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The Tangent - COMM CD (album) cover

COMM

The Tangent

 

Eclectic Prog

3.86 | 358 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

toroddfuglesteg
4 stars Gosh !! A new The Tangent album..... already ? I have yet to catch up with their previous album Down And Out In Paris And London, which was the follow up to the excellent Not As Good As The Book album. Got to think of it, I need to review the rest of their albums too.

Comm is the newest offering from one of the most important and relevant British prog rock acts of today. Andy Tillison has found the right formula on the The Tangent albums. Comm is not a major deviation from this formula, the fans of this band will be assured to hear. But Comm is still a slight deviation.

The Tangent has had their moment of frivolous joy on their albums. It seems like the global market has caught up with The Tangent on Comm. The recession, stupid. The Comm therefore comes across as a much more reflective and melancholic album than the usual The Tangent fare. Hence, I have had problems really getting into this album. Andy Tillison uses a lot of imagery to describe the current situation. Or is it me reading a song like Titanic Calls Carpathia ? A song about a sinking cruise liner which has hit an iceberg and is calling another ship for help ? If that is not a picture of the current lives for many up and down Britain which is seeing their income barely covering the living expenses, I do not know what. That is how I read the lyrics sung by Andy.

A lot of his lyrics on this album is very relevant to our situation today. Either he agrees with it or not. I think a lot of those who listen to this album will agree with this. Hence, this is not an uplifting album. If you want a make-believe lift these days, watch X Factor instead. The lyrics are excellent on Comm, btw.

That's the lyrics sorted out, then.

Music wise, The Tangent is in full flow. What attracted me to this band in the first place is what is shining more and more through their music. Namely their strong Canterbury scene influences. In my ears, this band is more or less a Caravan'esque band. Not copycats by any means. But you find the same playful, intelligent approach to music in The Tangent as you find in most Canterbury bands. Even in Soft Machine. In other words; the songs/epics on Comm is full of intelligent details and melody lines.

Not everything on Comm is fantastic. The strongest song, make that epic, is Titanic Calls Carpathia by miles. A very somber, but still a superb epic for our time. The other epic The Wiki Man is also superb. There is three shorter songs inbetween these two epics. Shoot Them Down is a great, sad song. But neither The Mind's Eye or Tech Support Guy (Andy's daytime job ??) will figure in The Tangent's hall of fame.

In short, I find this a great album full of interesting details. Fans of this band, and I probably have to include myself here although I am pretty neutral (but still a human being), can safely order this album. It is a great album which will cement this hard gigging and touring band's position in the scene. It is also a very current album about our time. Hence, it is a great album.

4 stars

toroddfuglesteg | 4/5 |

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