DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON

I suddenly became a big fan of The Tangent when I got their first album "The Music That Died Alone" in 2003. Originally conceived as the first solo album by Andy Tillison, the album became a more collaborative venture as time went on. The enthusiasm of the musicians turned this combination of three generations of progressive virtuosity into a cohesive whole .. and the Tangent was born. The second album "The World That We Drive Through" had nuances and textures that were similar to the first album. I really like the artwork by Ed Unitsky. The second album was dominated by green while the first was more on blue but with similar design. Great design and it's really a collector's item; it's very nice to be put in prog collection. Unlike the first, the second album did not include David Jackson (of Van der Graaf Generator) in the band. Theo Travis (Gong.. Porcupine Tree etc) replaced David Jackson seat on Flute and Saxophones. The third album "A Place In The Queue" (2006) was another great offering from the Tangent. Roine Stolt, was out from The Tangent in this record. But, the music of The Tangent was still great- even it's much better than their second album. Like its previous predecessors, the album offered great prog music combining musical styles of Canterbury music like National Health, Hatfield and The North, Egg with Return To Forever music and also some flavors of rock music. The fourth album "Not As Good As The Book" (2008) was another fabulous album with double CD format.

The fifth album "Down And Out In Paris And London" (2009) demonstrated the band's consistent music direction, putting the Canterbury scene as their backbone. In a recent interview Andy Tillison said that in this album he had to also play guitar especially on the opening track. But again, as musicians have changed since its debut album but the Tangent still able to maintain its music quality. Overall, this album is an excellent one.

The opening track "Where Are They Now?" (19:10) is basically an epic with a musical unique style of the Tangent - starting with an ambient opening featuring simple guitar fills, and it then moves in crescendo to the faster and more complex segments. The opening instrumental part consumes more than 3 minutes of great prog music arrangements. In fact when the vocal enters the music it still offers great musical experience; something that I can hardly find performed by other band, really. The vocal style is also very relax. I really enjoy the flow of the music. There are interesting changes of style as well as tempo throughout this track, eg. musical break at minute 10:22.

"Paroxetine - 20mg" (07:47) is a keyboard driven track - at least during the opening part, followed nicely with a musical groove accompanying vocal. It's really a nice music with excellent rhythm section filled with saxophone works. "Perdu Dans Paris" (11:47) starts slow with an ambient bass guitar and keyboard that is followed with slow vocal line. The music moves in crescendo into louder and faster music. The roots of The Tangent music are very apparent here. "The Company Car" (06:23) is rather mellow in style but as its predecessors it flows into louder and faster music with inventive keyboard work. The "Everyman's Forgotten Monday (Bonus Track)" (06:22) and "Ethanol Hat Nail (Canterbury Sequence Vol. 2)" (12:55) are also excellent composition.

It's a 4+ stars overall rating as the music has successfully combined nice melody, excellent harmony, frequent style and tempo changes as well as having cohesive structure. It's highly recommended. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW