IQ Appreciation Thread

From the ones I have:

Dark matter - Harvest of Souls
Ever - Leap of Faith
Frequency - Closer
The seventh House - The seventh House
Subterranea - The narrow Margin
The Wake - Magic Roundabout

Snow Dog:

I agree that list threads are not that interesting, but also that it is nice to share opinions. I wonder whether we might give some indication of why we like what we like--not for every song as that would be cumbersome, but maybe for a few. Personally, I can say that I am appreciating The Seventh House more now than at any time in the past largely from having read and thought about comments on the album made recently on another IQ thread. Always open to have my appreciation expanded.

As for me, I'll note that my list, posted above, includes all three of the ~20 min. epics. I love to lose myself in long compositions. But more importantly, I'll add that Harvest of Souls strikes me as a much more mature and interesting composition than Last Human Gateway. Both are clearly composed with Supper's Ready very much in mind, but where the former does not really transcend its model, I think the latter does. I hear in Harvest of Souls, not so much imitation as conversation, as though the musicians are more actively responding to their jumping-off point, bringing more of themselves to the table. Both Supper's Ready and Harvest address religious ideas, but do so in different ways, with Harvest clearly addressing the issues of religion and power that defined so much of Bush/Cheney America. The heavenly vision of the first has become a dystopic vision in the second, not because of the ideals themselves but because of how people have misused them (and no, I am not making a push for Christianity here: I'm not religious). Musically as well, the echoes are not merely echoes: they are transformations also bound, I suspect, to the grimmer vision of IQ's song.

Anyway, I've probably gone on long enough. I hope some of you also choose to elaborate on a few of your choices, and look forward to whatever doors your thoughts might open in my own mind.

Snow Dog wrote: I don't hear Suppers Ready in any song by IQ. I find these comments mysterious.

Harvest Of Souls does have a structure very reminescent of Suppers Ready but really in a much broader sense rather than a direct rip off as such. I do hear bits of The Knife in Sacred Sound but no one else agrees with me on that one

richardh wrote: Snow Dog wrote: I don't hear Suppers Ready in any song by IQ. I find these comments mysterious. Harvest Of Souls does have a structure very reminescent of Suppers Ready but really in a much broader sense rather than a direct rip off as such. I do hear bits of The Knife in Sacred Sound but no one else agrees with me on that one Martin Orford was actually very unhappy about the Genesis comparison and argued strongly against it.

Orford was right to be unhappy. Like Snow Dog, I find the comparisons utterly mysterious and bizarre.

My alphabetical listening pattern brought me through IQ and after a brief respite with Iron Maiden and IZZ, the band Jadis has now landed on my MP3 player.  I only have their debut More Than Meets The Eye, the deluxe version with 13 extra tracks, and their 2 latest Fanatic and Photoplay.  Not surprisingly with Martin Orford and John Jowitt aboard there is a similar sound to IQ.  Good stuff.  I think that I might have to download the middle albums to give them a shot. 

Can anyone tell an ignorant man why Peter Nicholls left IQ after The Wake?

I'd say either their first album The Wake, or their previous album Dark Matter should be the next.

Andrea Cortese wrote: My only experience with IQ is their last FREQUENCY album which I find very good.   So, which one next?

Snow Dog wrote: Can anyone tell an ignorant man why Peter Nicholls left IQ after The Wake?

Snow Dog wrote: richardh wrote: Snow Dog wrote: Can anyone tell an ignorant man why Peter Nicholls left IQ after The Wake?   One view that I've seen put forward was that Nicholls suffered badly from stage fright and as IQ was beginning to attract a bit of attention and were on the verge a record deal with a major label he decided he couldn't handle being the front man anymore.I'm not sure exactly how true all that is although it is well known that he had a big problem with stage fright.   I've also read that Paul Menel was the only person who turned up for the audition to replace him. Luckily he was a pretty good replacement. Do you think? Alhtough I love Nicholls voice so much its a hard act to follow for me.

Talented bloke.I'm not massively keen on Nomzamo but I like Are You Sitting Comfortably which has some great songs and a nice blend of pop/prog perhaps comparable to It Bites (Drive On = Calling All The Heroes??). Pleased that Nicholls came back but respect to Menel for keeping the band going and filling a position that was virtually unfillable.