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Spock's Beard - Don't Try This At Home  CD (album) cover

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME

Spock's Beard

 

Symphonic Prog

3.02 | 79 ratings

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UMUR
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Don't Try This At Home is a live album from US symphonic progressive rock act Spockīs Beard. The album was recorded on the Day for Night tour and predominantly features songs from that album. Compared to their first live album The Beard Is Out There ( 1998), Don't Try This At Home is a much better release and I have only a few things that I will say is on the negative side.

The song selection is a bit strange IMO as Spockīs Beard had at this time released four studio albums but only songs from two of them are present on Don't Try This At Home. Considering that the album is only 49:02 minutes long itīs a bit odd that the band didnīt add a few songs from the two albums that are not represented and at the same time added more minutes to the albumīs playing time.

We get four songs from the ( at the time) new album Day for Night. The title track, Skin, Gibberish and the 20:00 minute long epic The Healing Colors of Sound. In addition to those four songs there are also two songs from the third album The Kindness Of Strangers ( 1997). In the Mouth Of Madness and June are the songs the band has selected from that album.

The performance is very professional and at times very inspired and itīs obvious that the band is having a good time on stage which in turn means that there is a good vibe on the album. The opener Day for Night is one of my favorite Spockīs Beard tunes and itīs delivered in great fashion on this album. In the Mouth Of Madness comes up next and itīs another great Spockīs Beard song. The Hit Skin is played in a much better way than the boring studio version. It will never be my favorite track from Spockīs Beard but this version is allright. Gibberish is one of the better songs from Day for Night and I like this version much better than the original. June starts with an acoustic guitar intro courtesy of Alan Morse before we enter the suckery ballad. They could have left that one out for my sake. The healing colors of sound ends the album and again this version is better than the studio version but the song is not a favorite of mine and I would much rather have heard some of the epic songs from Beware of Darkness.

The sound quality is good and I was actually quite relieved after listening to the poor sound quality on The Beard Is Out There.

Don't Try This At Home is an enjoyable album even though the song selection could have been better and the playing time could have been longer. A 3 star rating is deserved.

UMUR | 3/5 |

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