Spock's Beard

[Mladen]

I really enjoy the FU section in The Water, especially because of what follows. Very honest and very real, it's just as emotional as the rest of the song. I have no idea what Neal was going through, but I recall I read somewhere that he regrets writing these lyrics. Which is no wonder, considering the lyrics he's been writing in the past ten years.

[kirksnosehair]

Yeah, that section of the song is really very jarring.  Here you have Neal literally screaming "FUUUUCCK YOU!!" over and over again, then they follow it with that nice, mellow, finger-picking 4 part harmony section of "I'm so sorry..."

The contrast is wild.  The idea was sheer brilliance.  I get why he says he regrets it now, but I think it's one of the most clever things he's ever written.

[KevShmev]

If the truth were told, I'd really hate myself

SO FUCK YOU!

[kirksnosehair]

 

[darkshade]

I need to listen to The Light again. The title track is the best Spock's Beard song. I did go back to V and TKOS recently, and I forgot how much I like SB/Neal Morse.

X was an album I listened to a few times, thought it was good, but haven't gone back to it in months. I'll probably make my way towards it sooner or later.

[KevShmev]

X is worth it just for Jaws of Heaven and From the Darkness, and then other tunes like Edge of the In-Between, The Quiet House and The Man Behind the Curtain just make it that much better.  I usually skip over both The Emperor's Clothes and Kamikaze, but neither are bad songs or anything.

[Mladen]

I still think every song on that album is at least really good. My favorites kinda changed, though, I used to think The Man behind the curtain was the indisputable champion on the album, then From the darkness became my number one. Now my absolute favorite is Jaws of heaven. Edge of the in-between is close behind, though - damn, it took me a looooooooong time to get into that song. 

[The Letter M]

I still think every song on that album is at least really good. My favorites kinda changed, though, I used to think The Man behind the curtain was the indisputable champion on the album, then From the darkness became my number one. Now my absolute favorite is Jaws of heaven. Edge of the in-between is close behind, though - damn, it took me a looooooooong time to get into that song. 

I think the only song I didn't like at first was "The Quiet House", seemed more repetitive to me than "Jaws Of Heaven", but I've grown to like it. Every song on the album is at least a 4/5, while the opening and closing tracks are 4.5/5 and the epic "From The Darkness" is a 5/5 song.

-Marc.

[darkshade]

Ive been on a little Spock's Beard kick lately, and after listening to The Light again (great album), I decided to go back to the only post-Neal album I have, "X", and my opinion of it is much better than when I bought it a few months ago. It's a solid album, with some great moments throughout. It still doesn't make me want to get more post-Neal albums just yet, but I like X by itself.

I'm looking to get Beware of Darkness next.

[adameastment]

I've been really getting into them, they're somewhat more mellow than DT and it's something I've been looking for

[The Letter M]

Ive been on a little Spock's Beard kick lately, and after listening to The Light again (great album), I decided to go back to the only post-Neal album I have, "X", and my opinion of it is much better than when I bought it a few months ago. It's a solid album, with some great moments throughout. It still doesn't make me want to get more post-Neal albums just yet, but I like X by itself.

I'm looking to get Beware of Darkness next.

If you like X, definitely look into getting the 2-disc edition of Octane, what I feel is the 2nd best Nick-Era album. After that, if you like what you hear, definitely get the other two. Each have a couple great songs each, but there's also a couple less-than-stellar songs as well, but the multi-part epics are pretty amazing.

-Marc.

[Nel]

I've been on a bit of a kick too, lately. Which reminds me that I need to finish listening to Octane. I combined the epic into a single track when I ripped the CD, and I've only listened to that 31 minute(?) song. That was months ago now.

[The Letter M]

I've been on a bit of a kick too, lately. Which reminds me that I need to finish listening to Octane. I combined the epic into a single track when I ripped the CD, and I've only listened to that 31 minute(?) song. That was months ago now.

"A Flash Before My Eyes" is pretty genius, and every part is exciting! It's a wonderful suite and I love the final part. It's very haunting at times.

-Marc.

[darkshade]

Ive been on a little Spock's Beard kick lately, and after listening to The Light again (great album), I decided to go back to the only post-Neal album I have, "X", and my opinion of it is much better than when I bought it a few months ago. It's a solid album, with some great moments throughout. It still doesn't make me want to get more post-Neal albums just yet, but I like X by itself.

I'm looking to get Beware of Darkness next.

If you like X, definitely look into getting the 2-disc edition of Octane, what I feel is the 2nd best Nick-Era album. After that, if you like what you hear, definitely get the other two. Each have a couple great songs each, but there's also a couple less-than-stellar songs as well, but the multi-part epics are pretty amazing.

