FEEL EUPHORIA

To begin, may I say that I've never really been a follower of Spock's Beard's music, and I listen to this album as a relative outsider of the band's fanbase. Being that this is my first full experience with the band, I don't have too much background with the band save for a few songs. However, what I can say for a fact, is that with the departure of the main man Neil Morse, the band certainly took a bit of a blow to their creative output. While they didn't necessarily die out and become 'worthless,' the reformed Spock's Beard doesn't seem to be as capable of releasing truly memorable, innovative material as they once did. The band's first album after this change of personnel, 'Feel Euphoria' is a good example of my point. Decent, but certainly nothing to blow my mind.

Without Neil Morse to guide the band's direction, Spock's Beard were far from hopeless. They managed to pull a few potent songs out on the line here, as well as a 20 minute epic which regardless, is a feat to write a song of that length on it's own.

Songs like 'Onomatopeia' and the title track really epitomize the album and how it stands to me. Nothing special, but pallatable and fun. There are a few sections on the album that seem to go beyond the call of duty into the realm of excellence however; among these are the fifth part of the epic, 'Sid's Boy's Choir,' the instrumental sections of 'The Bottom Line' and 'East Of Eden, West Of Memphis' and the emotional 'Ghosts Of Autumn.' The rest seems a bit subdued.

The epic on the album, 'A Guy Named Sid,' really brought my expectations up, even before listening. Despite it's rather trivial name, for the most part, musicians put alot of effort into writing epics, and it is on those tracks where prog band's true strength is shown. 'A Guy Named Sid' however, is not excellent. Like many of it's neighbouring tracks, it is good, but not excellent. The song tries to tell some story of redemption, but it really doesn't end up working in the end. To be honest, as far as the lyrics go, I was a bit too concerned as to figure out who the hell Sid was!

Although I am not a big Spock's Beard fan, I am certain the band has seen greener pastures than this release, and even then, 'Feel Euphoria' is far from being a poor record. A good album with a few excellent parts, and recommended to existing fans of the band.

The Beard satisfies, but does not impress on this one.

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