Spock's Beard Discography thread

[KevShmev]

I've always thought some of the lyrics on Feel Euphoria were about Neal's departure, especially since NDV apparently was not happy when Neal departed.  I remember his wife, Tiffany, posting on the Spock's Beard forum back then that Nick was pissed at Neal at the time for leaving, but they've obviously been all good for a while now, so Nick's anger must not have stuck.

[Orbert]

Why was Nick pissed?  I mean, other than in a "WTF, dude?" kind of way.  Neal's departure shocked everyone, including the rest of the band, I'm sure.  I suppose anger is one reaction when immense disappointment doesn't quite cover it.

[KevShmev]

Why was Nick pissed?  I mean, other than in a "WTF, dude?" kind of way.  Neal's departure shocked everyone, including the rest of the band, I'm sure.  I suppose anger is one reaction when immense disappointment doesn't quite cover it.

I don't remember her elaborating too much, but I think the popular theory was that after how well V was received, Snow, which I remember going over extremely well with online prog rock fans, was poised to help them get bigger, and then Neal left and the album never even got a tour. 

[Orbert]

I didn't even think about the fact that they didn't tour that album.  Yeah, that would suck, probably enough to be pissed about it.  Neal was obviously thinking only about himself at that time, not the fans or the rest of the band.  So, anger borne of disappointment.

[Mladen]

Neal discussed this with Dave Meros on his YouTube podcast a couple of years ago. Dave stated that Snow did so well in terms of sales that the band were confident they would in fact be the next Dream Theater. And then Neal left. It was such an odd timing for his departure, it's not unusual for all sort of emotions to come up in such a situation.

[KevShmev]

I get being pissed, but without getting into Neal's specific reason, if someone wants to leave a job or a band, that is their right.  Neal's muse took him elsewhere and he wanted to follow it, and I cannot begrudge him that (no matter how much I may or may not believe in his specific reason).

[Orbert]

Yeah, I don't mean getting pissed at Neal; it's more like getting pissed about the situation itself.  Neal was well within his rights, but having the right to do something and it being the "right" thing to do are not always the same thing, especially when you've built something with other people and these others have come to depend on you.  Now that I think about, I can see being pissed at Neal.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, I don't mean getting pissed at Neal; it's more like getting pissed about the situation itself.  Neal was well within his rights, but having the right to do something and it being the "right" thing to do are not always the same thing, especially when you've built something with other people and these others have come to depend on you.  Now that I think about, I can see being pissed at Neal.

Agreed.  I can see both sides of the coin.

[Mladen]

I returned to Neal's discussion on this with Dave. Dave now has a really nice, mature take on the events, and I have a feeling Nick feels the same nowadays as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3hOrlvo9hs - 57:34

[Orbert]

The passage of time tends to mellow the emotions felt at the time.  These guys can now sit and laugh about things, which is great, but at the time I'm sure it was much more intense.

[HOF]

Here’s an article about the making of Snow that goes into the band’s reaction to Neal’s departure (written by current BBT manage Nick Shilton funny enough):

https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-of-spocks-beard-and-snow

I went through nine months of emotional preparation, and I had God. They weren’t prepared; they just had to deal with what I laid on them. I’ve always felt really bad about that. Then they began their grieving process and all responded in different ways. Some were angry, and some on the night that I told them were encouraging, because I was crying and really upset.

Meros harbours no resentment regarding Morse’s departure. “Neal needed to make a clean break from his previous life and leaving Spock’s was one of the steps. We all still love Neal. He started this band and by leaving and just handing it to us we all had to step up as musicians and writers. He created the band and then gave it to us. So there’s a lot of gratitude. He did nothing with malice. If I did judge him, it would be positive – he followed his heart. That takes a lot of courage.

So yeah, Neal admits some of the guys were angry, but I think time has mostly healed that and probably the band carrying on without him successfully has been a big part of that. I know one thing that was mentioned in the band documentary on the “First Twenty Years” release was that Neal gave the band name and control of the trademarks to the other guys when he left, which helped them out a lot with continuing and prevented any sort of messy legal disputes.

