THE LIGHT

"The Light" is the debut full-length studio album by US, California based progressive rock act Spock's Beard. The album was independently released in late 1994. Spock's Beard was founded in 1992 by brothers Neal- and Alan Morse. Both relatively experienced musicians who had played in other projects during the 1980s. While Spock's Beard was initially created to be a duo project, the two brothers soon assembled a full band lineup. The material featured on "The Light" was recorded during 1994 and the recordings were financed by the band themselves. It was during an early 1995 live performance that Spock's Beard were discovered an given the opportunity to release their already recorded and independently released album through a label Giant Electric Pea (an associated label to Inside Out Music).

"The Light" was recorded by the quartet of Neal Morse (lead vocals, keyboards, acoustic & electric guitars) and Alan Morse (lead electric guitar, cello, additional keyboards, backing vocals), Dave Meros (bass, french horn), and Nick D'Virgilio (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Keyboard player Ryo Okumoto was however soon hired for live performances and would be a permanent member of the band from then on.

"The Light" is quite the ambitious debut album featuring only 4 tracks and a total playing time of 57:01 minutes. The title track is 15:33 minutes long and "The Water" is even longer with a 23:14 minutes long playing time. "Go the Way You Go" is also quite long with a playing time of 12:03 minutes, while the shortest track on the album is the 6:11 minutes long closing track "On the Edge". So there is not much catering to anyone but a hardcore progressive rock audience on this debut release in terms of shorter vers/chorus structured tracks.

Stylistically Spock's Beard combine all sorts of different European- and Amerian progressive rock influences and also influences from other genres, to make a sound of their own. Morse has a strong voice and a recognisable singing style, able to sing both slightly hoarse hard rocking vocals but also fully able to deliver beautiful melodic singing (often complimented by harmonies and choirs). In some ways Spock's Beard are comparable to Kansas, because Spock's Beard aren´t afraid to include an AOR friendly soft rock chorus or other mainstream pop and rock elements if they feel at song prospers from it. That part of their sound isn´t that dominant on "The Light" though and it´s predominantly "On the Edge" which leans in a more mainstream oriented direction (while still obviously being a progressive rock song). The two longest tracks on the album are both divided into sub tracks, and while there is coherence between the parts, I still think it´s obvious that all sub tracks were composed separately and then put together to form a longer epic. I can´t be sure of course, but to my ears it sounds like that was the compositional method used.

While "The Light" features a decent sounding production, it is at times audible that this is a self-financed release and it lacks a more organic and full sound. It´s not a major issue and as the tracks are quite intriguing and the musicianship is on a high level on all posts, "The Light" is still a good quality debut release from Spock's Beard. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

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