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Label: Independent
Catalog#: SBX CD
Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition
Country: US
Released: June 2010
Genre: Rock
Style: Progressive Rock
Audio: Flac (Tracks+Cue+Log+Scans)/MP3 CBR320
Size: 610Mb/188Mb
Долгожданный 10-й альбом Spock's Beard!!!   01. Edge of the In-Between (10:30)
02. The Emperor's Clothes (5:52)
03. Kamikaze (3:50)
04. From the Darkness (16:36)
a. The Darkness
b. Chance Meeting
c. On My Own
d. Start Over Again
05. The Quiet House (9:03)
06. Their Names Escape Me (8:57)
07. The Man Behind the Curtain (7:46)
08. Jaws of Heaven (16:22)
a. Homesick for the Ashes
b. Words of War
c. Deep in the Wondering
d. Whole Again
Credits:
Nick D'Virgilio — Drums, Vocals, Additional Guitar
Alan Morse — Guitars, Vocals
Ryo Okumoto — Keyboards
Dave Meros — Bass, Vocals, Additional Keyboards
with:
John Boegehold — Additional Keyboards, Jimmy Keegan — Backing Vocals
French Horn: Danielle Ondarza (2,6,7,8) Trombone: Dennis Jiron (2,6,7,8)
Strings performed by The Section Quartet (1,2,6,8) Violin: Eric
Gorfain, Violin: Daphne Chen, Viola: Lauren Chapman, Cello: Richard Dodd
String and horn arrangements by: John Boegehold (1,6,8) and Alan Morse (2,7), copyist: Kaylene Peoples (2,7)
Reviews:
Alex Torres' Review
Frankly, music doesn’t get much better than this. Spock’s Beard
tenth album, simply titled X, is more than worthy of that significant
landmark. It’s as close to perfect as one could ask for, a glorious
blend of superbly composed and performed music. It has enough prog to
keep the progsters happy, enough rock to keep the rockers happy and
enough melody to melt the coldest of hearts. The instrumental palette
yields a rich delight of musical colours: it’s not just the
keyboard/synth sounds but the brass and string arrangements that adorn
some of these compositions that enrich the music far beyond what
conventional rock instrumentation could achieve. The pacing of the
album is superb. For me, X justifies the invention of prog-rock!
If there is a blemish, a criticism, then it could only be that the
band are perhaps repeating a musical journey that has already been
trodden by themselves – structurally and compositionally. For instance,
the opening riff of The Quiet House is very reminiscent of Is This Love
from the previous album, Spock’s Beard, before veering off on its own
direction. However, I sense that within this "framework” there has been
a development, in that the strength of these compositions is greater:
the composition seems more mature than on the band’s previous albums,
Octane and Spock’s Beard. Also, even if there is an element of
self-repetition, the execution is so very good that to criticise would
be churlish. It’s music that grows with each listen, as you begin to
appreciate the subtleties in composition and choice of instrumentation.
Yes, it really is as close to perfection as one can get.
One aspect of the band’s music which enhances the listening
experience for me is the fact that they have a number of very competent
songwriters composing in different styles: D’Virgilio, Alan Morse,
Meros and Okumoto all weigh in with strong contributions. Even our old
friend Neal Morse (along with Larry Kutcher) contributes some of the
music to The Emperor’s Clothes! Despite the musically heavyweight
nature of the Neal Morse name-check, it has to be said that a more
significant contribution comes from John Boegehold, who is Meros’s
musical writing partner and lyricist on three of these eight
compositions, as well as providing their string arrangements and
playing some keys and guitar. Boegehold’s contribution to the post-Neal
Morse era Spock’s Beard has been highly significant – he is a de facto
band member, even if not formally so. Overall, it feels as though there
was a very high synergy at work compositionally – to the benefit of the
band and its music.
Three pieces clock in at over ten minutes but, in perfect prog
fashion, are constructed in such a way, featuring specific "movements”,
that the listener never comes close to being bored. Far from it! Edge
Of The In-Between is a great album opener, very clever rhythmically, a
catchy kick start! From The Darkness features perhaps the most complex
structural composition of the album, alternating rocky and slower,
classically inspired movements. Okumoto’s piano playing in the second
and fourth movements, taking in a number of moods, is immense! The
four-movement finale, Jaws Of Heaven, closes with some of the most
wonderful melodic writing I have heard. In this context, it becomes
simply a terrific ending to a stunningly good album but, take the
melodic line out of here, put it into the mouth of a youngster with an
image and you would have a million-selling number 1 hit, for sure. I’m
just glad that Meros & Boegehold chose to place it here, or I may
not have heard it!