[KevShmev]

I didn't know that about the legal stuff, but I can't say I am surprised. Neal seems like a classy guy who would have wanted to make the transition as easy as possible for those guys given the circumstances, so I am not surprised at all that he relinquished control over all that.

Good interview, too, Mladen!   I only had time for the ending, but you can tell how much respect there is between Neal and Dave.  I also liked Dave pointing out how much fun they had back in the day; you can hear that in the music, and in fact for as much of Neal's music as I love post-SB (most of it!), I have said before that the fun kind of went out of his music for a while after he left Spock's.  Albums like One and ? were still tremendous, despite not having the strong fun factor that Spock's often had.

[gzarruk]

I know this has been discussed enough through the years already, so I'm not saying anything new or too interesting, but given the current status of SB (mostly dead and apparently unable to move things around), I really really hope Neal feels the need to do something with them again and that they get Nick back, keep Ted, and make the best album they could ever make. No outside writers, just those 6 guys.

Surely Neal doesn't need this, he still has NMB, FC, his trio project and all the different aspects of his solo stuff to keep him busy for years to come, but I really think this band won't ever do anything else unless this happens at some point.

[DoctorAction]

I know this has been discussed enough through the years already, so I'm not saying anything new or too interesting, but given the current status of SB (mostly dead and apparently unable to move things around), I really really hope Neal feels the need to do something with them again and that they get Nick back, keep Ted, and make the best album they could ever make. No outside writers, just those 6 guys.

Surely Neal doesn't need this, he still has NMB, FC, his trio project and all the different aspects of his solo stuff to keep him busy for years to come, but I really think this band won't ever do anything else unless this happens at some point.

So much this.

[Cocopjojo]

I know this has been discussed enough through the years already, so I'm not saying anything new or too interesting, but given the current status of SB (mostly dead and apparently unable to move things around), I really really hope Neal feels the need to do something with them again and that they get Nick back, keep Ted, and make the best album they could ever make. No outside writers, just those 6 guys.

Surely Neal doesn't need this, he still has NMB, FC, his trio project and all the different aspects of his solo stuff to keep him busy for years to come, but I really think this band won't ever do anything else unless this happens at some point.

I think it's a huge miss for Neal to be repeating Testimony 1 and 2 for Morsefest, rather than doing something with SB. Especially given the hugely positive response to Snow.

[KevShmev]

Not like it matters because the new church is so small, but I just don't think Spock's is much of a draw, even at Morsefest.  I am sure Snow did well, because that was playing a Neal concept album that had never been played before, but I was there in 2018 when night 1 was Neal, Ted and Nick, the three Spock's singers doing a concert of mostly Spock's songs, and the place wasn't even close to being filled up. 

[HOF]

I do get the sense that there are more fans of Neal’s solo stuff than of his Spock’s Beard stuff, but some of that might just be how people around here feel. It has been over 20 years since he left Spock’s though, so I can imagine there’s less enthusiasm for that stuff among his current fans.

[425]

I'm inclined to think that's just DTF. If you look at what people say in the online prog world more broadly, I see a lot more "his Spock's Beard stuff was great, his solo stuff is boring and too religious" than I do "he's gotten even better since leaving SB."

On the other hand, I wonder how much of a draw MP is, particularly to NMB stuff. It's really noticeable on some of Neal's releases of the late 00s/early 10s how prominent "featuring Mike Portnoy" is in the marketing.

[King Postwhore]

I would disagree only to the extent that SB doesn't tour much because there is no demand while most of Neil's music has people showing up to live events. 

I thought the strongest album in the Nick era was X. There was a decline from Feel Euphoria though the self titled, then X was a fantastic album. I liked both obviously.  I'd just wish They'd still play live.  PSA is just ok to me.   

[The Letter M]

Legendary US progressive rockers Spock’s Beard are pleased to announce a special 20th anniversary edition of their ‘Feel Euphoria’ album, arriving on vinyl for the very first time on 24th November 2023. Pre-order now here: https://spocksbeard.lnk.to/FeelEuphoria-20thAnniversary

Dave Meros comments of this edition: “This is the first in a series of re-releases of the ‘Nick era’ Spock's Beard albums.  I hadn't listened to this album many years, and it was cool to hear how hard we rocked some of those songs, how unique it was compared to the typical prog rock album of the time, and how different it was from both what we had done in the past and what we were to do in the future.”

