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Melomaniac 
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 07 2006
Location: Canada
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Points: 4088
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 Posted: June 13 2007 at 10:18 |
 E-Dub wrote:
I like both bands very much. Not overrated in the least.
E |
Agreed. I prefer Spock's Beard's general output though.
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"One likes to believe in the freedom of Music" - Neil Peart, The Spirit of Radio
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Equality 7-2521
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 11 2005
Location: Philly
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Points: 15783
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Posted: June 13 2007 at 10:47 |
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I don't either; both bore me and I don't see anything particularly original in them. Spock's Beard is the better of the two if I had to pick.
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"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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Spacemac
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Joined: June 15 2005
Location: Poland
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Points: 1626
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Posted: June 13 2007 at 14:23 |
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They both essencials to any prog fan
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chessman
Prog Reviewer
Joined: December 01 2004
Location: United Kingdom
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Posted: June 13 2007 at 15:53 |
Spock's Beard are actually very good. I have one album, 'The Kindness Of Strangers' which I find enjoyable, if a little predictable, and I've heard various tracks off other albums. I prefer their earlier work overall.
However, TFK are the masters! My second favourite band of all time, (just behind Genesis) and yes, I was a prog fan in the seventies. TFK have taken up the prog banner and carried it higher than ever before. Strong on melody, composition, musicianship, I love this band. Yes, their albums are very long, but I am one who enjoys pretty much all of it. I have yet to hear a bad album, or even a bad track from them, although I have, of course, got my favourites.
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The T
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 00:00 |
chessman wrote:
Spock's Beard are actually very good. I have one album, 'The Kindness Of Strangers' which I find enjoyable, if a little predictable, and I've heard various tracks off other albums. I prefer their earlier work overall.
However, TFK are the masters! My second favourite band of all time, (just behind Genesis) and yes, I was a prog fan in the seventies. TFK have taken up the prog banner and carried it higher than ever before. Strong on melody, composition, musicianship, I love this band. Yes, their albums are very long, but I am one who enjoys pretty much all of it. I have yet to hear a bad album, or even a bad track from them, although I have, of course, got my favourites.
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Edited by The T - June 14 2007 at 00:02
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prog4evr
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 22 2005
Location: Wuhan, China
Status: Offline
Points: 1455
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 01:11 |
The T wrote:
chessman wrote:
Spock's Beard are actually very good. I have one album, 'The Kindness Of Strangers' which I find enjoyable, if a little predictable, and I've heard various tracks off other albums. I prefer their earlier work overall.
However, TFK are the masters! My second favourite band of all time, (just behind Genesis) and yes, I was a prog fan in the seventies. TFK have taken up the prog banner and carried it higher than ever before. Strong on melody, composition, musicianship, I love this band. Yes, their albums are very long, but I am one who enjoys pretty much all of it. I have yet to hear a bad album, or even a bad track from them, although I have, of course, got my favourites.
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They say the third time is the charm! Hear, hear for SB and TFK!
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MikeEnRegalia
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Joined: April 22 2005
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 02:18 |
darqdean wrote:
Spock's Beard: They have become just a simple rock band.
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Look at what Genesis have become ...  BTW: I don't think that what Spock's Beard do on their 2006 album can hardly be described as "simple" ... maybe from a Gentle Giant point of view, but not if compare it to the output of other bands which are more generally referred to as "simple rock".
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Abstrakt
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 18 2005
Location: Soundgarden
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Points: 18292
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 03:26 |
The Flower Kings: Fantastic  
Spock's Beard: Good, but pretty meh  |
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BiGi
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 01 2005
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 848
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 03:27 |
Well, I like them both But both have the same problem: they can go from wonderful and entertaining themes to boring, pointless and packed with "deja entendu" ones in a blink of an eye! Some examples. Spock's beard  Thoughts I & II, Time has come, Harm's Way, Flow, The Distance to the Sun, At The End of the Day, Revelation, Wind at my back, 2nd Overture/4th Of July/I'm The Guy, Ghosts of Autumn, A Flash Before My Eyes, Skeletons At The Feast Spock's beard  Go the way you go, The Healing Colors Of Sound, The Great Nothing, the many fillers and the overall length of Snow, then again From The Messenger and Sometimes They Stay, Sometimes They Go The Flower Kings The flower king, The sounds of violence, World Of Adventure, In The Eyes Of The World, Circus Brimstone, Compassion, Kingdom Of Lies, Stardust We Are, Deaf Numb And Blind, I am the Sun I & II, Chicken Farmer Song, Underdog, A Kings Prayer, Last Minute On Earth, Sword of God, The Truth Will Set You Free, Genie In A Bottle, Babylon, A Vampires View, Days Gone By, Adam & Eve, Hit Me With A Hit, Pioneers Of Aviation, Bavarian Skies, Paradox Hotel The Flower Kings Hudson River Sirens Call 1998, Rumble Fish Twist, Christianopel, The Devils Danceschool, Too Late For Tomatoes, Timelines, The Unorthodox Dancinglesson...but apart from these undigestible appalling exercises in self-indulgence, the real downside of TFK is that their huge discography is overfilled with way too many anonymous filler tracks...albums like Retropolis, Unfold the Future, Flower Power and Paradox Hotel contain many songs which are far from bad or annoying, but have absolutely no appeal either! P.S.: about Spock's Beard, their productions have no way worsened since Neal Morse left. Instead, this has allowed the composing talents of the other members (especially the noteworthy Dave Meros) come to the fore! Neal Morse is a great composer and an outstandingly gifted performer, but this undoubtedly implies that his shadow is so big that the others' contributions cannot help being put in the background...