Okumoto gets another name check for the stunning instrumental,
Kamikaze — wow! The remaining sung short pieces (well, the shortest is
nearly six minutes, hahaha!) are also full of interest. The Emperor’s
Clothes has some good rock parts as well as a brief a cappella section.
It’s very catchy, as is The Man Behind The Curtain, both songs very
typical of this band’s recent output. Finally, Their Names Escape Me
deserves special mention as it’s on this song that the band chose to
list the names of their fans who provided extra special financial
support in backing this independently — released, totally fan-financed
album. The "list” comes after the song’s first phase, sung to
conventional lyrics. The band have to be commended for the excellent
musical fashion in which they’ve carried off this novel feat, the song
as a whole coming over as nothing at all like "filler material”, being
instead another excellent song. Spock’s Beard show that they could set
the operation manual for your computer to music and make it sound
interesting!
In conclusion, if you missed out in pre-ordering this album, I can
only recommend that you buy it now, before the limited edition with
Their Names Escapes Me sells out. I can’t believe that you won’t enjoy
listening to this many times. Incidentally, great artwork too! Awesome!
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Brian Watson's Review
Spock’s Beard must be cited as an influence on bands in the DPRP
review pages as often as Yes, Genesis, ELP et al and they are well and
truly established stars in the prog firmament. They paid their dues
back in the dark days when prog was a dirty word, before the bandwagon
jumpers, with their glossy magazines and London festivals. When
audiences could be counted on the fingers of a couple of hands. Hard
work, and a ton of talent, paid off and now ‘the Beard’ are prog
royalty.
We’ve reviewed fifteen of their recordings, and all but five
received recommended ratings. Of these three were live albums, and one
was a reissue of The Light, marked down (as were others in the Inside
Out ‘Artwork Collectors’ series) for the lack of any real ‘added
value’. The other, V, would justify a recommendation if one of the four
Round Table Reviews were discounted.
Since 2003’s Feel Euphoria, the first album sans Neal the band have
been on InsideOut and have released four albums on the label (including
the live set Gluttons For Punishment). Four years have passed since
2006’s Spock’s Beard and the band have now ‘done a Marillion’ and
financed the self-released X by way of pre-orders. Fans, myself
included, stumped up their cash before a note had been played. Some
stumped up a not inconsiderable sum for lots of signed goodies, an
executive producer credit in the sleeve notes and their name
incorporated in the lyrics of a song on the album.
Gimmicks aside, this tenth studio album (X, geddit?) is for my money
the best thing the band has released since Neal Morse’s departure and
represents a welcome return to their prog roots (after some ill-advised
dalliances with pop and AOR balladry).
You will have noticed that we here at DPRP try to signpost
influences on bands, to give you an idea of whether an album might
float your boat, sub-genre wise. No such creative subjectivity here.
Spock’s Beard are one of a few bands who, through a single creative
vision that single-handedly re-defined the American symphonic prog
tradition and an unchanging line-up -notwithstanding Neal Morse’s
departure– have a signature sound all their own but which is grounded
in the classic 1970s era.
Edge Of The In-Between kicks things off in typically bombastic style
before settling into a poppy groove with atypical Beard vocal
harmonies. It isn’t long though before the tempo changes and Ryo lays
down a synth backbeat that Alan Morse riffs off nicely. Piano and
electronica then compete for attention before the song builds up to a
premature choral climax (a reprise of the opening theme) by way of
spacey guitar washes and faux mellotron. The song ends pretty abruptly
though before we are into the acoustic intro to The Emperor's Clothes.
The brass section takes over pretty quickly before NDV is singing (with
a little help from his vocoder) his heart out on this Beatles meet
Queen by way of Transatlantic ballad with added a cappella flourishes
that showcases the virtuoso piano and keyboard stylings of Ryo.
Kamikaze is a good vehicle for the ample skills of Ryo too, with
Keith Emerson (with a bit of Mark Kelly wibbly wobbly thrown in later)
keyboard savagery laid over NDV’s aggressive skin beating and some down
and dirty ‘rawk’ riffage from Alan Morse.
From The Darkness is the first of two epics on the album, over 16
minutes long and in four sections. A heavy song from the off, it sees
the Beard do what they do best – great melody, complex time signatures
and fantastic musicianship as all players get a chance to shine. It
soon slows down before a nice symphonic section reminiscent of The
Flower Kings. Throughout its length the song twists and turns and the
transitions between sections, the interplay between light and shade,
between heavy and quiet passages is incredibly well handled.
