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Spock's Beard

Symphonic Prog


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Spock's Beard Live album cover
3.70 | 64 ratings | 4 reviews | 23% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Live, released in 2008

Songs / Tracks Listing

CD 1 (60:19)
1. Intro (1:32)
2. On a Perfect Day (8:01)
3. In the Mouth of Madness (4:59)
4. Crack the Big Sky (10:36)
5. The Slow Crash Landing Man (7:05)
6. Return to Whatever (6:37)
7. Surfing Down the Avalanche (4:26)
8. Thoughts - Part 2 (4:59)
9. Drum Duel (4:49)
10. Skeletons at the Feast (7:15)

CD 2 (52:26)
1. Walking on the Wind (10:04)
2. Hereafter - Ryo Solo (3:36)
- As Far as the Mind Can See:
3. Part One: Dreaming in the Age of Answers (5:07)
4. Part Two: Here's a Man (3:36)
5. Part Three: They Know We Know (3:15)
6. Part Four: Stream of Unconsciousness (5:49)
-
7. Rearranged (6:57)
- Medley:
8. The Water (6:13)
9. Go the Way You Go (7:49)

Total Time 112:45

Line-up / Musicians

- Nick D'Virgillio / vocals, drums, guitar
- Dave Meros / bass
- Alan Morse / guitar
- Ryo Okumoto / keyboards
- Jimmy Keegan / tour drums

Releases information

SPV 79822 DCD IOMCD 295

Thanks to king by-tor for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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SPOCK'S BEARD Live ratings distribution


3.70
(64 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(23%)
23%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(58%)
58%
Good, but non-essential (14%)
14%
Collectors/fans only (3%)
3%
Poor. Only for completionists (2%)
2%

SPOCK'S BEARD Live reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Evolver
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams
4 stars While I'm not really in favor of this recent trend of bands releasing a live album after evry studio album, this one is not bad. The members of Spock's Beard made a wise choice to stay away from most of the not terribly progressive pop songs from "Feel Euphoria" and "Octane", and focus on what most of us fans want: hard driving toght prog.

They do a fine job on the songs originally sung by Neal Morse (Was he raptured this weekend? Jus wondering). Classic SB pieces like In The Mouth Of Madness and Crack The Big Sky fare quite well under Nick D'Virgilio's voice. And Thoughts (Part 2) is wonderful on this set.

The highlight has to be Return To Whatever, a song from an Alan Morse solo album. This piece magaes to capture a bit of Return To Forever, while keeping Spock's Beard's overall sound.

The low points are the Drum Duel between NDV and Jimmy Keegan (no one without the last name Bruford or Peart should leave the drum solo on their live albums) and Ryo Okumoto's tepid solo, Hereafter.

It's mostly high points, so four stars.

Review by AtomicCrimsonRush
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars I remember buying this one when I was on holidays and was just hanging out for some New Beard. It was the only Spock's Beard album on the shelf that I didn't have so I took the chance. I was mildly enthused by the set list as it featured some of my faves especially 'Surfing Down the Avalanche' from "Octane". Instead I was a little underwhelmed as the songs were simply too close to the original albums without the creative spurt of an extended lead break or a drum solo worth mentioning. Certainly the music is great as usual, but I always prefer the band in the studio, other than actually being there at the concert.

The great parts of the concert are towards the end of CD 1. Highlights are here with 'Return to Whatever', 'Surfing Down The Avalanche' 'Thoughts - Part 2', 'Skeletons At The Feast' and then later the full version of 'As Far as the Mind Can See'; all definitely worth a listen. The band lineup is one of the best with vocalist Nick D'Virgillio, also a great guitarist, bassist Dave Meros, guitarist Alan Morse, and keyboard wizard Ryo Okumoto. Jimmy Keegan's drums are nothing special though. In fact the whole album is nothing special, and only comes across as yet another live album. The best is yet to come for Spock's Beard live. In comparison ex-Beardist Neal Morse's live albums are masterful and streets ahead on every level.

Review by Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars This live release came out hot on the heels of Spock's Beard's self-titled album, so in principle it should be pretty solid, since to my mind the Nick D'Virgilio-as-frontman era of the band was really tightening up around this time as far as their studio albums were going - Feel Euphoria was a solid release which stabilised the ship, but Octane and Spock's Beard saw things really clicking for the new configuration of the group as they got used to not having Neal Morse as their main songwriter.

Indeed, they seem pretty good onstage here, though I feel like the mix doesn't quite do them justice; there's a few bits where Nick's voice seems a little overwhelmed, for instance, and it's quite hard to judge whether this is down to him struggling or him simply not being where he needs to be in the overall mix. This and the odd little technical blemish here and there on the one hand establishes that this is a fairly untampered-with live recording (which in some respects makes the band's capabilities more impressive than if the material had a bit more of a touch-up), but at the same time I feel like it could have done with a bit more love in between the master tapes and the actual release to the public.

As such, whilst the album contains a competent band playing good versions of some of their best material, at the same time the production is just loose enough to be annoying, and when the studio versions are right there there's not much reason to be too overexcited about what's here. Worth a listen if you are very big on this era of the band, but doesn't feel like a keeper to me unless you want to be a competist.

Latest members reviews

4 stars This is the first live album of Spock's Beard that I actually decided to listen to all the way through, and I have to say, it's very well done. The sound quality is fantastic, very clean and polished. But that's not the most important part of the review. This should be said first: Nick D'Virg ... (read more)

Report this review (#195036) | Posted by AmericanKhatru | Thursday, December 25, 2008 | Review Permanlink

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