THE WORLD THAT WE DRIVE THROUGH

Underwhelmed, disappointed, flummoxed? Either way, there is something about The World That We Drive Through that just doesn't work. These are some of the best musicians in modern prog. Why do I feel as though I misspent my hard earned cash?

The packaging is top notch, Ed Unitsky is in line, again, for the best album art of 2004. Jonas Reingold and Zoltan Csorsz reign supreme as the tightest rhythm section in prog. Roine Stolt is a formidable guitarist and he plays some inspired leads. Theo Travis fills in nicely for David Jackson. Sam Baine and Andy Tillson are very adept with a miriad of keyboards and Synths. Guy Manning plays an understated role on acoustic guitar, mandolin and an all too short vocal part.

Why can't I get into this disc? The lyrics aren't bad, even thought provoking and socially accurate. The vocals, ah, here we get to the crux of the biscuit. Andy Tillson takes the lead vocal chores on this disc, as he did on the first Tangent album as well. He just comes off poorly on this release, not that he has a pleasant quality voice to start with. The delivery comes off so irritating. Guy Mannings slightly lispy voice is warm and inviting, however, he gets too small a part of the lyrics to offset Tillson's over the top performance. Roine Stolt gets the lead on The Winning Game and also seems to fall flat on the performance, too forced and false sounding. That really may be the only serious problem with the album. That is why I still gave it three stars, the music is strong enough to get it back into the CD player for an occassional listen.

Skipping the Distance has a great opening and, despite the vocals, it stands as the best tune on the record. The bonus track Eponenzgesetz, a tribute to Tangerine Dream, is comprised of keyboards only, is my favorite track and, thankfully, an instrumental.

Sadly, this sophomore effort does not reach the heights scaled by it's predecessor.

A lot can happen in one week. I received the latest CD from The FLOWER KINGS and The TANGENT, attended a performance from KARMAKANIC at The Spirit in Verviers, Belgium, got even more CDs from KAIPA and Tomas BODIN..party on! It's a kind of craziness that's all neat and tidy and you think to yourself 'too much of a good thing can be bad for your health', even if those things are of high quality. But there's nothing unhealthy here. The TANGENT has come out with their second 'baby', which is a collaboration with the Swedish guys (Guy Manning and Andy Tillison (PO90)) from The FLOWER KINGS. Dave Jackson, on flute and saxophone, was replaced Theo Travis, who earned his recognition by working with GONG and PORCUPINE TREE.

The former album, 'The Music that Died Alone', was well praised in general by the prog press, as well as by our own staff. The bar was raised once again and The TANGENT reached the target without a problem, coming out with a real gem, which one can purchase with no second thoughts.

'The World That We Drive Through' was recorded in Sweden and Great Britain, just as the former album was. This long distance collaboration seems to have a beneficial influence on them. The compositions are fantastic, as well as the harmonies. The beautiful melodies are intertwined with shimmering solos. This is progressive rock at its best and all pored into five epic tracks.

The tone is immediately set starting with the first song, "The Winning Game". It has a typical Canterbury intro, followed by a neo-prog passage and a jazzy piece. These three styles all take place in the course of one minute. That seems to be the plan of this album. a journey of discovery of progressive rock, starting from the 70s until today. You could have credited hundreds of references with this album, yet The TANGENT is successful in creating their own sound that's both surprising and impressive. The saxophone and the flute (Theo Travis ex-GONG) are the main contributors to the Canterbury touch and the vocal presentations add to that 70s feeling. In the first masterpiece, there are a number of interesting solos on keyboard (synthesizer à la WAKEMAN and Hammond in pure Brian Auger style) and guitar ("Roine STOLT goes CAMEL) and many more. There are surprising fragments used from "What the World Needs Now" from Burt Bacharach. It's not really prog, but it's smoothly integrated into the music. And there's the short "Soft Machine", the kind of song one can expect.

After a heavy introduction in the JETHRO TULL tradition, you get a strange, unexpected turn that later grows into a true epic. What's noticeable in the music of The TANGENT is the subtle ensemble between different instruments. This occurs between the flute, the guitar and the piano in "Skipping the Distance". Take a listen to the 'classical' intermezzo and at the end there's even a fantastic duel between saxophone and guitar.

"Photosynthesis" creates a kind of resting point on the album, music by which to dream. It's rather atmospheric but these guys still crank out some amazing solos.

