Spock's Beard

[ColdFireYYZ]

I hope the music is as good as the cover!

[darkshade]

Cool !!!

[The Letter M]

AWESOME cover for BNADS (or BN&DS...or BNDS). I kind of like BNADS for an abbreviation, though.

Anyways, love the feel of the cover, and the use of their SB logo!

-Marc.

[Sketchy]

Cover is amazing. I like muchly.

[Elite]

Great stuff, can't wait!

[Mladen]

Man, everything about this album so far is promising, even the album cover. It's great to see a nice colorful cover after the simplicity of their previous two covers. Spock's Beard, to me, is the band with the best album covers ever, right next to yes. The Light, Feel euforia, V, Snow, Day for night, Octane, and now this - awesome stuff indeed.

[jingle.boy]

My excitement and anticipation continues to build.

[kirksnosehair]

Reminds me a bit of the Feel Euphoria album cover

[Sketchy]

Now that cover is nice (FE)

[The Letter M]

Agreed - Blue is a good color for Spock's Beard!

-Marc.

[Pelata]

I need to get back in the SB groove.

Although I have heard bits and pieces, I pretty much stopped listening when NM left. All the NM-era albums are brilliant, IMO. I broke out "V" this morning for the drive to work and was just singing along all the way in...love it.

I love Ted in Enchant, so I need to check this out.

[The Letter M]

Just realized that the new album's artwork is by the same guy who did SB's Snow. Neal Morse's Sola Scriptura and Enchant's Juggling 9 Or Dropping 10! Awesome!

-Marc.

[7thHanyou]

I need to get back in the SB groove.

Although I have heard bits and pieces, I pretty much stopped listening when NM left. All the NM-era albums are brilliant, IMO. I broke out "V" this morning for the drive to work and was just singing along all the way in...love it.

I love Ted in Enchant, so I need to check this out.

X is fantastic, and I actually like it more than some of the Morse-era albums.  Jaws of Heaven alone is worth the price of admission, but The Edge of the In-Between and The Quiet House are also among their best.  Every other song on the album is good, too.

I like all their albums, but X's quality surprised me.  It was so good that I won't be too disappointed if I don't like this next one as much.

It might be a good place to start.

[The Letter M]

I need to get back in the SB groove.

Although I have heard bits and pieces, I pretty much stopped listening when NM left. All the NM-era albums are brilliant, IMO. I broke out "V" this morning for the drive to work and was just singing along all the way in...love it.

I love Ted in Enchant, so I need to check this out.

X is fantastic, and I actually like it more than some of the Morse-era albums.  Jaws of Heaven alone is worth the price of admission, but The Edge of the In-Between and The Quiet House are also among their best.  Every other song on the album is good, too.

I like all their albums, but X's quality surprised me.  It was so good that I won't be too disappointed if I don't like this next one as much.

It might be a good place to start.

X is certainly amazing, and a great way for Nick to close out his career with SB! I'm just happy that I'll be able to hear Nick drum with Big Big Train from now til the foreseeable future!

And I predict BNADS will be as great as X or maybe even better, considering that of the 8 songs released on X, only ONE was credited to Nick ("From The Darkness"), while the rest of the 7 songs were written by the rest of the band (and their fellow song-writing friends). Also, Al got some brotherly love from Neal for this album, so I expect to hear a bit more of Neal's touch on the BNADS.

I have pretty high hopes for the album, especially after the various samples that they have released, I'm sure they will release an album that will be a huge contender for AOTY for 2013!!!

-Marc.

[adace]

From FB:

Disc One

1. Hiding Out (T. Leonard) - 7:13
2. I Know Your Secret (D. Meros, J. Boegehold) - 7:40
3. A Treasure Abandoned (J. Boegehold, A. Morse) - 8:53
4. Submerged (T. Leonard) - 4:57
5. Afterthoughts (A. Morse, N. Morse, T. Leonard) - 6:08
6. Something Very Strange (J. Boegehold) - 8:23
7. Waiting For Me (A. Morse, N. Morse) - 12:36

Disc Two (special edition only)

1. The Man You’re Afraid You Are (A. Morse, S. Ausmus) - 7:11
2. Down A Burning Road (J. Boegehold, A. Morse) - 6:51
3. Wish I Were Here (A. Morse) - 6:33
4. Something Very Strange / Sanctified Remix - 5:09

limited edition bonus track:

5. Postcards From Perdition (J. Boegehold) - 4:27

[Nel]

Why even buy the one-disc edition? I'm not missing out on 5 songs.

