Its always great when Steven is on with Pete- I really enjoy these even when you talk about bands I am not familiar with, and you inspire me to check them out.
I watched this months ago, but I decided to watch again and comment. IQ is perhaps my favorite band all time. I appreciate that they never betrayed their roots like so many other bands did. Ever through Resistance are perfection, and I cannot rank them other than fantastic. Nomzamo and Are You Sitting Comfortably? are the weakest in the catalog, yet still very good. The early one's, The Wake and Lush Attic, are prog masterpieces! Hail IQ!
Welcome back, Steven and great show opening as well. Your enthusiasm and knowledge on the SoT shows with Pete are always enjoyed. Since you both wonder whether you are bringing new listeners to the music you discuss, this is certainly one of those shows for me. Completely unaware of this band - I actually paused this show after Pete ranked The Road of Bones. Just had to listen to some of any album that the two of you describe as dark but brings such fun in your discussion. Listened to the first few tracks....wow. Since Steven ranked it his top choice, this will be the album for first full and repeated listen, then The Wake and perhaps more. My thanks to you and Pete for another great show.
Thanks for the kind comments. Very much appreciated and I'm even more delighted that you're enjoying the music we and all of Peter's guests discuss. That's what it's all about!
The only tear jerkers this band ever wrote are in the 80s for me, MULTIPLE points on the debut album for me which is in my top 3 albums ever made, Headlong from the second one as well which is why I was SO happy they closed with that in Zoetermeer after having flown across an ocean to see em. (two exceptions being Harvest of Souls and Alampandria which also get me super emotional)
Thanks Pete and Steven IQ are a band I had totally ignored since the Nomzamo and are you sitting comfortably albums. Having watched this when it first aired I decided to give them another go based on you both rating them as a band. I have now managed to track down most of the catalogue and have been highly impressed especially with road of bones a total masterpiece in a mostly top notch catalogue.
I bought The Wake when it first came out, and it is still my favourite IQ album. All are great apart from Nomzamo and Are You Sitting Comfortably. These two were made after Pete Nicholls left, and they became radio-friendly. They returned to form Big Time when Nicholls re-joined.
You've got some catchin' up to do, Thomas! My faves are Dark Matter and Frequency but you can't go wrong with any of their albums from 2000 up to the present with Resistance.
Never heard of them either, Thomas, but they must have a pretty thick catalog to earn an hour-plus review on SoT. I'll take Michael Cottle's advice if accessing their site instead of finding them on UA-cam means IQ gets money.
Pete and the inimitable Mr Reid - who surely deserves his own show - these rankings of British prog and 'pomp' bands have kept me going over the last 18 months. This one in particularly piqued my interest as I skipped over IQ until recently. They have turned up in magazines over the years and I always think of Nichols in his death mask, but I never bothered to delve deeper - this was a crime and I am now addressing that! Road of Bones is an incredible piece of work.
The guitar solo from “The Province of the King” is one of my absolute favorites. There are times when I will fast forward the song just to get to that part
Thanks guys for an excellent ranking the albums, IQ deserve to be heard by more people and I'm glad reading through the comments that some more are. Want to comment for both Steven and Pete, you've got it exactly right Pete regarding Resistance. It's a very complex album musically I think and takes quite a lot of listens before you really get into in to it. I think it's best to take the 2 cds in separate chunks. I believe that yourselves and others will actually rank it a bit higher in years to come when it's really sunk in to the psychi, The Road Of Bones tunes are more immediate, granted, but after repeated listens I think it's virtually as good in a different way.
"Dark Matter", "Frequency", "The Road Of Bones" and "Resistance" have been in constant circulation with some small deviations towards the remastered "Tales", "Wake" and "Ever". Suprisingly "Subterranea" only got one play this last couple of weeks. Not because I don't like it, it's just so many hours of new (or remastered) music that keeps on sounding great!
Welcome back, Steven! I've been looking forward to this episode. I've loved IQ for years but only have a few albums (Subterranea and Are You Sitting Comfortably?)
Great ranking show guys! Great insight and information. I discovered them back in 2000 with “The Seventh House” and then rapidly collected their catalog. I can’t rank IQ albums myself simply because EVERY ONE is my favorite when I listen to it, at the time I listen to it!
Great to hear Runrig mentioned! There are a couple of albums by them that I really like, most notably Heartland. And I'm Dutch! I would love to hear a worst to best about them, with Steve.
IQ are masters of shade, dark and light, contrasts. There is usually a huge emotional, dramatic turning point in their songs that just floors you, whether a lyric, a guitar solo, a tempo change... the albums are wonderfully produced, each instrument clearly stands on its own. I love how the songs move along like a journey with different sections instead of typical verse/chorus/solo arrangements. Dark Matter and Frequency might be my faves but everything from Ever onward are 5-star albums in my book, just a remarkable catalog.
IQ is one of my favorite "newer" prog artists along with Spock's Beard & The Flower Kings. For many years "Subterranea" was my favorite. Until "The Road Of Bones" was released. That is not only my favorite IQ album but a top ten album all time for me. It is an unquestionable masterpiece.