The title song also contains several different influences, like The FLOWER KINGS with a tinge of Canterbury. This song could have actually been a TFK track from their own album. "The World That We Drive Through" is about the constant failures of man to notice things around him and it has a very recognizable tune. Don't expect this song to make the Billboard charts. It's too complex with too many tempo changes.

"A Gap in the Night" (the longest song on the album) is actually a remake of "The Corner Room", a song from PO90's very first album. Even though it's bleak in the beginning, it grows into a neo-progressive epic with, again, lots of influences. This is wonderful music that just skims right over you.

In short, The TANGENT's first album appeared on a lot of people's wish lists. This follow up CD may even be better. If you ever want to entertain your friends with your favourite music, just put on this CD. it's the perfect synthesis of progressive rock.

This is one of the new albums that I just got it last week. I had not even got a chance to review the debut album (2003) "The Music That Died Alone". I would surely do it later. This second album is packaged and produced on par excellence with the first. The nuance and texture are similar to the first album. I really like the artwork by Ed Unitsky. Top notch!!! This second album is 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 your prog collection. It's really a prog design, I would say. I think, Ed Unitsky is the future Roger Dean. The CD package has influenced me a lot on the kind of music that I expect the band would perform. And, yeah .. the band performs as my expectation when I listen the album in its entirety.

"The World That We Drive Through is a slowly growing monster that lurks in the back of your mind for ages, until it finally reaches its time to bloom in splendid fashion. And oh dear me, how it grows and grows. " - quote of the week. That's a thought provoking statement the band put on the first page of their website. Unlike the first, this album does not include David Jackson (of Van der Graaf Generator) in the band (project). His name appears only on "The Tangent would like to thank" list of names without any notes on what sort of his contribution in this album. Theo Travis (Gong.. Porcupine Tree etc) replaces David Jackson seat on Flute and Saxophones. The rest is intact. Writer and keyboards player Andy Tillison is here again joined by Roine Stolt (Electric Guitars/Vocals), Jonas Reingold (Bass Guitars), Zoltan Csorsz (Drums), as well as Guy Manning (Acoustic Guitars/vocals) and Sam Baine (Keyboards).

Do you think psychedelic music would intrude or influence Canterbury ? It sounds weird ? That's my first impression when listened to this CD the first time. I was blown by the first track "The Winning Game" where I'm sure that most of you would agree that this is the kind of Canterbury / jazz music. But look, observe how the music flows; listen how the singing is performed. You might agree with me a heavy influence of psychedelic in this track. It's really unique and accessible to my personal taste. This opening is really a well structured composition and performed skillfully by each member of the band.

It flows seamlessly to the second track "Skipping The Distance" in relatively faster tempo with sort of guitar riffs (sound weird in jazz music hah? But I sense it clearly and it's really nice). The appearance of flute (Theo Travis) has made this track interesting and enjoyable. The music flows naturally with dynamic bass line augmented by stunning electric guitar fills. The organ part during interlude reminds me with classic prog tunes. When it turns to flute and piano solo . uuugghh . what an excellent piece here, my friend! It then followed by electric guitar solo. This track is a killer!

"Photosynthesis" starts with an ambient intro followed with touchy piano fills and low tone voice line. It's a mellow and melodic opening with a sort of symphonic touch especially on keyboard sound at background, accentuated by sax. The piano fills coupled with dazzling bass line provide a classic and jazz nuances. If you are a jazz lover, you might love this track. I enjoy the short organ interplay that appears later throughout the end of the track. The track ends fabulously with a flute sound that fades out.

The title track "The World We Drive Through" starts mellow with a soft piano touch followed by a harmony of acoustic guitar and flute. The melody sounds flat at the beginning but it then turns to a faster tempo when drum kits start to roll on to the body of the song. I can sense the influence of VdGG and National Health. When the music reach the interlude part at approx. minute 5:00 onward, I even sense the kind of ELP sound in it. This part is really excellent. Great guitar, piano ,keyboard as well as bass works. The music turns back to the tagline melody as the opening part. The solo sax is really excellent.

"A Gap In The Night" is the concluding track with longest duration in the album: 18:22 minutes. It kicks off mellow with melodic vocals and piano / keyboard augmented by howling guitar. It reminds me to Peter Hammil and VdGG. The music moves to a faster tempo with higher tone vocal line. The combination of guitar and keyboard is really excellent. There is a nice acoustic guitar part at the section titled "The Street Light Watershed" with great vocal line. The vocal then turns to a higher tone like screaming and followed by a great keyboard work. Then . here it comes ..a guitar work that bothers me quite a lot since the first time I listened to this track. At minute 11:30 until 12:00 - the guitar melody rings me a bell to other 70's rock music that until now I cannot recall from what band / artist. The guitar playing style reminds me to early King Crimson but not with the melody. Definitely it was not Crimson melody. But I'm sure. there was a sort of that melody. So . for the time being I just put this mark ###### for my future remedy when I got the clear idea of it.

