IQ

IQ has offered us many high-quality studio albums and many live releases over their career, "Road To The Bones" is no exception. This is their first Blu-Ray shot in a small club in Holland. They played all of the first cd of their last album, one from the second cd, plus classics from various albums. How can we say something wrong about this professionalism band in terms of playing display, the songs being performed faithfully to the studio versions. However, it is a little bit frustrating for me to hear many drops in the surround sound through the show, unlike the stereo sound that you can listen also in the extras with all the projections. The song "Until The End" was also shown in the extras at the Lorelei Festival. I would have preferred to see this complete show instead of the one they choose because it looks better on a bigger stage. In the extras, there's an interview between Peter Nicholls and the artist designer that will appeal to a few people. They should have done interviews with the band's members instead. So, thumbs up for the performance, the set list and thumbs down for some technical issue with the surround sound, that is still good for the spatialization. IQ score of 4

IQ had a rocky road at the latter part of the 80s with a couple sub-stellar releases but managed to find a firm footing in the progressive rock arenas once again with their 1993 comeback "Ever." Apparently deciding to never repeat the mistakes of such bellyflops as "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" ever again, the band now had a stable lineup with creative juices just bubbling over in mega-effervescence and spent four years polishing their craft before they unleashed the grandiose double album monstrosity SUBTERRANEA which took all the excesses of prog and ran away with them unapologetically. This behemoth of a musical extravaganza will require many trips to the buffet, periods of stepping back for proper digestion and then further revisitation for the full-on effect to properly gel within the listener's inner music box.

IQ stepped it up in every possible way on SUBTERRANEA. Firstly with the lyrical contents they deliver a highly complex story about a man (remaining mysterious and nameless) who was held captive for most of his life and deprived of the most ordinary of experiences that most of us take for granted on a daily basis. After being released he's deluged by the Captain America effect meaning that he has woken up to a world that has passed him by in every regard and his struggle to catch up leaves him destitute and grasping for his sanity. The story becomes a full-fledged musical soap opera as he falls in love with a girl named Maya, discovers others who have been experimented and detained against their will and joins forces to take revenge against the miscreants who carried out these atrocities. The plot fails and this same guy ends up back to the very isolation from which the story began thus creating a full circle approach to story telling all the while backed up by some of the most compelling progressive musical deliveries that the 90s had to offer.

Lucky for IQ that Peter Nicholls returned to the helm as vocalist and lyrical contributor in chief because he churns out some of the most compelling yet mysteriously vague story content of his career as done right in true prog fashion leaving the other members to focus exclusively on the musical accompaniment which is nothing short of brilliant as IQ dishes out some of the strongest melodies and song structures of their career with each cadence wresting a heart felt explosion of emotional reaction as keyboard lines tinkle their way into a gravitational pull that is utterly irresistible. The group interplay is beyond strong as even the longest of tracks such as the double-discker's closer "The Narrow Margin" keeps the listener enthralled for its entirety. Nicholls' vocal performance is absolutely top notch and each track successfully builds upon what came before and creates a true complete album experience like very few others of the newly resurrected prog universe of the 90s succeeded in accomplishing.

While it's no secret that IQ was always a Peter Gabriel era Genesis type of band, SUBTERRANEA can certainly bring the double album "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" to mind not only in its scope and delivery with accessible keyboard driven musical prosody accompanied by excellent lyrical elocution but offers a more obnubilated sense of meaning and only offers an impressionalist's perspective of a story that leaves more questions dangling about than it it answers however even if you couldn't give a flying bleep about the lyrics, the music on this one offers a diverse array of neo-prog perfection that adheres to all the genre expectations of beautifully laid out extended compositions that ratchet up the emotional responses in a systematic and melodic way. This isn't one for the casual listener and like many complex works requires some commitment to understand but with a little devotion can be easily extricated from its inscrutable initial impressions.