The Quiet House is a lovely song, that may remind the listener of
Hogarth era Marillion before – shock — a prog-metal-y section that
leads into fantastic Beard harmonising over understated Morse soloing.
It’s definitely a rocker, this one, that will I’m sure be a staple of
the live set.
Their Names Escape Me is an odd one – this is the track where
everyone who paid enough cash got name-checked in the lyrics. It starts
off (and ends) well enough but as one whose name is not included (which
would have the novelty factor if nothing else) I’m not quite sure just
what the band was thinking of here. It’s a nice gesture but it simply
doesn’t work as a song for me. Happily, and justifying my (wait for it)
recommended rating there’s another 70 minutes of outstanding prog on
offer.
The Man Behind The Curtain puts one in mind of classic Spock’s Beard
– Dave Meros’ bass playing is particularly impressive. It’s a bit of a
crib lyrically (and musically it has to be said) from Man Of A Thousand
Faces by Marillion but that’s no bad thing. There’s a nice Yes like
groove before the song rocks to a quasi-close. Things end properly with
a nice acoustic section – "and the curtain finally comes down”.
Jaws Of Heaven closes out the album. Unfortunately, about ten
percent of the album’s initial pre-order pressing suffered from a disc
defect that causes the track to skip towards the end. As one of the
unlucky ones I am reliably informed a replacement will be posted out
soon. It’s a real shame, because this is for me the standout track on
the record. A big contender for track of the year come poll time in
fact. NDV’s vocals have never sounded better and yet again Ryo’s
keyboard playing is sublime. His playing on this record is much more
textured than on previous releases, and this is aided by the excellent
production – channel separation is excellent. The sing along chorus is
going to be a massive standout at live shows too. As is the Kansas
style orchestral section. And Genesis style flute and keyboard section.
It’s a belter this track.
Hardcore fans will, I’m sure, have pre-ordered this. So I guess this
review is more for those who are waiting before ‘adding to cart’ and
for those of you out there who are still to discover the band. Well
then, I can heartily recommend (notwithstanding Their Names Escape Me)
X as the single best place to start if building your post-Neal Morse
Spock’s Beard library.
====================================================================
Ed Sander's Review
Ever since Neal Morse left the band, Spock's Beard's albums have
been a bit of a hit and miss affair. Feel Euphoria has some excellent
tracks in the form of Onomatopoeia, The Bottom Line and Ghosts Of
Autumn but the attempt at writing a big 'Beardy Epic' in the form of A
Guy Named Sid immediately fell flat. On their next album Octane the
band proved that they could write a concept of tracks without reverting
to the old formula of Neal Morse and the result, the wonderful A Flash
Before My Eyes, was worth the price of the album alone, while the other
tracks weren't half bad either. After this step in the right direction
the self-titled Spock's Beard was quite a disappointment. Sure, it had
excellent stuff like On A Perfect Day, Skeleton's At The Feast, All
That's Left and With Your Kiss, but the album was overlong, with a
couple of weak compositions in the middle and the epic As Far As The
Mind Can See did not reach the same heights as A Flash Before My Eyes.
So, just when I was starting to doubt the continued existence of one
of my favourite bands they returned four years later with X.
Considering that the previous three albums had been released over the
course of three years I was wondering if the new material would make up
for the long wait and if the band had used this long period to produce
something that was of higher quality. I must have been very sceptical
since the album didn't do much for me when I gave it its first spin.
But before long it started to grow on me... fast! And now, a month
later I'm glad to say that the Beard have released their most coherent
and best album since Neal Morse left the band. Come to think of it, as
an album this might well be one of their best releases to date since
most of the albums they produced under Neal Morse always had a few very
disappointing moments.
This album breathes a new energy and enthusiasm that was somewhat
absent from Octane. The tunes are full of tempo and style changes as we
all know and love of the band. The melodies are catchy, there's great
vocal harmonies (just check out the remarkable stuff going on in The
Emperor's Clothes). Some tracks have a clear Beatlesque influence,
especially Al Morse sounds like he's paying homage to George Harrison
several times on the album. There's also some tasty brass and string
arrangements throughout the compositions.
A 7/8 time signature, a thunderous bass, harmony vocals and wah-wah
guitar always do it for me, and therefore The Quiet House is without a
doubt my absolute favourite on the album. The sudden break in the
middle section and the amazing piano arrangement that follows are just
the icing on the cake this composition needed. Can't get enough of this
tune.