My CD is a special edition with bonus track: "Exponenzgesetz" (14:00) that I listened to only once with multiple forwards. It's not the kind of track that I expect the band would play. Honestly, it's a terrible track. It demonstrates the musicians ego in performing solo synthesizers, minimoog. It's the kind like space music of Klaus Schulze, Larry Fast, Tangerine Dream etc. I don't know why this track is put in this album. It's wrongly included here.

Without the "lousy" bonus track, I rate this album (overall) with 4.5 / 5. Highly recommended. GW, Indonesia.

I really adored The TANGENT's debut "The Music That Died Alone" and for me this album really picks off right where they left off. With heavy FLOWER KINGS influences, "The World That We Drive Through" is a wonderful album offering some great musicianship and song writing. In contrast to their debut, this album might take a few more listens before the big pull occurs for some. Again this album has been very well recorded and will sounds pretty full on a good hifi system. Roine Stolt's guitar playing is far too cool and this is when I like him best. when he is soloing out !. Jonas Reingold's bass interplay and Zoltan's drumming is tight and as always creative. Andy Tillison takes on a pretty well full lead vocal role and I will say his voice has taken some time for me to fully warm up to but now I appreciate his sharp contrast pressed against the progressive rock wall of sounds the rest of the band emit. "The World That We Drive Through" is made of up 5 longer tracks which are given lots of room to expand and breathe. Man these guys are cool.

This album is pure class - like a fine wine it deserves to be enjoyed at leisure in comfortable surroundings. The musicians are top notch and contribute to a beautifully crafted collection of prog songs which you will enjoy time and again. The opening track 'The Winning Game' opens in a sombre, mellow mood before expanding gradually and languidly into a laid back prog masterclass. Roine Stolt seems to have an ability to catch one unawares at times, he isn't a flashy guitar-hero, his area is more Gilmour/Latimer and he carries the song effortlessly, whilst the keyboards have a Floydian echo occasionally. 'Skipping the Distance' is more upbeat and has Tull-esque flute at the beginning, and quickly rattles along nicely. I love this song, it has everything for me - the drums are exuberant and there are lush syth passages (yum!) and generally the whole band has a ball, playing tight and well. Twenty minutes in already and we come to only the third track 'Photosynthesis'. This again has a nice flute section at the beginning, and tasteful, cool piano lines. Its a haunting song, but for me not as memorable as the first two, and only develops a hook in the last third of the track. The albums title track follows, and is the longest, clocking in at approx eighteen and a half minutes. It is a complex song and has quite a few influences, one being The Flower Kings, which may be obvious. It has a lot of time changes and is characterized by some phenomenal guitar near the end. 'A Gap in the Night' closes the album and has elements of cool, mellow jazz, and tasteful passages.The last third of this song is my favourite, as I prefer my prog a bit more uptempo. Echoes of Hackett are present in this section, and Stolt is given a run for his money by the keyboards of Tillson and the sax of Travis. An excellent album - well worthy of a listen.

As advertised everywhere, this album is the follow up to The Music That Died Alone, the prog album of the year for 2003. The standards were set quite high for this album. Though this album did not recieve the fame that The Music That Died Alone did, this album has interesting and unique qualities. This album may not be better than The Music That Died Alone, but it certainly isn't worse.

The World That We Drive Through is much more conceptual lyrically than The Tangent's debut. The World That We Drive Through is a pro enviromentalist and socialist concept. Tillison's politics are obvious throughout the album. It's great to see bands/lyricists that are willing to put their beliefs under criticism of their fans in their music.

Andy Tillison does yet another great performance on this album. Tillison's keyboard playing is top notch. The sounds that he gets out of his organs and Moogs are quite unique. He may not be quite the master of the Moog that Keith Emerson was, but Tillison is among today's elite when it comes to the Moog. Tillison's vocals on the album are quite pleasing to the ear that add a great contrast to those of Roine Stolt. Tillison's ability to enunciate and place his vocal parts makes his performance so special. He also sounds even better when he is singing with and in front of the rest of the band. Tillison's composing on this album is extraordinary. No one can make the perfect blend of symphonic, pychodelic, and canterbury influenced prog the way Tillison can. This album's compositions are variant and exteneded, which usually seems to be a recipe for success when it comes to prog albums.

