DAY FOR NIGHT

Spock's Beard

Symphonic Prog

3.28 | 475 ratings

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Day for Night takes the pop of Kindness of Strangers to an extreme. Gentle Giant influences are still here, and the Beard seems to experiment with a little jazz as well.

The album kicks off with the title track. 'Day For Night' (7/10) is hardly prog, it's more of Spock's commercial side coming through as was the case in their previous effort. I believe if it wasn't for the weird name and for being mostly unknown the song would have done some work in the charts.

'Gibberish' (8/10) is probably the Beard's most Gentle Giant-like song. It's a good song, but they've already done it.

Skin (7/10) is another pop-oriented song like Day for Night. This song is probably the most commercial sounding of anything they've ever done. The structure is as simple as any pop song, but it's still catchy and has that noticeable Spock's sound.

'The Distance to the Sun' (4/10) is a slower pop song mostly on acoustic guitar. It's nothing special but does have some nice backing vocals from the rest of the members.

'Crack the Big Sky' (9/10) is the most prog song on the album and also my favorite. It begins with an upbeat intro with Nick's crazy drumming. It goes through several addictive verses/choruses before reaching a cool "Spock's Beard Breakdown" (as I call it) at five minutes. It features a rare saxophone and is kind of jazzy.

'The Gypsy' (8/10) is an odd track. It has a rather interesting juxtaposition between the melancholic verses and upbeat and cheery chorus. The song is extremely bombastic and full of energy, but has plenty of great melodies.

'Can't Get It Wrong' (4/10) is just a simple ballad, but it does feature some nice vocals and Mellotron throughout.

The Healing Colors of Sound is a 20-minute suite that closes the album. There are some good moments here, but also a lot of forgettable ones as well. The Healing Colors of Sound pt. 1 and Mommy Comes Back are the highlights here, with the latter using Gentle Giant motifs throughout.

Overall I would say this album is the Beard's weak point. At this point the poppier tunes have mostly overridden the proggier ones. Also, at this point they are just milking the Gentle Giant thing to no end. Despite this, Day for Night is a solid album and is full of great Spock's Beard moments.

6/10

Mr. Mustard | 3/5 | 2012-6-15

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