DARK MATTER

For about the first twenty plays, I tended to agree with the previous lukewarm reviews: "good stuff, but nothing that new". I've now reached about 40 plays and have changed my mind. In fact this is IQ's best album, and I suspect prog rock's finest moment of all. The musical ideas and execution are what you'd expect, but what makes it special is its willingness to deal with real and current issues; the social/political conscience of the band, and their angry emotional response to the suffering of others, are obvious throughout. That makes it a thousand times more entertaining and more relevant than self- important songs about deep personal reveries or pop songs giving vague advice on how to live your life a la recent Marillion. Even if you don't agree with IQ's take on recent events, it's great that there's a genuine rock band prepared to try and make music matter again.