IQ - How many of you on here

IQ was defintley on my list!.. 

Dark Matter is never off my car cd player at the moment and i can't wait to see them live at next months Progsfest.

 

I put IQ in my favourite five bands list.Martin Orford is way underrated as a keyboard player as is Mike Holmes on guitar.Check out their first official album 'Tales From The Lush Attic'(1983) -amazing stuff although they topped that with 'The Wake' and later on developed a more power based style on albums like 'Ever' and the superb 'The Seventh House' which took them well away from any comparison with Yes and Genesis.However at times they do sound a bit like Pink Floyd particularly on their latest album 'Dark Matter'.Anyone else notice that?

Edited by richardh

richardh wrote: Martin Orford is way underrated as a keyboard player

 

Totally agree and have gone out of my way to say what he adds to Dark Matter, in my review here and Amazon.UK.  I know too Orford ticked my "review found useful" box - since we are discussing the possibility of him coming and guesting on my radio show, after we start up transmission again, possibly in November.  

I enjoy the music of IQ, but I would never list them among my favourites. To me they are a bit "2nd division", good but not up there with the best.

Even in neo-prog terms, I would rate bands like Pendragon, Arena and Marillion way above them.

Everything I've heard by IQ concurs with what Easy Livin is saying, and comparing like with like, there is no way that any of IQ's 1980s albums hold a candle to the equivalent Marillion albums - IQ were more derivative, less melodic, less inventive contrapuntally and lyrically were near the bottom of the list.

I haven't heard their more recent stuff - which of the most recent albums would people say is best?

BTW, richardh, as you probably anticipated, I think your statement that Marillion were "limited" and a "child of the times" is wrong both in

1) Itself - because Marillion's first 3 albums seem timeless to me, incredibly inventive, and developed as a series of albums in a way that I have never heard another band accomplish. Even "Clutching..." is a continuity from the first 3.

2) Context, because "Script..." sounds far superior to "Tales...", and both "Fugazi" and "Misplaced Childhood" seem leagues above "The Wake" in that neither are so blatantly derivative or poorly constructed. Marillion's lyrics (well, perhaps it's unfair to compare the two bands lyrically!)...

So from these two perspectives, I don't really "get" where your statement is coming from - exuberance, perhaps?

 

 

 

I agree with you on the vocals there, James - but left that out as a taste thing

But I'll qualify "derivative" simply by saying that while I still cannot seem to hear direct Genesis influences in early Marillion as some can, they stand out like a sore thumb in IQ's work from the same period - the way the mellotron is used and the Steve Hackett sound and style in the guitar are but two examples of direct influence, which gives me a feeling of derivation rather than innovation.

I'll go on to qualify "Not as inventive" by indicating the rather simple chord patterns that "The Wake", at least, founds most of the songs on. Compared to any Marillion song from "Script...", there is very little contrapuntal inventiveness in the parts, little melodic invention, a lack of harmonic drive and what I feel to be nervous jumps when it comes to key and time changes as opposed to the seamlessness of Marillion.

This is not to say that the music isn't good, BTW, I'm just examining the technical deficiencies as I see them, in a way that underlines my tastes. "Good" is a subjective term after all, and if you like it and think it's good, then you're not wrong.

I bought almost all of the IQ's albums ."Tales"The first is my favorite.I enjoy the band alot .I had to get used to the voice but I think it got better as experience kicked in. I would never put them in the league with classics like Genesis or Pink Floyd and its not a fair comparison,but they are very good in their own genre.

I'll still stick with my opinion that IQ were (and for that matter still are) superior  to Marillion.Certified using phrases like 'contrapuntal inventiveness' doesn't impress me.OK you prefer Marillion ...fair enough.But how you don't find very early IQ in the form of, say, 'The Last Human Gateway' ''inventive'' baffles me.I understand the points about 'The Wake' sounding like Genesis (it does!) but it still restored my faith in prog rock thanks to the 'going for it' attitude.Admittedly productionwise it's rough and ready but I love the rawness of it.Maybe IQ have gone on to better things with 'Ever','The Seventh House' and 'Dark Matter' but that's just part of a band growing up I suppose.As for Marillion I just find the first 3 albums lacking in dynamics compared to IQ's first 2.Marillion seemed a lot more laboured in their attempts to be more precise.IQ took more risks and played 'on the edge' hence the mistakes.But it's like apples and oranges.My fave band ELP often made mistakes and could easily be considered inferior to other bands of the time like say Pink Floyd who took 'preciseness' to the nth degree.But then I appreciate bands that take risks.Prog is not for the 'lilly livered' IMO.

 

My biggest wish would be that all the members of this community worship IQ!

Edited by greenback

IQ - without a shadow of a doubt influenced by 70's prog rock. It's also plain that any devotee of Genesis, Yes and ELP et all - should appreciate the efforts of IQ to keep on producing music of the genre we all love. Genesis/Yes and ELP are the role models, but I am equally certain that IQ's music can stand up with comparison with any mega epic of the 70's and those cumudgeons who use age (I saw Genesis in 1969...Yawn) to diminish a prog devotee's opinion can FOOK right off!

I love Genesis/Yes/ELP to name a few but IQ is in there with em and I would question any prog rock fan who didn't like at least one of their albums!