BEWARE OF DARKNESS

Spock's Beard's Second Album. This band is not bad. While their music does not reach the brilliance of the 70s, it is all pretty decent and well made. Here, The keyboards are much better than on their debut, since they hired a solid keyboardist.

1. Beware Of Darkness 6/10 : A solid cover to George Harrison's song. Good song instrumentally, but I prefer Harrison's vocals over this one.

2. Thoughts 5/10 : messy and hard to get into, this song draws influences from Gentle Giant with its vocal harmonies and weirdness. Not bad, and contains some good riffs, but it should have made its point across more briefly.

3. The Doorway 8/10 : The highlight of the album. Starting with a great piano solo (reminds me of firth of fifth), this song goes through lots of changes and moods and never disappoints.

4. Chatauqua 6.5/10 : Mood for a Day II !!! .. well, not exactly. It is just a pretty acoustic guitar piece.

5. Walking on the Wind 6.5/10 : Very 70s sounding, and very proggy and heavy. I like it and the bass guitar work is pretty good. I don't like its intro though.

6. Waste Away 7.5/10 : A very catchy and accessible pop/rocker, but what's with the lyrics "Some people are like gravy". That's one of the most embarrassing lines I have ever heard (but not as much as Greg Lake's "someone go get me a ladder")

7. Time has come 7/10 : A very 70s sounding epic with a bit of harshness thrown in. They made better epics in the future, but it is still somewhat of an improvement on "The Water" from their debut.

My Grade: C