All-purpose Spock's Beard love-fest thread...

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by jmpatrick, Oct 30, 2014.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    Thanks for the suggestions. I have heard of the band and a couple of songs, but never taken the time to really check them out. I am familiar with Transatlantic and like some of their albums. Of course, Porcupine Tree is one of my favorite groups and I have most of their albums.
     
  2. Jvalvano

    Jvalvano Senior Member

    Location:
    NH
    If you like PT then SB should be right up your alley. Some great recommendations in this thread.
     
  3. jmpatrick

    jmpatrick Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Detroit, MI
    Theoretically.

    Porcupine Tree's early work is loaded with ambient and electronic work, with the occasional nod to Pink Floyd and metal.

    SB is more traditional prog, leaning on Gentle Giant and Yes.

    Having said that, if you're the type that likes PT then you're apt to also enjoy SB, IMO.
     
    stodgers likes this.
  4. PJayBe

    PJayBe Forum Resident

    Not sure that always works, I love Spock's, but have never remotely enjoyed Porcupine Tree..............

    Philip
     
  5. RickH

    RickH Connoisseur of deep album cuts

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC
    New Spock's Beard release, The Oblivion Particle, just dropped on streaming services today, including Spotify, Rdio :cheers:
     
  6. Veech

    Veech Space In Sounds

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    How does it compare to Brief Nocturnes?
     
  7. RickH

    RickH Connoisseur of deep album cuts

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC
    Haven't listened to it yet but will be soon! Looking forward to it.
     
  8. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    I'm planning on picking this up. I'm a huge fan of the Neal era, all of it...I liked the Nick era but overall it was fairly weak and kind of fizzled out...however, I thought the first album of the Ted era (Brief Nocturnes) was great so I'm really looking forward to the new one!
     
  9. PJayBe

    PJayBe Forum Resident

    ............................and on a first listen a bloody great album it is too. Lovely sound, and some wonderful songs. Get my working weekend out of the way and I'll give it a full listen on Monday.

    Philip
     
  10. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    I've only listened on streaming, but is the wikipedia tracklist accurate, in that literally one song on the whole LP has writing credits from the actual band, besides the new singer? That may be why this one isn't really clicking for me. I know John Boegehold has been indispensable to the band post-Neal, but this is the first time he's really taken over the creative process so completely. Just strikes me as kind of odd.
     
    Scooter59 likes this.
  11. Dr Mike

    Dr Mike Forum Resident

    I have the album—haven't listened to it yet—but, I mean, it stands to reason that it's this way. Alan, Dave and Ryo are just not prolific composers, and Ted's songwriting attention is split between two bands (one of which is far more prolific than the other, granted). And with no Neal around this time to pitch in, someone had to pick up the slack.
     
  12. Scooter59

    Scooter59 Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Shore, MA
    I was listening to the X Tour live CD driving into work today, and forgot how strong the compositions were on the last album with Nick. I believe Dave actually contributed quite a bit of writing to that album. And Alan's solo album had some strong material as well (not sure of the writing credits though).
     
  13. Dr Mike

    Dr Mike Forum Resident

    All of those Dave songs on X were co-written by Boegehold, who I would assume did a lot of the compositional heavy lifting. Seven of the 12 songs on Alan's solo album were co-written by Neal.
     
  14. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Yeah, having him as a co-writer never stuck out to me, but as the three are such proficient instrumentalists, it's weird that they didn't at least come up with ideas and riffs to build songs around, then let John or Ted shape them into more structured songs....dunno. Ted is a totally capable singer, but it's maybe one member change too many, if the original Beard members aren't going to be providing material. But I know they also can't really write collaboratively in the same room because they all live in different places/have outside gigs/etc. But to me, the instrumentalists are more important (and interesting) than the singer, and I'm just kind of puzzled that they didn't have more input into the LP. There's some cool music on it, it's origins just seem odd.
     
  15. Dr Mike

    Dr Mike Forum Resident

    Some guys just don't write, and that's fine. If they had songwriting instincts, they probably atrophied during the decade when Neal wrote literally everything. Ryo and Dave were gigging musicians before Spock's (Dave was Eric Burdon's musical director—and a New Animal—for years), and Alan essentially only played with Neal prior to the band's formation.
     
