I don’t think Neal or Ted era SB has ever really replicated Neal’s ability to whip out epic length tunes, and no one can really imitate his specific songwriting trademarks, but just in terms of the sound of the band and retaining that mix of pop, rock, and prog, I think Spock’s retained it after Neal left moreso than Neal did.
You mean Nick or Ted era SB?
I would only kind of agree, mostly more so in the Ted-Era, especially since 2 of the 3 songs that are over 10-minutes that SB has released in the last decade have had Neal write (part of) them - "Falling For Forever" and "Waiting For Me" (with the third being "To Be Free Again" at 10:28 long). I think the Nick-Era at least tried to put in some sort of epic on each album, most of which were helped by Nick ("A Guy Named Sid", "From The Darkness", and "With Your Kiss"), though those had different sensibilities and styles than Neal did. But I do agree, the band did retain the more pop-rock sound after Neal left, mostly due to just how good the band was, and their collective writing helped flesh out their sound palette a bit more as well, especially with the addition of Boegehold and Ausmus.
His writing after he left became primarily conceptual, and lost a lot of the quirkiness and more pop sensibilities that were in his SB writing.
I'd say a lot of his first four prog solo albums after he left SB were a bit more serious, and not as quirky as some of his early SB stuff, but then there were songs like "Leviathan" on Lifeline, "Time Changer" and "Nighttime Collectors" from Testimony 2, and "Freak" from Momentum were fairly quirky and different than his usually serious/somber fare. He definitely still retained his pop sensibilities as well, like with "Back To The Garden", "Nothing To Believe", and "King Jesus" from One, "Outside Looking In" from ?, about half of the Lifeline album, and a few songs from Testimony 1 and 2 as well. They just didn't sound like SB because, even though he was still the primary writer, having Portnoy and George definitely helped differentiate his sound from SB, both in the prog and pop departments.
But also, Al, Nick, Dave, and Ryo are all very unique players and they were very much a part of the sound and style of the first 6 SB albums. Their presence alone (at least until Nick left for the first two Ted albums) kept the band’s sound more or less intact.
I'd say each of those four definitely helped shape the band's sound just as much as Neal's writing and playing did. If you paid enough attention to their playing enough, you could definitely tell that Al, Ryo, and Dave were still in the same band after Neal left, when Nick and Ted took over as frontmen. It would be a shame if the band is done since it seems like Ted has no idea what's going on with them.
Ryo was recently seen recording live-in-studio at the Mouse House with another band. Ted and Dave have Pattern-Seeking Animals now, with a third album on the way by next Spring and a tour as well. As for Al?... I'm not sure what he's been up to lately, probably his day job, and with the Ryo doing various gigs and Ted and Dave with PSA, maybe he's decided that SB should call it a day? At this point, if they release a 14th album, it'll have been 4 years since their last one (if released next year), which would be as long as the gap between their self-titled and X releases, which felt like an eternity for me, so who knows what'll happen this time.
-Marc.
Topic: Transatlantic Official Thread (Read 530691 times)