FREQUENCY

I waited for this CD with some caution. After all I am a big fan of IQ and I am one of those who thought that martin Orford was the heart and soul of the band, even more than vocalist Peter Nicholls. To me it was very hard to believe in IQ without him. I was already saddened by his leaving of Jadis, but that was to be expected. But retiring from the music business? From IQ? From HIS band IQ? I was not sure if they should even consider to soldier on without the band's mains character (shades of early Genesis, anyone?). So I was curious, but highly suspicious, when this CD came out. Fortunatly my fears were unfounded, at least for now.

Frequency is as good an IQ D as any of their recent discography. The new keyboardsman Mark Westworth fitted in perfectly as far as I'm concerned. The CD starts with the title track: waves and waves of mellotron sounding keys, followed by Fender Rhodes piano, moogs and all those great analog keyboard instruments all the way through the entire disc. From the first notes you know the band remains the same and that you're gonna love this record. Guitarrist Mark Holmes might be the only member now to be featured on all IQ's catalogue, but the other band members know how to keep the old flame alive. Besides, they lost none of the latter day inspiration that brought them to produce such fine works like Subterranea and Dark matter.

Ok, the CD is not perfect. Clearly I miss an epic of the same stature as Harvest Of Souls (from Dark Matter). But since the band seemed to be washed away just a few months ago, I guess this would be expecting too much. And Frequency has some very strong moments like the title track and the beautiful, poignant One Fatal Mistake. There are no fillers either. Like one reviewer wrote, I hope this new CD is a truly product of the new line up and not the remains of Orford's work before he left. (I guess not). In any case, Fequency stands as one of IQ's best works and it is an excellent addtition to any prog lover collection. Nice surprise. Four stars.