Author Topic: Spock's Beard  (Read 146217 times)

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Offline KevShmev

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Spock's Beard
« on: February 01, 2010, 03:00:12 PM »
I was surprised to see there are not any threads on them since the restart of the forum, so I figured I would start one. :)

Anyway, damn good band back when Neal Morse was in the band, and they have had their moments since, too.  All six CDs with Neal are essential if you are a prog rock fan, even the somewhat inconsistent Day for Night.  It is hard to pick a single favorite out of the other five, as they are all really good, which is a testament to how many good songs they had on each of those albums.  I would probably go with either V or Snow, but tomorrow, I might say The Light or Beware of Darkness. :p

Anyway, in this thread, we discuss all things Spock's Beard.  :coolio


Offline glaurung

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2010, 03:13:43 PM »
I've only heard Neal Morse era Spock's Beard. Are the albums after he left the band worth checking out? Which ones should I try first or avoid?

Out of the ones I have heard though The Light is probably my favorite.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2010, 04:10:11 PM »
The first one w/o Neal, Feel Euphoria, is easily the best one they have done since his departure, IMO.  You can tell they had some fire and energy on that one, as I am sure they were eager to prove themselves following the sudden departure of their primary songwriter.  The other two both have their moments, but both have a lot of forgettable songs, too.  Feel Euphoria is rock solid from start to finish; songs like "Ghosts of Autumn," "The Bottom Line" and "East of Eden, West of Memphis" are all stellar, and the multi-track suite, "A Guy Named Sid" has some killer stuff (and some painfully forgettable lyrics, too :lol).  The title track and the ballad, "Shining Star," are the only slight misses, but neither are bad or anything, just kind of okay.


Offline glaurung

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2010, 04:11:45 PM »
I'll look into Feel Euphoria then. Thanks!
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Offline Sigz

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2010, 04:12:06 PM »
Morse-era SB was fucking great. In all honesty my interest in that kind of straight prog has been waning greatly in the last year or so, but they're still a great listen whenever I do throw something on. The only post-Morse album I have of theirs is the self titled, and it's pretty meh overall (though it has a few awesome songs like On a Perfect Day and Skeletons at the Feast).
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Offline ariich

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2010, 04:34:50 PM »
I disagree with Kev, I like Feel Euphoria but I'd say it's definitely the weakest of the three post-NM albums. Personally I think across the three albums they've got better and better, though none of them match the top two or three NM-era albums. (V, Snow, maybe The Light)

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Offline ehra

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2010, 07:53:43 PM »
One of the few bands I've ever had a "phase" with that I still love afterwords. I can listen to any of their Neal era albums straight through and enjoy every moment of it.

Offline Space Invader

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2010, 07:55:47 PM »
I've only heard Snow but I though it was great. I love Neal's work both on that disk and with Transatlantic.

Taking suggestions for my next Spock's Beard album, considering I want to get into them more.
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Offline The Letter M

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2010, 08:04:55 PM »
My choice of listening to Morse-Era and Post-Morse SB waxes and wanes every now and then, but lately, I've been VERY into Morse's work, with SB, with TA, and his (prog) solo stuff.

Obviously, I think a lot of SB fans will look to the Morse-Era as the better stuff, but after awhile, you can notice he develops a LOT of Morse-isms in sound, style, technique, and composition - his use of spanish-style guitar and sounds, his thematic reprises, grandiose epic endings... after awhile, you even notice melodies he reuses/rehashes/remakes. There are bits in his first two solo albums (while with The Beard) that he uses later on in his prog-solo albums...

Anyways, I do agree with Kev - the first 6 SB albums are pretty essential. At first they may sound all the same, but you get to find what's special about each album, and appreciate each album for it!

It's hard to pick a favorite (of those six)... I've been loving The Kindness of Strangers lately, but I think Snow will always be top dog. It's so unlike the other five, for being a concept album (which I am a sucker for), but the other five albums are pretty damn good.

Of the Post-Morse era, Octane is my definite favorite, but it has to be the Special Edition with the bonus disc (which is a shame - most of those bonus songs are really good!). Feel Euphoria and the s/t Spock's Beard are pretty good too, and I'm looking forward to SBX! Still gotta pre-order it though...

