THE LIGHT

I have to imagine that the late 80's and early 90's were pretty rough on prog rock fans (I wasn't yet into progressive rock at that time). Most of the great bands from the 70's had more or less turned their backs on prog, and only a handful of the neo-proggers were putting out anything solid. However, the mid-90's seemed to see a wonderful resurgence of progressive rock. Leading the way in this (arguably) third generation prog movement was Spock's Beard. Taking a page from the Genesis playbook, the Beard crafted an amazing collection of epic progressive rock tunes for this incredible debut. While the band's arangements were pretty typical of their influences, the thing that sets 'The Light' appart is the presence of a more modern attitude. Amidst all the proggery, Neal Morse tells stories of life, insanity, betrayal, love, and loss. These are not new concepts for prog rock, but the Beard choose to take a an honest, straight-forward (dare I say poppy) approach rather than hiding the meaning in obscure mythological references or complex stream-of- consciousness lyrics. Simply put, this album is probably one of the most accessable prog rock albums of all time. Musically, the band is in great form (as they are on most of their albums) and, of course, Neil Morse's voice is supurb. The album's stand out song is the title track. This is arguably one of the greatest epics of all time, from any band. The song flows seamlessly through numerous movements that seem to represent different personalities in one person's mind. I tend to find "Go The Way You Go" a bit boring. Its got some great moments, but it is not as strong as the other three songs. That said, I certainly don't skip over it when I'm listening to the entire album. "The Water" is another great epic, but it does get a bit long winded in places. I was certainly caught by surprise by the flurry of f-bombs in the middle section, but it serves the song's purpose nicely. The song gets downright funky in places and comes to a great soaring finish. The album concludes nicely with the rousing rocker "On The Edge." This song reminds me more of early solo Peter Gabriel than of Genesis. The song ends the album on a great high note and left me really looking forward to the band's next album (which turned out to be a dissapointment...). Of the band's seven albums released as of this date, there are four that stand out as thoroughly impressive. I am going to rate this album as the fourth best out of seven, keeping in mind that the top four are all very close in terms of quality.