V

After the rather weak and overly poppy Day for Night, Spock's Beard strikes back with perhaps there most prog and certainly their best effort in V. By this point, most of the Gentle Giant influence is gone and they finally discover their own unique sound.

The album starts with the first epic 'At the End of the Day.' The song opens with a beautiful introduction which eventually builds up to one of my favorite Spock's Beard melodies. The rest of the song is filled with so many great ideas and all of them are connected appropriately. The ending is a reprise of the beginning melody and features some of the most amazing bass work I've ever heard courtesy of the underrated Dave Meros.

'Revelation' (9/10) has a very spacey and almost nostalgic sound throughout. It is rather simple in terms of structure, confining to the verse-chorus format. But this is easily the Beard's most atmospheric song, and has a great contrast between the gentle verses and loud and heavy chorus.

'Thoughts Part II' (9/10) is a continuation of the Thoughts series started in Beware of Darkness and is really their only heavy Gentle Giant moment. If you've heard the first part and 'Gibberish' then you know exactly the style of this song. I still like it and it's my favorite of the two (or three so far) Thoughts.

'All On a Sunday' (8/10) is their commercial oriented song on the album, and probably their best one at that. The Mellotron and keyboards really help this song along, and the chorus is catchy as anything.

'Goodbye to Yesterday' (7/10) is a slightly Beatles sounding ballad with amazing Mellotron and acoustic guitar. It's also one of their more melancholic songs .

'The Great Nothing' is to Spock's Beard as Supper's Ready and Echoes are to Genesis and Pink Floyd. The song is 27-minutes of constant symphonic prog heaven. It opens with a Mellotron intro influenced by 'Watcher of the Skies' no doubt. Following is some acoustic guitar which segues into some heavier riffs before reaching the first vocal part, for which Neal Morse is consistently amazing throughout. You're hit with amazing melodies and top-notch instrumentation from all the members through the rest of the song before a dramatic and emotional outro led by Neal Morse.

I cannot think of any superlatives that can adequately describe how amazing of an album this is. It's everything I like in symphonic prog. V is easily the highlight of Spock's Beard and is one of my top ten favorite albums.

10/10