Spock's Beard

[The Letter M]

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=36483.0

The results & discussion thread for my soon-to-start Spock's Beard Survivor!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Noticed I have 12 voters so far in the Survivor! Just wanted to let everyone know that the first round for the first album is going to close tomorrow morning! Hope everyone who wants to participate has gotten their votes in!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

So here's something that I've found being discussed over at ProgressiveEars - if the band's self-titled 9th album was released as a 55-60 minute album with a bonus disc (such as Octane and BNADS), which tracks would you include in your slimmed-down version of SB9?

On A Perfect Day
Skeletons At The Feast
With Your Kiss
Hereafter
As Far The Mind Can See
Rearranged

The rest of the tracks would be on the bonus disc, totaling about 24 minutes, although I had considered putting "Is This Love?" in between "With Your Kiss" and "Hereafter" for diversity and a change of pace.

Either way, those 6 tracks above are, IMO, the strongest on the album, and would have made for a more solid 55-60 minute album than the near 80 minute album we got. The remaining tracks are GOOD, but not as great as those above, although I do enjoy "All That's Left" quite a bit. However, tracks like "The Slow Crash-Landing Man" and "Sometimes They Stay, Sometimes They Go" kind of bog down the album with their lower tempos. There's not a lot of up-tempo pieces. SB9 almost ends up being the opposite of an album like Day For Night, which has a LOT of up-tempo and happier moments. I'm also slightly indifferent to "Wherever You Stand".

-Marc.

[Pols Voice]

Are you saying you want the album to be rearranged?

I like the album the way it is, dagnabit. Is This Love? and Wherever You Stand are weaker, but cutting them would take away two of the peppier tracks, so I dunno. One weird thing about the album is Alan Morse didn't write much. Maybe he was busy with his solo album.

[rumborak]

On a different note, is Nick doing anything these days outside of Cirque?

[King Postwhore]

Rumbo he played drums on this French Canadian prog bands album.  They are called Mystery.  The singer was on one Yes Album and Tour.  It's a great listen.  This site has the full album (and many more!) free to stream.  Enjoy.


https://www.progstreaming.com/_wb/index.php

[ColdFireYYZ]

On a different note, is Nick doing anything these days outside of Cirque?

He's a member of Big Big Train, who released English Electric Part One last year and Part Two this year. In addition to playing on the last Mystery album, he played on Balloon Astronomy's debut that came out in 2011/early 2012.

[King Postwhore]

Oh yeah!  That too!  Which Part II is streaming free as well on that site!

[ColdFireYYZ]

Oh yeah!  That too!  Which Part II is streaming free as well on that site!

Most of their albums are available on Bandcamp to stream:
https://bigbigtrain.bandcamp.com/

Progstreaming is a great site, and I've discovered quite a few bands thanks to them.

[Pols Voice]

he played on Balloon Astronomy's debut that came out in 2011/early 2012.

Pretty cool album, too.

[The Letter M]

Are you saying you want the album to be rearranged?

I like the album the way it is, dagnabit. Is This Love? and Wherever You Stand are weaker, but cutting them would take away two of the peppier tracks, so I dunno. One weird thing about the album is Alan Morse didn't write much. Maybe he was busy with his solo album.

True about "Is This Love?" and "Wherever You Stand", but I think if you take those two away along with "The Slow Crash Landing Man" and "Sometimes They Stay, Sometimes They Go", you take away equal amounts of PEP and PLOD from the album, so I think it's a fair and equal drop.

As for Alan, I think you might be right, and it's worth it, I thoroughly enjoy his solo album! It's funny how different but equally interesting each of the band members solo albums were - Ryo's Coming Through was an ELP-infused keyboard-rock-fest, NDV's Karma was well-crafted singer-songwriter pop-prog, and Alan's 4 O'Clock And Hysteria was modern jazz-fusion at it's finest! It's a shame Dave Meros hasn't come out with a solo album, especially considering his writing over the last 5 SB albums has been someone of the strongest on those albums! Maybe he just saves all of his great creativity for SB?

-Marc.

[Scrub206]

I just picked up Spock's Beard's X album, and I'm really diggin it. 

