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HOPE / OMID
Tracklist:
Disc one:
The Bearded Project – Hope (37:56) / Spock's Beard – Acoustic Medley (6:44) / Coast to Coast Walking – The Thin Line (5:20) / Kai Heyrock – At the Hand of an Angel (8:02) /
Futile – Frontier Planet (3:43) / Projection – It Won't Last Forever (11:09) / Speaker's Corner – The Best Small Country on the Globe (5:14)
Disc two:
Glistening Dawn - The End Of Childhood / Neal Morse - The Way / The It In You - Talk To Me / Kaldera – Trocadero / Roland Enders - The Soldier / Hope - I Could Die / Asgaart - The Tales Of
A Scottish Poet / Disclosed Element – Shattered / The Healing Road – Crovenia / Hope reprise (hidden track)
LINEUP
For full details go to http://thebeardedsproject.de/
REVIEW
With so many wars and disasters in this world, there are many charity organisations and in the recent years, also the prog community has started initiatives to raise money for victims of disasters, like
hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami of 2004. In Germany, the Spock's Beard fan community has sprung into action for Afghan children and have released a double album to raise money for this charity.
OK, given, the reason why this album is released, could already justify purchasing the album, as you help children in need. But what do you get in return? Two discs loaded with music.
And the quality is very good. On disc one, you get treated to an almost 40 minute long suite, filled with varied music. Not every part is that great, although that could be a matter of taste. But overall it is a very nice piece.
The people behind this project managed to get both Spock's Beard as well as Neal Morse on board and both contributed a song. Spock's Beard contributed with an acoustic medley. The rest of the songs come
for the fans, who in many cases are musicians themselves and that is heard in the quality of the songs. A few highlights of disc one, besides the opener: I particularly like Kai Heyrock's At the Hand of an Angel.
Nice melody. Also Projection's It Won't Last Forever is a very good, 70s sounding prog song.
Disc 2 is also laced with stunningly good songs! Already the opening track, clocking just over 15 minutes, The End of Childhood, by Glistening Dawn, is excellent. A great prog song that brings some
memories of Marillion, Pendragon and IQ. Great guitars, but some odd vocals in the middle. The Way by Neal Morse is of course good, but no one will question that. One song that really impressed me, was The Soldier
by Roland Enders, very much in the vein of Camel/Genesis/Gentle Giant. Disc two closes with an amazingly driven prog anthem by Crovenia, called The Healing Road, maybe the best track on the entire album.
Yes, both discs are nice, but I prefer disc 2 as the quality of prog songs is very high. This disc alone would be the second reason to justify the purchase and if you don't care about charity (I can hardly
imagine), then that alone would be reason enough to get this album.
So, whatever your reasons may be, this is an excellent album, filled with good prog, several very nice surprises and a good cause. I can only say: buy this album.
Marcel Haster - August 2007
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