Monday, May 13, 2013

Spock's Beard "Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep"

 
"1976 called and wants its eight-track back."
 
I believe that's the quote BKP used to describe this record.  I had at least ten audio notes in my phone about Spock's Beard "BN & DS" but I lost them, and everything else, when the phone and I jumped into a pool to save a drowning dog, so I'm going to wing it from here on...
 
Here is a list of the bands I heard when listening to this; Kansas (so much so at times I swore it was Steve Walsh singing), Styx, Crack the Sky, Utopia, Yes, Mahogany Rush, Pink Floyd, Saga, Legs Diamond, Max Webster, Gentle Giant, Head East, and more recently, Porcupine Tree
"Rock Bands for $200...Which decade is represented by these groups?" 



Track 2 from this record is better than anything from the last Rush album.  Go ahead and click the first link...I can wait 7:40...

My history with Spock's Beard is............I don't have any.  An L.A. band of twenty years and I can't say I've ever heard their music before now.  Loved the band name when I saw it in the 90's (affirmative, Star Trek fans) but they were on Metal Blade Records and promos were few, if any.  I don't believe they ever showed on any Billboard chart so we didn't have to stock them.  Maybe a special order or three, but that was it.  Anyway, this is album #11 for them and there is much more to their narrative than I'm privy to, but I gather that "...Dreamless Sleep" is a slight departure from previous sounds, but how would I know?  I'm not as into the prog-rock scene as you might expect, not like this band's obviously dedicated minions.  You don't carry on a 20-year career and not sell enough records to chart without some sort of devoted fan base. 

To quickly sum it up, this is absolutely a smile-inducing listen.  So what if they use the blueprints of all those aforementioned bands, recycling riffs and passages without deviation?  For $7, you can digitally purchase the seven-tracks @ 56 minutes of the original album.  I guarantee you'll consider it money well spent.  It's such a bargain that the $6 it takes to get the 30-minute second CD is a no-brainer.  You will then own one of the best albums of the year.

The question is.................which year?

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