Tangent-A Place In The Queue

I'm really digging the new Tangent release, A Place In The Queue.  What's surprising is I stayed away from this band because I'm not a Flowers King fan at all and thought I wouldn't enjoy them because of this influence.  Are the two previous albums more influenced by them because of their involvement with them?  I really like Tillison's vocals.  They remind me of Sinclare from Caravan as does the music.  Also, the keyboards are pretty awesome.  I'm a big Caravan fan and find this new Tangent release pretty much in their style, which is good for me.  Since Stolte isn't involved in this release, has the sound changed much from the prior two he was involved in?  I'm not trying too bash "The Flower Kings", I just don't like their music much.  I can appreciate their skill though and if the prior releases are similar to the new one, it won't make a difference if Stolte played guitar and sang on them.  I will still buy them.  All in all an excellent album and a nice discovery and surprise.

Edited by Paulieg

Oops, put the wrong vocalist in.  Thanks Chopper.  Travis does play some mean sax and flute though.  I edited my post and put the right vocalist in.  So I guess Stolt is relegated to backing vocals on the prior releases? 

I like this album, but I wouldn't buy their other albums because it is not enjoyable enough for me.

There is a lot of technical skill and a fiery hammond organ that I just adore. I love the hammond parts in Earnest and especially the intro of GPS Culture. However, the synth sounds are a bit questionable, some riffs are not memorable, and I don't like most of the vocal melodies at all, except for the intro of the epic, the Short disco-like track, and some scattered moments.

Anyone LOVES the hammond organ in this album as I do?

Deadwing12 wrote: A Place in the Queue is The Tangent's most ambitious and varied work, and my personal favorite of the band. 'In Earnest" is probably the greatest song they have written.

I have no problems seconding all this.

I do love the Canterbury influence that is even more prounounced on APITQ... Tillison even sings in that peculiar Kent (?) dialect at times, which I simply adore. (I'm weird like that ) It does remind me of Richard Sinclair's singing, even though I really don´t hear the similarities in actual tone... But then nobody could beat Richard's voice in my ears!

APITQ is perfectly retro in that despite all the obvious classic prog influences (the Hammonds and Moogs among other things) it still manages to sound like a modern record. Very well produced it is, too; great balance between all the instruments and the vocals as far as I can tell. True audiophiles may have a differing opinion, of course  

Sounds interesting...maybe Ill check it out...maybe...

I am seriously enjoying this album right now.  And if any of you guys like the occasional hard rock tune, the first song on the Bonus CD "Promises Were Made" will absolutely rock your socks off.  Once I get a few more listens under my belt, I think I will be qualified to give it a proper review.  If I were to give it a grade right now, I would say "four stars" easily.  That may improve with more listens (who knows!?!).

Initial impressions:

Track 1 "In Earnest" reminds me a little of "The Cinema Show" in the way that the story unfolds.  It's a great epic tune and for sure one of the top 3 songs on the album.

The title track ("A Place in the Queue") starts off sounding almost exactly like The Eagles' "Hotel California", but then launches into a haunting story in epic prog fashion that builds and builds and builds and leaves your mind fully stimulated at the conclusion.  This brilliant song is probably my favorite on the album.

But for pure listening enjoyment, I just love the sound of "Promises Were Made" from the Bonus Disc.  Great guitar, bass, female vocals and various synthesizers all mesh to make this dynamic song a fun, fun rocker!

Other strong tracks include "Lost in London" and "GPS Culture."  Overall, a very impressive album.

Overall a great album that stands out in todays total prog output. The music is very much like the wonderful cover art - adventurous, out of this world, awesome. However, I could do wihout the Pet Shop Boys-sounding "The Sun in my Eyes" (and doesn't the guitar intro sound like Genesis' silly "Follow you, follow me"?) and I'm not particularly a fan of Reingold's funk bass. Also agree that some keyboard (bass and guitar) riffs are not memorable and not really going anywhere (like the case of Flower Kings). Like fusion, or in this case, Canterbury. But I like it!

^

I'm curious as to how people feel about A Place in the Queue who have had it for a while and played it at least a few dozen times. Is it wearing well for you? I just got around to buying this not too long ago, and am still waiting to see how it ages for me.

I bought the album a few days ago, and although I need to listen to it a bit more, In Earnest is such a kick ass epic!!! The other songs are also very good (though I think the album would be more "epic" without The sun in my eyes)...yet I must get into A place in the Queue (the song)... this is the song I have listened the least, and at the same time its the most challeging...so, I must listen and listen and listen!!!

But no matter if I ever get to like that track or not, the album is so worth buying (and in my case it was quite expensive) just for In Earnest!!! Deffinitly in my top 10 of epic songs!


Edited by el böthy - June 04 2006 at 14:05