Roine Stolt doesn't take as much of the spotlight in this album as he usually does in The Flower Kings. His guitar playing is immeadiately recognizeable, and his bluesy tones are perfectly produced through the recording studio. Stolt although not the prominent force on this album has great bluesy licks that a listener will not hear from anyone else. Stolt's vocals contrast Tillison's in great ways. When both sing togethor in unison, it's heaven for symphonic prog fans.

Jonas Reingold as all of you know is one of my favorite musicians, so I don't need to talk about him right? Well I'm going to. Reingold takes more of a back seat on this album. It's interesting to hear Reingold focus more on supporting the groove. Reingold gets the opportunity to show of his talents a couple times within the longer tracks (the Winning Game and a Gap In the Night), but for the most parts supports the groove with interesting walks. I love Reingold's walks for well and how long he can use a single phrase to cycle through multiple chord changes. Ok, I've said enough.

Theo Travis replaces the legendary David Jackson on this album. There were some good shoes to fill, and Travis leaves no extra room. Travis' contribution is essential to the success of this album. Travis may have more all around woodwind skills than Jackson, but his sax playing isn't quite to the same level. This becomes a mute point, because of the flute and other woodwind skills that Travis tops Jackson in. Great performance by the man that made his name with Gong.

Zoltan Csosrz also has more of a laid back performance in The Tangent than he does in The Flower Kings. Csosrz has some great fills and some good beats, but it's difficult to pick out any signature style to his playing. A good performance, but not a great one from Zoltan Csosrz.

Sam Baine is another element like Theo Travis that is so essential to the success of this project. Baine and Tillison compliment each other so well on the keyboards. Tillison who takes care of the Moogs and organs has an excellent accomplice in Baine on more synth based keyboards. It's the harmony between Baine and Tillison that makes this album so great. Whenever a band can put togethor to excellent keyboardist with such contrasting styles as these two is something to behold.

Guy Manning makes a solid contribution on acoustic guitars and other assorted strings like mandolins. Manning is an important element to the Canterbury side of this project. The jazzy licks he puts in are a nice listen when alternated with Stolt's bluesy solos.

The production is top quality. The uniqueness of this band is really brought out in the mix. The mix is much darker than that of The Music That Died Alone. That being said, this album has a more serious sound to it. Each instrument and each vocalist is easily identifiable in this mix. Stolt's bluesy guitar tones and Sam Baine synth selection are probably the highlight to this stellar mixing job.

How could I not give this album five stars. It's a conceptual and musical masterpiece devoid of flaw. HIGHLY RECCOMENDED TO ANY PROG FAN!!

The only lineup change is Theo Travis replacing the legendary David Jackson on sax and flute. This album does have it's differences compared to their debut, but it's still vintage seventies-like. I do like the debut better, but I love them both.They thank Richard Sinclair in the liner notes.The cover art and pictures in the liner notes are outstanding.

Theo's presence is felt right away on the first song "The Winning Game" where he struts his stuff in the mellow intro of the song. It kicks in before a minute before it settles into a jazzy mode. There are terrific lyrics that can be emotional. Andy sings and we get some sax after 2 minutes. Nice organ 3 1/2 minutes in. There are such a variety of sounds and textures, including a beautiful guitar solo from Roine to end the song. "Skipping The Distance" opens with some bombast and lots of flute. It settles as Andy comes in vocally. Nice bass here as flute continues. Guitar is aggressive before 2 1/2 minutes and later 4 1/2 minutes in.This just sounds so good. You can hear Guy Manning singing backup vocals.The drumming is fantastic throughout. Gotta love the flute, piano and organ during this instrumental section. The vocals are back later. Sax before 8 1/2 minutes.

"Photosynthesis" features more beautiful flute and piano, this is laid back early. Reserved vocals after a minute. A fuller sound a minute later then it settles again as contrasts continue. This one has a catchy chorus too. "The World We Drive Through" is an uplifting emotional song with a good guitar solo, some jazzy drumming and a sax solo. Great tune ! "A Gap In The Night" is the 18 plus minute closer. It doesn't really kick in until around 4 minutes, before that we get lots of piano and space. The guitar follows at 4 1/2 minutes with some chunky bass. A calm 7 minutes in. Mandolin then vocals 8 1/2 minutes in then it kicks in again. I like the sound of the guitar after 11 1/2 minutes. Another calm 2 minutes later as Roine comes in vocally.