IQ is one of my favorite neo prog prog bands "Ever". This album shows a evolution of mixing and continous evolution of creativity and accessible music for all public. IQ have a proper style in neo prog scene that a differential in prog rock music. In general the most neo prog bands looks the same, in my point of view.

In this album, "Darkest hour" happened a balance between good neo prog and a song for hear in a car. the melody is so fixing in the head, simple variations of compass of passing music."Fading scenes" begin as a simple and envolving balad and continues with elements of hard rock and and brilliant melodies of keyboard, turn and return inter a balad and wild riffs"Out of nowhere" follow a dancing beat with mellotrons and hard rock riffs, althougha few repetitive formula of a lot neo prog music ( in special in drums) this song so fantastic. The next song " Further away" follow the line line of "Fading scenes" swings in moments of a calm balad and vigorous prog song, featured of Martin Orford. "Leap of Faith" is true balad of the album where the sync of the group show, vocals, guitars and keyboard continues with variation of compass and guitar solo. The final song is for me the most poor song,

Certainly, "Ever" is one of more important album of IQ carrer, the quality of mixing compared of "The Wake" is so noticeable, it's songs clean and define a style of group, different of others bands of neo prog. IQ is one os most important neo prog bands, and this album contributed for this.

And then like a waking up from a bad dream, IQ emerged from a tumultuous and heartbreaking period. First there were the two albums with P. L. Menel as vocalist where the band steered towards a more commercial sounding blandness but secondly and most important was a series of deaths of band members' friends and family. Not only did they lose their bassist Les Marshall a few years back but both guitarist Mike Holmes and Peter Nicholls would lose their fathers as well as their good friend Georf Mann who was taken out by cancer. After all this turmoil IQ reconvened along with original vocalist Peter Nicholls and not only rediscovered their original musical prowess that should have continued after "The Wake," but with their sixth studio album EVER initiated a new creative period that would continue up to the present. While such missteps and events can easily destroy a band's trajectory, IQ proved they were up to the challenge of channeling all of the negativity and constructing a new reality.

As with such tragedy and unfortunate events that change our realities, the members of IQ expressed their grief through their music. In addition to going back to their original goals of creating captivating neo-prog music, Peter Nicholls was back on vocals and John Jowitt would replace Tim Esau on bass. All this change and lament resulted in a therapy session via musical expression and while the universe may have taken away, it also rewarded with a refreshed and inspired direction for the band to take and one that they have not strayed from ever since. Faced with all this melancholy the band channeled their energies into their renaissance album that displays all their early confidence and deftly crafted a beautiful album that deals with the loss of friends and family and of the insecurities we all face with the fleeting impermanence of life.

With brilliantly delivered lyrical content that is strongly poetic and an excellent production to boot, each band member shines like a ray of sun through a darkened catacomb offering a glimmer of hope in the cold and brutal world. From the first energetic burst of energy as "The Darkest Hour" initiates the album's overall melancholy, we are treated to extraordinarily strong musical material with Paul Cook stepping up his drumming skills, Mike Holmes creating soaring guitar licks and Martin Orford icing the cake with his atmospheric keyboard magic as well as taking the liberty to show off some virtuosity in the mix. John Jowitt's bass playing skills are the perfect rhythmic and melodic complement to the other musicians and Nicholls proves he was the man who meant to deliver the vocals with a renewed sense of self-assurance. While there are no weak tracks on EVER, some are stronger than others. The 14 and a half minute prog workout "Further Away" takes the listener to another world with strong melodies and developments that run the gamut of the neo-prog universe with perfect execution.

While few bands recover from the major tumble IQ undertook with two unpopular albums and a series of personal cataclysms, not only did Orford and company pull themselves together with dignity but in the process not only revived their own musical career but also contributed to awakening the entire sleeping prog universe in the early 90s when a new wave of progressive rock was slowly crawling from its sleeping chambers and proving that it still had not just a pulse left but enough vitality to make a full blown comeback after lurking in the darkness for the previous decade. Yes, the nightmare had ended and EVER would become one of the most successful comeback albums in the prog universe and would turn the page and start a new chapter in its history.