  16. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    They had a lot of credits on the other post-Neal albums though. I'm just noting the total shift from the last 4 or 5 LP's. It took them a few albums to really find their 2.0 groove, but I thought the self-titled album was fantastic, and X & Brief Nocturnes had some great stuff on it too. I guess I just am more interested in what the band members can come up with than an album written by a guy who isn't in the band or playing on the record (as talented as the dude is). Just a very strange thing to me, for a prog record. Gonna give it another listen or two this weekend and see if it grows on me a bit.
     
    DrBeatle likes this.
  17. jmpatrick

    jmpatrick Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Detroit, MI
    The mailman brought me four superb Spock's Beard LP's today. First time on vinyl for all of these. All are 2LP except for Snow, which is 3LP. All come with a CD copy. ImportCDs.com has these in stock right now for nice prices, but I imagine they won't last long. I have no idea if these are digitally sourced or not but after one side of "Beware of Darkness" I can declare that it sounds glorious. The quiet parts are quiet and the loud parts are loud. The vinyl on my copy is nice and noise-free.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. Sparkler

    Sparkler Senior Member

    Location:
    Leesburg, VA
    Beware of Darkness does sound great! I have Kindness of Strangers and Day for Night cleaned and in the listening pile as well. Can't to spin them. Oh, The Light and V are also available on vinyl and they are terrific!
     
  19. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    I'm with you, I was stunned when I got the new album at how barely ANY of it was written by the guys in the band. On prior albums they at least co-wrote just about every track but they only have two co-writes (if I'm remembering correctly...my CD is at home) on this new one...
     
  20. Wounded Land

    Wounded Land Forum Resident

    I like early Spock's Beard (and early solo Neal Morse), but the D'Virgilio-led stuff didn't connect with me as a whole. Although the early albums could be inconsistent at times, they still contain some of my favorite music ever ("All on a Sunday" is an almost perfect pop tune, IMHO, and "The Light" has just the right balance of pathos and humor). Snow is an album that took a long time to click but really has its claws in me (interestingly, my personal history with this album is almost identical to Genesis' The Lamb).

    Post-Snow, I've had trouble with much of the material. I thought that X was an important step in the right direction, but wow, Brief Nocturnes... is a really good album. The addition of Ted Leonard was a good call. It's without a doubt their best album since V.

    I've always thought that these guys really have the potential to connect to a larger audience than they do, especially around these parts. Credit the name and their general dorkiness for that, I suppose...
     
    gja586 likes this.
  21. Dr Mike

    Dr Mike Forum Resident

    They definitely tried to get over to a larger audience around the turn of the century, but neither of their labels was equipped to make them stars beyond a certain audience.
     
  22. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    It kinda makes me feel like they just needed 'product' to keep the band going and on fans' radar, rather than an album borne out of true inspiration. I get that none of them are probably great lyricists or even solo songwriters like Neal, but I just can't see 4 guys being that good at their instruments without some riffs and ideas coming out semi-regularly. Just a strange record all around.
     
    DrBeatle likes this.
  23. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    It is. I mean, the entire concept, from the songs to the story in the liner notes, was written by Boegehold (spelling?) and then played by the band. It's kind of weird to be in a situation like that, almost a bit embarrassing, and I don't get it because on prior post-Neal albums they all pitched in to write, even if one of the outside writers got a co-write. The previous album, Brief Nocturnes, was really good but this one is a bit limp. It's perfectly enjoyable and listenable, but it's pretty uninspired musically.
     
  24. PJayBe

    PJayBe Forum Resident

    Great new Bluray / DVD / CD (grab your option) of Snow live from last year's MorseFest. The full album, June and Falling Into Forever with all 7 guys who have been in Spock's taking part. Beginning to convince me about just how good the album is!!!

    Radiant Records. SNOW LIVE
     
  25. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    As much as I love Spock's and like Snow a lot, I probably won't get this live DVD. It's taxing enough to take the time to listen to the studio version of Snow because it is so long, and I am pretty sure this live rendition would be something I watch once and then never again.
     
    ytserush likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine