The Tangent Appreciation thread

No offense Scott, but I think the The Flower Kings Appreciation Thread is also for related and that includes The Tangent, we've talked about them pretty much, specially me that seem to be the only one that really likes them.

Of course, if you want to make one specifically for them no problem...

They're also one of my favorite bands, even more so than The Flower Kings in many aspects, that jazz groove they have is simply awesome and of course Andy's organ totally blows away Tomas Bodin

^yeah, they are very different, but what I meant that lots of the followers from this band are in the other Appreciation thread and there you might get more responses, but do as you like of course.

Nuts to that.  Different band, different thread.

Were it not for a few gripes, A Place in the Queue would be a five star album for me.

In a recent interview posted here, Andy said A Place in the Queue was probably their best record, especially In Earnest.
I thought so at first about the album, and thought at first that Not as Good as the Book was their weakest. I no longer think that. The more I hear it, the more I like Not as Good as the Book. It seems to be mainly beacause of the melodies. They are great, while the melodies in In Earnest are dull. There's not a song I don't like in Not as Good as the Book, which is very strange for me, more so for a double album, while in the others there are always things I consider average or with limited interest.

I really love their first two albums. They're very melodic and catchy while still being very progressive. Tillison's an awesome songwriter. I don't know if I should bother with the new albums though. 

Agreed Robert. "In Earnest" is easily my favorite off A Place In The Queue although I don't find the whole album to be as strong as you do (looking at you Follow Your Leaders and titular track).

As for you Hours_of_Wealth, you should definitely get Not As Good As The Book. There's not a dull moment on the album (first disc at least).

Epignosis wrote: Boo. In Earnest is their best song.  Gorgeous melodies, both vocally and instrumentally.  Simply marvelous.

I didn't really meant to be that hard on In Earnest, because I think that instrumentally it is really gorgeous, as you say.

But not so much vocally. There are some places where it is not "dull" as I said before, it was a bad choice of a word, but the phrases lack definition, they end unresolved when the natural intonation should resolve (or I don't like the way he resolves them), or he delivers words because he has to say them, not because the melody needs them, like some of Jon Anderson's melodies that are just phrases without direction. Some places. Most parts are ok.

But I mixed that with the rest of the album, which, as I said, has got weaker moments. I definitely think that the short songs are better in Not as Good as the Book. And, right now, I like the long ones more than A Place in the Queue. But I insist that it has to do more with the vocal parts than with the instrumental parts or accompaniments.

Epignosis wrote:   Were it not for a few gripes, A Place in the Queue would be a five star album for me.

Three things for me dragged A Place in the Queue to four stardom:

1. "DIY Surgery"
(wtf?)
2. "The Sun in My Eyes"
(disco)
3. "A Place in the Queue"
(much too long for its own good- could've been trimmed to 16-20 solid minutes)

"GPS Culture," however, is the second best thing on the album- really phenomenal.

TheCaptain wrote: There's also a lot of disliking of Tillison's voice so I'd like to get this out there early: I like it.

Not my favorite vocalist, but I also quite like it.  There's a real uniqueness there.