Spock's Beard - Kindness of Strangers
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Spock's BeardEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1998-05-19
Music Label: Metal Blade
Soundtracks:
- Good Don't Last: Introduction/The Good Don't Last/The Radiant Is
- In the Mouth of Madness
- Cakewalk on Easy Street
- June
- Strange World
- Harm's Way
- Flow: True Believer/A Constant Flow of Sound/Into the Source
Free Music Notes for Kindness of Strangers
Free Music Review: "They're just waiting around, to die"
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a very overlooked CD. Of all the Neal Morse-era Spock's Beard CDs, this one seems to get the least attention. I can't figure out why! This is one of the catchiest and best produced, focused albums the band has ever done. Now I'll explain why.
These songs are very well written. For Spock's Beard, they are short - The longest song on the album is Flow, at just over 15 minutes. Unlike a lot of the stuff the band went on to do, the songs on this CD are focused and quirky at the same time. The longer tracks have repeating themes, but don't get tiresome. They don't hit the other extreme Morse's epics tend to hit either - where they are more like a song cycle than an epic. This album's songs are in the perfect middle.
Let's take the first song, "The Good Don't Last." First listen - this song feels like three songs, the first being a Gentle Giant thing, the second being a pop song with a gentle giant reprise, and the third being a ballad. It seems disjointed! But keep listening... notice the intro contains the melody of the ballad (part 3), notice the chord progression for the ballad appears layered in with the last chorus from part two, and listen to how they keep reprising the gentle giant riff... this song is more focused and intelligent than you realise at first! All three parts of this song are amazing. The intro is quirky and fun, and the second two parts are beautiful. The guitar solo in "The Radiant Is..." is gorgeous!
Now for a string of short songs. The next song "In The Mouth Of Madness" is good, though it is better live. Its very odd, almost UGLY, but i love it. However the live version has less keyboards and more guitar, which is awesome. Then comes "Cakewalk on Easy Street", which RULES. the intro is fun and then it blasts into a kickass riff that strongly resembles "Marshmellow Fields" by King's X. The verse is creepy and the chorus is memorable, and the breakdown rules. "June" is a pretty ballad, though i think its overrated. When it kicks in at the end it rules. However, I think for SB ballads, "Distance to the Sun" and "Lay it Down" off the next album are far better. "Strange World" is actually radio-friendly, sort of. I love it! Fun lyrics, fun riff, fun song all around.
Now comes my favorite track on the album, "Harm's Way". It starts out with a very PROG intro... i love it! Then it goes into a pretty theme that we will hear many more times, in different styles. The second part of the song is almost funky or something, with a cool keyboard sound, an awesome guitar solo, and really cool, abstract lyrics. Then we go back to the theme after the intro, only this time just keyboards and vocals... and then BAM the song launches into a 7/8 keyboard thing... that is so incredibly haunting and beautiful that I get the chills every time I hear it, even having owned the CD for years. Then we hear that theme again, this time fully electric and the song comes to a dramatic close. It's brilliant.
The last track on the album, "Flow", took me some time to get into. Unlike the other two epics, this one is literally three five minute songs strung together with a little riff that they do between them. Regardless, its a great song. The first part is really cool. It's very slow and the singing is really haunting, some of Neal Morse's greatest vocal work (and I love his voice!) The second part has lots of guitar and is very catchy with a HUGE dramatic chorus. The last part is kind of boring but it has a cool guitar solo that ends the album well.
Many Spock's Beard fans seem to ignore this CD. I can see why. It doesnt stick out the way the others too. Like, every prog fan knows "THE DOORWAY" from _beware of darkness_, or "The Great Nothing" from _V_ or "The Water" from _The Light_, etc. But I think this album is possibly their greatest work. Check it out.
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