-Marc.

I'll look into it. I do want to complete my Neal-era collection first. I have The Light, TKOS, and V. Beware of Darkness sounds like the one to get next.

[Pols Voice]

Ya know, There Was a Time is such a great song. Tightly arranged, melodic, fun, and extremely catchy. That song and On a Perfect Day are my two favorite Nick-era tracks.

[Nel]

I've been on a bit of a kick too, lately. Which reminds me that I need to finish listening to Octane. I combined the epic into a single track when I ripped the CD, and I've only listened to that 31 minute(?) song. That was months ago now.

"A Flash Before My Eyes" is pretty genius, and every part is exciting! It's a wonderful suite and I love the final part. It's very haunting at times.

-Marc.

Just listened to it for the second time ever thanks two this post. Now that I was actually paying attention to the lyrics, two things:
>That was depressing as hell. Still great though.
>The woman suddenly talking ("wake up" part). I thought someone was actually behind me and freaked the fuck out. Nearly rocketed out of my chair. That was stupid on my end. 

Wasn't in the mood to really continue on with the album though. Maybe later tonight.

[KevShmev]

  I do want to complete my Neal-era collection first. I have The Light, TKOS, and V. Beware of Darkness sounds like the one to get next.

I'd definitely get all of the Neal-era CDs before getting any of the other post-Neal ones.

[The Letter M]

I'll look into it. I do want to complete my Neal-era collection first. I have The Light, TKOS, and V. Beware of Darkness sounds like the one to get next.

You don't have Beware Of Darkness yet?! Get ON that! Also, definitely get Snow as well. That album is one of my absolute all-time favorites!

Get ALL of the SB albums before SB11 comes around, though!

-Marc.

[hefdaddy42]

  I do want to complete my Neal-era collection first. I have The Light, TKOS, and V. Beware of Darkness sounds like the one to get next.

I'd definitely get all of the Neal-era CDs before getting any of the other post-Neal ones.

[darkshade]

Ive actually listened to Snow a couple of times, and never made it to the end. It's not that I thought it was bad, but it didn't excite me like his albums usually do. And I have his solo double albums, so it's not the length. I'll probably revisit it eventually. I had checked it out after already getting Neal's 6 solo albums and the those 3 Neal SB albums, so it may have been overload at that point, too. Hopefully sometime this week I'll pick up BOD.

[kirksnosehair]

Snow is an album I really have to be in the mood for.  First off, it's very somber and a little bit ballad-heavy.  It's also kind of bloated.  I think it was a mistake to make it two CDs because the second disc really have quite a bit of filler (Carrie and Looking for Answers come to mind here).

But with that said it's also got some of the most beautiful and moving music that Neal has ever written on it.

I think his creative zenith with Spock's Beard was probably "V" 

[Silver Tears]

Ive actually listened to Snow a couple of times, and never made it to the end. It's not that I thought it was bad, but it didn't excite me like his albums usually do. And I have his solo double albums, so it's not the length. I'll probably revisit it eventually. I had checked it out after already getting Neal's 6 solo albums and the those 3 Neal SB albums, so it may have been overload at that point, too. Hopefully sometime this week I'll pick up BOD.

It took me a while to get to the end of Snow too, it's pretty long and as much as I love it I agree with Kirk that there is a bit of filler in there.

[The Letter M]

Okay, time to generate some discussion... Every SB album, with the exceptions of Beware Of Darkness and Snow, have at least one song/suite on it that is made up of numbered movements, sometimes they're tracked at their movements, sometimes they're tracked together. Anyways, here's the list of the songs...

The Light
The Water
The Good Don't Last
Flow
The Healing Colors Of Sound
The Great Nothing
A Guy Named Sid
A Flash Before My Eyes
As Far As The Mind Can See
From The Darkness
Jaws Of Heaven

...now, rank them! I know it's a *bit* arbitrary, but I figured it'd be some fun to talk about these songs. I will have to give it a day or so til I can rank them as I've been diving back into SB's catalog for the last week or so, re-acquainting myself with all the albums.

-Marc.

[Mladen]

The Water
The Light
Jaws Of Heaven
Flow
From The Darkness

The Good Don't Last
A Flash Before My Eyes

A Guy Named Sid
The Great Nothing
The Healing Colors Of Sound
As Far As The Mind Can See

In tiers. The last four really don't do anything for me, unfortunately.

