Review page.  

Album of the month January 1998.  
The more   the better the album (rating from 1 to 5).   

Spock's Beard - The kindness of strangers 
(Giant Electric Pea/GEPCD 1022)  
      

We have now three studio albums from Spock's Beard. They are all completely different, but all in the vein of some kind of '70's prog. This new one called 'The kindness of strangers' is different in the sense of the approach of creating the songs. Some of them are very more guitar orientated as in the past. By example I can mention 'Cakewalk on Easy Street', which has a wall of guitars in the first verse that refers to bands like Soundgarden and so on. But all the familiar influences that we know of them like from Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, etc... are still on the album. It's difficult to say that this album is better than the other ones or not. The production surely is, no one can deny. This can be expected from a growing band. Some would still prefer 'The light' as their favourite album for it's pure symphonic sound and atmosphere. But as we can see (or better hear) on 'Beware of darkness' and now this new one, this album fits in the logical evolution of a modern prog band that is still growing popularity. We are in the 90's you must know. The opening song is imposing and after the four relatively short songs and you think that you've heard it all, the climax of the album is still coming. 'Harm's way' and 'Flow' are the absolute highlights on 'The kindness of strangers' to me. Dynamic songs with an excellent structure ending in an outraging climax. After this masterpiece (again) there is still one thing I want to do. I'll grow a beard! 

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