Spock's Beard - Live
Performance 
Production
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Spock's Beard - Live
Performance |
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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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Set List |
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Running Time: 122 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - July 2008 |