Line #21 Music/SpocksBeard


1	Spock's Beard (named after the infamous facial features of MirrorUniverse [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Spock]]) is a rock band from California. They may be regarded as the BoisterousBruiser of ProgressiveRock, and one of the bands that saved the genre [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap from the Scrappy Heap]].
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3	After a good ten years' run as one of the world's leading ProgressiveRock outfits, main composer Music/NealMorse got religion and left the band in pursuit of a ChristianRock career [[note]]albeit one that is still very prog-tinged in terms of material, with Morse focusing a lot on concept albums referencing Christian themes[[/note]]. In a career move similar to their great example Music/{{Genesis\|Band}}, the band has continued with drummer Nick D'Virgilio (who, oddly enough, ''was'' in Genesis during the Ray Wilson period) taking up the singer's mantle and released their tenth album ''X'' to great acclaim. Once he left, he got replaced with Ted Leonard and Jimmy Keegan.
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5	!! Members (founders in bold, current members in italic):
6	* '''John Ballard''' - bass (1992-3)
7	* '''''Nick D'Virgilio''''' - drums (1992-2011, 2017-present), backing vocals (1992-2002, 2017-present), lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (2002-2011)
8	* Jimmy Keegan - drums, backing vocals (2011-6)
9	* ''Ted Leonard'' - lead vocals, guitar (2011-)
10	* ''Dave Meros'' - bass, backing vocals (1993-)
11	* '''''Alan Morse''''' - guitars, backing vocals (1992-)
12	* '''Music/NealMorse''' - lead vocals, keyboards, guitar, synths (1992-2002; sporadic guest appearances afterward)
13	* ''Ryo Okumoto'' - keyboards, backing vocals (1995-)
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15	!! Studio Discography:
16	* 1995 - ''The Light''
17	* 1996 - ''Beware of Darkness''
18	* 1998 - ''The Kindness of Strangers''
19	* 1999 - ''Day for Night''
20	* 2000 - ''V''
21	* 2002 - ''Music/{{Snow\|2002}}''
22	* 2003 - ''Feel Euphoria''
23	* 2005 - ''Octane''
24	* 2006 - ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Spock's Beard]]''
25	* 2010 - ''X''
26	* 2013 - ''Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep''
27	* 2015 - ''The Oblivion Particle''
28	* 2018 - ''Noise Floor''
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30	!!Warning! May contain examples of:
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32	* AscendedExtra: Sort of. Tour drummer Jimmy Keegan was promoted to a fully-fledged band member following the departure of Nick D'Virgilio.
33	* TheBandMinusTheFace: Twice. First, when Neal Morse left to pursue a Christian career, then when Nick D'Virgilio left to work on Cirque Du Soleil.
34	* TheBusCameBack: The song "Falling For Forever" (A bonus track from ''The First Twenty Years'' compilation) features every band past and current band member up to that point.
35	* ChronologicalAlbumTitle - ''V'' and ''X''.
36	* ClusterFBomb: A pretty notorious section (titled FU) in the epic "The Water". The narrator subsequently apologizes for it.
37	* CounterpointDuet: One of the band's trademarks are multi-layered vocal bits InTheStyleOf Gentle Giant.
38	* CoverVersion:
39	** "Beware of Darkness", originally from Music/GeorgeHarrison. Strangely, they named a whole album after it.
40	** The bonus disc of ''Snow'' includes a cover of [[Music/{{Yes}} "South Side of the Sky"]].
41	* DoorClosesEnding: Played with in "The Doorway", which has a final reprise of the original melody after the door closes.
42	%%* EpicInstrumentalOpener: ''Snow'' has one.
43	* EpicRocking: Quite frequently. Their first five albums each have at least one song that tops 15 minutes.
44	** ''The Light'' has just four songs, all of which qualify: The title track (15:32), "Go The Way You Go" (12:07), "The Water" (23:10) and "On the Edge" (6:14).
45	** ''Beware of Darkness'' has "Thoughts" (7:04), "The Doorway" (11:35), "Walking On the Wind" (9:09) and "Time Has Come" (16:22).
46	** Their career-spanning compilation ''The First Twenty Years'' contains the 20-minute bonus track "Falling For Forever".
47	%%* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ''Gibberish''.
48	%%* GratuitousJapanese: "Wherever You Stand", "Kamikaze" (Though the latter is an instrumental)
49	* GreatestHitsAlbum: ''The First Twenty Years'', which covers [[Main/ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the first twenty years]] of the band's output, along with one new song titled "Falling For Forever" that features every member that's appeared on a Spock's Beard studio recording up to that point.
50	%%* HijackedByJesus: ''Snow''. By extension, Neal Morse himself.
51	* IAmSong: 'The Light' is perhaps the most extreme example of this trope ever committed to tape.
52	%%* {{Keet}}: Ryo
53	* ListSong: "Their Names Escape Me" lists the names of all who pre-ordered the deluxe package of ''X''.
54	%%* LonelyPianoPiece: "Hereafter"
55	%%* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes: Appropriately, "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin A Flash Before My Eyes]]".
56	%%* NewSoundAlbum: ''Octane''. It didn't last.
57	%%* PowerBallad: "June", "Ghosts of Autumn", "She Is Everything"
58	%%* RockOpera: ''Snow''
59	%%* RockstarSong: "Rearranged", written by Nick D'Virgilio.
60	%%* RuleOfCool: Apparently, this is why their ninth album is [[SelfTitledAlbum self-titled]].
61	%%* SanitySlippageSong: ''Afterthoughts''.
62	* StepUpToTheMicrophone:
63	** "Sometimes They Stay, Sometimes They Go" is their only song fully sung by Alan Morse, although he has plenty of isolated vocal leads in their other songs
64	** Drummer Nick D'Virgilio succeeded Neal Morse as the band's lead singer. Before Neal left, he sang lead on "Carrie" and "Looking for Answers" from the ''Snow'' album (the latter of which he wrote) while also providing occasional lead lines similarly to Alan
65	** Jimmy Keegan (D'Virgilio's successor behind the drum kit) gets to sing lead on "Bennett Built a Time Machine."
66	** Dave Meros lends his voice to the bonus track "[[CoverVersion Iron Man]]."
67	%%* SubduedSection: Most 5min+ songs have one.
68	* UncommonTime: Typical for ProgressiveRock, the band uses CommonTime as much as they do Uncommon Time. They are quite fond of 7/8, though.
69	%%* WordSaladLyrics: On the demo of 'Mr. Potato Head'. A final version of the song with real lyrics has never appeared, and is unlikely to.

Context Music / SpocksBeard