[Nel]

A few days back, I received the Neal-era albums I didn't own in the mail. I've got to say, I am loving Beware Of Darkness. I also have a bigger appreciation for "Afterthoughts" now that I know where it came from. Loved "Thoughts" so much that I immediately listened to part 2 before continuing on with the album. Went and listened to Neal's part 5 as well. All fantastic songs. When I have time I'm hoping to give Kindness of Strangers, Day For Night, and V a proper listen. And get around to the second disc of Snow. I listened to the first disc when I bought it some weeks back and couldn't really get into it.

Only one I'm missing from the studio albums now is the self-titled.

[The Letter M]

I just picked up Spock's Beard's X album, and I'm really diggin it. 

X is truly a great masterpiece! Every song is at least good, while many are 5-star pieces! It was hard for me to believe they could move forward and make an album that would equal or top it, but they did with BNADS!

A few days back, I received the Neal-era albums I didn't own in the mail. I've got to say, I am loving Beware Of Darkness. I also have a bigger appreciation for "Afterthoughts" now that I know where it came from. Loved "Thoughts" so much that I immediately listened to part 2 before continuing on with the album. Went and listened to Neal's part 5 as well. All fantastic songs. When I have time I'm hoping to give Kindness of Strangers, Day For Night, and V a proper listen. And get around to the second disc of Snow. I listened to the first disc when I bought it some weeks back and couldn't really get into it.

Only one I'm missing from the studio albums now is the self-titled.

Glad to hear you're enjoying BOD. It's one of my favorite SB albums, and it's quite a good collection of various songs in different, I guess, styles. It's very YES-like in terms of variety. You have the transformed cover song, a vocal-exercise (and Gentle Giant-inspired) song, the well-known epic, a soothing acoustic guitar solo, another rousing epic, a rocking pop-like short piece, and the really long closing epic! BOD had a good balance of new-era Prog with tinges of Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, and many more, while still sounding unique and cohesive.

I have a playlist on my phone of "Thoughts", "Thoughts (Part 2)", "Afterthoughts", and "Thoughts (Part 5)" - it's fun to listen to all four back-to-back! I hope SB makes "Thoughts (Part 4)" sometime soon!

If you love BOD, I'm hoping you'll love TKOS - they're similar yet different. Well, only similar in that they're both 7 songs, there are 3 epics, and it's Spock's Beard. Otherwise, the songs can be quite a bit different, but I've always felt BOD and TKOS were sister albums.

And I'll forgive you for not immediately loving Snow - concept albums, especially double ones, can be a bit tough to get in to at first, but after a couple years of listening to it, it became my favorite, and it has been for the last 7-8 years now. I must have listened to Snow at least a thousand times by now, and it NEVER gets old for me!

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, even though I often refer to Neal Morse's style as catchy prog, Snow took a bit of time to grow on me, probably because it is so damn long and there is a lot to get a grip on (that's what she said ).

As for the new album, it is good, but no way can I say it is as good as X.  It is better than Day for Night and the two middle NDV-led albums, but I can't say it is better than any of the other seven Spock's Beard albums. 

Also, Afterthoughts is pretty much that for me: an afterthought.  It is that album's Gibberish: an attempt at doing a Gentle Giant-like song gone horribly wrong.  Neal really is hit or miss when it comes to those type of songs.

[Nekov]

I've been listening to Brief Nocturnes once every two weeks or so for the past couple of months and every single time I like it a little more. Normally I would listen to an album like this a lot more often but I'm trying not to over listen to it and so far it's working fantastically, to the point that I dare say this might be Spock's best album.

[kirksnosehair]

I've been listening to Brief Nocturnes once every two weeks or so for the past couple of months and every single time I like it a little more. Normally I would listen to an album like this a lot more often but I'm trying not to over listen to it and so far it's working fantastically, to the point that I dare say this might be Spock's best album.

Up until my roulette started I was spinning it once a week.  I went back and gave "X" a listen as well.  For me, I think the new one is a slight notch below "X" only because there is no song on the new one that is as incredible as "Jaws of Heaven" 


I guess I'd rank the post-Neal Morse albums like this:


X
Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep
Feel Euphoria
Octane


*deep bottomless chasm*


Spock's Beard

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Where would guys suggest that a Spock's Beard n00b start? I only have X so far.