Another highlight is The Man Behind The Curtain, which features a
extremely catchy melody hook (which I often find myself whistling
throughout the day) that appears in various forms in the near 8 minutes
of the track (even as a bass solo!). The arrangements go from energetic
to peaceful to full-blown in-your-face rock, before it calms down for
an acoustic closure. Excellent work.
The album features two four-part epics. From The Darkness rocks your
socks off in its first 4 minutes, while the end section features a
wonderful piano break before going into the extremely Beatlesque
Starting Over Again. Parts of this epic remind me a lot of the
straightforward rock epic Paying The Price and other tunes on NDV's
solo album (which most certainly isn't a bad thing). While From The
Darkness makes for great listening, the strength of Jaws Of Heaven is
even more remarkable. Another top-notch tour-de-force that features all
the necessary ingredients to make this a true Beard classic (including
a semi-Latin section!). While A Flash Before My Eyes and As Far As The
Mind Can See really were just a series of loose songs, these two new
epics are well-crafted 16+ minute adventures that flow seamlessly from
start to end.
The instrumental Kamikaze is probably the only track I don't quite
appreciate. It's simply too free-form, quirky and jazzy for my taste,
regardless of the nice guitar & bass riff in the midsection.
Many of the longer pieces have their quiet moments but there are no
real ballads on the album. Although this means that we miss out on
stuff like Ghosts Of Autumn or She Is Everything it also keeps the pace
in the album. As a result the CD, unlike its predecessor of similar
length, never falls flat and keeps exciting from start to finish.
The lyrics on the album are great. The comparison between teenagers
participating in American Idol and soldiers going off to war in the
(otherwise) uplifting album opener Edge Of The In-Between is
remarkable. From The Darkness seems to focus on problems within
relationship and match the roller coaster feel of the music quite well,
while The Emperor's Clothes sets the classic Hans Christian Andersen
tale to music from the point of view of the swindling weavers and set
in modern times. And some of the words in Jaws Of Heaven border on the
edge of sheer poetry.
Where Marillion had their fans pre-order their new CDs in return for
their pictures on the cover or names in the booklet, Spock's Beard took
this trick one step further. When you ordered the 'Ultimate Package'
edition of the album you would get your name included in an actual
song. The result is Their Names Escape Me. The first half of this track
is a normal song but in the second half Nick lists up some 130 names of
Spock's Beard fans. Now, this may sound like something extremely
tedious to listen to, but it actually isn't. The building intensity and
the multi-layered vocals make it great fun. Also, you can try and pick
out how many of these people you know (and are now 200 dollars poorer —
as such they might have named this track the '25.000 dollar song'). I
do wonder how these people feel about the reason behind this list,
which is revealed in the first half of the song's lyrics ('Tell us the
names of every traitor who took up arms against the nation'). I doubt
if 'Simon the Prog Cat' (one of the 130 names mentioned) appreciates
this ...
Okay, that's as far as the extreme enthusiasm goes. Now for a
critical note. So far the album has only been available through the
band's website, where you can buy a 'limited edition'. It does not
specify what's limited about it, but the distribution definitely is.
Currently there's no other way to get it and I've been told that the
retail release will follow in August and will exclude the track Their
Names Escape Me. Okay, so that's what makes it limited, why doesn't it
say so on their website? Heck, the site doesn't even mention the
playing time and tracks! What amateurism is this?! But the worst is yet
to come. I personally don't mind buying albums straight of the artists
and I'm more than happy to pay slightly more for that. But this CD,
including postage, sells for more than twice the amount I normally pay,
again including postage! And no, I don't want a $20 T-shirt with that
or have it autographed for another $10 extra. I just want the CD. And
if you want to cough up 199 dollars for the "Ultra Package" in order to
have your name mentioned in a song that's all fine with me. I just want
to have the darn CD at a reasonable price. It's schemes like these that
make people decide to not even bother buying the album and simply pull
it off a torrent site! This is the age where people want their music
NOW. They don't want to wait a friggin' 3 months or pay twice as much!
Okay, that's my little rant over with. I've taken my meds and have
calmed down. Let's focus on the music again. As we all know, X marks
the spot, and therefore they couldn't have picked a better album title
as this is indeed a treasure chest filled with amazing gems. Again,
it's hats of to bass player Dave Meros who composed a substantial part
of the album, as he did with some of the best tracks that the band
released on the previous 3 albums. Unlike these albums though, there's
not a single bad track on this one (Kamikaze being a matter of taste).
Ladies and Gentleman, Spock's Beard are back ... with a vengeance !
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Conclusions:
ALEX TORRES : 10 out of 10
BRIAN WATSON : 8 out of 10
ED SANDER : 9 out of 10
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