Spock's Beard Studio Albums

V.........simply for the two long pieces that are two of the best  tracks they have ever done.

Dellinger wrote: YESESIS wrote: Dellinger wrote: YESESIS wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: I haven't heard all so I won't vote. With only one exception(Octane which I heard once)I only know the NM era. OUt of those I really enjoy the first two and V so I would say those are their very best. KoS would be right behind them. DFN is actually very good but it seems like an attempt to crack the charts(ie very poppy imo). Snow is pretty good for a double but I think TFK were better at doubles(maybe that's why they did so many). Yeah, I just started listening to this band a few day ago(the lead singer was suggested to me by one of my buddies on here) and I've just been jamming out to DFN and KoS lol. Guess I should probably try some of their other stuff now..  OK, now it will be you who will be able to suggest me where to start with this band... as soon as I'm ready to take a dip into it. So far the only one I have got is Brief Nocturnes (not with Neal Morse), and it was sort of nice. Particularly the song "Something very Strange" is really great. Ok I'll have to listen to some more from them first, and then sure I'll recommend something that I think, based on what I know about your tastes(Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield) would be a good place for you to start.  The problem for Spock's Beard and Neal Morse, as far as I understand the music they make (and that would count for Flower Kings too, from which I know very little, but I guess would work very nicely for you too, given their reputation for positive music) is that they seem to fill the marks of music that I like. Long songs with long instrumental passages, variations within the songs, catchy melodies, hard rocking guitars, etc. But in the end there's something that doesn't satisfy me. The best way I can define it is that to me it sounds like they are doing prog by the numbers, and it doesn't sound inspired. Or better said, they are good, but not great (for me, that is).

Today I listened to all of the Snow double album. It was a wild ride and a great story, I thought it was pretty fantastic really. Easily the best thing I've heard from them so far.

YESESIS wrote: Dellinger wrote: YESESIS wrote: Dellinger wrote: YESESIS wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: I haven't heard all so I won't vote. With only one exception(Octane which I heard once)I only know the NM era. OUt of those I really enjoy the first two and V so I would say those are their very best. KoS would be right behind them. DFN is actually very good but it seems like an attempt to crack the charts(ie very poppy imo). Snow is pretty good for a double but I think TFK were better at doubles(maybe that's why they did so many). Yeah, I just started listening to this band a few day ago(the lead singer was suggested to me by one of my buddies on here) and I've just been jamming out to DFN and KoS lol. Guess I should probably try some of their other stuff now..  OK, now it will be you who will be able to suggest me where to start with this band... as soon as I'm ready to take a dip into it. So far the only one I have got is Brief Nocturnes (not with Neal Morse), and it was sort of nice. Particularly the song "Something very Strange" is really great. Ok I'll have to listen to some more from them first, and then sure I'll recommend something that I think, based on what I know about your tastes(Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield) would be a good place for you to start.  The problem for Spock's Beard and Neal Morse, as far as I understand the music they make (and that would count for Flower Kings too, from which I know very little, but I guess would work very nicely for you too, given their reputation for positive music) is that they seem to fill the marks of music that I like. Long songs with long instrumental passages, variations within the songs, catchy melodies, hard rocking guitars, etc. But in the end there's something that doesn't satisfy me. The best way I can define it is that to me it sounds like they are doing prog by the numbers, and it doesn't sound inspired. Or better said, they are good, but not great (for me, that is). Today I listened to all of the Snow double album. It was a wild ride and a great story, I thought it was pretty fantastic really. Easily the best thing I've heard from them so far.

Yeah, I have read about that Snow album being really great. Mostly because they are just releasing a concert with the whole album, and with all the band members that have been in the band so far. So that might be the way to get the album.

the lighthouse keepe wrote: No votes for their last album The Oblivion Particle i see!Fairly disjointed affair really;too much influence of Ted Leonard starting too appear i fear!He should stick to writing for Enchant(who are a class act!),and leave that department to the rest of the guys in SB!

AlanB wrote: I would suggest starting with "The First Twenty Years" compilation if you haven't heard much by them.

That's a good suggestion! A nice overview of them

Jeffro wrote: the lighthouse keepe wrote: No votes for their last album The Oblivion Particle i see!Fairly disjointed affair really;too much influence of Ted Leonard starting too appear i fear!He should stick to writing for Enchant(who are a class act!),and leave that department to the rest of the guys in SB! I said it before and I'll say it again. I don't think Leonard is right for this band.

Agree!Ted Leonard is a superb vocalist,and perfectly fits in with Enchant and their harder edge side of progressive music,but with SB,his voice isn't really suited to the band's arrangements and style!

AlanB wrote: Dellinger wrote: OK, now it will be you who will be able to suggest me where to start with this band... as soon as I'm ready to take a dip into it. So far the only one I have got is Brief Nocturnes (not with Neal Morse), and it was sort of nice. Particularly the song "Something very Strange" is really great. I would suggest starting with "The First Twenty Years" compilation if you haven't heard much by them.

Yeah, I think I read something about that one last year (or early this year). It sounded like a good option.

YESESIS wrote: Dellinger wrote: YESESIS wrote: Today I listened to all of the Snow double album. It was a wild ride and a great story, I thought it was pretty fantastic really. Easily the best thing I've heard from them so far. Yeah, I have read about that Snow album being really great. Mostly because they are just releasing a concert with the whole album, and with all the band members that have been in the band so far. So that might be the way to get the album. I don't know. I know you seem to prefer live stuff(but not always). All I've heard is the studio version, and it's a tremendous Christian prog concept double album. I listened to it all yesterday(nearly two hours in total), and tonight I'm still blown away from the whole experience. I even changed my avi to the cover. So I'd probably recommend listening to the studio version first(1. because it's awesome 2. so you know the story). And then go for this new live deal. But if you just can't resist and want to go straight to the live one.. do what you gotta do lol.

Mostly, I like to hear the different versions of the songs by the band (usually 1 on the studio and many live), and choose the one I like better. Often enough, there are better versions live than on studio... or it becomes a frustrating matter, since different version might be better in one aspect, but not so great in another one, and then it becomes very difficult to choose my favourite one. One of the reasons I like to get live albums, specially when I'm starting to know a band, is because that way I get a sort of "best of" selection from the band, and from there I can check out what I want to check out first. And I sort of prefer the live albums over best of or compilation albums, because then I would feel like I'm duplicating a lot of songs if I have them on the compilation and the original studio album. Also, many times (depending on the band and the particular albums/songs), the live ones can have some characteristics that makes them better for me: more energy / heavier playing, updated musical passages, longer instrumental passages / jamming, sometimes the studio songs sound like incomplete versions of the songs compared to (at least some of) their live counterparts, or the songs can be played by different line-ups, giving them a new dimension (Wakeman with Yes playing songs in which he was not originally involved). However, with Snow I couldn't really use it as an overview of the bands discography, since this new live album seems to include only the songs of the original studio one... nor do I have an idea if they are one of those bands that sound better live than on studio or not. Now, once again an album I haven't heard yet, but the way you describe the christian nature of the concept of Snow, it seems you might be interested in checking out Neal's solo album "Sola Scriptura". Just read some of those reviews and you'll want to hear it right away. http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=14201

Queen By-Tor wrote: The Light is usually the one I reach for, but Octane has grown on me a lot over the years.

Gonna go with X because it's chock full prog clichés, great rhythms and wonderful keys, and is the best post Morse album in my humble opinion. No easy feat.