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A flower? 
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Dean
Special Collaborator
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Joined: May 13 2007
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 04:46 |
MikeEnRegalia wrote:
darqdean wrote:
Spock's Beard: They have become just a simple rock band.
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Look at what Genesis have become ...
BTW: I don't think that what Spock's Beard do on their 2006 album can hardly be described as "simple" ... maybe from a Gentle Giant point of view, but not if compare it to the output of other bands which are more generally referred to as "simple rock".
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I haven't heard their eponymouse 2006 album - I lost patience after Feel Euphoria and Octane and just gave up - there are far better ways of spending my CD buying budget.
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What?
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MikeEnRegalia
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 04:55 |
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^ Even Octane isn't Simple Rock ... but of course I understand your point.
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salmacis
Forum Senior Member
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 05:01 |
This thread is a classic example of someone using the word 'overrated' as a substitute for 'I don't like them', which is obviously what is really meant here, imho...
Anyway, I do prefer Spock's Beard overall. I really love 'The Kindness Of Strangers'- one of my fave prog albums of the 90s- and in truth, I don't think they have recorded a bad album yet. However, I don't like the albums since Neal Morse left as much- there are too many straight ahead rockers ('Is This Love', ''Sometimes They Stay...', 'As Long As We Ride'). But even on those, their way with a good melody is intact.
Flower Kings are less consistent, imho. My favourites though are 'Stardust We Are' and 'Space Revolver' which I think were only a hair's breadth away from me giving them 5 stars. I struggle with some of their output ('Unfold The Future', 'The Rainmaker' and 'Adam And Eve', specifically) due to the 'noodling' which imho is there to pad out songs. But overrated? Not a bit of it, imho- there are still many fine albums in their catalogue.
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BiGi
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 05:06 |
salmacis wrote:
This thread is a classic example of someone using the word 'overrated' as a substitute for 'I don't like them', which is obviously what is really meant here, imho...
Anyway, I do prefer Spock's Beard overall. I really love 'The Kindness Of Strangers'- one of my fave prog albums of the 90s- and in truth, I don't think they have recorded a bad album yet. However, I don't like the albums since Neal Morse left as much- there are too many straight ahead rockers ('Is This Love', ''Sometimes They Stay...', 'As Long As We Ride'). But even on those, their way with a good melody is intact.
Flower Kings are less consistent, imho. My favourites though are 'Stardust We Are' and 'Space Revolver' which I think were only a hair's breadth away from me giving them 5 stars. I struggle with some of their output ('Unfold The Future', 'The Rainmaker' and 'Adam And Eve', specifically) due to the 'noodling' which imho is there to pad out songs. But overrated? Not a bit of it, imho- there are still many fine albums in their catalogue. |
Apart from not liking the post-Neal Morse albums, I agree word by word with you. As a matter of fact I really can't understand how can it be that Unfold the future is ranking #1 among TFK's albums, according to Progarchives collaborators! To me it is one of their most anonymous outputs ever! Adam & Eve was promising, but unfortunately they have returned to diluted works with Paradox Hotel (which is anyway far better than UTF, IMHO)
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A flower?
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salmacis
Forum Senior Member
Content Addition
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 05:10 |
^Well, in fairness, I do still have the post-Neal albums and do play them- they are good but (for me) not quite as good as the earlier ones.
'Unfold The Future' I struggle with, to be honest. I would never say it was their worst album (that's 'The Rainmaker' for me- a rather weak affair to my ears) but I'm surprised it is regarded as their best here. I am loathe to use the word 'overrated', but I'll just say I don't really grasp it. As a single disc album, it would have been great, as a double, less so, imho. I feel some songs are there as padding (not a problem I have with 'Stardust...' or even 'Paradox Hotel').
