DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON

In spite of its title, The Tangent's fifth studio album 'Down and Out in Paris in London' is neither a concept album, not it has anything to do with the George Orwell book - it is just a handy, fancy title for a record that happens to be the first occasion of an all-English lineup on an album by this otherwise international band (bassist Jonathan Barrett and drummer Paul Burgess are the newcomers joining Theo Travis, Guy Manning and Andy Tillison on board). Said to be a piece of work dedicated entirely and solely to the album format (unlike some preceding studio albums), and existing as a mere collection of songs telling some stories, this 2009 release features many bold sounds and performances that undoubtedly do resemble in a certain way the group's music from their early days, with the nostalgic, retro prog sweeps of sound, always so conscious of that very English aesthetic that has become part of The Tangent vocab. And in this regard, the five (or six, if you consider the bonus track) compositions on the album all work together in a fine way that gives this album a degree of delightful "Canter-memorabilia".

The big, epic suite that occupies the first slot on the record is the 19-minute-long 'Where Are They Now?', a gorgeous exploration of the stories of many characters appearing on previous albums, as Tillison goes on to tell the story of what happened to them. The opening riff is exhilarating and memorable, and its motif is taken up by the band and interpolated into the verses, after which some really fine vocal and instrumental sections follow, still on that upbeat note. Around the middle of the piece, however, it all goes into a much more mellow, melancholic tone and this mood is carried on until the final seconds of the suite. The second song 'Paroxetine 20mg' is an electrifying and sonically intense number that also happens to the "heaviest" and most exotic on this album, definitely adding a touch of desperation and cynicism. 'Perdu Dans Paris' works like an elegiac postcard with its eleven minutes of dreamy, ballad-y soundscapes, while 'The Company Car' surprises you with the gorgeous ELP impersonation on the organs and an excellent instrumental second half of the song, and the closing piece 'Ethanol Hat Nail' stands as the most sophisticated and angular piece of music on this album, an all-around neo-Canterbury suite that translates a lot of the sub-genre's signature tropes into the dialectic of modern prog. And with all this cleared out, one has to appreciate the apparent qualities of 'Down and Out in Paris in London' (like the nostalgic, sweeping tones replete with retro rock tropes), which go alongside some obvious flaws (in the face of the prolonged sections of slow-paced, mellow and repetitive playing), as discussed above.

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