I take pride in the fact that i always try to find something good in an album that is universally panned and often i have the exact opposite reaction to a certain type of experiment in a group's discography that doesn't sit well with hardcore fans, but there are times when an album deserves every bit of hatred that is bestowed upon it and the neo-prog pioneers IQ hit their absolute nadir on their 4th studio release ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? This is the epitome of a musical disaster in a band's career where really nothing went right. The pathetic thing about this one is the fact that the band sounds like they are so serious in trying to pull it off together.

This is the second album to feature Paul Menel on vocals after Peter Nicholls departed following "The Wake." The rest of the musical cast is the same as "Nonzamo." It does seem that the band were feeling some sort of jealousy over the success of their heroes in Genesis while they were killing it on the pop charts in the 80s and raking in the dough. IQ were also tempted by the pop side of the musical force and tried to emulate their influences by going in that direction. Unfortunately however, while Genesis and Gabriel had the chops to actually construct catchy pop albums, Orford and company weren't so lucky. This album just reeks of wannabeism and ultimately falls short in every manner. Dreadfully Menel's vocals display the first weakness and most obvious inferiority complex here. Although he tries, he just lacks the zingy passion that Nicholls dished out. Add the limp songwriting, lackadaisical keyboards, lazy percussion, flaccid guitar performances and woefully insipid overall production and we get a big fat turkey here but not the kind you wanna eat for Thanksgiving.

"War Heroes" starts off ok and while it doesn't sound like any particular peak of 80s neo-prog, it also isn't the most horrendous sounding track of the lot. It does however sound like a rather weak version of an 80s Peter Gabriel solo offering. Things go south VERY quickly on the second track "Drive On" where we're greeted (or cheated rather) with the most cheesy of synthesizers accompanied by an even cheesier drum beat. The lyrics are absolutely horrendous and the whole thing comes across as a Duran Duran reject that wouldn't have even reemerged as a bonus track. It really is just so very baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad and i do mean bad meaning bad, not bad meaning good. The next track "Nostalgia" tries to pull off some instrumental stratagem into gaining a foothold into a more progified universe, but ends up just sounding cheap because other than the attempt to create some atmospheric sounds comes across like a weak 4/4 timed attempt to sound new wave eight years too late and then the cheesy drums and lyrics come in all gussied up with synthesized dressing and ends up sounding totally lame.

I don't need to go on. This one is just the worst attempt for a prog band to enter into the pop universe that i've ever heard and i'm hugely tolerant of progressive pop. Good pop music is a talent all itself and while many a prog band had successful navigated their talents into that musical realm, IQ were clearly out of their element. In fact, it's actually the case that the band were masters of one specific sub genre only and continue shine within it, but once stepping outside of its murky boundaries find themselves playing the role of not only a fish out of water, but a fish in the party punch with a tutu on. No disrespect for any fish that wish to do so, of course, i only am pointing out a pointless musical meandering into an almost parody zone. This one is just so bad that it truly is the worst of the worst. I found life in "Nonzamo" to the point that i could give it 3 stars, but ARE YOU SITTING COMFORABLY? just makes me feel like i'm sitting in the emergency room in line with a bunch of coughing and hacking indigents while crossing my legs because i have to pee and the bathroom is closed because someone clogged up the toilets. A classic example of WTF were you thinking, guys? Luckily, IQ would come back on the next album "Ever" and never punish us with such crap again.

IQ's best album of the 2000's

It's a pity one of IQ's worst cover art is on one of their best records. Not frequently cited, this tenth studio album is quite inspired and modern, while preserving the band's musical identity. The musicians real entered the new millennium this time. Maybe a little less adventurous than previously, the songs are however more coherent, incorporates elements of other progressive styles such as heavy prog or prog metal, and the quality is present.

