PROXY

I have been doing a lot of reminiscing today thinking about Tillison's first band PARALLEL OR 90 DEGREES and how much I enjoyed them back in the day. "Proxy" is the 10th studio album released by THE TANGENT and Andy's sound has evolved from that VDGG/ Peter Hammill style on PARALLEL OR 90 DEGREES to more of a jazzy/ Canterbury vibe with THE TANGENT but one thing that hasn't changed is Tillison's incredible song writing. Yes even his vocal style was influenced by Hammill in a big way, more so in the early days. Heck they even got Hugh Banton of VDGG to guest on organ on their debut in 1996. But the lyrics continue to be very relevant and the man is one of us, a fan, and he's not afraid to sing about the things we all can relate to. I still remember his story about meeting Roger Waters on a plane and having a very interesting conversation with him and he actually thanked him in the liner notes of "Unbranded" for "The shoe factory in Tawain".

That relevancy certainly continues on 2018's "Proxy" another outstanding release by this five piece band. Andy writes in the liner notes "This record is for my dad". He also says "This was our 10th album made in the 25th year of our record label's history. We thank them as one, for belief, trust and dedication and wish them well for the future". There's a lot of rants on here, and I think Andy has earned the right to this and I can relate to most of them. "Proxy" and "The Adult Lie" are both over 16 minutes and they certainly scratch that Prog itch in a big way. The closer "Supper's Off" contains three more rants along with some very thoughtful lyrics. There's one instrumental "The Melting Andalusian Skies" where Theo Travis adds some nice sax.

This album is more about the keyboards and bass than guitar and drums and I always appreciate the jazzy elements of this band's music. This is more fun than "The Slow Rust Of Forgotten Machinery" but not as good in my opinion. I need to check out their two 2020's albums as well. This was a pleasure to spend time with this past week, like revisiting an old friend. The collaborators here voted this as the 6th best album of 2018, a lot of respect obviously.