Tag: Snow

SNOW by Spock’s Beard: Two Stories

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment
Snow LIVE
From Radiant Records.

As I am sure is true for all of us, albums I love and cherish and listen to, repeatedly, carry with them fond personal memories.  For better or worse, almost every single Neal Morse album and Spock’s Beard album comes with a story, and usually more than one.  As I’ve mentioned on progarchy before, I’ll never forget the release of the first Spock’s Beard album, THE LIGHT.  Being a prog fan since as far back as I can remember, I had no idea about the arrival of neo-Prog in England, and I had to content myself in the early 1990s with jam bands such as Phish and jam pop bands such as the Dave Matthews Band to satisfy my not so easily satisfied prog desires.  I had purchased so many CDs and had had so many discussions with the manager of Tracks in Bloomington, Indiana, that she remained on the lookout for me.  Anything that even remotely smacked of prog, she let me know.  She rather gleefully handed me a copy of THE LIGHT when it first came out.  To say I was thrilled would be an understatement.  I was just plain elated, inserting that cd in the tray, putting on my Sennheizers, and falling into prog bliss, attempting to follow all the nuances of the album and to figure out all of the lyrics.  I mean really, who is the catfish man?

And, why did this guy with such a great voice have to cuss so much?

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Spock’s Beard SNOW LIVE Deluxe Edition

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Snow LIVEAfter what seemed like an eternity (yes, even at age 50, patience is not one of my virtues), my copy of the deluxe edition of SNOW LIVE by Spock’s Beard arrived this afternoon.  And, the wait was more than worth it.  This thing is just loaded to the max with goodness and beauty.  Lots of truth as well.  2 CDs, 2 DVDs, and 2 Blu-ray disks.  Additionally, the set comes with a certificate of authenticity.  My authentic number is 1,887 out of 2,000, in case you were wondering.  And, you were wondering, right?  There are also a number of elongated postcards of the band members and a poster.

The best part of it all, though, is the book.  The size of a traditional album, the SNOW LIVE book is a thing of glory at 50 pages.  Full of liner notes and photos, I found myself quite taken with what Radiant Records has produced.  I’ve only begun to explore this all, but I’m thrilled to have it.  This is some of the best packaging I’ve seen, and I hope other bands take notice.

I really like, for example, the Rush boxset of 2112, but I think I like this open book format the best.  As sturdy as the Rush 2112 box is, I’m always a bit afraid it will get crushed.  Not so with the SNOW LIVE deluxe packaging.  It just feels solid.  As solid as it is beautiful.

Thank you, Radiant!  And, thank you, Amy Pippin at Radiant Records for doing the hard work of processing all of the orders and getting these shipped out.

SNOW Live–Spock’s Beard

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment

Snow Live

Though Neal Morse’s Radiant Records has become much less friendly (at least to reviewers) over the last year or so, I’m still rather excited about this release.

SNOW has been a masterpiece of prog since it first came out 15 years ago.  I’m still kicking myself for not purchasing the deluxe package of Marillion’s last album, so I’m not going to make that mistake for this one.

And, I’ll not so quietly wish that Neal Morse and Radiant become more responsive to their fans in the not so distant future.

To order, go here: http://www.radiantrecords.com/products/692-snow-live.aspx

The MAKING of SNOW

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment
[Morse]fest 2016 VIP packages and tickets go on sale this weekend!!!

To celebrate this KILLER event,
‘The Making of Snow’ DVD, will be on sale
this week ONLY for $14.99!

Here’s what Neal Morse said about it: “….this contains the footage of the making of the Snow album and two acoustic performances, my last with the band. I’m sorry that it’s not of higher quality; although, in the video department, we never did have a really first rate one. But, here we are…here’s what we have…here’s how it was. I think this shows some but regrettably not all of the making of ‘Snow’, there’s much that was never filmed because who wants a guy with a camcorder in your face all the time? But, what there is shows the band in all it’s quirky creativity and humor and sheer brilliance…” THE MAKING OF SNOW Filmed by Neal Morse and Jim Harrel Produced & Edited Philip J. Satterley Plus: 2 COMPLETE ACOUSTIC CONCERTS! The Good Don’t Last * Thoughts II * Stranger In A Strange Land Open Wide The Flood Gates * In The Name of Love * Carie * June Looking For Answers * Solitary Soul * Wind At My Back * The Doorway DOLBY DIGITAL SOUND Running time is Approx. 4 hours!! (240 min) REGION FREE NTSC COLOR
Make sure and get your copy this week here.
You can find more information on
 [Morse]fest 2016 here.