Scott's Spotlight #9 -- Spock's Beard

May 19, 2025

Scott's Spotlight #9 -- Spock's Beard

Originally posted to Facebook on October 31, 2024

Link to post:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/cCdCsTVLNJRBoUhX/

[Whatever picture I used in the post disappeared, so here's possibly a different one]

Welcome to Scott’s Spotlight (#scottsspotlight) issue #9. For more information about this series, please click here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/Gc2VkwHQWGLdeaDd/?mibextid=oFDknk

Today I’ll be taking a deep dive into one of my favorite more recent (a relative term since they have been releasing albums for nearly 30 years) prog bands: Spock’s Beard. This is another one of those bands that prog-fans think of as giants, yet are barely known by the public at large. Although, I don’t know it it’s ever been named as such, but there seemed to be a prog renaissance in the early to mid 1990s, and SB are certainly one of the most important bands to come out of that era (along with bands that I have already featured, such as Porcupine Tree (issue #2), The Flower Kings (issue #4), and Dream Theater (issue #7). I think of it as the 90’s Prog-aissance.

Spock’s Beard (SB) was formed in 1992 by brothers Neal Morse (Keyboards, Occasional guitar, and Lead Vocals) and Alan Morse (Guitars). Initially intended to be a duo of the Morse brothers, that changed soon after with the addition of drummer/multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Nick D’Virgilio, whom they met at a blues jam in Los Angeles. The three were called up to play together at that jam then sat down to talk afterward and discovered that Nick was a prog fan as well. John Ballard was a friend of Neal’s and was the original bassist but was replaced within a year by Dave Meros. I have found no explanation for the change in bassists but Meros was definitely the man for the job and was firmly in place well before the first album was released. Dave is quoted as saying that Al (Alan Morse) called him up and asked him to listen to some things they were working on, and he had always wanted to play with “a real obnoxious bass tone like Chris Squire.” A quartet at this point, they decided it was time they adopted a name. The term “Spock’s Beard,” comes from a 1967 episode of Star Trek called “Mirror Mirror” in which Spock has a beard when he is in a parallel universe. The Morse brothers had been using the phrase “Spock’s Beard,” for many years as an inside joke to refer to anything unusual or out of the ordinary, such as “Wow, that’s like Spock’s Beard.” Each member brought in a list of names. According to Alan Morse, he put Spock’s Beard on his list as a joke, but everyone liked it, so it stuck. The band’s debut album “The Light” was recorded with Neal Morse covering all of the keyboard parts. However’ when it came time to do live shows, it became apparent that Neal would not be able to replicate all of his recorded parts onstage. A second keyboardist, Ryo Okumoto, was playing with a “funky, blues-based band,” in LA at the time but was playing lots of wild stuff and the band thought he might be the right guy. When he showed up for the audition a few days later, Okumoto had “charted-out,” (written out all of the notation on sheet music) all of the keyboard parts from the recording of “The Light,” they had given him to prepare for the audition, then proceeded to play it flawlessly, the band said “I guess you got the gig!”

The album “The Light,” was written entirely by Neal Morse and included 3 long form pieces– the title track, which is 15.32, “Go the Way You Go,” at 12:07, and “The Water,” at 23:10, plus one shorter track, “On the Edge,” at 6:14. One of the first important gigs for the young progsters was at the San Francisco Progfest in 1995. They weren’t aware until this gig of the prog scene that was building at the time. Record executive Thomas Waber of German-based prog oriented labels “Giant Electric Pea,” and “InsideOut,” signed the band, and got a better distribution for their first album, which depending on the source, was either released by “Symphonic,” ”Metal Blade,” or “Radiant” records (perhaps a reader with more knowledge on this than I have can clarify this). Regardless of who released it, the album created a stir in the prog community, and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater was an early champion of the album. (Portnoy will play into the story a bit later.)

In 1996 the band would record and release their second album, titled “Beware of Darkness,” after the cover of the George Harrison classic that opens the album. Neal Morse has said that SBs arrangement is based on Leon Russel’s interpretation of the song. Rising prog-legend Kevin Gilbert was working with the band as a co-producer during the recording of the album, and had completed work on 3 songs–”Thoughts,” “Walking on the Wind,” and “Time Has Come,” – when he was found dead from “Autoerotic Asphyxiation.” The band said that Gilbert’s death cast a dark cloud over the rest of the recording of the album. Despite that, I really enjoy the songs on this album, particularly the title track, “Thoughts,” “The Doorway,” and “Waste Away.” By this time Ryo Okumoto had become an official member and is credited with playing Hammond organ and Mellotron. “Thoughts,” shows a strong Gentle Giant influence. The cover art was done by John Boegehold, who will play an increased role in the band’s story as time goes on. An “official bootleg,” live album was also released that year.

