IQ

Back on the progressive path with "Ever", and just like their Genesis referents with "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", IQ fulfilled the dream of the double concept album with "Subterranea", the band's sixth. The enigmatic story of the teenager Kaspar Hauser, who appeared in the German city of Nuremberg back in 1828 without having had direct contact with other people, a famous character of scientific study related to human behaviour in situations aseptic to social relations and murdered in unclear circumstances in 1833 at the age of 21, is the source of inspiration for this massive and somber work of more than 100 minutes.

Divided into two parts of generous mileage, "Subterranea" presents IQ's fictionalised version of Kaspar's various experiences in the world that opened up before his eyes, using a generally intimate and complicit narration by Peter Nicholls and wrapped in intriguing and intricate walls of sound that both the guitars of Mike Holmes, the wide range of synthesizers and their infinite effects of Martin Orford, the rugged and imposing bass of John Jowitt and the more active participation than usual of Paul Cook on percussion, build.

Carefully crafted pieces flow harmonically without pause or haste, like the thick, hypnotic half-time instrumental "Overture", or the Genesian "Sleepless Incidental" and "Failsafe", or the beautiful and moving "Speak My Name" with Nicholls lulled by Orford's luminous keyboards and a delicate acoustic plucking by Holmes (one of the band's best ballads), or the aching melancholy of "The Sense In Sanity" overlaid by Orford's atmospheric synths, and the bridge that the instrumentals "State Of Mine" and "Laid Low" build to cross over from the first to the second part of the album, where the suffocating "Capricorn" and the emotive sax of guest Tony Wright, the electronic experimentation of "The Other Side" and the heartbreaking "High Water" with Holmes' melancholic guitar stand out, but above all the substantial 20 minutes of the epic "The Narrow Margin" that runs between classic elements of the genre, nods in its middle section to the jazziest Camel and shades of futuristic insanity, and whose denouement unleashes an excellent guitar solo before closing the piece and the album with gentle acoustic notes, a gem.

"Subterranea" not only cemented IQ's progressive comeback, but positioned them as one of their greatest exponents of the nineties onwards.

Very good.

4 stars

After the promotional tour of "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" and the subsequent departures of Paul Menel (vocals) and Tim Esau (bass), the continuity of IQ was very much compromised, to the point of programming farewell shows with Peter Nicholls for the occasion, which by those paradoxes of fate served for the former bandmates to reconnect and decide to give each other a second chance, finally embodied in "Ever", the band's fifth album (1993).

IQ, like a prodigal son, returns to the progressive parental lands with a proposal full of gloomy atmospheres and extensive instrumentation, which does not hide its proud Genesian influences and combines them with home- grown elements more in line with nineties sonorities, from the intense half-time of "The Darkest Hour" and Nicholls' heartfelt singing accompanied by Martin Orford's affable piano in its last section, the gloomy and hypnotic "Fading Sense" and the very thick bass of newcomer John Jowitt in the instrumental wall he builds in complicity with Orford's crisp keyboards and dramatised by the ambient chirping of birds, Its continuity in the stumbling animosity of "Out of Nowhere", until the piece called to be the backbone of the album, "Further Away" with its generous mileage and the good sensations transmitted by the arpeggiated and crystalline keyboards, mellotrons, the Wakemanian moog and flutes of Orford together with the singing of Nicholls, although at times it seems to exceed unnecessarily in its spacious margins, partly hindering its fluency.

And to ratify that the progressive winds guide the path of "Ever", "Leap of Faith" goes through threaded and placid constructions of seventies ambience in one of the best moments of the album, before giving way to the calm and conclusive "Came Down" and ending the work.

"Ever" was one of the solid foundations on which IQ's particular style would begin to solidify, consolidating it in their later works.

Very good.

4 stars

"Nomzamo" had already embodied a stylistic mutation in IQ's musical approach, largely shedding the languishing progressive structures of the second half of the 80's for a more digestible and commercially friendly orientation in which legends such as Yes (Big Generator) and Genesis (Invisible Touch) were also immersed, and which the band's fourth album, 1989's "Are You Sitting Comfortably?", ratified.

Although Martin Orford's futuristic opening keyboards accompanied by Mike Holmes' delicate acoustic notes on the persistent and critical "War Heroes" give it an interesting start, the album once again opts for accessible melodies and a dangerous ride over pop precipices such as the dreary "Drive On" and "Sold on You", or the insipid "Through My Fingers", pieces that do a disservice to the band's legacy.

