Best Spock’s Beard album?

If you're into 70's symphonic prog you might like Beware Of Darkness best. It really sounds like it is recorded somewhere in the 70's. They sound more like a mix of Yes, Genesis, Tull and The Beatles here than they sound like the Spock's Beard on other albums. If that's a good thing or not is for you to decide. The Light and V are the next most symphonic-oriented.

Beware Of Darkness! No doubt!

Teaflax wrote: Ty1020 wrote: I recently got into Transatlantic, which was my first exposure to Neal Morse, and I really loved it. I'm thinking Spock's Beard (another band I haven't listened to) would sound similar, so if I'm going to get one of their albums, which one should it be? Should I check out Neal's solo efforts, too?   Caveat emptor. I think Transtalantic are pretty good (with the exception of We All Need Light), but find Spock's Beard middling at best (and offensive at worst). I can listen to V and Snow, but it does require some skipping and some overlooking of overt AOR tendencies.

I love those tendencies.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Teaflax wrote: Ty1020 wrote: I recently got into Transatlantic, which was my first exposure to Neal Morse, and I really loved it. I'm thinking Spock's Beard (another band I haven't listened to) would sound similar, so if I'm going to get one of their albums, which one should it be? Should I check out Neal's solo efforts, too?   Caveat emptor. I think Transtalantic are pretty good (with the exception of We All Need Light), but find Spock's Beard middling at best (and offensive at worst). I can listen to V and Snow, but it does require some skipping and some overlooking of overt AOR tendencies. I love those tendencies.

So do I, have long been a 'Journey' fan, no-one will make me feel guilty for liking them!

Teaflax wrote: If you have no problem with incredibly mainstream vocals, harmonies and chord progressions, you will probably love SB.

It is often a problem of "progheads" that they're so accustomed to inaccessible music like VdGG or GG, that they belittle bands like Spock's Beard and say that they're too mainstream. While that may be true for certain songs (namely ballads), the majority of Spock's Beard works would be immediately described as non-mainstream by people accustomed to REAL mainstream radio music.

Listen to The Light, Go The Way You Go, The Water, In The Mouth Of Madness, Thoughts, ... it is NOT mainstream by any standard.

BiGi wrote: Sir Hogweed wrote: They sound more like a mix of Yes, Genesis, Tull and The Beatles here than they sound like the Spock's Beard on other albums. Don't forget the Gentle Giant influence on Thoughts The beatlesque component can be surely found in the title track, a cover of George Harrison's 1970 song! (check out Neal Morse's rendition of What is life? among the bonus tracks of One...it seems he's very fond of the late fab-four album All things must pass - a SHOULD have, in my opinion)

Thanks for the addition, BiGi. How could I forget GG? It was the section "Thoughts are like black ravens in the sky" that brung The Beatles into mind. And luckily I have the One bonus CD (also liked his Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey impersonations)

Teaflax wrote:   AOR Prog is extremely useful as a term for the kind of music which fuses instrumental prowess and inventiveness with the songwriting chops of Winger or Triumph. It's not a lie to say that it's in quite a different league than Symphonic Prog, Art Rock, Neoprog, RIO or all of the other subgenres that are already in place under the Big Prog umbrella.

AOR Prog is an adequate description for 50% of the Spock's Beard material. I'd say that another 10% are standard AOR, and the remaining 40% are Prog with slight AOR influences. All that is not taking into account the non-Morse albums.

BTW: I hate Styx. I love Spock's Beard. Go figure ...  But I thank you for at least admitting that they have instrumental prowess and inventiveness.

Yurkspb wrote: The first Spock's Beard CD I bought was V. Cannot say it's a masterpiece or a bad album, somethng in between. As I see from this discussion, V is recommended quite often as the best album. So if this is the best, I guess I won't buy any SB albums anymore

Just because people in general think one particular album is the best never means YOU will think the same way. On the other hand, if you don't like a band's most popular album at all, you probably won't like the rest. Why don't you give The Kindness of Strangers or Beware of Darkness a try, I personally think V is good, but I really started digging SB through the older albums.

For me it is extremly difficult to compare SB's albums. They all hold the same solid high standard, and never fail to get you in a good mood.

I go for "Snow" on this one...

 

Start at the beginning like I did. SB was one of the first bands I got into from this site and they do have their own distinctive style. V is definately their best but I am one of those who like to leave the best till last. I am not really a cherry picker. Especially with something as consistently good as SB. However having said that if this site's concensus is that a debut is a howler I may start with a later album. It's a question of judgement and preference - and a few hundred other factors. Snow is also good but lost me on the last couple of tracks