The heavy title track contains all what you can expect from IQ at the beginning of the 21st century: a dark opening, rocky passages, enchanting trademark keyboards, pretty melodies and powerful soli. Simply one the best compositions from the band! "Life Support" can be divided in two parts. The melancholic first half is dominated by piano-driven, whereas the second half displays unreal eerie music typical if IQ. The progressive "Stronger Than Friction" is also good, alternating dark, smooth and epic atmospheres. Ironically, the romantic ballad "One Fatal Mistake" is rather soapy and out of place. Fortunately, this song is also the shortest. Therefore, this little mistake is far from being fatal for the disc.

Serious business comes back with the GENESIS-influenced "Ryker Skies", however darker and more modern. Another nice composition in the style of the band, with a good progression, futuristic beat and a spacey passage. "The Province" is the longest track of the record. It first starts with beautiful delicate guitars to then surprising become more ferocious and heavy. I bet you were not expecting that. The contrast is striking, and the dream is turning into a nightmare! Really efficient. Unfortunately, this nearly flawless hour of music concludes with the insipid and repetitive "Closer". The dark side of neo-prog...

Containing only two weak tracks, more convincing and personal than its predecessor, "Dark Matter", "Frequency" finally shows the musicians modernizing their style while preserving their soul and composition quality. Melancholic and somber, smooth and oppressive, nonetheless recommended to IQ fans, this opus is one of the best neo-progressive albums of the 21st century! Also adapted to discover the band if you're not familiar with this genre.

2.5 stars

Don't rely on the minimalistic cover art, this compilation contains a few interesting and enchanting tracks. "J'ai Pollette d'Arnu" are supposedly the first French words the band understood, althought it does not mean anything in Voltaire's tongue. Half-studio, half-live, the set-list is quite heterogeneous, featuring singer Paul Menel, except for one song with Peter Nicholls. The studio part contains 2 previously unreleased tracks and 2 reworked compositions from the debut 1981 cassette "Seven Stories Into Eight". The live part covers the 80's albums, and - unfortunately especially - the second half of the decade, more commercial oriented.

"It All Stops Here" is one of the main interest of the records. Its powerful RUSH-esque intro unveils multiple changing rhythms and as well as nervous, spacey and melancholic atmospheres. A great neo-progressive composition! This is one of the best released version of this song, with the one from "Nine in a Pond is Here", rock-ier than the original from their debut and faster than the later reworked version of "Seven Stories Into 98". In contrast, "Sera Sera", is an enjoyable soft guitar ballad recorded in 1989. "Intelligence Quotient" is the other song from the debut cassette. It also features different atmospheres, but contains cheesy moments, lacks coherency and is uneven. Only track featuring Peter Nicholls, "Dans Le Parc Du Chateau Noir" is however the other true highlight of the disc. Composed in 1984, as its title suggests, the ambiance is dark and haunting, with a beautifully touching keyboard passage and an epic finale. Quite original for IQ and neo-prog, and one their best creations! This track can now be found as a bonus on the remastered version of "The Wake".

Concerning the live part, only "Medley" is worth the listen, as it mixes extracts of material from the first half of the eighties (the good one): "The Last Human Gateway", "Outer Limits", "It All Stops Here" and "The Enemy Smacks". Not much to say about the insipid "Common Ground" and the awful "Promises", as they both come from "Nomzamo", the weakest IQ record. "Wurensh" is an anagram for "New Rush", and is also one of the best tracks from their second worst opus, "Are You Sitting Comfortably?". This unfortunately just means just an average song.

This compilation is more for connoisseurs of the band than for newcomers. Without surprises, only tracks composed in 1981-1985 are really interesting, especially "It All Stops Here" and "Dans Le Parc Du Chateau Noir". In conclusion, this disc is a bit uneven and unbalanced, only intended for IQ lovers.

Anyway, "J'ai Pollette d'Arnu" was worth it, because its hidden goal was to finance IQ's next studio album, marking the return of Peter Nicholls...

