IQ - Frequency Bonus Dvd +Album Reviews

IQ Puts Out A Classic

Old Prog Lover | Indianapolis, IN | 05/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All of us prog lovers should be feeling pretty good about things right now. The United Kingdom has given us two superb releases this year. First, we get a the stellar release "Pure" from Pendragon and now we get "Frequency" from IQ.

If you thought IQ's prior release "Dark Matter" was good, wait until you give a listen to "Frequency". As happens to so many bands who have been in "the business" for as long as IQ has been, their releases begin to get weak. They seem to loose the creative spark. NOT SO with IQ. They actually seem to get better with each release! Keep in mind, IQ has been around for over 25 years! They may rotate musicians around just enough to keep fresh ideas in the mix, but yet always staying true to the IQ sound.

Frequency includes two new players. Mark Westworth replaces, founding member, Martin Orford on keyboards, and Andy Edwards replaces Paul Cook on drums. Although Paul Cook has already rejoined the band, it is Andy Edwards drumming you here on "Frequency". I have been a fan of Andy Edwards ever since I heard him play on the first Frost CD "Milliontown" (excellent CD by the way!) He seems to come from the "Keith Moon & Mike Portnoy school of drumming". He doesn't just keep the beat but also fills in every hole with some type of extra drum beat making the rhythm section really come alive. I had to do a double take to realize that I wasn't listening to Martin Orford on keyboards. Mark Wentworth is an excellent replacement with fantastic keyboard fills and a wonderful sense of melody. Peter Nichols voice has never sounded stronger.

Every song on "frequency is fantastic. Not a looser in the bunch. The entire work is laid out extremely well. The opening title track is immediately classic IQ. You then move into a slower number "Life Support" which eventually opens up into a wonderful soaring melodic piece. The center piece of the CD seems to be a trilogy of songs, all inter connected as one track, "Stronger Than Friction" (which is fantastic!), a slower piece "One Fatal Mistake" and wraps up with Ryker Skies, again a heavier song. (All together over 25 minutes of music) As soon as you think you can recover from this you get hit with the epic "The Province of the King" clocking in at 13:42. They finally release your gradually with the closing number "Closer", a slower more melodic number. As soon as it ends you want to start the entire thing all over again.

Quite often, when we want to introduce someone to a band's work we will recommend an earlier piece. If you want to introduce someone to IQ I would recommend their latest work "Frequency". Call it neo-prog? Call it symphonic prog? Call it fantastic! But, I've said enough. Just buy it already!

"

IQ's best album ever

J. Speer | Philadelphia, PA | 06/04/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In my opinion, 'Frequency' is the strongest of the latter-day IQ albums (which I count from 1993's 'Ever' onward.) There is not a weak song on it, and never a lull. The lyrics and vocal delivery are better than usual -- In past I've found Nicholls' vocals a bit forced and preachy. Here he is more relaxed and words more freely-flowing. I find that he is really 'selling' these songs a lot better than previously in his delivery. I also fault some of the recent IQ albums for sounding to edited, as if all the faults had been digitally cleaned out and unnaturally precise timings introduced. The recent songs sound like they were assembled from parts. 'Frequency' is a step away from that, though still could be better. The performances sound more human; which really suits IQ -- the lyrics are so personal and direct, they do not fit so well with a robotic super-precise performance. I say before you release a song from the studio make sure that a LIVE BAND OF HUMAN BEINGS can play it all the way through. We the listeners can tell, you know! I really like the new keyboard player, who is using a lot more vintage electric piano and organ sounds.

I criticize because I love! IQ is one of my faves. I think they could make a few changes and be truly one of the all time great prog acts."

IQ still flawless

philippe deroin | Gaithersburg, USA | 05/29/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The one thing "Frequency" is not is a surprise despite the integration of two new musicians. To the longtime fan, it will be familiar territory since IQ never strays far from a very rich core. For the newcomer, it can serve as an excellent entry point.

Even though this album is rather long, clocking at over an hour, it does not have one gigantic epic reminiscent of The Last Human Gateway, The Narrow Margin or 2004's Harvest of Souls. In this sense, Frequency is more paced like The Seventh House and its longest track, The Province, does not have the same epic feeling as the aforementioned songs. No matter: when a lot of modern prog bands sometimes seem to produce a marathon-track because they think they have to, IQ thrives for a coherent creation, usually with success.

