I really don't have a profound experience to share that goes along with this song. I just remember picking up the album 'V' and being blown away by it, and feeling that "The Great Nothing" was the best part of the album. It is so unique, fun, and so typical of an amazing Spock's Beard song. It is all members of Spock's Beard playing at top notch and it sounds great. I guess a funny experience is that I was really excited for this song to play in the car as me and my friend Kevin took a trip to California for a Neal Morse concert. I had put together a collection of Neal Morse songs and this one came up and I started getting into it and was shocked to see that Kevin had fallen asleep! How could someone fall asleep to such a masterpiece? He woke up as soon as the next song started and I felt shaken about my placement of this as one of my favorite songs. But, I listened to it again on my own and realized that its position at the top of my favorite songs list was well deserved.
It opens with great majestic organ chords before the sublime acoustic melody that runs throughout the piece starts up and gets heavier with violin and electric guitar. There is beautiful acoustic guitar and piano running throughout the whole piece and it works wonderfully to create a great mood that was often achieved by Genesis in their greatest moments. I love the "One Note Timeless" theme, and that is the best way to describe this song- it is a timeless Spock's Beard classic.
Dave Meros is awesome on this song as well with some great chunky rhythms being played throughout the whole piece. Nick D'Virgilio is spot on with his drumming, which sounds fun and technically brilliant at the same time. One of my favorite parts is when the piano comes in with the haunting main melody right before the "Submerged" section. I love it so much.
The "Submerged" section on it own is incredibly fun. This section leads into "Missed Your Calling" which is another incredibly fun section that bounces along with a fun piano part. This section always puts a huge smile on my face even though the idea of missing your calling is not a particularly happy idea. This leads to an incredible Alan Morse guitar solo that really soars. Then Morse quiets things down by literally singing "quiet down". This leads to another of my favorite parts, where the main melody is played again on acoustic guitar as it was at the beginning. Which leads to a powerful cello version which sounds really cool, accompanied with some ultra-cool guitar licks and great drumming from Nick.
This is the best part of the song, where the whole band transcends the boundaries of music and play their hearts out. It is extremely fun, emotional, and awesome with some great fast keyboard bits thrown in for good measure. This is prog at its finest. Then Morse comes in with one of his most emotional singing moments, the climax where he repeats "One Note Timeless". This feels like a dramatic statement from the band about themselves. They came out of nothing, and literally had no buzz or following, but they have become truly great. And, I love the last line, "It plays on and on..." This statement to me makes me feel that Morse is saying that they will play on and on, even though they came from nothing.
This is why I love this song so much. It is a defining song for prog itself. Most of the world considers Prog as nothing and dismiss it, but those who really are dedicated to find good music recognize its greatness. Neal Morse came out of nothing to produce something truly great that will play on and on forever in the hearts of his fans, like mine. He and all of Spock's Beard are truly great and timeless and I will never be able to thank them enough for the great music they have produced that will play on in my very soul. This song is brilliant and captures my favorite band at their peak. Please listen and let this Greatness that came out of Nothing touch you as it has me.