[The Letter M]

From FB:

Disc One

1. Hiding Out (T. Leonard) - 7:13
2. I Know Your Secret (D. Meros, J. Boegehold) - 7:40
3. A Treasure Abandoned (J. Boegehold, A. Morse) - 8:53
4. Submerged (T. Leonard) - 4:57
5. Afterthoughts (A. Morse, N. Morse, T. Leonard) - 6:08
6. Something Very Strange (J. Boegehold) - 8:23
7. Waiting For Me (A. Morse, N. Morse) - 12:36

Disc Two (special edition only)

1. The Man You’re Afraid You Are (A. Morse, S. Ausmus) - 7:11
2. Down A Burning Road (J. Boegehold, A. Morse) - 6:51
3. Wish I Were Here (A. Morse) - 6:33
4. Something Very Strange / Sanctified Remix - 5:09

limited edition bonus track:

5. Postcards From Perdition (J. Boegehold) - 4:27

Just saw this earlier. Interesting to note:

There's a REMIX of a song on the bonus disc, something that is new for SB!
The song "Afterthoughts" might be the next installment in the "Thoughts" series of songs! Clever titling!
None of the songs (so far) don't have any listed movements, so this might be the first album since Snow to have a song without movements (the only other one having been Beware Of Darkness).
Speaking of the songs, they're all relatively long, 8 songs in the 6-9 minute range, but only one over 10, and only 2 in the 5-minute area.
All the music, total, is 85:58 long, and without the remix, 80:52. Just a LITTLE over a CD-R's length. Might have to over-burn a CD-R to get it all on to ONE disc, unless that remix is a good remix!

Anyways, great track list, and I cannot wait to get this even more, now! I wonder if there will be a vinyl?

Side 1 - 14:53
 1. Hiding Out             -  7:13
 2. I Know Your Secret          -  7:40
Side 2 - 19:58
 3. A Treasure Abandoned       -  8:53
 4. Submerged             -  4:57
 5. Afterthoughts          -  6:08
Side 3 - 20:59
 6. Something Very Strange       -  8:23
 7. Waiting For Me          - 12:36
Side 4 - 25:44
 8. The Man You’re Afraid You Are    -  7:11
 9. Down A Burning Road          -  6:51
10. Wish I Were Here          -  6:33
11. Something Very Strange / Sanctified Remix - 5:09

-Marc.

[Prog Snob]

From FB:

Disc One

1. Hiding Out (T. Leonard) - 7:13
2. I Know Your Secret (D. Meros, J. Boegehold) - 7:40
3. A Treasure Abandoned (J. Boegehold, A. Morse) - 8:53
4. Submerged (T. Leonard) - 4:57
5. Afterthoughts (A. Morse, N. Morse, T. Leonard) - 6:08
6. Something Very Strange (J. Boegehold) - 8:23
7. Waiting For Me (A. Morse, N. Morse) - 12:36

Disc Two (special edition only)

1. The Man You’re Afraid You Are (A. Morse, S. Ausmus) - 7:11
2. Down A Burning Road (J. Boegehold, A. Morse) - 6:51
3. Wish I Were Here (A. Morse) - 6:33
4. Something Very Strange / Sanctified Remix - 5:09

limited edition bonus track:

5. Postcards From Perdition (J. Boegehold) - 4:27

I was very pleased to see Neal's name attached to a couple of these songs.  I admittedly have not listen to a new Spock's Beard CD since Feel Euphoria, but I am thinking about picking up everything after that just to see what I have been missing.

[kirksnosehair]

"X" is the best.  I think it stands head and shoulders above the rest of the post-Neal material.  The self-titled album was a bit dull I thought.  "Octane" was decent and "Feel Euphoria" had its moments, but every track on "X" is either good or great.

[Pols Voice]

Here's my dark secret...X is my least favorite post-Neal album. Partly because it doesn't have a song that wows me like Ghosts of Autumn, There Was a Time, and On a Perfect Day do. Self-titled is my favorite Nick album.

EDIT: Oh, that new album track listing is interesting. Only one song with a Meros writing credit is unusual, plus a couple songs written entirely by Boegehold.

[Jaq]

Here's my dark secret...X is my least favorite post-Neal album. Partly because it doesn't have a song that wows me like Ghosts of Autumn, There Was a Time, and On a Perfect Day do. Self-titled is my favorite Nick album.

EDIT: Oh, that new album track listing is interesting. Only one song with a Meros writing credit is unusual, plus a couple songs written entirely by Boegehold.

Self-titled is my favorite Nick album, by a long range. I never really got into X, no matter how hard I tried. Octane was pretty cool, and I seem to be a rarity around these parts in that I find Feel Euphoria to be a bloody disaster of an album.

[Pols Voice]

I dunno, I think I'm in the minority because I like Feel Euphoria. The only song I don't like is the title track. The album is kind of brazen and shows a band trying to find their way again, but it's endearing in a way.

[The Letter M]

EDIT: Oh, that new album track listing is interesting. Only one song with a Meros writing credit is unusual, plus a couple songs written entirely by Boegehold.

Also what's weird is that there's no writing credits for Ryo Okumoto, who has had at least one on every album since Neal left. He had 2 on FE, 3 on Octane, and 1 each on SB and X.

As for Meros, he had 1 on FE, 6 on Octane, 5 on SB, and 4 on X.