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Offline pogoowner

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #9 on: February 01, 2010, 09:26:11 PM »
Great band. V is my favorite, followed by Snow. I like 'em all, though.

Offline LordCaptainMcKlockenstein

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2010, 10:49:50 PM »
Obviously, I think a lot of SB fans will look to the Morse-Era as the better stuff, but after awhile, you can notice he develops a LOT of Morse-isms in sound, style, technique, and composition - his use of spanish-style guitar and sounds, his thematic reprises, grandiose epic endings... after awhile, you even notice melodies he reuses/rehashes/remakes. There are bits in his first two solo albums (while with The Beard) that he uses later on in his prog-solo albums...

Anyways, I do agree with Kev - the first 6 SB albums are pretty essential. At first they may sound all the same, but you get to find what's special about each album, and appreciate each album for it!
Totally agreed.

I really, really, really like The Light, but after that, I have trouble getting into the Morse-era stuff. It all sounds so... samey. After The Light, I really dig their self-titled. With Your Kiss is fantastic and there's a lot of other great songs on it as well.

Haven't listened to Snow yet though..

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2010, 01:06:54 AM »
I just recently started to listen to SB, and I must say they are truly a great band. V and The Kindness of Strangers are my favourites, especially V.
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Offline Mladen

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2010, 06:49:29 AM »
A great progressive rock band. I'm a fan of their early works, especially the magnificent debut. V is really good, I didn't really pay that much of attention to Snow, although I might fix that.

As for the albums after Morse left, I only listened to Feel euphoria, which was cool, but nothing really stood out. Onomatopoeia and Carry on are fun songs, but I'm not sure about the rest.

My favorite Spock's beard songs overall: Thoughts, At the end of the day, The Light, The Water, Cakewalk on easy street.

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #13 on: February 02, 2010, 07:00:42 AM »
I've only heard Neal Morse era Spock's Beard. Are the albums after he left the band worth checking out?
No.  They are vastly inferior. 
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Offline ZeppelinDT

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #14 on: February 02, 2010, 07:33:44 AM »
Any of you guys have the "Don't Try This at Home" DVD?  Its pretty phenomenal.

One of my biggest musical regrets is passing up the chance to see Spock's Beard live with Neal.  They were playing a local show for the V tour, and I was going to go, but something came up last minute, and I distinctly remember saying to myself "eh... I'll catch them next time around... they're still a young band... they're probably not gonna break up any time soon."

:zeltar: :zeltar: :zeltar:

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #15 on: February 02, 2010, 07:59:08 AM »
Any of you guys have the "Don't Try This at Home" DVD?  Its pretty phenomenal.

One of my biggest musical regrets is passing up the chance to see Spock's Beard live with Neal.  They were playing a local show for the V tour, and I was going to go, but something came up last minute, and I distinctly remember saying to myself "eh... I'll catch them next time around... they're still a young band... they're probably not gonna break up any time soon."

:zeltar: :zeltar: :zeltar:

I have the same DVD Zep and I to missed out on seeing them.  The only other regret not seeing a band live is Queen.
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Offline The Letter M

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #16 on: February 02, 2010, 09:17:54 AM »
Any of you guys have the "Don't Try This at Home" DVD?  Its pretty phenomenal.

This is a pretty good live DVD! Great performance and you really get into it! Everyone in the band is very active and stellar, particularly Ryo, Neal and Nick. I wish they would release the show as a proper 2-CD set. As it is, the single disc show is pretty good, but wanting the whole thing, I ripped the DVD audio and made my own 2-CD set. The audio isn't THAT great, considering it's a DVD rip, but it's still the whole show!

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Offline faemir

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #17 on: February 02, 2010, 10:06:53 AM »
Octane imo is the best post-Morse album. The Ballad Of The Impact is a hell of an opener. :metal

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #18 on: February 03, 2010, 12:18:17 AM »
I've only heard Snow but I though it was great. I love Neal's work both on that disk and with Transatlantic.

