DAY FOR NIGHT

They are consummate musicians who, although they are reminiscent of bands such as Yes, Marillion and especially Genesis, they have forged their own musical identity. And, on a totally left-field point, their music is often upbeat, and occasionally uplifting, something which can't be said for, say, Porcupine Tree, even though I like that band just as much as the Beardies.

I discovered them at a relatively late stage - around the time of 'Feel Euphoria' in 2004, which is an unusual way to go about it. I heard all of the post-Neal albums first and I liked them all, which encouraged me to dig deeper. So, I dusted off my purse and bought all of the earlier studio albums, and then listened to all six of them in sequence.

I found this, their fourth album, as the most immediately appealing, and I find it quite difficult to understand the low rating on this website. It's a very upbeat album musically, and it takes their knack for picking out a melody and applies it to the whole album, and, to paraphrase John Cleese, "You're forced to like a nice tune!"

All of the tracks on the album have something to recommend them , but the ballad "The Distance to the Sun" contains some well-crafted harmonies, and "Crack the Big Sky", possibly my favourite track on the album, is panoramic in scale, with is a simple, melodic rock song at it's heart. Whenever I listen to this, it takes me days to get the chorus out of my head!

The centre-point of Day for Night is the epic "The Healing Colours of Sound", a song-suite rather than a single song, in the style of "Suppers Ready" or "Thick as a Brick". And it is excellent. I haven't got the faintest idea what it's about, but over 20 minutes flies by very pleasantly, and the track showcases every aspect of Spock's Beard's music at their very best (incidentally, the live version of this on "Don't Try This At Home" is at least as good, if not better than the studio version). I think this track works very well when you treat it as a single-entity.

If you were wondering about the Beardies, and whether you would like them or not, Day for Night is a great starting point. It's probably not their most accomplished work (listen to the denser, more complex albums 'V' or 'Snow' for that), but it will provide an excellent introduction to the band.

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