THE MUSIC THAT DIED ALONE

With a lineup mashing together members from The Flower Kings, Parallel or 90 Degrees, and Van der Graaf Generator, the Tangent's debut album to me is a whole that's less than the sum of its parts: it's a nostalgia-prog trip through various musical styles that appealed to me (including an attempt at a Canterbury pastiche), but it feels overproduced and overpolished. On the opening sequence, In Darkest Dreams, the Flower Kings presence threatens to overwhelm proceedings entirely, which may be part of the issue since on balance I tend to find the Flower King sound to be a bit too saccharine for my tastes.