The Kindness of Strangers

Artist: Spock's Beard
Label: Metal Blade
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 039841416527
EAN: 0039841416527
ASIN: B000006NWM

Release Date: 1998-05-19

The Kindness of Strangers

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Tracks:

The 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)

Similar Items:

Day for Night
V
Snow
Beware of Darkness
Stolt Morse Portnoy Trewavas

Customer Reviews:

Not the best of Spock's Beard.......2007-01-07

There is some really great composition on this cd, my choice would go with "The good don't last", "Harm's way" and "Flow"
June is a nice song for its melody but it is all there is to say.
The other songs are less interesting to my opinion.
I have to tell that the group sound seems less tight, you hear everybody but the sound seems "blurry" if you see what I mean. It seems that everybody in the band want to play louder than the other and the group global sound suffer from this. If you compare with "The light" for instance, you'll see what I mean.

Best of the Batch...IMO.......2006-07-01

O.K., here's the thing about Spock's Beard...they are one of "Those" bands that upon the first listen, very little may appeal to the listener(especially the listener with an "untrained" ear). So when I recieved my first SB album(V), I understood that I was probably not going to get immediate gratification from the first spin...I had long been a 'Prog-head' and was used to spending many hours(and days) with a release to finally get the rewards(without doing that, I would have probably thrown away some albums that I have come to enjoy---Gentle Giant, King Crimson, etc...). Well, this is one of those albums. By the third and fourth spin of KoS, I found myself remembering/humming musical passages,verses and choruses. For me, this is their most consistent and cohesive release...the songs all seem to 'Meld' together to make a very enjoyable 'Whole'(unlike some of their other releases which are all over the place). And although KoS does not contain my personal favorite song from the band(At the End of the Day), it does contain the most songs I like of all their albums. 'The Good Don't Last', 'Harm's Way', 'Flow', 'Mouth of Madness' and 'June' are all SB personal favorites. And the remaining tunes,'Strange World' and 'Cakewalk...', are not far behind. I really like this bands ability to weave technical music with very catchy vocals while still "paying tribute" to the bands that have influenced them. I dare say these guys would happily confess the use of musical elements/ideas in their songs that they borrowed from the various "Godfathers" of the genre---Genesis, Gentle Giant, Kansas, Etc... I won't go into individual song analysis(other reviewers are much better at that), I'll just say that when I listen to this album, I press play and let it go all the way to the end.So If you find yourself "wrapped up" in this album, I would recommend all six of the bands first albums(YES...including 'Day for Night')...you will find something on each album that will keep you coming back for more. I would also recommend Neil's solo material, most notably 'Testimony', 'One', and his self-titled debut...all very worthy stuff. In closing, I must admit that, as much as I like this band, I have held-off on buying post-neil releases from them---from reading the reviews, it sounds like the band has headed in a drastically different direction(even with a major component gone, why would they(Nick?) change a good thing?!? Anyway, if you are new to this band, don't let the "goofy" name stop you from digging into some very inspiring music that may become 'treasures' in your collection. 4.5 stars easily... Enjoy, Jeff

Their best --which is not saying very much.......2005-10-08

5 stars-Come on! This band is ok on some songs when they mix the Cheap Trick meets Yes sensibility. But, they go way too far mixing bizarre styles. Led by the overly pompous Neil Morse, this band wears thin after awhile. There hasn't been anyone so pompous in music since Pedroza of the Hoax.

"They're just waiting around, to die".......2005-03-13

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.

excellent, but sometimes lacks originality.......2004-12-06

Kindness of Strangers is a very good album by Spock's Beard. Some call it their best one, but I still can't hear enough Spock's Beard on it. Their style hadn't yet developed and it was still mocking Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant or even Queen and Pink Floyd. Some songs still shine here. Strange World would have been an excellent hit single (a _very_ good song, excellent, rocks!), unfortunately Spock's Beard remains unnoticed by radio stations and TV.

The song Flow is a very good example of what the Beard does mixing oldskool prog music. I can hear Yes (Howe-like guitar playing!) Pink Floyd (Gilmourish solo!) and some Queen-like passages. This is generally a bad thing to do, but the Beard just doesn't seem to care and it all sounds good. If you can forget about all those prog bands of the past, it's a very good album. The melodies are catchy, the arrangements are very good (too intense for me at times) and you get some good instrumental show-offs.

Music Album:

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Music CD

Peculiar Situation ~ Earl Klugh

Breaking the Ice ~ Bob DeVos

Bern Concert '89 ~ Newport Jazz Festival All Stars

Coll Jazz Classics ~ Miles Davis

Rtl Jazz

No Resemblence Whatsoever ~ Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg

Folk from Ireland ~ Various Artists

Flower of Scotland ~ The Corries

Legendary Sessions 1947-1953 ~ Chano Pozo

The Ultimate Collection ~ Sonny Okosun