All IQ fans are probably already familiar with the opening song, Frequency, which has been around for a while and is still remarkably catchy. As often with IQ albums, it takes a while to get into the different songs and it is easy to miss their beauty or their cleverness at first. In particular, Peter Nicholls' lyrics are often cryptic enough that you are not sure you understand what was meant...

Comparatively, the heavier songs are catchier at first, with Stronger than Friction and particularly Ryker Skies destined to be instant classics. The quieter songs (Life Support, One Fatal Mistake or the beautiful Closer) take more time but grow on you very fast and are rich enough that there is little risk of getting tired of them. I am still on the fence for The Province which for some reason makes me think of a subdued Dream Theater but it is also very enjoyable.

Since Subterranea (included) at least, I can find no wrong with IQ's output and this album is a wonderful addition to their work, even though it is now more variation on a theme than groundbreaking. The irony is that a generation of bands initially thought of as copycats of their 70's elders has now longer careers than their predecessors and just as rich. IQ still sits at the very top of the list

Added : For the CD+DVD version of Frequency:

The second disk is the DVD of a 2007 concert which should interest fans and newbies alike, the former because IQ Concert DVDs are not easy to find at the moment, the latter because it is a pretty good introduction to the band.

There are two songs from the new album, the title track and an early version of Stronger than Friction, good versions of songs from the most "recent" albums (You Never Will and Harvest of Souls from Dark Matter, The Seventh House and Guiding Light from The Seventh House, Sleepless Incidental and Subterranea from Subterranea)and a few oldies going all the way back to old favorite (a quarter of a century!) It All Stops Here from their very first album Seven Stories into Eight.

The concert is IQ in a nutshell. Musically impeccable, sounding very close to their recorded sound but with a different "live" vibe. The guys are gently self-deprecating and care very little about theatrics, the extent of which are seen in Peter Nicholls putting on a labcoat or a few visuals, including morphed photos of the band members. MTV Awards it ain't... But a great collection and trip down memory lane.

"

Classic Prog at it's finest

Dewey Gurall | Pittsburgh, PA USA | 06/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"IQ- Frequency

A brief note for the uninitiated; IQ are a progressive rock band in the traditional 1970's style sense of the word. They've been around since the early 80's, and were part of a whole class of British prog bands known as the NWOBPR, or, New Wave Of British Progressive Rock. The most well-known of these bands is Marillion. But while the Marillion of today bear little resemblance to their early 80's selves (for better or worse, I'm not judging), IQ, along with Pendragon (another great band of the period that's still going strong), never lost sight of their traditional prog roots. Some albums are better than others, but they've generally been consistently good. FREQUENCY is their first album since losing founding members Martin Orford (keyboards) and Paul Cook (drums), and there was no way to predict how devastating those losses would be.

A relief, then, that the answer is not at all. In fact, this is the best IQ album since 1997's SUBTERRANEA (their masterpiece, in my opinion). Right from the opening notes of the title track, this is progressive rock at it's finest. And when the amazing voice of Peter Nichols comes in with a sublime melody, the reason IQ are still so great becomes clear: it's the songwriting. They're not musos showing off or trying to be clever, like so much prog rock is. Everything they do, every note they play, is in service to THE SONG. It's no coincidence that the NWOBPR bands that have survived have been the ones who put songwriting ahead of instrumental prowess.

Second track, "Life Support", starts off with a bit of beautiful piano/vocal balladeering before transitioning into a spooky guitar/synth duet backed by a super tight rhythm section. At nearly six and a half minutes, it still feels somehow unfinished but, come on now, not everything can be an epic (though with IQ, nearly everything is).

The next three tracks are really one piece. "Stranger Than Friction" starts out almost poppy (reminiscent of "The Thousand Days" or "Unsolid Ground") before an acoustic section and a heavier interlude lead into the pretty "One Fatal Mistake". "Ryker Skies" picks up quietly where "...Mistake" leaves off before erupting with heavy Mike Holmes guitar and pounding bass and drums. The whole thing comes off as a kind of sci-fi novel set to music.