Interested that you both like Frequency. Between the two of you, you nearly mentioned every track on there except my all time favourite, Closer! It is simply classic. Great episode again lads!
Steven of Tranquility! All jokes aside, I'm not familiar with this band, but im a big prog fan and am always looking for new prog albums to dive into. Thanks guys!
Dark Hymns From The Cold North you will not be disappointed. Haven’t watched this yet but dark matter and road of bones are my recommendations for a newbie
I mean they're the best later albums but for me there's no way they'd ever compare to literally every progressive song they wrote in the 80s (except Harvest of Souls thats a mega masterpiece)
As time goes by I look at Resistance as two releases.. disc one is the sequel to The Road of Bones.. and an excellent follow-up indeed, Disc two is IQ doing their "Tales of Topographic Oceans" so deep, a treasure, but not easily accessible.
I am immensely thankful to you Peter for this. IQ is one of those bands nobody knows (except for False Promises) and alongside Threshold are the most active prog rock/metal bands currently. Check out whenever you can if you can make a Ranking on Ayreon. If you don't know that project... you should 😜
Yes, great to see Steve back. IQ is a band that I started to checkout last year. So far my favorite albums of there’s are 1. Ever 2. Frequency 3. Dark Matter 4. Subterranea 5. Resistance
@@lemming9984 - try as I may, I'm having a tough time getting into The Wake. Ever and Subterranea alternate between one and two for me on any given day.
@@Redundant_underscore Maybe "you had to be there" !! I saw IQ live many times at this period (the only time I ever went to a gig at the Marquee) and it sounded fantastic on it's release. Yes, it's very 80s but I always thought it stood up.
Cheers Gentlemen! 1.) Ever (my Prog gateway album) 2.) Dark Matter (basically tied with the below album...) 3.) The Road of Bones 4.) Subterranea 5.) The Resistance 6.) The Seventh House (this one took me awhile to get into) 7.) Tales from the Lush Attic 8.) The Wake (one of the great production tragedies of our time, such good songs though) 9.) Frequency (still a great album even this low) 10. & 11.) I think there were two more albums........nahhhh couldn't be
My absolute favorite Neo Prog band. Been listening to them since Subteranea and The Seventh House. Really enjoy the last 4 releases. A band that seems to get better with age. Very vocal band.
Guys, in an '85 Kerrang! mag issue with Fish on cover due to Misplaced Childhoods release, IQ were in the same mag with "The Wake" being reviewed. It scored 5/5 "K's" with references to Marillion. As a result, STILL to this day, big IQ fan and attended four Xmas bashes, 1 at the old Mean Fiddler. Awesome band.
Similar story to me, although I saw IQ support Marillion prior to the release of Misplaced Childhood, I had paid them much attention until I saw the THE WAKE review in Kerrang.
Excellent IQ reviews Pete and Steven! Rewatching the review and gradually going through IQ’s music. Would love to see them live in the US when it is safe to do so. Would love to see you and Steven do a follow up of your top songs from IQ.
Just discovered this fab band. I just love the sound of their music. Put their entire catalog of music on cassette tape. Play it on my Sony CFD-G50 boombox sounds so sweet. Your video was a big help.
Great show guys. First caught the band live in early April '84. Lost touch with what they have been releasing over the last few years, about time I got re-acquainted though. My fav of the the New-Age of progressive bands was always Solstice. Their first LP 'Silent Dance', was to these ears anyway, the best album to come out of that era. Even better than 'Misplaced' Childhood'! They have a new album coming out soon Sia. I hope you get around to reviewing it Pete
1. The Road of Bones, 2. Dark Matter, 3. Frequency. Guess I need to re-listen to their older Peter Nicholls stuff, and their latest. fyi John Jowitt and Andy Edwards also played on Jem Godfrey's first two Frost* albums (as does John Mitchell).
April 1, 1983- after reading a March 1983 KERRANG discussion about the new wave of Brit progressive rock, I went to 3rd st jazz and rock in Philadelphia and bought several of the bands: Marillion, Pendragon, Solstice, Pallas and...IQ! Excellent band!
