Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are exciting times ahead in store for Progressive Rock fans. In the U.K. the genre goes from strength to strength again after what seemed an interminable age of unfathomable corporate driven pop taking the hearts of the musically blessed for a ride and in the United States of America, where it was always a vogue and classic diversion away from the stadium rock acts, the root of the intimate and liberal way of going against the conservative mid-west structure and angry rap scene that burgeoned the big city life, it has become a movement of true artistry.

In the U.K. the New Wave of Progressive Rock has seen bands such as Touchstone and The Reasoning being rightly lauded in the same breath as It Bites, Marillion and Genesis before them and in America there can be no better accolade to be told that you are up there with the likes of Spock’s Beard.

Nearly 20 years since their debut, The Light, captured the dimming life blood that was fading fast out of the genre, the band have released the exciting and generously written Brief Nocturnal and Dreamless Sleep. An album of raw courage, of intelligent lyrics and worthy of begrudging respect that it takes a band from the other side of the ocean to continue one of the classic definitions of Progressive Rock again, that of experimentation and not be afraid to put down on record what is going on inside the head, no matter what scorn may come from the non-believers.  The superb Transatlantic do it very well, so do the aforementioned The Reasoning and Touchstone but Spock’s Beard give it the final kick over the boundary post into the next dimension that the early exponents and pioneers of the genre did in the late 60s and early 70s.

Brief Nocturnal and Dreamless Sleep is the type of album that whisks you away from the brutality of the world and makes you believe there is another way for the world to live, even if it sounds as crazy as sounds. Like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Marillion’s Clutching at Straws, Camel and even Queensryche’s opus Operation Mindcrime, it is an album of majestic sweeping changes, clever symphonically and a belief that in the end, although three minute songs are undoubtedly great, especially in the classic rock and punk world, sometimes you need songs that can last for a lot longer, to be able to take the listener further into the imagination than should be possible.

The two C.D. set comprises a running time of over 80 minutes and with tracks such as A Treasure Abandoned, Something Very Strange and the stunning The Man You’re Afraid You Are included, it is possibly going to vying it out at the end of the year as the finest Prog album of 2013. Blissfully incredible!

Ian D. Hall