And both "Nostalgia", the instrumental that precedes the mysterious "Falling Apart at the Seams" and "Wurensh", an intricate piece that Holmes rounds off with some beautiful Spanish guitar arpeggios in its last section, provide the best of the album with their reminiscences of the band's early work, before closing with the hypnotic and conformist "Nothing at All".

"Are you Sitting Comfortably?", the second and last work that featured the correct vocalist Paul Menel who left the band together with bassist Tim Esau after the promotional tour, is probably the most discussed and misunderstood album in the discography of the Englishmen, partly because it follows the aseptic path of "Nozmamo", and partly also because of the successful return to their sources that four years later from the subsequent "Ever" onwards redirected the path of IQ.

2.5/3 stars

The departure of Peter Nicholls after the successful "The Wake" and the immediate addition of Paul Menel as vocalist for their third album, "Nomzamo", implied a change in IQ's musical direction, leaning towards light and translucent structures dominated by typical eighties synthesizers, to the detriment of the more complex and intricate sonorities timidly present.

And so, after the intriguing introductory keyboards of Martin Orford in the persistent "No Love Lost", the album travels for most of its journey through tame waters of few risks, with developments that approach the most melodic and accessible AOR, such as the jovial "Promises (As the Years Go By)", the ballad "Still Life", which Ray Carless' saxophone tries to save, or the festive "Passing Strangers" and "Screaming", the latter piece even with an undisguised pop wink.

The recessive gene of IQ's progressive vein is visible in fragments that add nuances to the general appearance of the album, such as Paul Cook's tenacious percussions with African reminiscences in the piece "Nomzamo", the extensive "Human Nature", or the emotive and pacifist "Common Ground", with Mike Holmes' arpeggiated beginning and a luminous counterpoint with Orford's synthesizers that lead to a beautiful guitar solo by Holmes towards the end. Surely the best piece on the album.

Despite the always laudable intention of expanding musical horizons, it seems however that with the departure of Nicholls the band loses more than it gains, even in its graphic aesthetics. "Nomzamo" is a decent album, to be sure, but it could have been better.

2.5/3 stars

In the midst of the complex context faced by the bands that were the standard bearers in the revitalisation of the progressive movement, not only to resist the onslaught of the new musical currents of the decade, but also to deal with the scepticism that lurked in the specialised critics regarding the originality and value of their initiatives, IQ released their second album, "The Wake", in 1985. A conceptual work related to the sensitive and mysterious transition from earthly life to the unknown afterlife as a plot (a theme that with the corresponding hostile, bloody and thunderous nuances is also dealt with by Opeth in their "My Arms, Your Hearse" from 1998) to develop a proposal that goes through moments of darkness, despair and luminous hope.

Already from the energised and initial "Outer Limits" with Tim Esau's low and disturbing bass hits simulating the beating of a heart about to be extinguished accompanied by Martin Orford's eighties synth artillery and Paul Cook's raw drums, and the melodic verses of the eloquent Peter Nicholls reinforced by Mike Holmes' brief but determined guitar solo in the aggressive "The Wake", the influences of the Genesian universe sifted by IQ's particular style overfly the album; both in the changing "The Magic Roundabout" and Orford's anguished and anxious keyboards backed by Esau's marked bass in its prolonged and forceful introduction, and in the world music essay of "Corners" with the interesting sitar as protagonist, a piece in the style of the Peter Gabriel of those years.

And without leaving aside their progressive streak as a guide, IQ was not aseptic to the musical trend of that time, new wave elements (of bands like Cure or A Flock of Seagulls for example) are perceived in the guitar riffs of the extensive "Widow's Peak" and above all in those of the accelerated "The Thousand Days", before bringing the album to a close with the emotive optimism of "Headlong", one of the pieces that began to cement the style that would help define the Englishmen over the years.

Although "The Wake" is a good album, as well as a key piece for the consolidation of the band and the Neo Progressive movement, in my opinion it is a step below the freshness and daring that their debut album "Tales from the Lush Attic" brought with it.

