COMING THROUGH

Ryo Okumoto is of course the keyboard player for SPOCK'S BEARD. He released this album the same year "Snow" came out, so he and his SPOCK'S BEARD band mates who all help him out here (including Neal Morse) must have been very busy. Man there is a long list of guests here. Most I don't know although Steve Lukather and Glen Hughes are names i'm familiar with. This is a pretty good album that could have been very good. What I mean is that there are two amazing tunes that show what could have been, but the rest doesn't do a lot for me.

"Godzilla Vs. King Ghidarah" is one of those excellent tracks. An instrumental with keyboards, drums and bass only yet this thing is a real treat. It opens calmly enough with some atmosphere but soon we get some great sounding organ and chunky bass lines. It actually turns jazzy at one point with piano. Nice. "The Farther He Goes,The Farther He Falls" has some good contrasts and a guitar solo from Lukather. "Slipping Down" has some vocals from Bobby Kimball and some backing vocals too. Horns before 3 minutes followed by some excellent guitar.

"Highway Roller" is one I don't like at all especially the vocals from Glen Hughes. "Free Fall" features some nasty bass from Dave Meros with keyboards. "Coming Through" is a mellow, ballad-like tune with Neal Morse singing. Not a fan at all of this one either. "Close Enough" is the other track that shines. It's actually worth buying this album just to hear this 19 minute track. Bobby Kimball is really good on vocals here, in fact two other of his TOTO band mates help out with Lukather on guitar and Phillips on drums. This song is just a ride with some nasty organ and powerful sections along with atmosphere. A complete blast. "The Imperial" is the closing instrumental and my third favourite. Mellotron and piano mostly. It's Ryo all by himself.

A mixed bag with some real highs and lows makes this a 3 star album in my opinion.