ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY ?

Second and last album with Paul Menel, Are You Sitting Comfortably is clearly in the same vein than its predecessor Nomzamo, with a main difference though : where there could be legitimate doubts about Nomzamo -apart the song "Human Nature"- being classified as prog rock, Are You Sitting Comfortably contains some tracks -"Falling Apart At The Seams", "Wurensh"- that IMHO clearly have a prog touch.

That being said, the debate is useless to me since I don't care for classification.

I liked Nomzamo very much and I think Are You Sitting Comfortably is even stronger. Menel seems better assured with his voice, giving it more variations and the music appears more focused. If I had to point highlights, I would choose "War Heroes", where IQ brilliantly demonstrates that two verses are enough lyrics to describe the horror of war, and "Wurensh", an outstanding song that can stand the comparison with any prog rock epic. The rest of the tracks are equally good. Actually, a very impressive album. I gave Nomzamo five stars -4,5 would have been more fair- because of the bonus tracks of the CD version but Are You Sitting Comfortably doesn't need any bonus to hit the perfect score.

In conclusion, I may be the only one to think that way but so far I prefer the Menel era of IQ even if, to be honest, this opinion doesn't take count of band's latest stuff since I have not listened to anything more recent than Subterranea. So, when I have completed the collection, maybe I will change my mind and make apologies for that outrageous statement .