And while I'm at it, Al had 4 on FE, 5 on Octane, 1 on SB, and 3 on X. So it seems like at one point or another, Ryo, Al and Dave all had only 1 writing credit on an album, although it still boggles my mind that Ryo doesn't have one on BNADS! I was hoping for another killer instrumental or maybe a touching piano ballad, but we'll see...

I am glad to see Ted having 3 writing credits on this album, though, although I believe "Submerged" was a tune he had written and recorded before joining SB, but I suppose they liked it enough to include on this new album?

And I might as well finish my tallies:
Boegehold: 4 on FE, 11 on Octane, 6 on SB, 4 on X, and 5 on BNADS
Ausmus: 2 on FE, 1 on Octane, 2 on SB, 1 on X, and only 1 on BNADS

-Marc.

[Dr. DTVT]

"X" is the best.  I think it stands head and shoulders above the rest of the post-Neal material.  The self-titled album was a bit dull I thought.  "Octane" was decent and "Feel Euphoria" had its moments, but every track on "X" is either good or great.

This man...he is very wise.

The posts that followed almost gave me an aneurysm.

[Mladen]

Wow, quite a lot of credits went to Boegehold and Leonard. Yet the samples sound unmistakeably like Spock's beard. We'll see how this works out, I'm liking the track lengths and titles.

[Sketchy]

I do very much like X and FE out of the post Neal stuff (including the FE title track. It's so different), but yeah, I'm looking forward to this.

[The Letter M]

https://www.burningshed.com/store/progressive/multiproduct/99/3513/

Looks like Burning Shed is selling the vinyl version of SB's new album!

Side 1:

1. Hiding Out (7:13)
2. I Know Your Secret (7:40)
3. A Treasure Abandoned (8:53)

Side 2:

1. Submerged (4:57)
2. Afterthoughts (6:08)
3. Something Very Strange (8:23)

Side 3:

1. Waiting For Me (12:36)
2. The Man You're Afraid You Are (7:11)

Side 4:

1. Down A Burning Road (6:51)
2. Wish I Were Here (6:33)
3. Something Very Strange / Sanctified (Remix) (5:09)

Plus the entire album in CD format (in a transparent plastic sleeve) as a bonus.

Also, they note the following:

Spock's Beard's first album in three years sees Ted Leonard and Jimmy Keegan make their studio debuts for the band and Neal Morse making a welcome return (as co-writer on two of the album's key tracks).

A typically complex marriage of old and new Prog, Brief Nocturnes offers the Gentle Giant influenced Afterthoughts, the Rock anthem Submerged and the sprawling Waiting For Me.

The album is available as a limited mediabook edition double cd and double vinyl (featuring the two cd discs in a transparent plastic sleeve)

Pre-order for March 25th release.

Now I am even MORE convinced that "Afterthoughts" is really "Thoughts Part 3" in disguise.

-Marc.

[Sketchy]

Damn having paid a grand of tax last week in a big lump. I want that right now.

[JayOctavarium]

Still working on weaving my way through the SB discography... Love the first 3.


and since I should stop ranting and raving to Blob in the chat thread I will rant about it here... saw Ryo playing with a sort of "local legends" bar band last night... they played a variety of classic rock and funk covers... Ryo is a crazy sonofabitch! Totally made my night too... my buddy's band kinda opened for the main band and played during their break... and Ryo jumped in at the last mninute and they played Walking on the Wind.



Fuck me I am slowly getting more and more hooked on SB

[Pols Voice]

Still working on weaving my way through the SB discography... Love the first 3.

Enjoy it, man. IMO, they have one of the most consistent discographies out there.

[The Letter M]

Still working on weaving my way through the SB discography... Love the first 3.

Enjoy it, man. IMO, they have one of the most consistent discographies out there.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. They're really great, even after Neal left the band!

Also, someone from ProgressiveEars posted on Ted's FB asking about "Afterthoughts" and Ted pretty much revealed that it really is "Thoughts Part 3", so I'm glad they kept the song and a relatively clever title on the new album! Now... the question remains - who will release "Thoughts Part 4"

-Marc.

[ColdFireYYZ]

Now... the question remains - who will release "Thoughts Part 4"

Transatlantic maybe?

[The Letter M]

Now... the question remains - who will release "Thoughts Part 4"

Transatlantic maybe?

Don't even joke...

That would be pretty epic, mostly because Neal would arrange ALL FOUR of them to do vocals, and it would be awesome. Also, TA *are* set to record an album this year, so... that would be cool, but I highly doubt he'd do another "Thoughts" so soon after 3 and 5 have been released.

-Marc.

[JayOctavarium]

Somebody please explain "Thoughts" to me. I know of parts 1 and 2... and obviously Afterthoughts is part of it... but 3 & 5? I'm so lost

[Pols Voice]

Somebody please explain "Thoughts" to me. I know of parts 1 and 2... and obviously Afterthoughts is part of it... but 3 & 5? I'm so lost

Part 1 is on Beware of Darkness, Part 2 on V, Part 3 is on the upcoming SB album as Afterthoughts, there is no Part 4 yet, and Part 5 is on Neal Morse's Momentum.