[Nekov]

I usually go from start to finish when getting into a new band. I like to see how they evolve. But to answer to your question, for post Neal era you should listen to Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep. For Neal's era go for "V" or Snow

[kirksnosehair]

I usually go from start to finish when getting into a new band. I like to see how they evolve. But to answer to your question, for post Neal era you should listen to Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep. For Neal's era go for "V" or Snow

I agree with everything Nekov just suggested, the only thing I would add is to suggest for the Neal era that "The Kindness of Strangers" may be a slightly less dense starting point than "Snow" which is a double-CD and a little bit on the bloated side with a couple of tracks wedged into the second disc that feel a little bit out of place.  It's the only full-on "Concept" album that Spock's Beard released, which is pretty interesting since as a solo artist Neal Morse went on to release a whole bunch of concept albums.

[KevShmev]

Agreed. Snow is great, but would be a huge mountain to climb for a noob.  I'd get most of the other Neal-era discs first (minus Day for Night). 

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Thanks, guys. I'll check 'em out. 

[adameastment]

[The Curious Orange]

Setlist from the London show last night -

Something Very Strange
I Know Your Secret
Crack the Big Sky
Hiding Out
Walking on the Wind
Submerged
Cakewalk on Easy Street
Afterthoughts
The Distance to the Sun
Waiting for Me
~~~~~
Go The Way You Go


The new stuff was the highlight of the night, especially "Submerged" and "Hiding Out". The selection of older material was a little uninspired, with nothing later than "Day for Night" (I'd have put money on "Jaws of Heaven"). They did seem to be having some technical problems and came on late - perhaps they truncated their setlist?

The band were on top form, and Ted Leonard is very good, but he doesn't have the charisma or energy that NDV brought to the band (Sorry, Ted fans). All in all, a great night, but this was the fourth time I've seen them, and the weakest of the four.

[Mladen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAw9vChdqc4

Here's a great clip from a show in Budapest last night, and the guy recorded a couple more. I wanted to attend the concert so badly, but I had an important exam on the same day so I couldn't pull it off. I'll catch them next time...

[Jaq]

Agreed. Snow is great, but would be a huge mountain to climb for a noob.  I'd get most of the other Neal-era discs first (minus Day for Night).

Bucking conventional wisdom, Snow was my first Spock's Beard album, and I turned out all right in regards to them. 

[KevShmev]

Agreed. Snow is great, but would be a huge mountain to climb for a noob.  I'd get most of the other Neal-era discs first (minus Day for Night).

Bucking conventional wisdom, Snow was my first Spock's Beard album, and I turned out all right in regards to them. 

Bah, you only loved it because it had a song called Carie on it.

[Jaq]

Well played Kev. Well played. 

[KevShmev]

Too easy.

[The Letter M]

Speaking of Snow - some places title the last track as "Made Alive/Wind At My Back" while others say "Made Alive Again/Wind At My Back"...so which is it? With or without 'Again'?

-Marc.

[The Curious Orange]

Snow was also my first SB album - I loved it straight off the bat, it's my favourite SB album, and one of thr best albums I've ever heard, up there with Tommy and The Wall.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Diggin the new album! 

[rumborak]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAw9vChdqc4

Here's a great clip from a show in Budapest last night, and the guy recorded a couple more. I wanted to attend the concert so badly, but I had an important exam on the same day so I couldn't pull it off. I'll catch them next time...

That's what I said when they played in 2008 in Lowell, MA, thinking they would come by closer next time. They haven't come to Massachusetts since

[Nekov]

Speaking of Snow - some places title the last track as "Made Alive/Wind At My Back" while others say "Made Alive Again/Wind At My Back"...so which is it? With or without 'Again'?

-Marc.

Their official website lists it as Made Alive/ Wind at my back as well as the album. I think there was a special edition with a 3rd cd where it is listed as Made Alive Again so I'm not sure.

[The Letter M]

Speaking of Snow - some places title the last track as "Made Alive/Wind At My Back" while others say "Made Alive Again/Wind At My Back"...so which is it? With or without 'Again'?

-Marc.

Their official website lists it as Made Alive/ Wind at my back as well as the album. I think there was a special edition with a 3rd cd where it is listed as Made Alive Again so I'm not sure.

Actually, I checked all 3 copies of Snow that I own and the last track has it as "Made Alive Again" in the booklet, so I'm inclined to use that as the track title.

-Marc.