‘Feel Euphoria’, originally released in 2003, was a landmark album for the band, being their first without Neal Morse, and with Nick D’Virgilio as lead vocalist. It also demonstrated a more band approach to the song-writing.

This brand new gatefold 180g 2LP edition has been newly remastered especially for vinyl by Patrick Engel at Temple of Disharmony, and includes the two bonus tracks from the original release as well as liner notes from each band member reflecting on the album.

LP1
Side A
Onomatopoeia 00:05:16
The Bottom Line 00:07:32
Feel Euphoria 00:07:20

Side B
Shining Star 00:04:04
East Of Eden, West Of Memphis 00:07:05
Ghosts Of Autumn 00:06:54

LP2:
Side C
A Guy Named Sid: Intro 00:03:00
Same Old Story 00:04:25
You Don't Know 00:03:11
Judge 00:03:20
Sid's Boys Choir 00:01:09
Change 00:05:18

Side D
Carry On 00:05:18
Moth Of Many Flames (Bonus track) 00:02:49
From The Messenger (Bonus track) 00:07:26

This reissue marks the first in a series of vinyl releases from this period of the bands existence. Look at for more in the future.

I don't really collect vinyl but I've got SB's 2nd-6th albums on vinyl so I might as well continue the collection, especially if they do the rest of the Nick-era albums.

Edit - picked up the blue vinyl from lasercd, only $39 after shipping.
https://www.lasercd.com/vinyl/feel-euphoria-2lp-blue-vinyl-preorder

-Marc.

[Mladen]

Not a favorite album of mine by any means, but it's interesting that it is getting some recognition.

[HOF]

Still think this might be the strongest of the Nick era albums (though I really like the self-titled too, and X has it’s virtues (but also it’s clunkers)).

The Bottom Line, Ghosts of Autumn, Shining Star, and East of Eden, West of Memphis are all great tunes, and A Guy Names Sid is an underrated epic. Love the drum work and sound throughout this album, and Nick is also great on vocals. I think you can sort of tell they are working with multiple writers and searching for their own sound without Neal, but that also makes it kind of an interesting listen.

Come to think of it, it’s an example of a song with the “wrong” opener as they could have just left Onomatopoeia off and opened with The Bottom Line.

[HOF]

Well, the band keep attempting to play live shows, so they aren’t done altogether.

https://www.spocksbeard.com/?fbclid=IwAR2EtbT9imuOwru8xopMP-lO0luIAS_RH7EM5jm3t95Mq4sPkA_SXIaUEZo

Spock's Beard is totally over the top excited to announce our upcoming our our appearance at the 2024 Midwinter Prog Festival tour February 3, at the Tivoli in Utrech, Netherlands! We will be co-headlining with Pain of Salvation, with some really exciting support acts as well!


It has been wayyy too long, we can't wait to come rock your asses off! It's really going to happen this time you guys. We've had to cancel some shows due to circumstances beyond our control. So please let us assure you we wouldn't be announcing this if it wasn't locked in, we don't want to disappoint you again.


So get ready to step through The Doorway and into The Light on a Perfect Day, we are coming! Watch this space for more tour dates and other info, we'll be rocking you all very soon!

[gzarruk]

After reading Ministro's interview with Ted, I wouldn't hold any hope SB does anything else besides play a few shows here and there.

[MinistroRaven]

After reading Ministro's interview with Ted, I wouldn't hold any hope SB does anything else besides play a few shows here and there.

Yes, Ted made it clear that other than playing here and there the band is pretty much done

[HOF]

After reading Ministro's interview with Ted, I wouldn't hold any hope SB does anything else besides play a few shows here and there.

Yes, Ted made it clear that other than playing here and there the band is pretty much done

I missed the interview. Have a link?

[gzarruk]

After reading Ministro's interview with Ted, I wouldn't hold any hope SB does anything else besides play a few shows here and there.

Yes, Ted made it clear that other than playing here and there the band is pretty much done

I missed the interview. Have a link?

