The Tangent Appreciation thread

I'm still forming my opinion on Down and Out in Paris and London but I will say that the opening riff in "Where are They Now?" is easily in my top 5 riffs and could very well be number 1.

I'll have to chime on in this thread. The Tangent are definitely one of my top favourite bands. I have high hopes for the next album, because I feel they've only gotten better and better with every album so far (well, The World That We Drive Through and A Place in the Queue are pretty even). Not as Good as the Book is actually one of my favourite albums ever. The first disc of the album alone is excellent, but the second disc is what makes the album brilliant. Both of the 20+ epics are amazing. I've recently become even more attached to The Full Gamut. I find the lyrics in that song to be really heartfelt and they make the song even more powerful.
I'll also have to say that I love Tillison's voice. He may not have the perfect voice, but he has a certain warmth and genuinity that I really like. It's the same reason I really like Phideaux Xavier's and Neal Morse's vocals.
Oh, and also, I just have to say this. The Sun in My Eyes is one of my favourite The Tangent songs. The song always cheers me up. It's one of those feel-good songs that never dissappoint.

Im lisening to in Earnest now and i think they sound more like EL&P then Yes but that is just probably me.
The melody is very similar to Jerusalem and Trilogi sort of a Andrew Lloyd Webber musical melody, but sifts in to some sort of Tarkus segment. but i like there sound and love ther Jazzy leings even some Steely Dan passages.

Down and Out in Paris and London


       

Not as Good as the Book really speaks to me.  I used to read books all the time.  Mostly sci-fi, spy novels, Stephen King books, legal dramas, etc....  Lots of action and adventure that just don't exist in my life, where I spend most of my days working on Excel spreadsheets.  (that and hanging out on PA).

I also like his voice. It's not that kind of "unique" voice, which, as you say, sometimes get annoying. And I think he uses it quite effectively.

TheCaptain wrote: There's also a lot of disliking of Tillison's voice so I'd like to get this out there early: I like it.

Not my favorite vocalist, but I also quite like it.  There's a real uniqueness there.

Three things for me dragged A Place in the Queue to four stardom:

1. "DIY Surgery"
(wtf?)
2. "The Sun in My Eyes"
(disco)
3. "A Place in the Queue"
(much too long for its own good- could've been trimmed to 16-20 solid minutes)

"GPS Culture," however, is the second best thing on the album- really phenomenal.

Epignosis wrote:   Were it not for a few gripes, A Place in the Queue would be a five star album for me.

Epignosis wrote: Boo. In Earnest is their best song.  Gorgeous melodies, both vocally and instrumentally.  Simply marvelous.

I didn't really meant to be that hard on In Earnest, because I think that instrumentally it is really gorgeous, as you say.

But not so much vocally. There are some places where it is not "dull" as I said before, it was a bad choice of a word, but the phrases lack definition, they end unresolved when the natural intonation should resolve (or I don't like the way he resolves them), or he delivers words because he has to say them, not because the melody needs them, like some of Jon Anderson's melodies that are just phrases without direction. Some places. Most parts are ok.

But I mixed that with the rest of the album, which, as I said, has got weaker moments. I definitely think that the short songs are better in Not as Good as the Book. And, right now, I like the long ones more than A Place in the Queue. But I insist that it has to do more with the vocal parts than with the instrumental parts or accompaniments.