The debut album from this US band.
The band was a quartet with a lineup of mellotron, organ, cello, keyboards, guitars, bass, drums, percussion, French horn and vocals.
Two female vocalists added their vocals on one track.
Spock's Beard is legends in the scene. They are among the five best and most important prog rock bands in the scene too.
Ten years ago, I reviewed their brilliant Snow album and has decided to review the remaining twelve albums this summer.
.... Starting with their debut album.....
The Light is a four songs long album. That is three suites and one song. The three suites ranges from twelve minutes to twenty-five minutes long.
The band starts their recording career with the sixteen minutes long title-track. The music is leaning quite heavy on both Gentle Giant and Yes. It is a complex suite with a some bombastic, epic melody lines. A truly superb suite it is too and an eye-opener.
Both Gentle Giant and Yes, and add Pink Floyd on the final two tracks, is good references for this album. Add Kansas, Genesis and The Beatles too.
The second suite, the twelve minutes Go The Way You Go is among my favourite post 1970s pieces of music. The bombastic themes here are stirring and brilliant.
The twenty-five minutes long The Water suite is kind of getting slightly lost in wailing female vocals, later era Pink Floyd soundscape. The music is very complex but not brilliant.
The final song, the six minutes long On The Edge is a great song. It is almost like an afterthought on this album. But it deserve a place on this album.
In short, this album heralds the new beginning of the symphonic prog era and it cannot be underestimated.
Music wise, it is close to being a masterpiece. I have some slight reservations towards The Water and On The Edge. The vocals and the musicianship is top notch and not a problem at all.
It is an album everyone should own.
4.5 points
The tri
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