FEEL EUPHORIA

This is perhaps the album that divides SPOCK'S BEARD's fans the most, and for good reason, Neal is gone. I actually went into this one with a positive outlook having enjoyed Nick's vocals on that one song on the "Snow" recording. Man, this one is sure different from the past ones though.This is more of a band effort and it shows as we get a bit of a mixed bag here. I took King By-Tor's advise and listened to this one longer than I usually would and it did make a difference. The problem for me is that although I have grown to really like a lot of the music here, there are still songs that for me are from very average, to not even liking them. So I can't give it 4 stars, but I do enjoy it quite a lot.

"Onomatopocia" is liked by everyone but me it seems. It's an uptempo rocker that I like, but then those faster paced, commercial sounding vocal parts come in and i'm turned off. I like it when it calms down with strummed guitar, reserved vocals and mellotron 2 minutes in. It kicks back in 3 1/2 minutes in. Love the mellotron after 4 minutes, and the ending is killer. "The Bottom Line" sounds great to begin with as the guitar, mellotron then synths shine as the drums pound. It settles and it sounds even better. It calms down even more when the vocals come in. Mellotron flows in as the chorus with higher pitched vocals arrive. The almost dead calm before 3 minutes is touching. Check out the section before 4 1/2 minutes. The vocals sound so much like on that ALICE IN CHAINS song called "Stay Away". What a great EP "Jar Of Flies" is by the way. More mellotron before 6 minutes as strummed guitar comes in and then fragile vocals to the end. Great tune.

"Feel Euphoria" takes a while to get going as it features electronics, drums, organ and deep vocals. The best part is when it kicks into gear before 4 minutes and later 5 1/2 minutes in. "Shining Star" is a mellow and lazy track that does nothing for me. "East Of Eden, West Of Memphis" is my favourite song. It's fairly straight forward and pleasant with some fantastic mellotron until a change after 3 minutes. I'm so into the rest of this song. Amazing stuff as the tempo picks up and the mellotron storm comes in. Check out the guitar 4 1/2 minutes in ! Nick is putting on a clinic on the drums as well. It then sort of winds down slowly to the end. "Ghost Of Autumn" is piano and reserved vocals and drums for the most part. Then it changes 3 1/2 minutes in, and like the previous song i'm totally hooked the rest of the way.

"A Guy Named Sid" is the over 20 minute epic that is divided into 6 parts.This was the first song Nick wrote after Neal left the band. Nick by the way is all over this with his drumkit. Nice heavy intro that ends with some great synth work. The second part is even better when the vocals come in. A calm after 2 minutes as Sid speaks. Organ after 3 minutes. I like the contrasting styles in part three. In part four we get some heaviness with nice bass lines. The vocals are excellent. The vocal arrangements in part five are impressive. Part six brings back the heaviness with mellotron and vocals. The tempo picks up. After 2 1/2 minutes it sounds like the old SPOCK'S BEARD. Good song. "Carry On" is ok I guess, but why not end it with the epic ?

I like "The Bottom Line" , "East Of Eden", "West Of Memphis", "Ghost of Autumn" and "A Guy Named Sid" a lot, the rest not so much. 3.5 stars and a good start to the post-Neal BEARD.