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Snow Dog
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Joined: March 23 2005
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 05:14 |
prog4evr wrote:
The T wrote:
chessman wrote:
Spock's Beard are actually very good. I have one album, 'The Kindness Of Strangers' which I find enjoyable, if a little predictable, and I've heard various tracks off other albums. I prefer their earlier work overall.
However, TFK are the masters! My second favourite band of all time, (just behind Genesis) and yes, I was a prog fan in the seventies. TFK have taken up the prog banner and carried it higher than ever before. Strong on melody, composition, musicianship, I love this band. Yes, their albums are very long, but I am one who enjoys pretty much all of it. I have yet to hear a bad album, or even a bad track from them, although I have, of course, got my favourites.
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They say the third time is the charm! Hear, hear for SB and TFK! |
Is a fourth time over egging the pudding? 
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lmollea
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 12 2005
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 130
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 05:23 |
salmacis wrote:
This thread is a classic example of someone using the word 'overrated' as a substitute for 'I don't like them', which is obviously what is really meant here, imho...
Anyway, I do prefer Spock's Beard overall. I really love 'The Kindness Of Strangers'- one of my fave prog albums of the 90s- and in truth, I don't think they have recorded a bad album yet. However, I don't like the albums since Neal Morse left as much- there are too many straight ahead rockers ('Is This Love', ''Sometimes They Stay...', 'As Long As We Ride'). But even on those, their way with a good melody is intact.
Flower Kings are less consistent, imho. My favourites though are 'Stardust We Are' and 'Space Revolver' which I think were only a hair's breadth away from me giving them 5 stars. I struggle with some of their output ('Unfold The Future', 'The Rainmaker' and 'Adam And Eve', specifically) due to the 'noodling' which imho is there to pad out songs. But overrated? Not a bit of it, imho- there are still many fine albums in their catalogue. |
I quote here also what you say. I like Spock's Beard more than TFK. For me TFK are worth until The Rainmaker, after that album they tend to repeat themselves and fill their works with too much anonymous tracks. Spock's Beard lost something after Neal Morse left, but I still find Octane and Spock's Beard worthy albums (less valuable than the works with Neal Morse), but nonetheless superior to the latest TFK works (Unfold The Future, for example, from which I don't remember a single note).
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Semm che, semm che settą giņ in del bar / a cercą l'universo nel bucčer del Cynar
cosmonauti al tavolino cun la sigareta in błca / che vemm a cambią el mund apena finissum la sambuca
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lmollea
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Joined: June 12 2005
Location: Italy
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 05:25 |
salmacis wrote:
^Well, in fairness, I do still have the post-Neal albums and do play them- they are good but (for me) not quite as good as the earlier ones.
'Unfold The Future' I struggle with, to be honest. I would never say it was their worst album (that's 'The Rainmaker' for me- a rather weak affair to my ears) but I'm surprised it is regarded as their best here. I am loathe to use the word 'overrated', but I'll just say I don't really grasp it. As a single disc album, it would have been great, as a double, less so, imho. I feel some songs are there as padding (not a problem I have with 'Stardust...' or even 'Paradox Hotel'). |
salmacis, you got the point. TFK tend to release TOO MANY double albums...
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Semm che, semm che settą giņ in del bar / a cercą l'universo nel bucčer del Cynar
cosmonauti al tavolino cun la sigareta in błca / che vemm a cambią el mund apena finissum la sambuca
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salmacis
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Content Addition
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 05:28 |
^Yeah, I'd say that too. It feels terribly churlish me saying this but I think Roine is too prolific, period!  However, lots of people seem to like everything he's done.
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Dean
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 05:38 |
MikeEnRegalia wrote:
^ Even Octane isn't Simple Rock ... but of course I understand your point. |
The phrase "simple rock" isn't mine, I copied from the original Poll-Questions (which darksideof has changed since I posted  ) to show that I needed to be able to vote twice to answer the original question (which he has also changed ).
I don't think that they are "simple rock", but I don't think that Octane is progressive either it is more like AOR. 
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What?
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salmacis
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Posted: June 14 2007 at 05:41 |
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Yeah I certainly felt the AOR quotient went up after Neal left (possibly most of all on 'Octane' but that's my fave of those albums, anyway) but imho, there was always an AOR influence on SB's work. Some say there is on TFK's work but I don't really hear that, to be honest...
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The Flower King/ Spock's Beard
