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The Tangent - Not as Good as the Book CD (album) cover

NOT AS GOOD AS THE BOOK

The Tangent

 

Eclectic Prog

3.87 | 423 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Tall Hair
4 stars The new album of The Tangent, Not As Good As The Book, now when I've listened it through a few times, seems to be very bravo!

The first tracks A Crisis In Midlife and Lost In London 25 Years Later wont't get my applause, though. Beating drums, high pitched chords with a synthesizer, and a chorus with lyrics there's nothing like a crisis in mid-life just doesn't appeal to me. Not really a great opener for this album. The next track isn't very brilliant either, but the third one, The Ethernet, has got something. It's ten minutes long and mostly calm, has a nice feeling in it, I like this song. Although the vocals of Andy Tillison could be better. Could be also worse on the other hand...

Now after Celebrity Puree this album starts to sound like an album worth four stars and Excellent addition to any prog music collection. Celebrity Puree is a short instrumental song, kind of an intro to the title track, which is, one of the highlights of this double cd album. It has extreamly catchy melodies and the vocals sound better than ever. The tempo is very determined and the song generally sounds like the result of a great inspiration. A Sale Of Two Souls is again a bit weeker but it's still ok. Bat Out Of Basildon is a song with a ballsy riff which is around there during the whole song more or less. It's a good song, not very long, only about five minutes, but still.

The second cd contains only two songs. Four Egos, One War and The Full Gamut. They are both 20 minutes long and are both very diverse. There are softer and louder moments, catchy and memorable moments: they are both the most progressive songs of this album. Four Egos, One War is maybe a bit more enjoyable than The Full Gamut, but the difference is not huge.

This album is very good, I recommend it to anyone who likes a bit newer progressive rock, although this band has managed to adopt a 70's kind of style and feeling that shows every now and then. Generally a great album!

Tall Hair | 4/5 |

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