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When Neal Morse quit Spock's Beard back in 2002, I lost
much of my interest in the band. To me, Spock's Beard without
Neal Morse, was kind of like Wings without Paul McCartney.
Morse wrote the music and lyrics to almost all of the band's
songs, and he was the one who really defined them.***
The recent Spock's Beard saga leaves obvious comparisons
to when Phil Collins stepped out from behind his drum kit
to lead Genesis after Peter Gabriel left the band. Drummer
Nick D'Virgilio has followed in Collins footsteps to become
the new frontman of Spock's Beard, and like Morse, he is a
very talented multi-instrumentalist (drums, guitars, keyboards),
and is also a fine singer.***
Genesis were able to move forward relatively easily after
Gabriel's departure, since all of the other band members were
also significant songwriters, but Spock's Beard faced a more
imposing dilemma now that their only real songwriter was gone.
They have relied heavily on outside songwriters on the three
post-Morse albums, and their struggle to redefine themselves
has been obvious. What is promising though, is that each successive
album has been an improvement over the last.***
I last saw Spock's Beard in concert while they were touring
in support of their excellent V album. It was a small club,
and the turnout was meager, but the few of us who were smart
enough to be there witnessed an amazing performance. It still
kills me that progressive rock has not really caught on here
in the U.S. like it has in Europe. The Beard have always been
a great live band, and this new DVD proves that they, Morse,
or no Morse, definitely still are. Now if Neal's brother Alan
left too, then that might be a different story.***
Spock's Beard Live was recorded at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer,
The Netherlands on May 25, 2007. It was kinda strange at first
seeing D'Virgilio at the front of the stage strumming a guitar
and singing lead, but he quickly proves his mettle. The opening
number, "On A Perfect Day", is one of the band's best new
songs from their latest album, Spock's Beard, and it sounded
incredible here. That album was heavily favored throughout
the show, but there was also plenty of songs from the Morse
era performed.***
Other performance highlights were a ripping version of
"Crack The Big Sky", in which Dave Meros steals the show with
his incredible bass work. He really shines throughout the
whole concert. The band closes out the first set with their
latest multi-part epic, "As Far As The Mind Can See", followed
by an explosive "Rearranged", which takes you on an amazing
journey through all of the bands many musical styles. Few
band's can transition between the pop-jazz of Toto, to the
metallic-prog of Dream Theater quite as smoothly as the Beard
can.***
The setlist was a little bit of a let down for me. I can
understand that they wanted to focus on the new album, and
not repeat too much of their previous live album, 2005's Gluttons
for Punishment, but that doesn't mean they had to almost completely
ignore their other two post-Morse studio albums. Feel Euphoria
was completely ignored, and "Surfing Down The Avalanche" was
the only song played from the Octane album. A nice surprise,
however, was "Return To Whatever", which comes from Alan Morse's
instrumental fusion album, 4 O'clock & Hysteria.***
The older selections were not exactly my top choices either.
The extremely abbreviated versions of "The Water" and "Go
The Way You Go", from the band's 1994 debut album, The Light,
made for a slightly disappointing encore in that particular
form. Morse's exceptional guitar solo was a definite high-point
though. I would have much preferred to hear "The Doorway"
or "At the End of the Day" in their entirety. I was also surprised
that they didn't play any songs from the Snow album, since
D'Virgilio sang lead on a couple of them.***
As for the production values, they are excellent. Certainly
much better than their last DVD, Don't Try This At Home. Audio
is provided in both Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and stereo.
Dave Meros must have mixed the audio because the bass was
simply thunderous throughout - in a good kind of way. The
instruments and the audience were mixed perfectly on the surround
track to make you feel as if you were part of the show.***
The widescreen video presentation was very sharp and
colorful. The camera direction was pretty good overall, although
most of the shots were very close-in due to a small and very
crowded stage. The only extra feature included on the DVD
was a picture gallery that moves chronologically through the
band's history and each of their albums. It was very classy
of them to include so many great shots of Neal, when they
are probably still a little resentful of the way things went
down.***
All criticisms aside, Spock's Beard Live is a superb
DVD that I thoroughly enjoyed. This DVD, along with their
latest album, Spock's Beard, shows that the band are really
finding their groove, and are still a force on the live stage.***
Reviewed by Paul M. Roy -
August 2008***
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