Andy Tillison and Sam Baine's keyboard and piano playing are simply amazing on this album, not to mention Andy's song writing abilities that really make this album special. This is a fantastic release.

The opening cut on an album is crucial; it establishes the tone, pace and style of an unheard record and leaves the listener with the bemocked but all-important first impression. This is the problem - perhaps the only one - with the Tangent's second offering. But from track #2 forward, this is a fine piece of work for the 'side band' of some pretty big names in contemporary prog-- Andy Tillson's masterful keys, Bach themes and gorgeous piano/synth lines lead the way along with Theo Travis' (Procupine Tree) flute and sax, Roine Stolt's blues house guitar, Jonas Reingold on bass, Zoltan Csorsz on drums, Guy Manning (mandolin, acoustic guitar) and Sam Baine (piano, vocals).

'Skipping the Distance' features great symphonics and classical passages. 'Photosynthesis' is a bit weaker with warmed-over jazz themes and isn't helped by the vocals, but four of the seven members sing here, so there's no one in particular to blame. The 13-minute title track starts gently and modulates into a developed sequence a la early Yes with pastoral touches that remind of Gabriel-era Genesis but with a modern slickness. The band also draws from other prog staples such as Gentle Giant and ELP, showing great dynamics and intricacies not often attributed to groups doing this kind of nu-prog flash. `Tis a grower indeed, this one, and I wouldn't blame anyone for dismissing it as another of Inside Out's prog quick-fixes. It is a little better than that, luckily, and blooms as it goes, one song at a time. A solid three and a half stars.

The Tangent´s second CD was quite a surprise for me, since I was not really expecting nothing better than their first, the great The Music That Died Alone. But their debut really sounded a bit like a project and here the music is more a band efford. Living legend David Jackson is, no surprisingly, out. Theo Travis steps in and does a marvelous job on sax and flute.

As on the first CD the music is symphonic prog with strong jazzy influences (although less than on The Music That Dies alone). I like it more because it is more melodic and less experiemntal, but all the basic elements are here. Roine Stolt´s guitar solos are better than ever (actually better than his latter day works on The Flower Kings). Andy Tillson proves himself as one of prog´s best songwriters of e new generation. He is also an outstandig lyricrist, with some very insightful work. Vocals are not exceptional, but fit very well into the concept.

This is the kind of record you hear from start to finich without skipping any track. Only the bonus Exponenzgesetz is completely out of place here 14 minutes of eletronic keyboards experiments and nothing else. But since it is a bonus track, I think It´s allright

Conclusion: even better than the Tangent´s debut, at least for my ears. Great symphonic prog record much in the vein of the best Flower Kings stuff. Highly recommended!

Alone was a definite ode to the seventies and therefore purposefully recreating multiple styles of the time, here they are becoming a modern Symphonic prog band.

Sonically, this sounds more like a Flower Kings album, probably due to the presence of Roine Stolt, Jonas Reingold and Zoltan Csorsz and theirs no doubt that these three have far more experience at this style than the others. That's definitely a problem, though, because this album reminds me of the Flower Kings less than great albums like Stardust We Are and The Rainmaker in the fact that a lot of it seems to be a bit aimless. The Winning Game, the albums opener, and Skipping the Distance are the only two tracks that really grab the listener, the remaining three are either totally aimless, like Photosynthesis, or have moments of genius mixed with mediocrity. The title track is a great example, the opening 7 or 8 minutes are brilliant but it descends in to meandering self indulgence that doesn't go anywhere. A Gap in the Night is the same but in reverse (starts out with no real aim but ends very well). This is a great shame as the album displays plenty of potential to have been so much better, it just appears to be a case of too many ideas and none of them, or only a few, fully developed.

In short, it doesn't take much to admire the playing skills of all the musicians involved, but it seems that that's the best use for The World that we Drive Through because there compositional skills require a fair bit of work, to say the least. That makes this a disappointing follow up to the excellent, and fully focused, The Music that Died Alone. I'd recommend this album only after you have its predecessor, The Music That Died Alone, and successor, A Place in the Queue, and then if you like what you here.

Before I start to review this album I have to correct something in my mind. I always thought The Tangent was a true Guy Manning project. And of course he is a very important member of this band but after I read the booklet that went with the disk I saw that the music of this album was written by Andy Tilison who appears to be a member of PO90. So every credit to him then because it's mainly the music and the compositions that appeal a lot to me. He also wrote the lyrics, nothing wrong with that but I happen to be an instrumental oriented person for who the lyrics are just additional. Sorry, can't help it.