Taking suggestions for my next Spock's Beard album, considering I want to get into them more.

V is probably your next best bet.  The sound is similar (the quality of the last two SB records with Neal is vastly superior to the first four), and even though Snow was tons of short songs, and V is two long songs and four short ones, they are stylistically pretty similar (even by SB standards). 

And speaking of Snow, while I think it is really good, it is so darn long, it is a major chore to listen to all of that straight through.  I try to tackle that about once a year...if I am lucky. :lol


Offline Nick

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #19 on: February 03, 2010, 07:54:23 AM »
I know you do it for all albums, but it looks funny when you go out of your way to italicize V. :lol
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Offline The Curious Orange

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #20 on: February 03, 2010, 08:48:04 AM »
I've only heard Neal Morse era Spock's Beard. Are the albums after he left the band worth checking out?
No.  They are vastly inferior. 

Hef is wrong - They are worth checking out, especially Octane and SB9 or the Gluttons for Punishment live album, but while they are still a great band, Hef is also right - They're not a patch on what they were with Neal.
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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #21 on: February 03, 2010, 08:50:14 AM »
Kindness, V and Snow are great.  Beware of Darkness is a sleeper.   I don't get all the love for The Light though. 
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #22 on: February 03, 2010, 09:00:05 AM »
I know you do it for all albums, but it looks funny when you go out of your way to italicize V. :lol

Well, album titles ARE supposed to be italicized; just like song titles are supposed to be put in quotes.  It is not my fault that most people don't do it correctly. :lol :biggrin:

I don't get all the love for The Light though. 

The title track is arguably their best song ever, although I would accept arguments for "The Doorway" or "At the End of the Day." :)

"Go the Way You Go" and "The Water" are both damn fine songs.

"On the Edge" is pretty cool, although it does seem weird to end the record with a pretty good short song after having three long epics; makes it feel a bit tacked on.

Offline yorost

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #23 on: February 03, 2010, 10:09:13 AM »
I've only heard Neal Morse era Spock's Beard. Are the albums after he left the band worth checking out?
No.  They are vastly inferior. 
They aren't that much weaker.  I really like Octane, although it does have some filler near the end that should have been replaced by the bonus tracks on from the special editions 2nd disc.  Feel Euphoria has some of the bands best tracks and s/t was an overall solid work.

Snow is their greatest album, though.

Offline ytserush

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #24 on: February 09, 2010, 07:22:10 PM »
I've seen Spock's Beard 5 times (Twice in one night at the Bottom Line in New York) with Neal and once without Neal.

My favorite Spock's Beard CDs are the first five. I'm not much of a fan of Snow, mostly because I think that free-wheeling vibe that had mostly been a part of the first five, isn't there for much of Snow. I find much of it to be very forced (And this was before Neal publically announced he was leaving. After hearing Snow, I wasn't as upset at Neal leaving as I would have been had he left after V) I actually prefer Testimony over Snow because I think it was a more organic effort.

As far as post Neal, I like the self-titled album best because I think they have finally gotten to the point where they are comfortable with the idea of being without Neal. Feel Eurphoria and Octane are OK, but I think in general they were still finding their way and were still writing with the ghost of Neal looking over their shoulders.

Offline Quadrochosis

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #25 on: February 10, 2010, 10:22:47 PM »
The Kindness of Strangers is my favorite SB record with "The Good Don't Last" being both my favorite song on the album and my favorite Beard track.
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Offline axeman90210

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #26 on: February 10, 2010, 10:41:09 PM »
the first album of theirs I got was The Kindness of Strangers, which I love. Then I got Snow, which while I realize is pretty damn solid whenever I do spin it, doesn't grab me the way that TKoS did.
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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #27 on: February 11, 2010, 08:12:22 AM »
I read in a mag about the Kindness of Strangers , so I bought it, went back to buy the first 2 and then got my favorite SB cd, Day for Night.  I know a lot of people dont like it as much as i do but I listen to that at least once a week at work.
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Offline rumborak

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #28 on: February 11, 2010, 09:25:49 AM »
I've only heard Neal Morse era Spock's Beard. Are the albums after he left the band worth checking out?
No.  They are vastly inferior. 
They aren't that much weaker.  I really like Octane, although it does have some filler near the end that should have been replaced by the bonus tracks on from the special editions 2nd disc.  Feel Euphoria has some of the bands best tracks and s/t was an overall solid work.

