Question/discussion for Neal Morse and Spock's Beard fans

[KevShmev]

It's quite the opposite for me. I love Spock's beard (and Transatlantic), but still didn't have the chance to check out Neal's solo career. Will do this year, hopefully...

That seems a little more believable, especially if someone is not a fan of spiritual lyrics and are hesitant to check out Neal's post-SB solo work because they know before going in that they are gonna get that pretty much 100% of the time.

[bosk1]

Now that you mention it, I do see the SB influence on T2, which is pretty cool.

You've obviously not listened to Spock's Beard that much

Of course not.  I said as much in my first post in the thread, which is why I don't want to vote. 

That still baffles me.  I don't get how someone who is such a big fan of Neal hasn't dove head first into checking out the band he was in before going solo, especially considering how similar the style and sound is, generally speaking (lyrics and fun factor notwithstanding ).

No real reason.  Just haven't gotten around to it is all.  There's a lot of good music out there that I need to check out. 

[hefdaddy42]

I don't know, this is pretty close.  I will say that there is more filler on the SB albums than on the NM solo albums.

[ytserush]

Not sure why his first two solo albums were ignored. I like them as much as the post-split albums.

Not really much of a fan of Snow and I think Neal's post-Spock work is uneven, for every awesome track you can find one that's not quite so good.


So given all of that I went with the Spock's Beard albums. The pure joy that comes out of The Light through V is otherworldy. And that goes triple when you experience it live....

Seeing Neal do his solo stuff is great too, but it's a whole other animal. I'm just not getting the music for music's sake vibe with it.
There are parts where it really shines like the Spock's stuff, but it's not as consistent.

[bosk1]

Tell ya' what, Kev.  I will listen to some Spock's right now, okay?  *dials it up*

[Mladen]

Good for you, Bosk. 

[KevShmev]

I don't know, this is pretty close.  I will say that there is more filler on the SB albums than on the NM solo albums.

Eh, I hate the word filler, but going by what most people call it, I'd say Testimony and Snow by far have the most of it, of the 12 albums, and testimony is loaded with it, so that gives SB the edge.  And I can only think of three songs from the other SB albums that I flat-out do not care for (Skin, Gibberish and Can't Get It Wrong), so I guess I disagree with your statement.

Not sure why his first two solo albums were ignored.

That's what I always say - his self-titled debut is dynamite! - but it was easier for the sake of this poll to focus on the post-SB albums.

Tell ya' what, Kev.  I will listen to some Spock's right now, okay?  *dials it up*

 

[bosk1]

Sorry.  Bored now.  *switches to Trivium*

[Ħ]

wut

[bosk1]

I said...

*repeats slightly louder*

Sorry.  Bored now.  *switches to Trivium*

[Gadough]

ITT: Bosk being cool

[Sigz]

Neal is good, but has a very clear formula. Spock's Beard is considerably more interesting and diverse over multiple albums.

[Ħ]

Neal is good, but has a very clear formula. Spock's Beard is considerably more interesting and diverse over multiple albums.

I hate to agree with you but I have to. With each new NM album, you pretty much know exactly what you're going to get. Can't say the same for SB.

[KevShmev]

A lot of Neal's stuff is somewhat samey, despite his insistence on trying to have every album not sound like the others, but I do think he does throw in a lot of stuff that is a bit different.  It's just that the samey stuff is so samey that it gives the impression that it is all like that.  But I listened to The Separated Man on a drive this weekend (which I hadn't done in a while with that song, as opposed to listening to it while on the computer where it becomes background music a lot of the time and you aren't dedicated to just listening to it) and was surprised how different a lot of it was from stuff Neal usually does, especially in the latter half.  Sure, it is easy to say, "But he does that flamenco-style acoustic guitar stuff a lot," but it is not that simple.  It goes off into a vibe and feel that is very, very different for him.  And I had forgotten how really awesome that song is, so it was quite an enjoyable listen, to say the least.

[darkshade]

If anything, he has stayed away from the latin/flamenco stuff for a while. Lifeline, The Whirlwind, and Testimony 2 do not have moments like that.

[kirksnosehair]

I said...

*repeats slightly louder*

Sorry.  Bored now.  *switches to Trivium*

I have to admit I LOL'd pretty hard at that 

[KevShmev]

If anything, he has stayed away from the latin/flamenco stuff for a while. Lifeline, The Whirlwind, and Testimony 2 do not have moments like that.

True, but I don't get why some ever had a problem with it.  Neal's acoustic playing is always awesome, and that style is one of his many trademarks, so why steer away from it?  I mean, is anyone gonna tell me that the acoustic section in The Separated Man isn't awesome?  Or the Two Down, One to Go section in The Conflict?