3/3.5 stars

At a time when the predominance of trends such as new wave and more digestible pop were giving the progressive movement more than sour moments and even two of its most important representatives, Genesis (resolutely turning to new sounds) and Yes (looking for a formula for subsistence) were moving away from the recognisable canons, proud squires of the genre emerged to inject a breath of vitality and renewed vigour into it. One of them was IQ. With almost no budget and taking advantage of an offer from Major Record Company to record and produce 1,000 LPs in five days for 1,500 pounds at the time, the Englishmen released "Tales from the Lush Attic", their debut album, in the second half of 1983.

The huge suite "The Last Human Gateway" kicks off the album with a theme related to the recurring human quest for immortality and the tragic contradiction of not being able to bring closure to the cycle of life, with a prolonged and suspenseful introduction dominated by the keyboards of Martin Orford and the sublime singing of Peter Nicholls until the irruption of the clean and persistent sounds of the moog, to then go back and forth through moments of calm and agitation that towards the end intensify with the participation of the riffs and guitar solos of Mike Holmes and the active drums of Paul Cook, closing the piece epically. One of the album's best.

And both the agitated and disturbing "Through the Corridors" and the instrumental "My Baby Treats Me Right 'Cos I'm a Hard Lovin' Man All Night Long" with Orford's rushing classical piano solo, both brief interludes interspersed, precede the Genesian (Gabriel era) "Awake and Nervous" and the multiform "The Enemy Smacks", a suite that without reaching the mileage of "The Last Human Gateway", describes the deterioration of a heroin addict in three phases with an instrumentation that adds to the identifiable progressive elements, bluesy touches, hardened hard rock riffs and lysergic atmospheres reminiscent of the 70's, with a solid base built by Tim Esau's bass and Cook's intensity on drums until the conclusive ending with the full band.

"Tales from the Lush Attic" is a very good album and an unbeatable start for IQ, a precursor band of neo-prog that, with few exceptions, has been consistent throughout their career, respecting their original roots.

4 stars

Yes! Great album. It starts powerful but immediately takes you to a different atmosphere. The key sounds and soundscapes are really cool in this album. They shine more with this kind of sounds and lighter compositions.

After listening to "Resistance", I feel that they have gone into a heavier direction that I don't enjoy at all. They tend to repeat things and vocals (imo) are a bit monotonous, so a metal-oriented album for me becomes more tedious.

This is not the case, this album sounds great, varied, with changes of rhythm, textures, beautiful ballads. I hope their next album will be more like this one.

Time for the second album, nothing special again (I'm listening to all their albums). They were trying to find their own sound, but again it's very similar to their prog heroes. I think there's more cohesive material, better arrangements, but I can't stop thinking and remembering classic songs, and again a bit boring for me, especially the synths and mellotron used during the entire album, it's 1985... There were many synths and possibilities at that time and they chose the most strident ones. Anyway, a good album anyhow, but not for me. Hoping to find a better album, maybe a chronological listening is not always the better choice.

It might seem I'm a hater of IQ... 😂 not true, I've enjoyed their albums (at least some of their songs). But again, this album hasn't blown my mind. Resistance, 2019 album of the year on Progarchives... Well... I have to say that there's a huge difference between their first records, they sound a lot better, but so metal-ish this album... I didn't expect that.

2 CDs... Ok that's not always great. CD1 starts really boring with a bad choice for a starting song, there's nothing to say there, just a regular heavy song without anything special, any changes, monotonous. Then it becomes better but nothing that I would say is great.

The last 3 songs of CD1 are the best for me, really great arrangements and a change of style. The rest of the album it's the same vibe all the time (kind of a metal thing, trying to be spooky post-apocalyptic like the artwork, idk how to call it haha). But these three songs are really fresh in comparison.

CD2 seems to be better... Something is wrong, it should be CD1 haha. Bad choice of songs imo. However, I enjoyed the first 15 min epic more than the epics of CD2. I don't understand how people say it's soooo great. It's good, but they have better records.

At that time they were, as many neo prog bands, trying to imitate Genesis prog style with modern influences. Here, Nicholls tries to sound like Gabriel, but not very accurately. The band itself doesn't sound really good, due to the poor mix but also because of weird songs and arrangements like the last ones. The first track, which is the epic, begins really nice and promising, but with the passing of time, it becomes (for me) more boring and monotonous. I mean, in this album you can hear great music but nothing special and original, it's very influenced by classic prog. However I know IQ are a great band, so I'll listen to the rest of their discography.