The Wake of IQ?

1985 was an important year for the development of the neo-progressive genre. IQ's "The Wake" was second to MARILLION's (overrated) album "Misplaced Childhood" in terms of notoriety, however I personally prefer PENDRAGON's debut "The Jewel". This third album is the last 80's IQ's record featuring singer Peter Nicholls, and therefore marks the end of the band's first period.

Musically, the style is roughly the same as on its predecessor "Tales From The Lush Attic". However, the band matured and begins to define their identity by digesting their initial Gabriel-GENESIS roots, even if they're still noticeable. The compositions on "The Wake" are shorter and rather keyboards-driven, but also more coherent and with better sound quality. All this creates a particular atmosphere mixing darkness, melancholic, hope and joy, that will later become IQ's trademark. Each song narrates a step of reincarnation, from death to the beginning of a new life. The best track is the catchy opener "Outer Limits". It contains a depressive synthesizer overture, powerful and melancholic moments and various soli. A classic from the band. Typical of neo-prog, the enjoyable title track alternates somber, oppressive and bright moments. Then comes "The Magic Roundabout" with its spacey introduction, heroic rocking and calm passages and great finale. This piece is however uneven as it can unfortunately get a bit soapy at times.

"Corners" is one the weak tracks of the record with its dated percussions and useless sitar, whereas the very nice "Widow's Peak" is the longest and most progressive composition. The first half shows strong early-GENESIS influences, but with eighties sonorities and spacey keyboards. The second half is rock-ier with its floating guitar à la Steve Hillage. A magical fairytale song. In contrast, the joyful "The Thousand Days" is a cheesy 80's pop track. You can have a preview of IQ's material during the late 80's here... The soft melancholic "Headlong" also features changing atmospheres but the result is average this time.

The bonus track "Dans Le Parc Du Chateau Noir" is one of IQ's best 80's compositions. An enchanting and haunting piece, essential for IQ fans...

Less adventurous but more mature than "Tales From The Lush Attic", less rock and more synthesized than its predecessor, "The Wake" is also unequal but overall pleasant. The musicians offers ambiances from another world and therefore begins to become IQ, slowly emancipating from their 70's progressive roots. Don't miss this disc if you're an IQ or a neo-prog fan.

As in the album, the band will have to die to revive again. After the departure of Peter Nicholls, the members will recruit singer Paul Menel for the next two albums, much more commercial oriented. The fans will have to wait 8 years for another IQ studio opus with Nicholls, and also with this quality. However, this next reincarnation will result in one of their best records... ever...

Tales From The Genesis Attic

As one of the first neo-progressive album, with MARILLION's "Script for a Jester's Tear", "Tales From The Genesis Attic" is in fact IQ's second album, after the cassette-only "Seven Stories into Eight". Greatly influenced by symphonic early GENESIS, the music lacks a bit of creativity and identity. Furthermore, Peter Nicholls' voices is strongly similar to Peter Gabriel's. Still nowadays, IQ remains the "classic" neo-prog band the most resembling GENESIS.

Recorded in only in five days, the composition is also not always mastered. However, the music manages to bring a few scattered new 80's elements and the result is overall pleasant.

The 20 minutes "The Last Human Gateway" is one of the longest progressive suite from the beginning of the 80's. It contains different ambiances typical of symphonic rock, mixed with eighties' sonorities: hard rocking epic passages, haunting atmospheres, calm spacey interludes, as well as average and cheesy moments. The synthesizer solos are not always convincing, the result is uneven and sometimes sounds unbalanced. However, this song is overall varied and nice. After all, at this time, progressive music was not very popular, and not many tracks were this adventurous. The short "Through The Corridors" is a punchy pleasant hard prog piece.

