OCTANE

Spock's Beard's main problem was always the heavy AOR leanings of its vocal sections. Where they would produce some blistering instrumental bits, they almost inevitably dragged them down with verses and choruses that could have sat comfortably on any Styx or Toto album. Seeing as former band supremo Neal Morse's solo album contained great dollops of that same thing, without much in the way of Proggery, I figured that maybe a Morseless Beard could produce something that wasn't as mainstreamy as all that.

Boy, was I wrong. This is in parts pathetic, in others laughable. Treacly ballads and mundane Hard Rock tunes abound, and though there are som Prog aspects to be found, they're pointless when stuck in with such American Radio-influenced fare. Too bad, because this is where they had the chance to really become a proper Progressive Rock band, rather than Rock With Fiddly Bits.