[darkshade]

If anything, he has stayed away from the latin/flamenco stuff for a while. Lifeline, The Whirlwind, and Testimony 2 do not have moments like that.

True, but I don't get why some ever had a problem with it.  Neal's acoustic playing is always awesome, and that style is one of his many trademarks, so why steer away from it?  I mean, is anyone gonna tell me that the acoustic section in The Separated Man isn't awesome?  Or the Two Down, One to Go section in The Conflict?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it. I could see him returning to it on his new album. I'd say he traded the latin thing for more bluesy stuff for now.

[Ħ]

If anything, he has stayed away from the latin/flamenco stuff for a while. Lifeline, The Whirlwind, and Testimony 2 do not have moments like that.

True, but I don't get why some ever had a problem with it.  Neal's acoustic playing is always awesome, and that style is one of his many trademarks, so why steer away from it?  I mean, is anyone gonna tell me that the acoustic section in The Separated Man isn't awesome?  Or the Two Down, One to Go section in The Conflict?

I thought The Separated Man was a pretty lame song overall, though I've probably only listened to it 5 or 6 times. And I've only heard Sola Scriptura twice so I don't really remember about The Conflict.

Also, Children of the Chosen has a Latiny guitar thing going on.

[darkshade]

I think The Conflict has the best Latin section in all his songs, except for maybe The Light. Sola Scriptura is a blast!

[ytserush]

No contest for me.  I've continued to support Neal's solo career, having purchased everything he's released since leaving Spock's Beard, but for my money the Spock's Beard material is vastly superior in just about every conceivable way.  I like the music better, I like the ambiguity of the lyrics much better.  There's a lot of spiritual stuff in there that can be interpreted comfortably by just about anyone, and now with his solo stuff it's pretty much an ecclesiastical bludgeoning with every album.  Two things bother me about this:  I definitely do not subscribe to the message, and it gets a little bit monotonous after a few albums in a row of what is essentially the same topic.  I think the lyrics Neal was writing back in the Spock's Beard days had a bit more variety to them.

And as someone else mentioned, the message now is full-on dead-serious, whereas before there was a lot more fun and mischief in the lyrics.  (I had mustard today, I can't eat it no more)

With all of that said, let me make something abundantly clear:  I think Neal is a musical genius.  I have a huge amount of admiration for his compositional skills and the man really knows how to both create and deliver some extremely emotional melodies.  And as far as his chops as a keyboardist and guitarist, well, he's excellent on both instruments.  I've also had the great pleasure of having spoken to Neal a few times and even worked with him on The Tsunami Projekt.  He's a great guy and a great musician and even though I'm not crazy about his lyrics these days I understand and respect that he's passionate and very genuine and honest about his beliefs and that does shine through in his music.  I can and do tune out his lyrics because I think his music is generally good enough that it's still worth listening to.

Not sure how I missed this before, but it pretty much nails how I've always felt.

[KevShmev]

I thought The Separated Man was a pretty lame song overall, though I've probably only listened to it 5 or 6 times. And I've only heard Sola Scriptura twice so I don't really remember about The Conflict.

Sola Scriptura admittedly took a long time to really grow on me.  Busting the two really long songs into shorter songs via a program that allowed me to break them up did the trick, as I was then able to get into the many sections almost as 12 individual songs (6 per epic). 

And I call WTF on The Separated Man being lame.  That song rules.

I think The Conflict has the best Latin section in all his songs, except for maybe The Light.

And The Doorway (talking strictly long acoustic sections)! 

[The Letter M]

Sola Scriptura admittedly took a long time to really grow on me.  Busting the two really long songs into shorter songs via a program that allowed me to break them up did the trick, as I was then able to get into the many sections almost as 12 individual songs (6 per epic). 

I hadn't thought of doing that with Sola Scriptura, although I had done that with Bridge Across Forever (which ended up being 17 tracks in the end - I also re-mixed the ending of "Suite Charlotte Pike" back onto the song and cross-faded it into the beginning of the album's title track).

I might have to go through SS and separate the movements and make a CD mix like that, but I listen to Neal's albums straight-through SO much that it might not even make a difference for me.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

My breakdowns are as follows (if you are curious):

The Door: Introduction    4:34   
The Door: In the Name of God   5:11
The Door: All I Ask For   4:10   
The Door: Mercy for Sale   4:48   
The Door: Keep Silent   6:46
The Door: Upon the Door   3:46   

The Conflict: Do You Know My Name? 4:01
The Conflict: Party to the Lie   3:09   
The Conflict: Underground    4:36   
The Conflict: Two Down, One to Go   4:59   
The Conflict: The Vineyard    2:31
The Conflict: Already Home   5:45