse has done.
-
To me it goes like this:
Neal-era SB >>> Solo Neal >> Post-Neal SB
Yup. So, SB.
rumborak
-
SB, though I don't know everything by both artists. However, from what I know, Spock's Beard wins this one easily.
-
Spock's Beard. Love Neal's solo stuff, but the religious aspect of it just grates on me after a while. As I said once before in a Neal vs SB thread, it's not the topic itself per se, but the fact that it's only one topic that his music focuses around. It just gets a little redundant.
-
Spock's Beard clearly. From the debut up to V and then again X they simply rule.
Neal Morse solo has One and "?" as standouts, at least imho, but with his solo work the "mor(s)e of the same" approach became more and more apparent. Not that the rest is bad, but it's just not that great.
-
Now this is a match-up that makes sense to me.
Spock's Beard will crush Neal Morse.
-
To me it goes like this:
Neal-era SB >>> Solo Neal >> Post-Neal SB
Ditto. Although, for me, Neal-era SB just edges out Solo Neal.
I think Snow is the interesting link.
-
Spock's Beard. It's kinda unfair to Neal though, because the decider was "Spock's Beard did V." :lol
Technically, Neal doesn't lose either way ;)
-
Solo Neal Morse
-
I don't have all of Neal's albums (only have T2, ?, Sola Scriptura, and the new live album) but I definitely like SB more. I love Neal's solo stuff but albums like V and The Kindness of Strangers are some of my all time favorites.
-
I'm voting for Iron Maiden! ;D
-
I don't know tbh. Neal Morse's "?" > every Spock's Beard album, but overall I think I like Spock's Beard just a little more..