In 1998, the band released “The Kindness of Strangers.” The album was mixed by Rich Mouser who still works with the band to this day. In looking into the record label situation, it appears that these early SB albums were released by Metal Blade in the US (although SB are certainly NOT a metal band!) and Giant Electric Pea in Europe, while Radiant re-released the albums later with bonus tracks. One of my personal favorite SB tracks is “Flow,” the nearly 16 minute long closing epic from this album. Another one I like a lot is “In the Mouth of Madness.” “June,” is another great one with beautiful vocal harmonies. According to Dave Meros, however, the band began to attempt to include some more accessible songs for non-prog fans on this album, in an effort to get some songs on the radio. Whether or not that happened, I can’t say. I just know that it’s a quintessential SB album.

Next up for SB is “Day For Night” from 1999. While many say that this album is the band’s biggest attempt at getting a hit song on the radio, even releasing the song “Skin” as a single with a music video, there is still a wealth of prog on the album. I particularly like the 10 minute track “Crack the Big Sky.” There is also a closing nearly 22-minute epic, although it is cut into 6 tracks, called “The Healing Colors of Sound.” (A personal aside, I really hate when big epic tracks are cut up on albums like that; if the band intended it as one piece, then keep it in one track for crying out loud.) While there are a few “shorter” tracks on the album, SB, in my opinion, is at their best when they are getting their “prog-on.”

In 1999, Neal Morse also helped to establish one of the greatest prog supergroups ever–Transatlantic– along with Roine Stolt of the Flower Kings, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater (told you we’d hear about him again), and Pete Trewavas of Marillion. Transatlantic has released 5 studio albums between 1999-2022. This would be the start of a long and fruitful relationship with Mike Portnoy, as he would be the drummer in just about every other project Neal Morse would have in his career, including Yellow Matter Custard, Flying Colors and the Neal Morse Band.

Back to Spock’s Beard who certainly got their “prog-on” on the next album “V.” I believe that they were realizing that “commercial success,” was not in the cards for SB. They really went prog first into this one. It opens with the fantastic 16:28 epic “At the End of the Day,” and closes with the mega-epic, 27 minute masterpiece “The Great Nothing,” which I would call my all time favorite SB track. In between there are some shorter tracks, but they include “Thoughts, Pt. II” harkening back to the second album’s “Thoughts,” in that Gentle Giant style, and the wonderful “All on a Sunday.” In an interview with Goldmine magazine, they refer to “V” as the “biggest album to date” for the band, and it led to them opening for Dream Theater, and even headlining a tour of Europe. However, the band’s magnum opus was yet to come. A live album, called “There and Here,” was released in 2001.

That magnum opus came in the form of “Snow,” a double CD rock-opera. Interestingly, although Neal Morse had written and demoed almost the entire album with the band in the summer of 2001, he decided that he wasn’t happy with the album and was going to rewrite it. The band had been working in LA on the album but decided to return to Nashville, TN where Neal Morse resided while he rewrote the album following an overnight recording session on Sept. 10, 2001. They booked tickets to fly out the next day on September 11, 2001. However, due to the infamous attacks on that day, all flights were grounded. Spock’s Beard decided to rent a car and drive from LA to Nashville, which is a 2000 mile trip and shows on Google as a 29 hour drive. Footage of that drive is shown in the 2004 DVD documentary, “The Making of Snow,” which is now available on the Radiant records website for $12.99 as a video download. During that drive in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks Neal got the idea to make the story about an albino psychic healer named John Sikeston, nicknamed “Snow.” (BTW, I reviewed this one for the 100 Greatest Prog Albums Countdown, and will include a link in the comments.) The album was released in 2002. Like many concept albums, the story can be hard to follow, but there are many great tracks included. Some of my favorites are “Overture/Made Alive.” “Long Time Suffering,” "The Devil’s Got My Throat,” “Wind at My Back,” and “Made Alive Again/Wind at My Back (Reprise).” Spock’s Beard seemed to be at the top of their game. But then Neal Morse dropped a bombshell. He was leaving the band!

