Artist: Spock's Beard
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2002
Rating: 4/5
The band’s first concept album has the classic prog-band “quirk”, a reminder that nobody has yet been hero enough to invent a format roomy enough to hold everything groups like this want to pour into our ears. So the boys went “all in”, recorded a double album with almost two hours of top-shelf mixed marmalade, and to top it off released the “thing” as a triple CD, which, besides one never-released track, also has a heap of raw studio demo recordings that bring the making of the record to life.
The concept tells the story of an albino boy everyone calls Snow. As he grows up, he feels a society that barely tolerates, or doesn’t tolerate at all, anyone who strays from the made-up “rules” that “normal” people follow. But the boy discovers he has the ability to see into people, and finds his saving straw in helping pathetic, messed-up-in-the-head individuals and teaching them to love themselves and others. But what the hell, along comes the girl of his dreams. He opens up to her, but she smashes him from heaven to the ground, telling him straight out that she couldn’t care less about him. That’s when he realizes he’s not the almighty “soulhealer” he’d declared himself to be in his head. Well, Americans wouldn’t be Americans if they didn’t dramatize the whole thing to boiling point and find a bright light at the bottom of the abyss in the end, so the story can wrap up happily. A syrupy screenwriting abortion.
The songs are tailored to fit the story, and N. Morse sings them with real feeling. Mostly a distinctively “singed-dry” voice, at moments downright “cracked”. In the calmer parts he adapts it deftly to the situation and sometimes sings almost like a narrator. In the wild breakouts, like the grooving “Devil’s Got My Throat” or the brilliantly composed “I’m The Guy”, he goes nuts with a hoarse, Lennon-esque voice. His brother Alan loves to reach for the flanger. A guy with a firm grip and an exceptional feel for fitting his own ornaments into Spock’s Beard’s music. Another one of those who simply won’t be boxed in. Ideas just flow through him. Spock’s Beard are true style-prog fusionists. From bluesy feints (the intro to “Stranger In A Strange Land”) to funky grooving attacks in “Open The Gates Part II”, “Freak Boy” or “Welcome To NYC”. The balladic and calmer parts blend beautifully with the bouncier ones and wind the story into proper drama, which peaks in the grandiose “I’m Dying” with its gloomy pre-chorus. Aaaaa alive, how damn alive! Production included, which is top-notch. Everything is balanced, and no instrument bulldozes the others at any point! Just a notch below a “live” album.
They put the cherry on top with unexpected bursts of assorted woodwinds (“4th Of July” or the wacky “Snow’s Night Out”, which even carries a slight whiff of seventies disco) and added another horizon with perfectly arranged strings. The keyboards pound away in “double”. Neil handles the classical piano (you can find jazzy leaps too, e.g. in “Reflection”), while Ryo (especially in his solo), in the transitions with that hammond organ sound, or on his psychedelic adventures, recalls K. Emerson. Ryo leans on the organ grandiosely, especially in “All Is Vanity”.
Total spontaneity in the playing, with the boys giving themselves over to their “raw feeling”, which always wins out over their technical seasoning.Brilliant musical fusion!
Line-up
Neal Morse – lead vocals, piano, all synthesizers, acoustic guitar Ryo Okumoto – hammond organ, mellotron
Dave Meros – bass guitar, backing vocals
Alan Morse – electric guitar, backing vocals
Nick D’Virgilio – drums, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Carie”
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Chris Carmichael – violin, viola, cello
Jim Hoke – saxophone, clarinet, harp
Neil Rosengarden – trombone, trumpet
Molly Pasutti – backing vocals ‘Open the gates part 2′
Production
Neal Morse & Spock’s Beard
Track list
CD 1.:
1. Made Alive / Overture (5:32)
2. Stranger In A Strange Land (4:29)
3. Long Time Suffering (6:04)
4. Welcome To NYC (3:33)
5. Love Beyond Words (3:24)
6. The 39th Street Blues (I’m Sick) (4:06)
7. Devil’s Got My Throat (7:17)
8. Open Wide The Flood Gates (6:14)
9. Open The Gates Part 2 (3:03)
10. Solitary Soul (7:34)
11. Wind At My Back (5:12)
CD 2.:
1. 2nd Overture (3:47)
2. 4th Of July (3:11)
3. I’m The Guy (4:48)
4. Reflection (2:49)
5. Carie (3:05)
6. Looking For Answers (5:16)
7. Freak Boy (2:12)
8. All Is Vanity (4:36)
9. I’m Dying (5:09)
10. Freak Boy Part 2 (3:01)
11. Devil’s Got My Throat Revisited (1:55)
12. Snow’s Night Out (2:05)
13. Ladies And Gentleman Mr. Ryo Okumoto On The Keyboards (2:40)
14. I Will Go (5:09)
15. Made Alive / Wind At My (8:28)
Album running time: 114:43
CD 3. – BONUS CD INCLUDED IN THE SPECIAL EDITION:
1. Southside Of The Sky (9:11)
2. Good Don’t Last / Open Wide The Flood Gates (live acoustic) (11:26)
3. Working On The Devil / Fiddly / Disco (4:41)
4. Looking For Answers (live acoustic) (4:59)
5. Stranger In A Strange Land Demo (2:34)
6. 4 o’Clock (0:24)
7. Working On Ryo’s Solo (7:42)
8. Lost Bass Solo Demo (2:01)
9. The Light (live acoustic) (6:08)
10. Working On I Will Go (2:10)
BONUS CD running time: 51:19
