IQ & Cardiacs from two albums of the late 80s

Yep, I’ve listened now and although the Cardiacs tunes are interesting….it’s IQ😂

Jared wrote: essexboyinwales wrote: I’ll try listening to these Cardiacs tracks - I’m in bed with Covid!😑 Get well soon, my friend... let us know which band you're taking to your desert island..

Oh it would definitely be IQ😂

I’ll try listening to these Cardiacs tracks - I’m in bed with Covid!😑

Blimey, IQ had peaked by the mid-80s whereas Cardiacs went from strength to strength.  

I'd say this is the easiest poll I have ever had to vote in...

verslibre wrote: I went with IQ, but not by a huge margin or anything. Those are the best songs they did with Menel, along with "Nostalgia/Falling Apart at the Seams" (which they initially kept in their live show after Nicholls' return). The "Everso" finale reminds me a lot of IQ, too. Btw, "Wurensh" = "New Rush," which is how Mercury was trying to groom them, believe it or not. That's the story I heard a long time ago.

I heard about the New Rush thing as well back in the day but I don’t think there’s any truth in it! “New (and much better!) Yes”, or “New early-Collins era Genesis” maybe….but they’re wonderful whatever way you see them😎

Here’s a fantastic IQ cover by the way:

https://youtu.be/Cf0J9rp2xNI

Not sure if that’s working, but google IQ promises cover!

Edited by essexboyinwales - September 26 2022 at 08:59

verslibre wrote: I went with IQ, but not by a huge margin or anything. Those are the best songs they did with Menel, along with "Nostalgia/Falling Apart at the Seams" (which they initially kept in their live show after Nicholls' return). The "Everso" finale reminds me a lot of IQ, too.

Edited by richardh - August 22 2021 at 04:11

I went with IQ, but not by a huge margin or anything. Those are the best songs they did with Menel, along with "Nostalgia/Falling Apart at the Seams" (which they initially kept in their live show after Nicholls' return).

While sometimes I say I don't care about the poll results and am more interested in the comments, I am pleased to see this as even as it is. Despite these IQ albums have quite low average ratings, I find the IQ tracks (especially Human Nature) to be good.

For me "The Everso Closely Guarded Line" is for everyday, and it plays a significant role in On Land and in the Sea being my favourite Cardiacs album (for a long time my fave was Sing to God), my second favourite studio produced one likely being the compilation Songs for Ships and Irons which features the awesome "Big Ship". My favourites, however, are subject to change depending on the day.

By the way, does anyone know of any interesting covers of IQ songs? Of course there are a great many covers of Cardiacs songs, with this a capella style cover of the whole Sing to God double-album called Singin'to God being a particular favourite of mine: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOwe-ErrEN0xprxPLEGq-JiQQbuy8cSLs*

* Note that the playlist and videos were put up by the person behind the 180 Gs, who also did a The Residents a capella style cover album. Maybe I'll do a topic, if I can't find an existing one with search, on album covers where the whole album was covered. I'm one of those who enjoys covers if done in a way that interests me.

NOTE: I do find it interesting that the Cardiacs albums have so many more ratings at RYM, whereas here the IQ ones have more ratings, but then RYM is a general music site and IQ might now be at all well-known outsideof Prog circles. Before joining this I belonged to a couple of sci-fi sites and Cardiacs got mentioned by some members quite a lot, which is when I started to really get into the band - I had heard it on university radio before and some acquaintances of mine who were in a punk band were into the band. I had never heard of the band IQ before joining this site. I agree that it's not the best name, and when I first heard it I had thought it would be more brainy/ nerdy, and so was actually disappointed -- songs about advanced physics, mathematics and the like would have been fun from IQ (unless they have done such things and I missed them, but then perhaps I would expect them to be in "math rock"). ;)

Edited by Logan - August 21 2021 at 08:21

In the 80s I would have chosen IQ without hesitation - I only really got into the Cardiacs in the 90s. If it was about the albums, I would have chosen Cardiacs now, but this song selection makes it damn difficult... Human Nature and Wurensh are two of their best Menel-era songs, accessible and at the same time very "IQ"... The Cardiacs songs are wonderful, but The Everso Closely Guarded Line is not for every day... So, I think I go with IQ today.