Customer Reviews

Day for Night (Spec)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

'Day for Night',like any Spock's Beard album, is literally crammed with moments of sublime invention and beauty. Although this album took longer to grow on me than any of the other Beard albums, there is enough fantastic material on here to instantly merit the highest rating. The bands signature sound is intact, as is the format of the album laid down on previous releases, with an extended track and a mellower ballad both complementing the usual range of melodic, catchy and spectacularly executed pop influenced prog Neal Morse churns out so effectively.
The title track is an instant classic, and is probably among the strongest cuts on offer here. Spectacular vocal harmonies towards the end of this song only hint at what is to be attempted on 'Gibberish', a delicate and in places plain odd song, with the bands vocal talents being showcased in their entirety for what seems like the first time. 'Skin' completes an impressive opening trio, and this song posseses the most single potential, unleashing the kind of infectious and epic chorus only Neal Morse can produce. The albums strongest moment is certainly the obligatory concluding epic, the poweful 'The Healing Colours of Sound'. Although the song is split into seperate tracks on the CD (I agree wholeheartedly with Lord_Chimp's comment on this matter) the suite achieves continuity and a sustained texture very well. Its not the bands best extended track (see 'At The End of the Day' or 'The Light'), but 'The healing Colours' is another compelling addition to a back catalogue that is frightningly unblemished. Other highlights arrive with 'The Gypsy' and 'Cant get it Wrong', the only full band composition here.
A number of reviewers have commented on the lyrics, dismissing them as weak or ridiculous. While I dont think Morse is the best lyricist around today, I fell the lyrics work as an extension of the music, contributing to the overall texture of the song. Also, anyone trying to analyse the lyrics of a song called, um, 'Gibberish' really needs to take a more objective standpoint.
Once again a classic release form Spock's Beard, 'Day For Night' comes highly recommended.

I must admit: I'm intrigued. This is the first Spock's Beard CD I've heard, and I'm quite taken with it. According to the reviews below, I should find it disappointing, not moving and lacking cohesion. I'm happy to report that none of that is true. There are a couple of songs that strike me as a little too mainstream-poppy (but certainly not boy-bandy!), but overall this a CD that has a real nice feel and flow to it. Some of it, no, most of it really blows me away. Beautiful vocals, splendid somewhat restrained instrumentation, excellent songwriting. And not a spot of filler! Judging from other reviews, this is their least succesful album, so I'm eager to get the rest of their work. One of the most pleasant discoveries of the past couple of years. These guys are too damn good to remain under the radar for too much longer.

I'm a huge progrock fan, I love all prog from 70s Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, ELP, to 80s Rush (arguably not prog, but still really tight and musically engaging), to 90s progmetal of Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Pain of Salvation... the list goes on, all great bands. But there's one thing I despise about SOME (not all) prog fans. Even though this is supposed to be the genre of creativity, bounderyless thinking, freedom of music, and experimentation, some get it in their heads that it's not good if it is easy to get into quickly. "Real music must take time and thought to get into", and ok, there's definitely truth in that, SOME of my favorite stuff took a while to get into, some did not. I think in many ways, the best music has a complexity that makes the music listenable forever, but at the same time, has great melodies and hooks that keep you coming back. These two things aren't opposites and aren't mutually exclusive, in fact, in the best works, they even coexist at the same time! This is one of those works. Accused by many prog fans to be more popish, simply because it has GREAT MELODIES!

Come on you guys [...], the progressive spirit isn't lacking in this work, it's stronger than ever. I feel "Kindness of Strangers" really lacked great melodies. Yeah it was progressive and complex, but there was nothing there to make me WANT to unravel the complexity and delve into the work very deeply, I mean, why would I want to unravel a complex work if I can't even "get into it"?

And bottom line, who cares of it's "great prog", it's "great music" that has a very well thought out cohesiveness and variety. I happen to really like "Skin", it's a very well written song with a great chorus, interesting bridge sections, and mood changes. Who cares if it's only 3 and a half minutes long? If a song can say all that it wants to say in 3 minutes, that's fine with me!

"The Healing Colors of Sound" is sort of an epic, yes, that's clear from the reprised songs and tie-ins between tracks, but in actuality, you will notice that they actually don't title it as one work. It is a string of shorter songs, it's not exactly meant to be one song the way "The Great Nothing" or "The Light" are, but it's a great way to make a 22 minute section of music remain very much alive and continuous, while at the same time, maintaining individuality between tracks.