[KevShmev]

1. The Light - Hands down, the best song the band has ever done, of any length.
2. Jaws of Heaven - A top 5 SB song; possibly top 3.  It is that great.
3. Flow - Everything about this song is just awesome.  Definitely Alan Morse's best guitar song ever.
4. From the Darkness - I love the ebb and flow of this tune; memorable melodies from start to finish.
5. The Water - As much as people say that Neal's epics sounds samey, this one is unique and very different than what we are used to hearing from him (and not cause of the FU section).
6. The Great Nothing - Has some spectacular sections, but isn't quite the masterpiece that many make it out to be.  Still pretty great, though.
7. A Guy Named Sid - Totally underrated suite; the You Don't Know part might be the best section of the entire Feel Euphoria album. 
8. The Healing Colors of Sound - The My Shoes reprisal at the end was completely unncessary - the suite should have ended with HCOS Part 2 - but is still pretty enjoyable. 
9. The Good Don't Last - I've never thought this song was that great or anything, but I do like it.
10. A Flash Before My Eyes - This sounds more like a bunch of songs stitched together for no reason, rather than a real song or suite; Surfing Down the Avalanche is laughably bad thanks to the atrocious vocal melodies.
11. As Far as the Mind Can See - I haven't heard this in years, but I don't remember much about it.  That is a bad sign.

[ytserush]

Snow is an album I really have to be in the mood for.  First off, it's very somber and a little bit ballad-heavy.  It's also kind of bloated.  I think it was a mistake to make it two CDs because the second disc really have quite a bit of filler (Carrie and Looking for Answers come to mind here).

But with that said it's also got some of the most beautiful and moving music that Neal has ever written on it.

I think his creative zenith with Spock's Beard was probably "V"

I'd agree with V being the top of the mountain. I've always thought Snow was contrived, tense and less "fun" than anything that came before it and in hindsight it easy to see why it played out that way. At least it seems that way for me.

I had a bad feeling about it when it Neal said he wanted to do a concept record instead of letting things happen naturally like they seemed to in the past.  I hear tension all over the record, but maybe I'm just hearing things that aren't there.


As far as ranking for these go:

Tier I

The Light
Flow
The Healing Colors Of Sound
The Great Nothing


Tier II

The Water
A Guy Named Sid
Jaws Of Heaven


Tier III

As Far As The Mind Can See
From The Darkness
A Flash Before My Eyes

[weirdo]

Top albums:
   1.V
   2.X
   3.The Light

Those and Beware of Darkness are the only SB albums I've bought so far. I got Beware of darkness yesterday and haven't listened to it yet.

Top multi-part epics from those albums:
   1.Jaws of heaven
   2.From The Darkness
   3.The Great Nothing
   4.The Water
   5.The Light

Numbers 2-5. were very hard to rank. They all have so many good moments.

[The Letter M]

Okay, I think I can finally rank the multi-movement songs...

5/5
The Light
The Water
The Great Nothing
From The Darkness

4.5/5
Jaws Of Heaven
The Good Don't Last
The Healing Colors Of Sound

4/5
Flow
A Guy Named Sid
A Flash Before My Eyes


3/5
As Far As The Mind Can See

-Marc.

[Dr. DTVT]

From The Darkness
The Light
The Great Nothing
Flow

The Water
The Good Don't Last
The Healing Colors Of Sound
Jaws Of Heaven

As Far As The Mind Can See

A Guy Named Sid
A Flash Before My Eyes

[Bongasti]

How can you guys rank As Far As The Mind Can See that low?

[Mladen]

I gave it so many listens and still I don't remember any of it. It's just meh.

[Pols Voice]

1. The Good Don't Last
2. The Light
3. The Great Nothing
4. Flow
5. The Healing Colors of Sound
6. A Flash Before My Eyes
7. As Far As the Mind Can See
8. From the Darkness
9. A Guy Named Sid
10. Jaws of Heaven
11. The Water

[7thHanyou]

How can you guys rank As Far As The Mind Can See that low?

I'm pretty shocked as well, as it's one of my favorites.

Tier I

The Great Nothing
Jaws of Heaven
The Light

Tier II

The Good Don't Last
As Far As the Mind Can See
The Water

Tier III

A Flash Before My Eyes
The Healing Colors of Sound
Flow
From the Darkness

Tier IV

A Guy Named Sid

I think I've only made it through A Guy Named Sid once.

[The Letter M]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzedpxWxb4I&feature=share

Preview of SB11!

-Marc.

[darkshade]

I listened to X yesterday, and my opinion on it has gone up dramatically. I now consider it one of the better symphonic prog albums of the 2000s/2010s. I think every track is excellent.