Spock's Beard hit like a lightning bolt of fresh musical ingenuity in a dry pop desert upon their arrival on the music scene. Their unique music wedded the best of classic progressive rock (ala Pink Floyd, Yes, Gentle Giant, ELP, & Genesis) with catchy pop/rock elements (think Beatles, Jellyfish, and Cheap Trick), solid vocals, and powerful instrumentation. There are memorable hooks and lyrical/vocal snippets all over these albums.
The Light is the strong debut Spock's Beard release. It features the signature Beard classic "The Light" (recently performed by Neal on his Testimony tour). The song features a terrific sequence called "The Dream" and the amusing flamenco influenced fun of "Senor Valasco's Mystic Voodoo Love Dance": "I am Senior Valasco / I drink my milk with tobasco." The 23 minute epic "The Water" features the section called "FU/I'm Sorry," a song that Neal wrote this about in the liner notes: "The FU section makes me uncomfortable now as I'm not in that space anymore (Thank God!) and I apologize to anyone who might be offended by it. Clear the kids out before you put this one on!" The Light is a solid debut from the band and stands out as a CD that helped to reinvigorate the progressive music realm.
Beware of Darkness, the second release from the band, opens with the stunning title cover of the George Harrison classic (bearing only a slight resemblance to the original, as the Beard places their own stamp on the song). The standout track on Beware of Darkness is "The Doorway," another majestic Beard epic that will grab hold of your synapses and not let go. Fast forward to the grand keyboard solo at 4:48 to hear the lick that repeats itself in my brain over and over again. Incredible stuff! The instrumental "Chataqua" is a nice bit of guitar magic, and the CD ends with the powerful "Time Has Come."
The Kindness of Strangers rounds out the trio of Special Editions in an impressive way and features some of the most powerful rockers the band produced (see "In the Mouth of Madness" and "Cakewalk on Easy Street" for proof). The CD also showcases the crowd pleasing live favorite "June," a catchy, hook-laden bit o' three part harmony, raise your lighter high rock fun. The closing epic "Flow" is one of my favorite Spock's Beard songs.
The main creative force behind Spock's Beard was the talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Neal Morse. And there is evidence of God's hand in Neal's life at the time of the writing and recording of these CDs scattered throughout, just as glimpses of what God was doing in the life of Kerry Livgren of Kansas peeked through in his lyrics written for that band. While listening to the Special Editions of the first three Spock's Beard CDs one can find glimpses of the same kind of influence working its way into the lyrics that Neal Morse wrote. For example "Flow" from The Kindness of Strangers features these lyrics:
True believer
You are ever
Forever
The great deceiver
Will never boil your blood
Or swallow you
whole...yeah...
And
We're gone forever
Headlong together
We're gone - we're so far gone
The true believer
Has burst the ocean wide
We're gone - we're so far gone
To where the last of the long lost people are hiding
Go forth
Into the source
Go
Evading force
Go forth
Each Special Edition is handsomely packaged with a nice CD sleeve featuring the original art, liner notes on each track written by Neal, and additional pictures and art are also included. In addition, for the Special Editions the albums have been digitally remastered and sonically improved from the original releases.
The bonus tracks on the three Special Editions round out the packages nicely and feature single edits and home demos of songs from the original releases. The home demos showcase in a vivid way how fully formed the songs were before final recording began. I always enjoy comparing the formative stages of songs to the final versions, and was amazed at just how closely Neal's home demos resembled the final versions!
After these three seminal releases the Neal Morse led Spock's Beard went on to record four more highly recommended modern progressive rock classics (including the superb spiritual concept CD Snow). After leaving Spock's Beard Neal went on to record an astonishing two CD musical tour-de-force Testimony, and Spock's Beard soldiered on in admirable form with the solid Feel Euphoria.
Currently both Spock's Beard (sans Neal), and Neal Morse are working on new projects. Neal made an announcement on his web site (http://www.nealmorse.com) about his new work: "It's a concept piece-- It's about God and man being in unity in the beginning in the garden, becoming separated, and then man building himself up and then coming to realize he needs God after all. Then God sending His son to be the mediator between God and man and coming back into unity again." Joining Neal for this project will be Randy George, bassist of the Christian prog group Ajalon, and the inimitable Mike Portnoy, the fantastic drummer of Dream Theater, and other special guests.
Look forward to this new project from Neal Morse later this year. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and try out these three Spock's Beard Special Editions. You will thank me later!
More from Spock's Beard
2002Snow
2003Feel Euphoria
1995The Light
1996Beware of Darkness
2004The Making of Snow (Video)
2005Octane