Now, this said, I still don't think this is Spock's Beard's greatest, I think I'll give that honor to their latest, "V", which is a virtually flawless album, and their debut "The Light" for the same reason. There are some tracks on DfN that are not very good, but thankfully, they are some of the shortest tracks on the album. I'm not impressed with Gibberish, which is another Gentle Giant-esque tune with similarities to "Thoughts" off Beware of Darkness, but is much less interesting. "I Can't Get it Wrong" is easily their least interesting ballad (these guys are incredible at writing great ballads that contain no cheese), and although "The Distance to the Sun" has some great moments, they've done better ballads.

The really beautiful ballad gem of this album is "Lay it Down", which is probably their most beautiful ballad to date, excluding "We All Need Some Light" off the Transatlantic debut album (technically not Spock's Beard, but pretty damn close), so I should say it's Neal Morse's second best ballad to date. Day for Night is a great almost mini-epic with an uplifting melody and great keyboard work, "Crack the Big Sky" reminds me of "Go the Way you Go" off "The Light" for it's jazz oriented sections, a funky, and very proggy tune. "The Gypsy" is a quirky, fun tune with hilarious (though odd) lyrics. "Mommy Comes Back" has some of the funniest vocoder work I've ever heard, while the final two tracks serve as a great climax, and dramatic closing of the album. I really like how they took two choruses from two different songs in "The Healing Colors..." and put them together at the end, very creative.

Bottom line, there's nothing to fear about this album, it's not going to turn you into a "Boyz II Men" [fan] or suddenly make you like Brittany Spears, it's just a great progressive album with great melodic structure.

- Eric

After three albums of 10 - 20 minute epics, the Beard is growing short. And to great effect. This whole disc is packed full of potent prog-pop tracks that pack a [heck] of a punch. The title track will have you singing along with the first listen. "The Gypsy" has a catchy chorus that will stick with you for weeks. The soulful groove of "My Shoes" will pull you deep into the Beard's energy force.

But this album, though hook laden and inherently "feel-good" is no pop album. The challengeing vocal harmonies of "Gibberish" will make your head spin and the epic qualities of "Crack the Big Sky" will move your soul and sometimes, your feet. This disc is a delicious unification of prog inventiveness and quirkiness mixed with brilliant pop sensebilities and energetic freshness.

Another great quality about the Beard is Neal Morse's voice - quite possible the freshest sounding, most distince prog vocalist of the decade. It's a voice or warmth and character, of subtle texture, like fine sandpaper. And with versatility you would not beleive - this guy could sing any style and get away with it. A song like "Can't Get it Wrong" would come off as sappy, elevator-worthy tripe if any other artist attempted it. But Morse's voice makes the song powerful and moving.

The track, "Lay it Down," however, is one that the album could've done without. With the energy and soul that the rest of the album possesses, this boring, unmemorable track just gets in the way. But that is just a small complaint.

The beatiful acoustics of the melancholy "Distance to the Sun," the funk-inflected power pop-rock groove of "Mommy Comes Back", and rest of this brilliant prog-pop album make it a sure winner with fans of prog and pop alike. Keep an open mind, and this album with not disappoint.