Here you go! https://lotsofmuzik.com/ted-leonard-talks-music-inspiration-and-the-future-of-pattern-seeking-animals-spocks-beard-transatlantic-enchant-and-more-in-candid-interview/

At this point, if Neal doesn't approach the guys to return and make another album, I don't think there ever will be.

[HOF]

After reading Ministro's interview with Ted, I wouldn't hold any hope SB does anything else besides play a few shows here and there.

Yes, Ted made it clear that other than playing here and there the band is pretty much done

I missed the interview. Have a link?

Here you go! https://lotsofmuzik.com/ted-leonard-talks-music-inspiration-and-the-future-of-pattern-seeking-animals-spocks-beard-transatlantic-enchant-and-more-in-candid-interview/

At this point, if Neal doesn't approach the guys to return and make another album, I don't think there ever will be.

Thanks! Yeah, I agree it would probably take Neal writing an album himself and convincing them to record it as SB, though it’s weird that they are able to tour together, and they all played on Ryo’s album recently. The stuff he said about how the band felt about Noise Floor is something he’s mentioned before, and I guess maybe there’s some creative differences there at this point. I’m definitely with Ted on that one though. I thought it was great!

[XeRocks81]

After reading Ministro's interview with Ted, I wouldn't hold any hope SB does anything else besides play a few shows here and there.

Yes, Ted made it clear that other than playing here and there the band is pretty much done

I missed the interview. Have a link?

Here you go! https://lotsofmuzik.com/ted-leonard-talks-music-inspiration-and-the-future-of-pattern-seeking-animals-spocks-beard-transatlantic-enchant-and-more-in-candid-interview/

At this point, if Neal doesn't approach the guys to return and make another album, I don't think there ever will be.

Thanks! Yeah, I agree it would probably take Neal writing an album himself and convincing them to record it as SB, though it’s weird that they are able to tour together, and they all played on Ryo’s album recently. The stuff he said about how the band felt about Noise Floor is something he’s mentioned before, and I guess maybe there’s some creative differences there at this point. I’m definitely with Ted on that one though. I thought it was great!

Noise Floor was an odd period also because I happened to attend one of the very few gigs they did with NDV on drums around that time (one of them was in Quebec city).  And even though they clearly said Nick was NOT rejoining the band, that doing drums on the record and those gigs was just a one off,  Ted was really laying it on thick during the show as to how cool it was that he was there how much fans love him etc.  Feels like they tried real hard to get Nick come back during that time but obvs he doesn't want to.  Even though he'll talk about The Beard a lot on his youtube channel and spotlight songs... I dont quite get it but it is what it is.

[Kwyjibo]

I was of the impression that Spock's Beard more or less called it quits because they weren't really successful in the end. But reading this, seems there more to it, he talks about creative differences and tensions. I wonder what's really holding them back.

[HOF]

It almost sounds like Ted didn’t really jive with someone, which I imagine would be Al since Ted is still in a band with Dave, and Ryo had him sing on his solo album. But I also think there was some tension with John Boeghold from a writing perspective, so maybe there just isn’t the will to reinvent the wheel if they were to part ways with anyone from the current configuration. It’s not like you can easily recruit a new singer with the band winding down at their age.

[XeRocks81]

maybe they could do a kind of « Farewell to The Beard » weekend event , in the US and europe, featuring everybody (Neal, Nick and Jimmy included) and properly say goodbye.   Maybe not morsefest but something similar.   Idk maybe that’s unrealistic

[Mosh]

I am actually a bit surprised that Neal Morse hasn't rejoined the band. For a while, it felt like things were moving in that direction. Neal was starting to move into more secular music directions with projects like Flying Colors and reviving old projects like Transatlantic. Even some of the solo albums, like Momentum and The Grand Experiment, had material that would have fit nicely in Spock's Beard. Then there were the little one off reunions and writing sessions that culminated in the live performance of Snow. It all just seemed to make sense that the logical step forward for both artists would be at least a final Neal Morse fronted album and a mini tour of some sort.

[HOF]

Haven’t watched this yet, but posting sort of as a reminder to come back to it when I have time. Prog Report interview with the Feel Euphoria lineup of SB for the vinyl reissue.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qXbUjTRZRZw

[hefdaddy42]

I saw on Facebook this morning that SB is doing a small European tour.  So I guess they aren't dead yet.