I still have to get into the debut by this band, I will do so soon but right now I can't compare it to The Music that died alone. But it was the progarchivestreamsong Up hill from here that got me interested in this band and that was a track from the debutalbum and I decided to purchase that as well. I also do have the latest and will review that one too soon. For now this is what I'm dealing with and I really love it. It's pure prog, categorized in eclectic which is not my thing but I don't consider this the best example of eclectic, I think jazz rock or fusion would be a suitable department as well. It's particularly the mood and the sound that does the job for me. It sounds really nice and could also be the perfect background music but on the other hand you could say: this music deserves better than that. At least 4 out of 5 songs are truly terrific, just the middle track (Phontosynthesis) is a little less. Like I said, it's jazzy with also symphonic elements and interesting contribution of wind instruments. Theo Travis does a really great job on this album. In fact it's no surprise two very important members of The Tangent are from PO90 because that is also very nice jazz-prog.

It just misses out on the masterpiece status to me but comes really close so I give this 4 stars, but in fact it's 4.5.

Enjoyable, but generally underwhelming follow-up to the terrific surprise of Music That Died Alone. I attribute this to the ambitious songwriting, which is neither as exciting or interesting as their previous release, and the VERY preachy lyrics and theme of the album-- which makes it sound very much like a TFK record.

The Winning Game sounds like a TFK outtake while the two extended pieces are a muddled mixture of styles and ideas which can't quite get off the ground. By the time the title track reaches its half-way point I was very bored with Andy Tillison telling me about how frustrated he is with the vacuous nature of society (I already know). Gap in the Night is utterly directionless, contributing only to Roine's ego. Skipping the Distance is the most enjoyable song on the album, if only for its direct delivery and enjoyable feel, but the album as a whole has a bloated, pretentious feel to it which doesn't sit well with me.

Still, it's impossible not to acknowledge the fine musicianship here, which will more than likely appeal to fans of TFK, but for those who hate these Swedish Christian rockers and found something retro-unique in The Tangent, World That We Drive Through is a a bit of a let down.

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: 2 Style/Emotion/Replay: 2

In a recent Prog Archives poll (as of May, 2008) people were asked which album by the Tangent featuring Roine Stolt they preferred, and virtually all votes went to THE MUSIC THAT DIED ALONE, probably because Stolt is that album's dominant vocalist. Could it be that most Tangent albums are bought by Flower Kings fans? If so, I'm afraid I disagree with them; I find it a big turn-off when the band's second album, THE WORLD WE DRIVE THROUGH, opens and we're confronted with Stolt's overpowering, mid-Atlantic, quasi-dramatic vocals. 'In her heart there's an empty spaze.' 'Our planet's in a mezz.' No thanks, Roine - I prefer Andy Tillison's singing!

At least when Andy writes himself a proper melody, which he certainly did for the 13-minute title tune (the fourth track on THE WORLD...): this sounds very tender, features sensitive sax playing by Theo Travis, and has a splendid instrumental middle section with solos on moog, sax and guitar... it's easily one of the loveliest symphonic prog songs to come out of anywhere in the past ten years.

For me, the problem lies with the remainder of this album. Once you can get past Roine's lead vocals, that opening track ('The Winning Game') is not too terrible really, with its Wakemanesque Moog and Hammond organ solos, and with the truly gorgeous guitar solo Stolt provides for the finale (even if that same finale gets spoiled by a totally superfluous Burt Bacharach quotation). The second tune ('Skipping the Distance') opens heavy-handedly, but to my delight it features Jimmy Hastings-style flute, as well as wordless vocals inspired by the Northettes. The third track, 'Photosynthesis', is a charming ballad with elegant piano playing, some mellotron and sax.

But 'A Gap in the Night', the album's most ambitious track (an 18 minute 'epic') totally spoils the mood by being virtually tuneless and, above all, WHINY. It seems virtually any Tangent album you can think of is about somebody's midlife crisis. Once we had dreams but we lost them in the dull daily grind, switch on the television and you see nothing but greed, we're totally lost in the Scary Big City... O.K., I get the picture, but why bang on about such things for a full eighteen minutes, with plenty of tempo changes but a horrible dearth of tunes? When the Tangent's like THIS, I just pray for Andy T. to shut up... It's true that his keyboard solos and Guy Manning's acoustic guitar bring occasional relief, but no! This is no way to write an epic!