Within "Ryker Skies", new keyboardist Mark Westworth really gets his chance to shine. First with a (probably sampled) Hammond organ solo, then with some majestic (probably sampled) mellotron, culminating in a classic 'widdly widdly' Mini Moog solo. The differences between Westworth and his predecessor are subtle. To my ears, it's more a question of sound choices than actual parts played. Particularly on "Life Support" and "The Province", Westworth chooses some synth sounds that are different from the usual IQ fare. But instead of seeming out of place, it comes off as refreshing.

New drummer Andy Edwards, on the other hand, is stylistically much busier than Paul Cook and gives this recording a new energy that, in retrospect, may have been lacking on the last few releases. But it's not just that- I think the compositions themselves have more conviction built right into them.

A friend once told me that IQ gives him "epic fatigue" with their love of the long form. He may have some problems with FREQUENCY. The three aforementioned linked tracks add up to about 25 minutes. The following song, "The Province" clocks in at 13:42 and has all the hallmarks of the classic IQ epic. It's nothing they haven't done before, but my, they sure do it well.

Even "Closer", the abstract yet beautiful love song that closes the disc may be, at it's heart, a simple song, but in IQ's hands it becomes a glorious, adventurous, you guessed it, EPIC. Nicholls delivers some of his most heartrending vocals ever against a delicate yet grand instrumental track. It's a wonderful song. And a great way to end the best album I've heard so far this year.

As anyone who buys music has learned in the last few years, bonus dvds that come with new cds are mostly worthless excuses to tack an extra 5 bucks onto the price. Usually it's a combination of terrible quality rehearsal footage, some interview clips, and a video or two, totalling out at 20 minutes to a half hour. You watch it once, then forget it exists. For that reason, I don't usually mention them in reviews.

But this, as you've probably guessed by now, is one hell of an exception. This is an entire two hour performance, beautifully shot, in Holland in 2007. I would have gladly paid twice the cost of this cd JUST for this dvd!

If the FREQUENCY disc itself hasn't already convinced you that the recent personnel changes haven't hurt the band one iota, this dvd will make you a believer. In fact, they may actually be better than ever. Maybe it's the new guys, maybe it's the near perfect setlist, but this is the best live IQ I've ever seen (or heard).

The set hits nearly every album (avoiding only the two late eighties albums with the different singer), going all the way back to 1982's cassette-only SEVEN STORIES INTO EIGHT (for a jaw-dropping "It All Stops Here"). The two tracks from 2004's DARK MATTER(including the fantastic 25 minute "Harvest of Souls") are an absolute revelation live. I never thought there was anything wrong with the DARK MATTER album but after hearing these versions, the originals sound positively tame and lackluster.

Every member shines here. The new guys seem to have an innate sense of when to add their own touches, and when to simply (or not so simply with this stuff) replicate their predecessors parts. John Jowitt sounds so comfortable on all of the material here that it's hard to believe IQ ever had a different bass player, and Mike Holmes is truly one of the most underrated guitarists in music today. His style and sound still sometimes bring Steve Hackett to mind, but his incredible sense of melody in his solos is all his own.

But Peter Nicholls is the star here. His voice has not only aged well, but grown in depth and character. It's hard to believe that in the early days of IQ, he was often accused of being a Peter Gabriel-clone. No one would make that claim today. By the last song you might expect his voice to be ragged after 2 hours of deeply challenging vocalising. But he saves some of his most emotive singing for the dramatic end part of "The Darkest Hour". It's flawless. In fact, the whole night is.

If you have any love at all for this kind of music, you simply have to see this dvd. And hear this cd.Call it neo-prog (I HATE that term), call it traditional progressive rock (slightly better), call it whatever you want, it doesn't matter. It doesn't get any better than this."

Still on the road to great Art Rock

The Punisher | 06/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some people,upon mentioning that Orford was gone thought IQ was going to be no reduced to a greatest hits touring band.Among those people were those who claim a niche in the erudition of prog rock.

I had faith that IQ would turn up a great release.It is the chemistry that this band has that makes them good.This cd is outstanding offering the fans yet another masterpiece of art rock blend;they haven't skipped a beat.Also nice bonus DVD,for those who like the visual as well."

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	IQ Frequency (Bonus Dvd) Genres: Pop, Rock
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