FOREVER LIVE

Recorded as IQ celebrated the release of the triumphant Ever, this double live set provides a well-chosen range of tracks from the band's first decade of activity - including the cream of the crop from the two Paul Menel-led albums - but suffers a little from an occasionally flat sound quality, at least early on.

Things pick up as the set progresses, and if you're an IQ fan who fancies an Ever-era live set or is burning with curiosity to hear Peter Nicholls sing a few songs from Nomzamo and Are You Sitting Comfortably it's a good pick; I just don't quite rate the versions here above the studio versions of the tracks in question, aside from the Menel-era stuff, which sounds much better liberated from the plastic, poppy production those albums suffered from and sit surprisingly well next to the more "classic-style" IQ tracks.

I'd even go so far to say that the Menel-era tracks are the real standout surprise of this set, particularly since many fans probably expected IQ to leave those tracks behind once Nicholls returned to the fold. Certainly, they were a surprise to Paul himself - apparently he got in touch with the band after the set's release angrily asking why he wasn't consulted, because he hadn't heard that the band had reunited with Peter and assumed that it was a live set from his years with the band!