As a bonus, the band offer us a 14-minute synthesizer improv in the vein of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. I'm afraid I never fell for this kind of music, so in my view these are 14 minutes wasted.

Final verdict: A mixed bag. Let's give it three and half stars, since they tried hard, and the good tunes (particularly tracks 3 and 4) deserve it.

It's all here in The World That We Drive Through

It's often been said that The Tangent really is ''Prog music for prog fans by prog fans'', and this second effort by the supergroup really is no exception. Yes, the boys are back after their stellar debut with another killer disc much in the same vein as their first. The difference here is that the albums seems to have taken a turn for the more ''mature'' as some people would call it. Not that the first album wasn't, but this one makes more use of slower parts, something the first album didn't do so much. This album still is really a sequel to the first one though, since they even put a nice big 'II' on the spine of the album and had the longest piece on the album act as 'part II' to In Darkest Dreams from The Music that Died Alone - And then of course there's the similarities in cover art and name. Looking at the cover art for the album you can already tell that this is going to be a somewhat darker album that the first, and if you though that - you'd be right. But lets move onto the songs shall we?

One of the nice things about the album is that this time they actually combined all the suites into their own tracks (A Gap In The Night is one 18-minute song while In Darkest Dreams was about 8 shorter songs), making the album feel solid right off the start. Once more we hear Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings as the first voice on the album with the opening track The Winning Game which right off the bat states a theme in the album with it's look at people and culture. And while this one is heavier and slower than most of the material on their first album we get a kick in the face right afterwards as Skipping The Distance explodes into motion with saxophones and flutes. Theo Travis by now has proven as an ample replacement for David Jackson who was around for the band's first album, and Andy takes over the mic once more.

From here we get more into the moodier side of the band once more. One of the most relaxed songs by the band, Photosynthesis provides a nice break from the sonic bombardment and then we get to the title track. The World That We Drive Through is a fantastic tune. Ripe with emotional guitar work and some very sad riffs this one is very memorable.

A Gap In The Night may be a bit weaker than In Darkest Dreams in parts, but that doesn't mean it's a let down in any way. The shouting of voices in chorus, ''turn of the gap!'' packs a punch of cacophony, but the rest is simply wonderful! Voicing from just about every member makes for some great variety and the instrumental sections have the same emotional punch as the title track. Vocal parts in the later pieces of the song are excellent and make for some very attractive melodies that are often times enough to send a shiver down your spine. A very well done piece.

Some of the newer editions of the album also feature a lengthy bonus track, Exponenzgesetz. This one is more or less 14-minutes of ambient zone out which is great if you're into that kind of thing. It really doesn't add to or take away from the original album, so if you feel like you can do without it then don't worry about trying to hunt down the special edition.

All in all this is an excellent album. I would say that this one is even better than their first by a very small margin. It certainly is more dense than their first album and harder to get into, so I can see where some of the lower marks for it comes from, but it's always with this kind of album that the moment you see what's great about it it becomes a very rewarding album to listen to. 5 excellent pieces of music on this album make for a strong 4 out of 5 - and if you fancy yourself a fan of the band you can tack another half star on there. Highly recommended.

I feel like I should have a lot to say about this album, but I don't think I do. I wrote a whole bunch about its predecessor, The Music That Died Alone, but when I get to this record, I feel a good bit underwhelmed.

Wherever The Music That Died Alone was strong, so also is The World That We Drive Through. The similar titles, the similar artwork, and the prominent inclusion of The Flower Kings' Roine Stolt should make it clear that this album is not going to go very many places that The Tangent's debut did not. Overall, it's darker, less focused on retro nostalgia, and a fair bit less upbeat.

Don't get me wrong. This album is good too. I spin it consistently and enjoy the music put forth on it. But of all The Tangent's releases, this is the least exciting to me. Something about the music keeps it from being as neat as it should be. I fear that the presence of Stolt may have something to do with this. Again, don't get me wrong. I love The Flower Kings (sometimes) and I love Transatlantic. It just seems to me that sometimes, the fellow's music tends towards drooping, towards wilting away from the interest that it almost creates.

Overall, as far as The Tangent goes, the albums without Roine are the strongest. Maybe not vocally, maybe not in production, but as far as interesting music happens to carry them, Not as Good as the Book and A Place in the Queue are much stronger than this one and their debut.

