SPOCK'S BEARD

Surely this can't be what was expected of them! I mean really, to label them as prog as of late is a bit of a stretch. Since the departure of Neil Morse, The Beard really hasn't been the same. This album truly shows this in a new light. It had its moments, for instance the begining was excellent with "On a Perfect Day" and Skeletons at the Feast", leading listeners to believe that they had rediscovered the "spark" that had made them so great before. After that comes "Is this Love" and "All that's Left". Pure mediocrity. Then "With Your Kiss" kicks in, and it shows that SB has something left, because it ends up becoming one of my personal favorites of all their songs. Then, they had to go and put in "Sometimes They Stay, Sometimes They Go", "The Slow Crash Landing Man", and "Wherever You Stand". Those have to be, by FAR the worst SB songs ever released!!! I went through them twice, just to see if possibly there's something I missed, but no, just absolutely terrible. "Hereafter", just mediocre again. Then, "As Far as the Mind Can See" comes on. It sort of makes up for the disasterous middle of the album, but not quite. You can still hear some of the mediocrity of the other tracks in there. Lastly, "Rearranged" ends it all. It's one of the better tracks on the album, and has a solid end, but doesn't get rid of that bitter taste the rest of the album leaves. All in all, it has it's moments, but not enough to get more than a three. Spock's Beard fans can only hope that next time they kill the bad fillers and really go for something more creative.