Awake and Nervous: an IQ Thread

Oh man I saw this band so many times back in the '80's, they were always awesome. They're still awesome! Not that I've seen them since about 1986 but I've heard good reports from the neo-prog massive. I just bought Tales From The Lush Attic for £1 from a charity shop funnily enough, it was seriously worth the re-investment. I'll try and track down a copy of The Wake next, but I'll probably give the Menel-era recs as wide a berth as I gave them back then.

Marillion sucked though, right? Noodle, do you like Twelfth Night?

Also, they used to encore with Sweet Transvestite with the singer in full Frank N Furter getup. I thought that was amazing when I was 16. Sometimes they'd encore with Open Your Heart by the Human League. Pendragon would never have considered that.

NWOBP ranked :

IQ
Twelfth Night
Pallas
Dagaband
Citizen Cain
Haze
LaHost
Solstice
Twice Bitten
Jadis
Marillion
Pendragon

I'm sure I've missed a few. Maybe I should start a thinly-populated poll.

I liked Twelfth Night. My brother has still got that beautiful foldy-outy-sleeved first proper album somewhere and I haven't heard it for 20 years I suppose. Y'know, the one with "Blue Powder Monkeys" and such on it? At the time I felt alienated by their move away from strictly canonical Prog moves even tho I was loving the production. That record sounded devastating. Apparently AMG doesn't even list that thing so I can genuinely do the art of pretend forgetfulness. I'm sure I need to listen to it again.

(But in 1985 I was in love with Marillion anyway. I don't know if they sucked but their sound hasn't travelled well at all for me. But I can't separate them from being 15 and being embarrassed and in love with being alive.)

Anyhoo those first couple of IQ albums are the most vital neo-Prog records for me. The Wake especially sounds impossibly funky-fresh in 2007.

Being an IQ fan of too many years standing (I first saw them at the Marquee in 1984 - supporeting Twelfth Night, I think), most of their albums (yes even the Menel duo) have tracks worth listening to.

The first 2 albums are classics, but I would hate to live without Ever, The 7th House, Subterranea and Dark Matter.

What was the Twelfth Night album before Mann joined on vocals? The one with the original version of Sequences? Because that is a classic. I like Mann (RIP), but they seemed to lose a lot of subtlety after he joined.

Marillion - I loved them when Fish was with them (I have probably seen them more times than any other band) but wasn't interested when Hogarth joined. I rediscovered the post Fish Marillion about 2 years ago and have filled in all the gaps in my collection. Hogarth is a better singer than Fish, even if his lyrics can be less developed. And the band are better musicians than they were, with maybe a lack of creative spark.

Of Matt's list:

Pallas - Arrive Alive is superb, but I never really got on with them after The Wedge.
Pendragon and Solstice - Saw them on so many supports slots, always promised myself that I would buy the back catalogue, but never did.
Citizen Cain - The most underrated prog band (neo or otherwise). Never saw them live but love every single album. The last time I checked (a couple of years ago) they were still supposed to be releasing a new album.

I would have to add Vulgar Unicorn to the list. Their first two albums really are special stuff. Ditto Sinkadus.

Oh, and don't catch Martin Orford catch you using the 'neo' word; it tends to upset him!

Pendragon seemed like perpetual also-rans: lyrics not quite good enough, music a bit too rote. But I never explored them too deeply, maybe they improved.

The mediocrest (but mediocre can be an honourable thing to be) band from the time that I remember were As Above So Below who seemed to do Friday Rock Show sessions once a month, for some reason.