THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS

SPOCKS BEARD The First Twenty Years

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This is the 2015 Greatest hits of Spock's Beard, with songs from each and every album they have made to date. The choices made for each album are unsurprising and perfectly chosen. Classic epics like THE LIGHT, THE DOORWAY and AT THE END OF THE DAY are of course all included, and I personally thought they were all improved by the remastering, especially THE LIGHT which is the eldest and had more that could be added.

I, however, got this shipped out to me not for those timeless tracks, but for NEAL MORSE'S new, gorgeously inspired epic, FALLING FOR FOREVER. This 20 minute highly guitar focused epic includes every member of the Beard's history.

The vocal parts are perfect with TED LEONARD really bringing home the delectably crafted melodies. The instrumental jams are a lot of fun, and show typical Spock's tonality. They franticly meander to create all that heavenly tension to be bombastically resolved. You can really see that chemistry between them all here.

Nick's vocals in the middle piece suited the melody so brilliantly! Oh my word what a glorious chord progression that is. How does NEAL MORSE write these things I do not know. This is preceded by a early GENESIS-esque romantic sequence with KAIPA-like guitar accompaniment.

Speaking of middle sections!.. I never realised how fantastic that middle section of AT THE END OF THE DAY is. So glad I had the impetus to listen a little closer!

An interesting album for both newcomers and oldcomers to Spock's Beard!

Peace

BR

I started listening to Spock's Beard after first getting into Transatlantic, then Neal Morse's solo stuff. The only album of theirs that I have is Snow, but I'd heard enough material online to know that this is a band that would appeal to me. So when this compilation was released I knew that it would be something I'd like to add to my collection. Initially, though, I listened to it several times on Spotify. The drawback with this was that the final song, Falling For Forever, isn't available on Spotify, and also there is a DVD included with the compilation. So recently I bought the CD, and here is my review.

CD1 covers the Neal Morse years, and includes one track from each of the six albums featuring him (apart from Beware Of Darkness and Snow, which have two tracks each). The track selection is excellent, with three long songs, The Light, The Doorway and At The End Of The Day, the beautiful ballad June, and the spiritually uplifting Solitary Soul and Wind At My Back from Snow. The list is completed with Thoughts and the title track from Day For Night. What is apparent from the liner notes is how important Neal was to the writing of the band's material. All of these songs are credited to him alone, apart from one which he co-wrote with his brother.

CD2 has one song from each of the albums recorded post Neal Morse. The writers include individuals who are not in the band, collaborating with various band members. This is more of a mixed bag to my ears, with the opening song, The Bottom Line, being my least favourite on the compilation. She Is Everything and On A Perfect Day have some lovely vocal harmonies and some great soloing, but it's the epic Jaws Of Heaven that first comes close to the standard of songs on CD1. Waiting For Me sees the return of Neal Morse as a co-writer, and this is apparent from the style of the song. Finally, we get Tides Of Time from the most recent album, before the closing epic, a new song written by Neal and featuring the three lead singers and two drummers that have been in Spock's Beard over the years. Falling For Forever is a great song and features a drum duet between current drummer Jimmy Keegan and original drummer Nick D'Virgillio. A fantastic way to close this collection.

Last but by no means least, there is a DVD which is entitled Spock's Beard In The 90s - A Retrospective. This is a slightly misleading title as some of the interviews cover the period from 2000 to the present day. There are a number of very good live performances on here, the most recent of which was 1998. It is certainly a shock to see Neal Morse with long hair. Some of the songs featured are not on the two CDs, songs such as Beware Of Darkness, Walking On The Wind, and The Good Don't Last. There is also an excellent live version of The Light, including a drum solo and a section where Ryo Okumoto plays one of those synths that you sling round your neck like a guitar. The DVD is certainly not just an "add-on."

In conclusion, if you like the sound of Spock's Beard but don't own any of their albums, this compilation is an excellent place to start. On the other extreme, if you have all 12 albums you will have to decide if it's worth paying nearly £20 for one new song and a DVD. If you're somewhere in between, then The First Twenty Years is well worth considering for your collection.

Without a doubt, Spock's Beard from California is one of the very biggest prog bands of the modern era, whether measured by the pure artistic achievements or by the commercial success. The 1995 debut album The Light was a bold, uncompromised set of epic symphonic prog at the time when the prog genre was gradually making its return. Each further album, the next two released in 1996 and the fourth one Day for Night in 1999, convinced the listeners of the band's strong personal style that in addition to the YES-like symphonic orientation has complexity comparable to Gentle Giant, but also an AOR-related catchy side to it all, plus the fine. e use of vocal harmonies.

The most notable individual figure in the SB history, keyboardist-vocalist Neal Morse left the band after the conceptual double album Snow (2002) and continued to write and perform ambitious prog under his own name and in the supergroup Transatlantic. But Spock's Beard put their drummer Nick D'Virgilio as the new frontman and soldiered on. Later entered yet another vocalist Ted Leonard from Enchant. For this 2CD+DVD compilation all members past and present contributed to the new epic, nearly 20-minute track 'Falling for Forever'. This Neal Morse composition with three different lead vocals has everything one expects from SB.

The two long discs contain well chosen tracks (1 or 2 per album) from each SB studio album up to The Oblivion Particle (2015). When you look at the lengths -- many of which are well over ten minutes -- it's obvious that we're not talking of a radio-friendly Greatest Hits kind of compilation to lure more casual listeners. Instead this is an unashamed celebration of progressive rock from the mid-90's to 2015, and a good, chronological representation of SB's career.

My favourites include the epic 'At the End of the Day' (from V, 2000) and the emotionally powerful 'Solitary Soul' from Snow.The post-Neal albums are represented equally, and I think that's a wise approach, regardless of how much the listener may see Neal's era as the halcyon days.

The DVD is in comparison the less easily consumed part of this set. It contains at times rather low-fi live performances from the 90's and interviews in which the members look back at the band's history. As usual, there are no subtitles. I felt this retrospective a bit tiring to view. A die-hard fan nevertheless will get a lot out of it, I suppose. To whom is this compilation aimed at? A dedicated fan will already have most of the material on the CD's (no previously unreleased pieces, rarities or remixes here, not that I would want them either), but the DVD and the new epic made for this set will seduce the fans. With a nice lay-out featuring the album covers and an essay written by Dave Ling of Classic Rock Magazine, this set functions as an introduction or as a picture-widener to a prog listener who's familiar with just some of the original albums.