Spock's Beard -
Don't Try This At Home
(Live In Holland)
Performance 
Production
|
Spock's Beard -
Don't Try This At Home
Performance |
|
This is a quote straight from the cover of the DVD case for Don't Try This At Home, "At last, a full length Spock's Beard concert with good quality film and sound". First of all, it is rather pretentious to stick this proclamation smack dab on the cover of your DVD, so you'd think that they damn-well better deliver the goods. Sorry, but the quality just doesn't cut it against today's standards. This was a big disappointment for me since I had already wasted my money on the truly terrible quality Live At The Whiskey VHS concert, which they released a few years back. I was expecting much better for a 2002 "professional" DVD production. My level of disappointment with the production stems from the fact that Spock's Beard are one of my favorite progressive rock bands. They have been somewhat inconsistent with the quality of their music, but when they do get it right, they are magnificent. They usually go astray when they try to get too "prog" for prog's sake, if you know what I mean, when it doesn't necessarily benefit the song. Neal Morse IS Spock's Beard. He writes most all of the music and lyrics, and also handles the lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, and much to my astonishment, after watching this DVD, the occasional drums. Morse quite the band last year and the rest of the guys decided to continue Spock's Beard without him. This is kind of like if The Police had decided to continue without Sting. Maybe they figured that if their idols Genesis could do it after Peter Gabriel left, then so could they. Yes, but Gabriel didn't exactly write 99 percent of the music and lyrics, like Morse did. I won't judge Spock's Beard's new album, Feel Euphoria, without Morse, since I haven't heard it - I've only heard that it is quite "different". The concert that was recorded for this DVD was actually a great show. The songs that were played give a great overview of Spock's Beard's career, and really highlight the best features of the band. The band all played and sounded great, but Morse's vocals were a little rough during some spots. It just sounded like they were at the end of a long tour and his voice was a little tired. He did sing with his usual abundance of energy and emotions, which more than made up for the rough spots. Neal's brother Alan was impressive on the guitar. He tends to be one of the least noticed members of the band, which is kind of strange for the guitarist in a progressive-rock band, but he shines in concert. He mostly strums and picks with his fingers, which allows him to change the dynamics and texture of his sound frequently during each song - a requirement for their rather chaotic song structures. I loved the song selections for this show. They started off with the title track from Day For Night. This is a lively little pop ditty that makes a good opener to get the crowd pumped up. Next up was the darker, heavier "In The Mouth Of Madness" from their Kindness Of Strangers album. The fourth song "Gibberish" really shows what separates Spock's Beard from the other prog-rock contenders. The a capella harmonies that this song is built around are better than anything I have heard since Yes' "Leave It". Complex three and four part vocal harmonies are signature to Spock's Beard's sound, and they perform them as good as any band out there - especially when doing them live. Drummer (and new lead vocalist) Nick DiVirgilio's higher voice blends perfectly with Morse's lower range, and their harmonies play an integral part of most of their songs. When they played the entire version of "The Healing Colors Of Sound", which is actually three or four short songs sandwiched between "The Healing Colors Of Sound parts I & II", which ends the Day For Night album, I was taken aback at how good it was. I hadn't noticed this when I listened to the album, but their performance of this song was the definite highlight of the concert. Following a long keyboard solo by Ryo Okumoto, who plays more melotron than I have heard since 70's-era Tony Banks, they dust off "The Light" and "The Doorway" from their first two album's. "The Doorway" is one of my all time favorite Spock's Beard tunes and they play a fantastic version this night. Being the Genesis freak that Neal Morse is, they surprised the audience with an amusing version of "Squonk", which had DiVirgilio on lead vocals, and Morse hammering away on the drums. He was actually pretty good too - that multitalented bastard! Now for the bad news. This concert is only mixed in Dolby Digital stereo. Don't even bother using Dolby Prologic processing, as it sounds terrible without any surround encoding. Using the plain ol' stereo mode sounded significantly better, but still only warrants a not-so-enthusiastic "fair" grade. The video quality was poor. It had the look and feel of a 1980's VHS video. It just wasn't sharp or professional looking at all. The camera work was not bad, but there were too many close-ups and quick changes for my taste. Not enough audience perspective shots. This overall poor quality was surprising to me considering how meticulously produced Spock's Beard's albums are. Maybe they just didn't have the budget. Don't Try This At Home is a huge DVD package that contains over 300 total minutes of material. Besides the Live In Holland concert, this package also features a two hour documentary of the making of V - their new album at the time. This was an intimate look at everything that went into the creation and production of one of their better albums, and is mandatory viewing for any Spock' Beard fan. This package also includes various video clips of club performances, a record store appearance, promotional videos, and more. These clips all have atrocious production quality, but at least they didn't claim that they would be good. Also, the same bonus album that is included with the Snow collector's edition album package is included here, totaling three disks. You certainly get your moneys worth with this package, if not your complete satisfaction. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - March 2004 |
|
Technical Details |
|
|
Audio Transfer |
Video Transfer |
|
Set List |
Performers |
|
Running Time: 120 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - November 2002 |