SPOCK'S BEARD

I must say, I was worried about listening to Spock's Beard after Neal Morse left. And I was not alone in that. I'm glad, though, that I waited till this one came out to try out their sound. This is their strongest album since Snow, and ever despite some throwaway tracks, I feel it has to be given four stars for a band doing something I figured nearly impossible.

With the exception of Is This Love; Sometimes They Stay, Sometimes They Go; and Wherever You Stand; the songs are full energy and creative songwriting. Very refreshing songwriting in many cases. The vocals are absolutely amazing, with Nick rivaling Neal for frontman prowess. Even those commonly slammed pop bits sound nice and deep. They Know We Know, out of As Far as the Mind Can See, for example, is very simplistic and straightforward, but the balance between prog and straight rock is very well preserved in this one. Only the three tracks above give me any issues, and somehow they do not seem to drag down the quality of this one at all.

In short, this is one of the Beard's best releases, Neal or no, and it stands on its own as a band that can make good music that is both fun for them to play and interesting for us to listen to.