"Awake And Nervous" is also enjoyable, with some rocking passages, while "My Baby Treats Me Right" is a small pretty piano interlude. Nonetheless, the best track of side 2 and of the record is "The Enemy Smacks". More coherent than the opener, this song possesses his own charm, even if the mellotron, guitar and Nicholls' singing clearly exposes the band's GENESIS' and PINK FLOYD's roots. It features a catchy opening, nervous moments and melancholic atmospheres different from the seventies' classic prog material.

The bonus track "Just Changing Hands" is optional.

Although a bit immature, not always mastered and marked by the influences of Peter Gabriel and co., "Tales From The Lush Attic" is nevertheless a promising album. As MARILLION, IQ incorporates the urgency and sharpness of the 80's decade in their compositions, but more discreetly. The musical identity still needs refining. Anyway, this second opus was welcomed in the desert progressive landscape of 1983.

A good entry point to discover IQ and the neo-progressive (sub)genre. Also recommended to early-GENESIS fans.

I distinctly remember the hype around this release which I was involved in initially, but I soon completely forgot about this album. Recently I was looking through the neo-prog genre for something new to listen to when I noticed Road of Bones. As I am writing this, Road of Bones is currently sitting at the top of the neo-prog genre, it is the highest rated album of 2014, and it's made its way to the top 100 prog albums of all time. I figured I'd give it a few listens seeing that I remembered the release fondly to see if it's held up. Now, I know that I shouldn't take others acclaim for the album into consideration for my review, but I have a feeling that hype may have played a role here for many people, majority of the 5* reviews here are within a month or 2 of the albums release. Perhaps the hype was due a notable classic prog rock group releasing their first album in 5 years, who knows. I guess it should be noted that I am not a huge IQ fan, I did however really enjoy their last release, Frequency.

From the Outside In starts creating a dreary atmosphere which is then cut short by a hammering rhythm guitar bit and basic drum beat. If this sounds familiar, it's probably because this is the same exact way they started their Frequency album. But where Frequency goes places from there, this song pretty much maintains this throughout its entirety besides a decent atmospheric synth section. One of the weaker tracks on the album, feels a bit one note. 2/5 stars

The Road of Bones actually has some buildup. It starts with a slow vocal and synth bit, leads into a simple groove interspersed with a great little xylophone riff, builds up to a decent breakdown, and finally revert back to the initial jam. One of the better tracks on the album but it is still a bit basic sounding, nothing super interesting going on here. 3.5/5stars

Without Walls is the epic of the album, clocking in at 19:15. There is a bit of a buildup which leads into another hammering rhythm guitar bit and a basic drum beat, if this sounds familiar, it's the same thing I said for From the Outside In. It is worth noting here there is some great synth work going along with this jam elevating it a bit above From the Outside In. The chorus section, which is repeated quite a bit, is probably the weakest part of the song. The ladder part of this track shifts it's atmosphere from dreary to a lighter more hopeful sound and ends with a solid outro jam. The synth work here in general is worth noting , it sets the atmosphere well and there are a few synth solos that stand out, but everything else is pretty standard/boring. 3.5/5 stars.

Ocean carries over the light/hopeful atmosphere from Without Walls into a very nice uplifting track. This is the only track that I've listened to regularly since the album's release. It is a poppier tune and I remember thinking that it was sort of my 'guilty pleasure track', it isn't going to blow anyone away, but it is a very nice track that I really like. 4.5/5stars

Until the End does very little to distinguish itself from the rest of the album so any of the problems I had with the other tracks can be said about this out. It does everything that the rest of the tracks have already done and goes nowhere new which wouldn't particularly be a crime if I had enjoyed the rest of the album more. 2.5/5 stars

As someone who fancies themselves as a drummer, I typically find a few grooves, fills, transitions, or even solos that blow me away due to their creativity or technical ability. This is perhaps my biggest draw into prog music. Besides the solid groove in Ocean, there is very little going on here that I haven't heard before and better (Frequency).

I typically find that my taste align with the prog-archives community but here I don't. I have to wonder if everyone did go back and listen to this after the hype died down, if it would have any impact on the albums reviews. 3/5 stars.