Prog fans were in shock at the news. Neal decided to leave due to the fact that he’d become a born-again Christian, and wanted to pursue his faith through his music. He knew that his brother Alan and the other members of the band did not share that faith and didn’t want to force them into playing that type of music. It was then that they pulled a page from the Genesis playbook. Following their sixth album, which was a double album rock opera (The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Snow), the lead-singer and most identifiable member of the band (Peter Gabriel/Neil Morse) chose to leave for artistic reasons on amicable terms with his bandmates. They then chose their drummer (Phil Collins/Nick D’Virgilio) as the new frontman, necessitating the need for a touring drummer (In Genesis’ case it was initially Bill Bruford, then Chester Thompson long term/for Spock’s Beard, Jimmy Keegan). In both cases, that drummer turned frontman had already sung two tracks on albums. Also, Nick D’Virgilio actually recorded some of the tracks on Genesis’ 1997 attempt at a comeback, following the departure of Phil Collins, “Calling All Stations,” and there were suggestions made that the singer from that album, Ray Wilson, should become the new Spock’s Beard singer. As Wilson lives in Europe, that was considered non-feasible, so D’Virgilio it is! Also, like Genesis during the post-Lamb era, critics and fans were skeptical. However, like Genesis, they proved everyone wrong (albeit, without the commercial rise to fame that Phil Collins era Genesis would have.)

In 2003, the band would release the first album without Neal Morse, “Feel Euphoria.” In looking at the songwriting credits, Nick D’Virgiio seems to have taken over as the primary songwriter on this album. (Neal Morse was almost the exclusive songwriter on the first 6 albums, with the exception of a few collaborations with other band members.) Songwriting friends of the band, Stan Ausmus and especially John Boegehold (remember his name from earlier), became songwriting collaborators from this album on. Each band member received at least one writing credit on this album. This album succeeded in showing Spock’s Beard fans that even without Neal Morse, the band was capable of creating quality music that they would enjoy. The big feature on this album is the 20-minute suite, written entirely by Nick D’Virgilio, “A Guy Named Sid,” which like the earlier “The Healing Colors of Sound,” is broken into six tracks on the album (ugh…). I also quite like “The Bottom Line.” While I like the album, it apparently got mixed reactions from fans.

The band would return in 2005 with their eighth studio album, Octane. This one seemed to have a better reception from SB fans. The first 7 tracks comprise the 31-minute suite “A Flash Before My Eyes.” (Why must they split it up!?) The suite chronicles a man who had been in a car crash reliving his life’s memories. My favorite song outside of the suite is “As Long as we Ride,” which has a super-cool scatting section in it. A live album, called “Gluttons for Punishment,” followed with songs recorded in different locations on the “Octane” tour.

Up next is probably my favorite album from the D’Virgilio Era, simply named “Spock’s Beard,” or “SB,” as shown on the cover. There are so many songs I love on this one, including “On a Perfect Day,” with its spectacular lead vocal from D’Virgilio, “Skeletons at the Feast,” which is a great instrumental, “The Slow Crash-Landing Man,” a fantastic slower-tempo song featuring a fantastic Alan Morse guitar solo, and the nearly 17-minute suite in 4 tracks (!?!?) “As Far as the Mind Can See.” Dave Meros really stepped up as a songwriter in his collaborations with John Boegehold, writing all of the songs I mentioned (Except “On a Perfect Day”) and more. They followed this one up with a live album and DVD titled “Spock’s Beard Live.” I own the DVD, which may have something to do with why I love this album so much.

After a bit of a break, Spock’s Beard was ready to come back in 2010. However there was an issue. Their contract with InsideOut had concluded and they found themselves without a record label. Instead of shopping around for a new label, the band decided to follow Marillion’s example and try crowdfunding to finance the album and release it themselves through the Mascot label. Fans were able to pre-order a limited edition version of the album with a song that listed their names, called “Their Names Escape Me.” “X’, as the album was called, reflecting its status as the band’s 10th album, has two songs that exceed 16 minutes and thankfully they are NOT broken into separate tracks (yay!) They are “From the Darkness,” (16:53) and, “Jaws of Heaven,” (16:22). The album also opens with a 10 minute track called “Edge of the In-Between.” Many fans consider it to be the best of the D’Virgilio era, but I’ll stick with “SB,” mainly because I am more familiar with it. A live album followed in 2011 called “Live at the High-Voltage Festival,” which is notable for the guest appearance of Neal Morse on “June,” and “The Light.” Even more notable is that Ted Leonard, from the prog band Enchant, was brought in to “fill-in” for D’Virgilio at this show as Nick was unable to make it. Hmmm….

Just when it seemed that SB were on a roll with the D'Virgilio line-up being stable for nearly a decade, Nick DiVirgilio chose to leave to devote more time to other projects. Undeterred, Ted Leonard was chosen to take over on vocals after having filled in for D’Virgilio, and Jimmy Keegan, who had been the touring drummer for all those years was upgraded to being a full member. Interestingly, after D’Virgilio’s departure in November of 2011, Mascot records released the live album,”The X Tour Live,” with D’Virgilio on vocals in 2012.

