DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME-LIVE / THE MAKING OF V

This DVD package comprises two DVDs and one audio CD. Disc one (Don't Try This At Home) offers you a complete concert by the band as recorded on 28th September 1999 in Tilburg, Holland during the band's Day For Night tour. Disc two is a DVD showing The Making Of V which previously was already released on VHS through Radiant Records plus four extra bonus tracks in this DVD. Disc three is an audio CD featuring "South Side Of The Sky", live acoustic sessions and SNOW studio out-takes.

The Performance

The show starts with album title track "Day For Night" which the band performs it excellently. Neal Morse takes his position at center front of the stage with mike and his keyboard. Nick d'Virgillio at drum stools, center back with raised platform playing his Mapex drum set. Alan Morse mostly stands at right wing (crowd's view) but he moves dynamically during the performance, back and forth to the position where Dave Meros stands around Alan Morse, back to the power amp system. At this opening track, Neal plays triple roles: as lead singer, keyboard player and acoustic guitar player in the middle of the track. He moves back and forth on stage. It continues with "In the Mouth of Madness" which opens with a soaring keyboard sound. All musicians play their roles excellently except Ryo that is too overacting for my personal taste because his keyboard work does not sound "thick" enough as part of the whole music. After all, sometimes I'm a bit confused the keyboard sound is actually coming from whom: Neal or Ryo? Sorry for thise who favor Ryo's stage act, I'm in a differing opinion about it. If you compare, say with Rick Wakeman, the keyboard sound and his rapid finger playing is very obvious.

"Gibberish" with Gentle Giant influenced style is performed flawlessly. I really enjoy when this track is performed. It's awesome. Opened with Neal (not Ryo) keyboard playing with accentuated style the music blasts off beautifully followed with powerful choir in the vein of Gentle Giant. It's a wonderful song performed live! Well, I admit that the composition of this song is truly top notch! All instruments contribute nicely to the composition which makes this a cohesive song musically. It's my best trackin this DVD set. "Go the Way You Go" is also another excellent performance with a lot of influence from early Genesis - especially on Alan Morse's guitar playing at the opening part and also the keyboard sound. Neal who has been the main communicator of the band always gives some introduction before the song is performed. Dave Meros plays a very good live stage act with his bass guitar and I think he is one of the best bass player in prog music. Neal does his singing while playing an acoustic guitar and inviting the crowd to sing along with him.

"June" is an unplugged performance by the band where Neal plays acoustic guitar excellently accompanied by his brother Alan on another acoustic guitar. On studio version I don't actually favor this track but this live performance gives me another musical experience that makes me love the track, finally. The two brothers also sing together and it make this ballad really interesting one to enjoy! The full music enters at the ending part of the song accompanying the duo vocal by Neal and Alan. The show goes on with an energetic "The Healing Colors of Sound" which receive big applaud by the crowd when Neal introduce the song. Another great prog rock composition performed brilliantly by the band. At segment where there is no drumming, Nick moves forward and contributes singing. Good appearance. It then continues with Ryo's solo that does not favor me at all. I usually skip this part because I'm bored seeing his stage act - his body and his mimics move dynamically but his keyboard sound is so simple and seems to move nowhere. There is no inventive keyboard solo at all; any keyboard player can do what he does here. So why bother the band lets him doing solo that does not create good value to the listeners? It's a waste of time for me. I recommend you to skip this part. Not worth at all.

Thanks God the band returns back with another great song "The Doorway" (with inventive keyboard solo at opening part plus some applaud from the crowd) continued with the song from debut album that is now legendary "The Light". The band also does cover version of Genesis' "Squonk" where Neal and Nick swap roles: Nick does lead vocal while Neal sits at drum stools playing the set. Nick vocal is clear and powerful (even I prefer Nick's vocal than Neal's. Nick really rocks!). The song is performed excellently and receives big applaud from the crowd who had been longing for Genesis, I think. Unfortunately, this song is performed in an edit version, i.e. not full song. But it's OK for a change only. The show at disc one concludes with "Waste Away/Fire". There are bonus features on disc one: "Gibberish Sessions", "Live in Lansing", "The Morse Brothers".

Overall, disc one is an excellent performance. The only weak point is on the picture quality and sound quality. But the overall performance is awesome. Due to watching this DVD, I spun more of their studio albums which I rarely listen to.

The Bonus Discs"

Disc two is really a gem for Spock's Beard's fans as it contains great info about the band with a central theme on The Making of V where it shows how the album was made from first inception, writing session as well as the recording session. What's most interesting is the shots on "the life around" the band during the making of V album. One thing that I'm sure will make you hooked to this disc two is the fact that how the kids of the Spock's Beard members has been "infused" with prog music. Yeah, I like it man! Jayda, Wil, and Julia dancing to ELP's "Tarkus"! It's really a prog family man! And it's really a good shot. You can also see how the album was made at Neal's home studio. The audio CD also offers good selection of music including the cover of Yes' "Southside of The Sky".

Summary

It's a worth collecting DVD package especially with relatively low price offering for three CDs. Overall I tend to give five stars but considering the picture and sound as well as part of the performance which is not interesting and very skip-able , it's not fair to give full five stars - so I give it four stars overall. Keeep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW