THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

The third studio album from Spock's Beard is a scattershot affair. The two ten minute tracks, The Good Don't Last and Harm's Way are both very good, but not the best epics from the band. And In The Mouth Of Madness is just wonderful.

On the other side, the middle of the album, from Cakewalk On Easy Street through Strange World, the music gets almost tedious. And the longest piece on the album, Flow, just doesn't. It highlight's Neal Morse's habit of mixing grandiose passages with some truly mundane musical sections. And if you didn't know about his ardent Christianity by this time, the lyrics of this one should make it obvious.

It's not a bad album, and I pull it out and listen to it once in a while, but it isn't a favorite.