Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Spock's Beard
Label: Metal Blade Records
Release date: 2017
Rating: 4.5/5
In 2016, every Spock’s Beard fan’s dream came true. At the ‘Morsefest’ festival in Nashville, America’s ‘cowboy mecca’, all the current and former members of these masters of progrock revivalism shared the stage and played the entire double album »Snow« live. That double concept magnum opus was the last record, back in 2002, with central figure Neal Morse (Transatlantic, Flying Colors) in the lineup: songwriting visionary, singer and multi-instrumentalist. In recent years he’s been working with his original band again ‘from a distance’ as a songwriter and occasional vocal and instrumental guest, and on rare occasions ‘live’ too. Meanwhile Nick D’Virgilio (Big Big Train), another former member, has returned to the drum seat after Jimmy Keegan’s departure, though (for now) only as a guest musician. Keegan was still a member of Spock’s Beard on »Snow Live« and ended up on the right side of the two drum setups. The highlight of the release was the vocal trio of Neal, Nick and Ted Leonard on the epic finale titled »Falling For Forever«. It’s Neal’s composition, but all three lead singers in the history of this cult American progrock band sang it together.
Performing the whole concept masterpiece »Snow«, which is a kind of answer to The Who’s classic »Tommy« (1969) since it tells a similar story about a oddball and social outcast, was certainly no easy feat. But these musical masters did their job without a single misstep and powered through the whole concept with flying colors. The brilliantly mad Japanese keyboard wizard Ryo Okumoto, as you’d expect, went all out during his solo spot, which isn’t just some ‘intermezzo’ on the record but even carries his name. Instrumentally and vocally this live recording is pure perfection, and it can boast all three singers: Ted’s voice has completely melded with the current version of the band in recent years, while Neal and Nick, with their (still) superb performances, provided a heaping dose of nostalgia. Besides the aforementioned epic »Falling For Forever«, the Beard boys also played the indispensable evergreen »June« as an encore, with plenty of help from the crowd, who of course know the whole thing by heart.
Spock’s Beard fans need this brilliant double live recording in their collection, if only for its historical value. Who knows when the ‘past and present’ of this cult band, in the form of two incredibly charismatic former members, will share a stage again? Both are also getting more and more active in the studio, working with their old bandmates once more. Plenty of people wouldn’t mind seeing them come back to the band for good, but on the other hand, with Ted Leonard in the lineup Spock’s Beard have in many ways become an even more interesting story than during the much-celebrated ‘Neal Morse era’, as both of the latest studio albums prove.
Lineup
Ted Leonard – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
Alan Morse – guitar, backing vocals
Dave Meros – bass guitar, backing vocals
Ryo Okumoto – keyboards, backing vocals
Jimmy Keegan – drums, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Neal Morse – lead vocals, keyboards, guitar
Nick D’Virgilio – lead vocals, drums
Production
Spock’s Beard
Track list
CD1:
1. Made Alive
2. Overture
3. Stranger In A Strange Land
4. Long Time Suffering
5. Welcome To Nyc
6. Love Beyond Words
7. The 39th Street Blues (I’m Sick)
8. Devil’s Got My Throat
9. Open Wide The Flood Gates
10. Open The Gates Part 2
11. Solitary Soul
12. Wind At My Back
13. Second Overture
14. 4th Of July
15. I’m The Guy
16. Reflection
17. Carie
CD2:
1. Looking For Answers
2. Freak Boy
3. All Is Vanity
4. I’m Dying
5. Freak Boy Part 2
6. Devil’s Got My Throat Reprise
7. Snow’s Night Out
8. Ladies And Gentlemen, Mister Ryo Okumoto On The Keyboards
9. I Will Go
10. Made Alive Again
11. Wind At My Back
12. June
13. Falling For Forever