Snow is their greatest album, though.

I have to agree with hef here, they are nowhere near what made them famous in the first place.

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #29 on: February 11, 2010, 02:26:44 PM »
New SB clips on myspace. :metal :metal

https://www.myspace.com/spocksbeard
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Offline The Letter M

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #30 on: February 12, 2010, 03:40:12 PM »
So for the last day or two, I've been listening to Post-Morse SB, and have found that there are some great songs on FE, but I already knew that. The song-writing is pretty solid on many of the songs, but as an ALBUM, it still sounds a bit... I dunno - like they're trying to prove they can write like Neal did when he was in the band.

With Octane, there's a bit more maturity, and the Bonus Disc tracks are amazing, and it's sad that they were pushed to the Special Edition and not on the actual album. You can actually fit the 5 songs on the bonus disc onto the real album and make it fit on an 80-minute CDr (which I did!). What's nice about that is you get "Listening To The Sky" at the end of the album and then it goes back to the beginning with "A Flash Before My Eyes", like it's played on the Gluttons For Punishment live album.

Conversely, I feel like some of the tracks on the self-titled 9th album could've been pushed to a bonus disc and made for a solid 55-60 minute album, rather than putting all they had onto on 75-80 minute album. There are great moments on there (like the opening 1-2 punch and the multi-track suite), but it's more like FE than Octane was... but the production and sound are nicer and more crisp to my ears, and the writing, where it's good, is really good!

I'm hoping that their 4th album without Neal shows more growth and maturity as a band that was made famous with Neal's writing (because he was definitely the dominant writer) but I think that Nick and company may have benefited from some time apart before recording together again. I hope we get something fresh! I also wonder if there will be a multi-track suite (I mean, we got "A Guy Named Sid", "A Flash Before My Eyes" and "As Far As The Mind Can See" on the last three...)

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Offline Ultimetalhead

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #31 on: March 29, 2010, 07:45:33 PM »
Revival.

I got The Light a few days ago. I'm on my second listen, and I'm loving it. Not a single weak moment.
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Offline The Letter M

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #32 on: March 29, 2010, 08:33:42 PM »
Here's a couple updates from Dave Meros via the SB website:
-The album is nearly done mixing, and will be shipped out to manufacturing in about 2 weeks from now, and pre-orders will probably ship by the end of April! There's still time to pre-order if you haven't already... I know *I* need to.
-The album will be about 77-78 minutes long and contain just 8 songs! (Note: this is for the Limited Edition that pre-orders will be... the standard, later release, will only have 7 songs)
-Nick has written a 17-minute epic titled "From The Darkness"
-Dave and John have co-written a 15-minute song titled "Jaws Of Heaven"
-"Their Names Escape Me" is the song that features all 132 fans' names in it, the ones who pre-ordered the Ultra package
-Ryo has written a song titled "Think Twice""Kamikaze" (appropriate, right?)
-Of the other four songs, two are titled "The Quiet House" and "Edge Of The In-Between"
-The album will have the same mastering-range as the previous two albums (in other words, it won't be mastered any heavier than Octane or Spock's Beard)
-Jimmy Keegan was brought in to do some vocals, his first participation in a studio album!

There are samples to all 6 of these songs on the band's myspace page! This sounds like it's going to be far better than Spock's Beard, which has grown on me since it's release, but these samples sound amazing! I can't wait to get it!

-Marc.
« Last Edit: March 30, 2010, 01:08:02 PM by The Letter M »
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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #33 on: March 30, 2010, 12:13:27 AM »
Nice, it's gonna be an epic album :tup
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Offline LordCaptainMcKlockenstein

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Re: Spock's Beard
« Reply #34 on: March 30, 2010, 07:52:57 PM »
Cool

I really liked their self-titled so if this is even better, then awesome. :)