This is a frustrating album. So much potential, but it never quite comes together as a whole. Still there are moments of brilliance, and moments of sheer listening pleasure. Spock's beard has a tendency to sometimes wear their influences on their sleeves, but when your influences are bands like Genesis, King Crimson, and Gentle Giant, this is not necessarily a bad thing. The opener, "Day For Night" has a very mid-period, post Gabriel Genesis feel to it. King Crimson can be heard shining through on "Crack the Big Sky" and Gentle Giant on "Gibberish". Still these songs work well, because besides having the complexities of their inspirations, they also display great melodic hooks. The band shines on "The Distance to the Sun" with some achingling beautiful harmonies, but falls flat on "Can't Get It Wrong", a rather lame ballad. "Skin" is a fairly straightforward, but not bad, rocker. The album runs into serious problems in its second half, the long, loosely conceptual suite "The Healing Colors of Sound". Neal Morse has proven on other albums that he can write coherent, extended progressive rock epics, but this isn't one of them. It's like Morse wrote a bunch of short songs, some good, some boring, and the band said, "Hey, we're a progressive rock band, we need a long song," and Morse said, "Okay, we'll just lump these short songs together, segue them together in the final mix, repeat a few motifs in the end, and voilá, a prog rock epic." Doesn't work that way. The suite veers from bland balladry to awkward, blues inflected rock, to shiny pop music while never quite coming together. Don't get me wrong, some of it's good. "The Healing Colors of Sound" (the short song that the suite was named after) is a bright, brilliant slice of prog pop (can I say that?) with great hooks, and quite possibly some of the best harmonies ever recorded, but it's munched into this suite in such an uncomfortable way, that it gives it no room to let it breath and be what it is. Neal Morse didn't pursue this approach on the next Spock's Beard album, so maybe he saw where he went wrong and learned from his mistakes. If you're new to progressive rock, this might be a good album to start with, easing yourself into the genre, but if you are already a prog rock afficiando, and heard that Spock's Beard are one of the shining prog stars of the 90's, you may want to try one of their other albums first, and check out this one later.

The number one entry in most critics' hate parade, progressive rock (or "prog") has long been the pariah of rock music. Though the sneers of critics are sometimes deserved, the truth is that prog offered some undeniably memorable moments and planted the seed for many a critic's darling in today's scene (e.g., Smashing Pumpkins, Catherine Wheel, Radiohead).

The problem with some prog pioneers (Yes comes to mind) is that often their need to experiment trumped their emphasis in songwriting. The results can be seen in albums as sneer-worthy as "Tales from Topographic Oceans." Don't get me wrong, however. When Yes focused on songwriting, they could be brilliant (e.g., And You And I, Roundabout, Owner of a Lonely Heart). These flashes of brilliance are the element of Yes that Spock's Beard have incorporated into their music.

But of all the prog pioneers, the band that arguably put the most emphasis in songwriting (and, consequently, became the most successful) is the one that most clearly influenced vocalist /guitarist /keyboardist /songwriter Neil Morse: Genesis. If you don't agree, look no further than the title track: the acoustic break is incredibly reminiscent of Steve Hackett's "pastal shadings" found in the brilliant "Wind & Wuthering." This Genesis influence, coupled with lessons well learned from the Beatles (evidenced in the superb "The Healing Colors of Sound, Pt. 2") put Spock's Beard a cut above their prog peers. And it makes "Day For Night" my favorite album of 1999.

The powerful syncopated grooves of drummer Nick D'Virgilio (a disciple that should make Phil Collins proud) and bassist Dave Meros (whose Rickenbacker may remind you of the sounds of Chris Squire or the "Moving Pictures" era Geddy Lee) lay the foundation for the intricate interplay between Morse, his brother Al (on lead guitars) and the amazing Hammond organ work of Ryo Okumoto.

As one reviewer precisely observed, these are guys playing music they love. And it shows. The Beard clearly play their hearts out on every single track, ranging from the intricate interplay of "Crack the Big Sky" to the catchier melody of "Skin" to the cello-laced ballad "Can't Get It Wrong."

Basically, this album is a collection of great songs. In other words, what a great album should be: an example of what can happen when musicians want to challenge themselves without losing sight of the fact that the ultimate test for a band is not how well they play but how well they WRITE (another lesson well learned from the Fab Four). The fact that they manage to do this while keeping one eye on the current scene and another on the classics is no small feat in itself. That they do so and still cook up a winner is little short of inspiring. Can't get it wrong, indeed.

As a longtime fan of Yes, I first heard of this band from the "recommendations" link here on Amazon.com. This album was my first exposure to Spock's Beard, and I can definitely say that it (and they) are worth a serious listen. Their melodic sound will certainly bring other classic "prog" bands to mind (it only occasionally borders on nostalgia), but they have a character all their own.

I read the previous review with interest and some amusement. Honestly, how an you make such statements if you admit to listening to only the first minute of each song? This type of music is always bewtter with repeated listenings, when its complexity and vision can gradulaly make their impressions upon the listener. I wonder if the previous reviewer would have liked The Yes Album at first if he/she had only given each track one minute's chance?

