NINE IN A POND IS HERE

This is an interesting example of a formerly-official release from IQ which has since achieved a sort of quasi-bootleg status. Originally, the plan was to just release a very limited number of these at gigs as a means of introducing new vocalist Paul Menel to the fanbase, since the majority of it consists of him singing along to live-in-the-studio rehearsal recordings of Peter Nicholls-era tracks (with a big emphasis on early material which by this point had become harder to find). Then, however, bootleg copies were churned out by nefarious individuals, to the point where most editions of this aren't official.

In the intervening time, the band have somewhat disowned this as a recording which existed for a particular purpose which has now become irrelevant, seeing how Paul Menel had his two studio albums with the band and has since moved on and the fanbase, for better or worse, has made up its mind about his tenure. The fourth side of the original LP release consists solely of silly goof-off tracks - if you only have the later CD releases you're not missing anything on that front and it seems likely they were thrown on solely to avoid having a blank side. The Glenn Miller Medley that closes side three is an interesting little bit of fun, and the rest consists of material which will be familiar to most IQ fans (especially now Seven Stories Into 98 has made the earlier tracks widely available).

It also has to be said that as far as introductions to Paul Menel's vocal style go, this isn't great - it's not that his performance is bad, but there's too many instances where it's mixed a little too low, to the point where the instrumental backing overwhelms the vocal track, defeating the purpose entirely. It's still IQ showing off their ability to reproduce their songs note-for-note, and so I still find it an engaging and entertaining listen, but I'd never rank it above either the proper studio renditions of these songs or the live renditions that have come out over the years.