01. The Winning Game

A horn section, almost like a small orchestra if we add the additional keys. The sound of 70's in the song is a charm, a little of heavy (but only in the right way) and great vocals from ROINE STOLT (THE FLOWER KINGS), which not coincidentally gives his trademark sound to the music, which is perfect because the Stolt in my opinion = good music. After the vocal part is a good synthesizer phrase and soon after good keyboards, and a bass line of Jonas Reingold (THE FLOWER KINGS as well). Some syncopated parts and excellent chorus as well. It's amazing the compositional quality of Roine Stolt, anything he touches turns to gold, the true Midas from Prog Rock. And of course, you have guitars, yes you have (laughs). The compositional method of Roine is a strong beam in his discography style and is recognizable at a distance no matter what the project is (Solo albuns, THE FLOWER KINGS, TRANSATLANTIC, KAIPA ...)

02. Skipping The Distance

Great start with a heavy riff and full of synthesizers, but the most interesting are the contrasting flutes with the rest. Strong chorus, once again Jonas and his amazing bass and Sam Baine with their keyboards. Zoltan Csorsz is another monster knowed by the fans of 90's Prog, drum lines safe but virtuous. Prog vocals a la QUEEN duplicated in various parts and saxophones almost at the end of it, masterful.

03. Photosynthesis

Virtually all of the new albums in these 'new prog era' have a ballad, I can not say I like them all, but they always have a different melody and always good vocal and instrumental. Who have this wonderful idea of putting the keyboard and bass soloing together? SENSATIONAL! Good voice, but I'm not sure if it's GUY MANNING or ANDY TILLISON who sings it, is not familiarized myself yet, but I think it's Andy.

04. A Gap In The Night

I think this is Guy singing (forgive me if it's not). Slow one, with flute and sax, bass that makes all the difference in the world and the guitar is not always present, but when it is, is perfect. The syncopations are always present in this record and I love them. It's always great to see the amount of special topics that compose the guys in the same range. Epic track full of melodies, these guys search for the better in the Prog Rock and compile it in a single track. Another thing, it'is not because a CD can hold 80 minutes of music we have to use them whole, a record for me must have only 45 minutes like the old LP (laughs), here is a little more (59 minutes).

05. The World We Drive Through

A solid base of keyboards in all its forms. And a vocal melody a la Phantom of the Opera. A track with details and themes' thoughtful', 'contemplative'. Around 8 minutes a guitar, a mandolin and a wonderful climate. At 11 minutes and a half a part broken accompanied by an excellent guitar solo and a synthesizer. In the second half of the song who is back to the vocals? Roine, which for me is the best vocal of the new generation, and that says it all.

A band worth checking out, there are many options within the group's sound.

Originally intended to be a one-shot superproject, The Tangent surprisingly moved on to live performances since 2003 as well as the recordings of a second album.Line-up changes characterized the band's career from this point on, starting from the departure of David Jackson and the arrival of legendary sax/flute player Theo Travis, who had been a member of Gong besides his long solo albums' catalogue.The new album, released again on Inside Out, carried the name ''The world that we drive through'' and saw the light in October 2004.

In this effort The Tangent will challenge themselves to creating long, progressive tracks with huge 70's influences.The original edition features five of them, spanning from 8 to 18 minutes, ready to saitfy the needs of a Progressive Rock fan.The strong character of Roine Stolt next to part of THE FLOWER KINGS line-up and the British roots of Andy Tillison combine in yet another weird amalgam of Symphonic Rock and old-styled Prog/Fusion, where the Canterbury flavors are now reduced and there appears to be a slight turn towards more abstract and loose textures during the more jazzy moments.Tillison and Baine offer some very good keyboard parts, including nostalgic organs, dreamy electric piano and angular synth flights, and you should place them next to Stolt's distinctive guitar plays, which contain both some incredible melodies and light, jazzy overtoones.Travis appears to be a great addition, his slightly psychedelic style on sax and flute adds a pretty beautiful vibe to The Tangent's sound.As a result the tracks contain bombastic parts and refined themes akin to 70's Classic Prog with strong symphonic colors, which often break into jazzy interludes and tricky plays with piano, guitar and sax in evidence.Plenty of interplays, nice vocals and odd time signatures are also in the menu.At this point The Tangent sound as if YES, E.L.P. and CLEARLIGHT were sharing the same members with a few hints from the old Canterbury school of Jazz/Prog.

Not all tracks are equally consistent and solid, but their length allows the listener to absorb some of the coolest ideas found in modern Prog.Progressive Rock at its most classic form, filled with symphonic, jazzy and Canterbury colors.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.