At any rate, he/she does make one valid criticism: Spock's Beard could use some writing diversity. The weakest part of the somgs are the lyrics, which are not only somewhat bland but have a slightly annoying "sameness" from song to song. They lack the wit and texture of a King Crimson, as well as the stream-of-consiousness delight (and possibility for multiple interpretations) of Yes. In the grand scheme of things, however, this is a minor complaint...a shortcoming that is more than made up for by the music, and something for which I can see (and expect to continue to see) improvement as the band matures.

For what it's worth, I have purchased several other Beard albums after being introduced to the band with this one. If you like the genre, give it a shot!

I think it is interesting that people say Spock's Beard tried to go more commercial with this album. The Beard has always involved a very identifiable pop element to their music -- big choruses, catchy hooks. I don't find the music any simpler than on previous records, but it's true the songs are generally shorter (lengthy tracks are commonly associated with prog, ya know). Still, there is the amazing "The Healing Colors of Sound" epic suite that's over 20-minutes long. It features the Beard's familiar epic style...songs within a song, wrapped together by recurring themes. The individual parts of this suite are very strong, be it the rockin' hooks of "Mommy Comes Back", the sad ballad "Lay It Down", or the inspiring "Healing Colors of Sound" section, which never fails to put a smile on my face. Spock's Beard's music makes me feel good about life.

Maybe some people perceive this album as "poppier" because has an ordinary pop ballad, "Can't Get It Wrong" and a fairly simple upbeat cut "Skin". But the rest doesn't seem like much of a digression from the band's style. "Crack the Big Sky" is big song rife with ear-catching instrumental melodies, a huge singable chorus, and little tempo changes to keep you on your toes. (Hand claps too!) "The Distance to the Sun" is a beautiful ballad that proves Neal Morse's unmatched talent of tugging at your emotions. "Gibberish" is the requisite "zany track," with funky vocal counterpoints a la Gentle Giant and a guitar riff that's best described as crazy! The title track that kicks off the album is good fun too, including the omnipresent Beardian (new word) hooks and savory, monster Rickenbacker bass lines. I like this whole album!

Like all the Beard's work, Day for Night is fun, addictive progressive music that I never grow tired of. My only problem is that they divided up the "Healing Colors of Sound" suite into eight separate tracks. Eck. I hate that (I like to play lots of my albums on "shuffle" or "random"). But if that's my only complaint, I think Spock's Beard is doing okay.

I've laboured for weeks, but I'm still trying to see the light shone by the reviewers below. Before I review the album itself, let me say that Spock's Beard are definitely one of, if not the best Progressive Rock band that had come out of America since the seventies. On albums such as "Beware of Darkness" and "The Kindness of Strangers" the band took the tried-and-true Yes and Genesis influences and worked with them in fresh and exciting new ways. Both were excellent albums and if you are new to Spock's Beard, I strongly recommend that you start off with those two releases.

"Day for Night" is just as musically accomplished as it's predecessors- great songwriting, playing and singing...but somehow the parts don't add up to the whole. The material doesn't cohere as well as in previous releases. Too many of the tracks are weighed down my needlessly ornate embellishments, take the woodwinds in "Crack the Big Sky" or the oddly filtered guitar in "Skin" for example. Little of the extra instrumentation adds anything to the music. If they're not bloating their sound, Spock's Beard appear to be offering inferor versions of their previous songs - "The Distance to the Sun" for instance, is little more than a blatant retread of the much more successful "June" from their previous album.

However, the epic "The Healing Colours of Sound" flows much better, but even here, Neal Morse's otherwise superior songwriting fails to ignite. Although material at the beginning of the album is re-presented at the end, the six movements don't hang together with the ease of Morse's previous epics. "Healing Colours" sounds much more brittle than coherent.

Perhaps the overriding problem of this album is that Spock's Beard are now straining at the boundaries of their influences. A talented band like this one will not be satisfied with simply aping Yes and Gentle Giant "Gibberish" for long. The time has come for Neal Morse to find a new direction for his band as this album strongly suggests that Spock's Beard are in danger of running out of ideas. I'm sure Morse will pull through. But no, I'm sorry Neal, I definitely would not wish to be in your shoes right now.

I have yet to be disappointed in anything done by Spocks Beard. Their songs are beautifully constructed and the musicianmanship/vocals are superb. You can't help but listen to this group and hear a uniquely American expression of the genius of Gentle Giant. Spocks Beard successfully blends elements of rock, fusion and classical sensibilities.