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| Progressive Rock CD Reviews |
| Track by Track Review
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Reflect
After the sounds of waves and gulls start the album, this short, acoustic preamble sets the lyrical tone for the rest of the disc. |
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Symposium
The band kicks in on this track. The rumbling riff echoes the song's sentiment of a man full of ideas but finding that nobody will listen. |
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Nowhere Is Home
This slow, ¾ piece is very reminiscent of Neal Morse's shorter works in Spock's Beard. |
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The Great Stereopticon
This song is ideal as an introduction to the band. This mid-tempo song is well-constructed, and the transition from verse to chorus, with its gently ascending keyboard chord sequence, is priceless.
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Children of the Dust
After the initial two-verse blast, the song goes into a rather intense instrumental section, only to swerve into a Kansas-like vocal refrain of "So Human", a theme to be addressed in the next song. |
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So Human
Spock's Beard isn't the only band who has a good grasp on Gentle Giant-type vocal arrangements. This 2.21 piece, tongue held firmly in cheek, bounces back and forth between whimsy and a strong punch. |
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The Red Pool
This is a rock-solid number that, with its catchy chorus, would also find a good home on the radio. |
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Underneath
This one borders on metal prog without power guitar chords and running double bass drums, but then it can swerve to either a light-step acoustic section or a pseudo-baroque section that borrows the melody from "Reflect." |
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Seattle (In Memory of...)
Referred to as "London of the States," Salem Hill switches gears to a piano-bass arrangement while paying homage to "Starbucks, Ichiro, Red Delicious, Ann and Nancy," and "Eddie's flannel show."
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Apollyon
The band takes a rather serious lyric turn here with this tale of doom and gloom. It's a rather harsh tune.
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The Perfect Light
This is a quirky number - at first a bouncy pop tune, the song then goes into a slower-tempo pre-chorus, and then airy chorus with its call of "regard me." |
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Love Won't Save the World
This sounds a bit like Genesis with the layers of keyboards and melodic guitar solo in mid-song. |
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Beings
This is a slow, languid acoustic-based tune with acoustic guitar tuned percussion sharing time with an electric guitar, played with a touching sense of legato. |
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Regard Me
"Be" closes with this tune, a return to the theme of the album's opener. |
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