THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

I have always wondered where Spocks Beard stands in my personal progworld. I'm sure I'm not the biggest fan of them but I don't dislike them either. My favorite album will probably always be V for me but this predecessor The Kindness of Strangers could well be good second I feel.

When I bought and got to know it back then I was pretty enthusiastic I remember. Especially the longer tracks as well as the great ballad June were very much my cup of tea in those days. I must admit I haven't heard it very often ever since so I thought it was high time to play it once more to see hoe it works out on me now. The opener The Good don't last was never huge to me simply because it lacked the typical impressive long instrumental contributions which makes a progsong worthwhile most of the times. And in fact this also goes for the next two songs. These three will not score over 3,25* for me. With fourth track June the album is truly lifting in quality in my opinion. I remember June was played live on a gig I visited and they did an impeccable job on this particular song. They span out the finale as a long party where the crowd was really going crazy and the vibrations were in the air you might say. But also the studio version is pretty good and that's what we're talking about in this case. So somewhere around 3,75 and 4 stars seems fair to me. Next up Strange World is just average to me (3*)

The two larger tracks made a pretty big impact on me in 1997 I can recall. But that's where a decline has taken place where my personal preference is concerned. Not that the epics leave me totally cold by now but neither do they blow my mind right now. Still both sound (very) good but no more than that. So this is decisive for my final conclusion on "Kindness"'. A good/very good album all in all but not good enough for the 4 stars ultimately. It's more like a small 3,5 rounded down to three. Good second still...