The first studio album featuring Ted Leonard on vocals and Jimmy Keegan on drums is 2013’s “Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep.” This album was very well received, with Classic Rock Magazine calling it “the best album of their 20-year career to date.” The album features a 12:36 closing epic called “Waiting For Me,” and only one song is (barely) under 5 minutes long. I have enjoyed the songs “Hiding Out,” “I Know Your Secret,” “Something Very Strange,” and the aforementioned “Waiting for Me,” co-written by Neal Morse, along with another track called “Afterthoughts.” Neal also contributes some guitar parts to the tracks as well. Even with a new vocalist and drummer, the Spock’s Beard signature sound is still very apparent. Additionally, the band seems to have returned to InsideOut.

Following that is 2015’s “The Oblivion Particle.” Having heard most of this one, I can attest that this lineup is every bit as capable of creating the Spock’s Beard sound as either of the 2 previous lineups. Ted Leonard was truly the right choice to be the SB singer. Curiously on this album, there was very little songwriting from the band members with 2 tracks written by Ted Leonard and one collaboration between Alan Morse and Ryo Okumoto. Five of the remaining six were written by John Boegehold and the other by Stan Ausmus. Boegehold is also listed as co -producer with Alan Morse and Rich Mouser. There is only one track that exceeds 10 minutes, while the shortest is just under 5 minutes long. This album would turn out to be the final album featuring Jimmy Keegan on drums, as he left for personal reasons in 2016, but we’ll hear from him again not too far down the line. It is apparently a concept album, about a guy named Bennett Lamb who builds a time machine to go back in time to warn his younger self to avoid mistakes he made in younger days. Jimmy Keegan sings lead vocals on the song “Bennett Built a Time Machine.”

Later in 2015, the band released a compilation called “The First 20 Years,” which is notable for the 20 minute epic written by Neal Morse titled “Falling for Forever,” that featured every member of Spock’s Beard, excepting original bassist John Ballard, who left before the first album, and according to Wikipedia passed in 1999. In 2016, prior to Keegan leaving, Spock’s Beard reunited with Neal Morse and Nick D’Virgilio for two complete performances of “Snow,” which had never been played in its entirety before. The shows were at “Morsefest” in Tennessee, and “The Night of Prog Festival,” in Lorelei, Germany.

After Keegan’s departure, a familiar face could be seen behind the drum kit. Spock’s Beard was due to play the “Cruise to the Edge” in 2017, and asked original drummer, and former frontman, Nick D’Virgilio, to fill in on drums, to which he agreed. Furthermore, he would also agree to play on the next album 2018’s “Noise Floor,” as a session player. The band members contributed much more to the songwriting than on “The Oblivion Particle,” although Boegehold and Ausmus still made contributions. The song lengths remain relatively short by prog standards, with song lengths ranging from 5:36-8:07, but there are many great prog nuggets to be found. As of the time of this writing, this is the most recent SB album.

However, SB is not dead! They played some shows in the UK and in California in early 2024. And the big news that seems to have flown under the radar, is that Ryo Okumoto announced on his Facebook page in July of 2024 that his schedule includes time for recording a NEW SB ALBUM. There was no word on who would be playing drums, nor any other details given. So, let’s hope that it comes to fruition. Since 2018, however, there has been an alternative to Spock’s Beard called Pattern Seeking Animals with Dave Meros, Ted Leonard (playing guitar in addition to his fine vocals), Jimmy Keegan, and long-time collaborator John Boegehold on keyboards. They have released 4 wonderful albums from 2019-2023. Ryo Okumoto in the meantime has released 2 solo albums during his time with SB, with the most recent coming out in 2022, the highly regarded “Myth of the Mostrophus.” Nick D’Virgilio is now the drummer with the outstanding prog band Big Big Train, initially as a guest, then the official drummer since 2009. In addition to his role in Pattern Seeking Animals, Dave Meros played with classic rockers Iron Butterfly between 2015-2023. Alan Morse released one solo album in 2007, but appears to have released another in 2024, called “Far and Away” which seems to have contributions from every living SB member as well as some other heavyweights such as Simon Phillips and Tony Levin, but this only appears to be available as a digital download, but I am unable to find a way to download it. I am truly looking forward to seeing what the future holds for SB, and hope that the new album that Ryo Okumoto referenced on Facebook comes to pass.

Thank you for reading! As always, I will provide links for listening as well as a link to the post that includes my review of “Snow” in the comments below.

Links for Listening: pt 1

From “The Light”

“Go the Way You Go”

https://youtu.be/aDrYq84dLUU

“The Water” (Caution, there is a section of the song that is “NSFW” or around children or those offended by the F-bomb.)

https://youtu.be/facUcZzJ_jI

From “Beware of Darkness”

“The Doorway”

https://youtu.be/RGvt-xN0rK0

“Thoughts”

https://youtu.be/pWWMW857crk

“Waste Away”