Brilliant ranking video! Uncanny how Steven describes some of these albums, think we must be using the same pair of ears on occasion! About ten years ago I was outside a London Underground station in the outskirts of town and got chatting with a guy who was wearing a band t-shirt(might have been Jethro Tull, not sure?). He told me he was a roadie for a band so I asked him which band. "Ah you`ll have never heard of them" he said. "IQ" Ha, well of course I surprised and impressed him with my reply! Not that long afterwards in the same town I`m 99% certain I walked past Peter Nicholls. I was walking out of HMV and he was walking in. Should have turned round really and said hello. Thing is as I passed him I was only 70% certain and as time went by I became more convinced it was him, specially as the roadie I`d spoken to said one of the band was living nearby in a canal barge. Oh well. My list if I may(only have ten) - 10.Nomzamo - got this on cassette somewhere. Not bad! 9.Subterranea - keep thinking I`ll suddenly love this one day but it hasn`t happened yet 8.Resistance - still early days with this one for me 7.The Wake - very good but up against stiff competition 6.Ever - played this quite a lot recently-ish 5.Dark Matter -- can consider itself a little unlucky not to be higher 4.Tales From The Lush Attic 3.Road of Bones 2.The Seventh House - very good album slightly elevated by the title track which is in my top ten prog tracks of all time "This time it`s harder than ever, I`ve weathered the storm and I kept you safe and warm, I`ll never feel this way again". Aaah, love it! 1.Frequency - the album I`d recommend to newbies
Yeah, I do too. I hope he does a ranking of them soon. Not Of This World just blows me away. I had tickets to see them up in Montreal earlier this year before Covid hit.
Need to get into this band....have heard of them for ever but not delved into the catalogue ....you both sold me...at that's what it all about...Steven is a great reviewer I've said it before..✌️
I love IQ! I discovered them in the late 80s with "Are you sitting...", but then I walked my way back to the first two albums and then never missed one. My absolute favourite is Dark Matter. Then Seventh House and Ever (remaster). Since Orford left, only Frequency has touched me. I must admit that Road of Bones and Resistance, though formally very beautiful, bore me quite a bit. I hope the next opus will bring me back the IQ spirit that I love.
Nice to hear this. Thanks. I lost them a bit since Subterannea. Good to hear your opinions about the later albums. What I miss in your list is Nine In A Pond is Here. Very strange double album that came out after The Wake. I like the Menel albums, have to mention Common Ground from Nomzamo, one of their best tracks from the beginning years. Allways give me goosebumps. Have been lucky to see them live 3 or 4 times. Great live performances. My fav album... The wake!
Delightful! I've been a big fan of IQ over the years. My top three are 1. Road of Bones; 2. Frequency and 3. Dark Matter - you will guess I go for the dark stuff. Me and the missus saw them at the Garage in Highbury in 2019 - superb! Little did we know that a few months later we would be locked down for the best part of eighteen months. Great stuff Pete and Steven!
1) Subterranea 2) The Wake 3) Ever 4) Tales from the Lush Attic 5) Frequency 6) The Road of Bones 7) Dark Matter 8) The Seventh House 9) Resistance 10) Seven Stories Into 98 11) Nomzano 12) Are You Sitting Comfortably?
Nice review, thanks! My favorite: 1. Subterranea 2. The Road of Bones 3. Dark Matter ... 12. Are you sitting comfortably? (but listening to uncomfortably, only did once 😉)
I've had Tales, The Wake, Are You Sitting Comfortably?, Ever, Subterranea, and Dark Matter for years. Got Frequency a few months back, and got Road Of Bones today.
Great to see an I.Q. album ranking. It's a tough one since they are been a very consistent band quality wise. I actually first heard them during the period with Paul Menel as singer, so I like those albums better than a lot of people who slag them off as "too poppy".
Great show!! I always thought only the first half of Road of Bones was the concept and the second CD was extras. Was I wrong? Anyway, here's mine top 5, but I love all of them; 5) The Seventh House 4) Tales from the Lush Attic 3) Road of Bones 2) Ever 1) Subterrenea
Yeah, cd2 is extras, still essential stuff, constellations is a favourite. Don't see the concept personally. "Ocean" and "Until the end" don't sound like the mind of a serial killer, only the title track...
John Jowitt also played for Jadis. I've got their first cd album and saw them perform live and got all four signatures (autographs) on the booklet. Remember having a nice talk with him and also a very nice, then already thinking about retirement issues, Martin Orford.
At last! Great show, Pete! Got all albums from IQ, my number three since forever (after Rush and King Diamond, in that order). Any plans on ranking KD and MF albums? Stay safe!
Great video! Huge IQ fan. My ranking: 1 Subterranea 2 Road of Bones 3 Ever 4 Dark Matter 5 The Wake 6 Tales From the Lush Attic 7 The Seventh House 8 Frequency 9 Nomzamo 10 Are You Sitting Comfortably 11 7 Stories into 98 12 The Resistance But none of them are bad albums. And Martin Orford's 2nd solo album The Old Road is astonishing.
IQ are scheduled to play in Oslo at the Cosmopolite on April 17th. And I got a ticket! Now, Covid-19 might change that plan, but they will be here sooner or later. And I must be a lucky guy, because I live just down the road and my regular pub is right next door.
Fantastic! Big fan of Stephen! That said, the description of album 12 for both of you is a kiss of death, LOL! Jon Jowitt is a great pal and a 4 string brother.
I could never rank the catalog of IQ. I will share though, when "Ever" came out, I purchased it and it was on repeat for weeks. They have so many great albums. No stinkers for me. I do like "Are you Sitting Comfortably." Some really interesting songs on there I though. Not in my top 5 IQ albums, but good. Thank you Pete and Steven for doing this show on a wonderful band.
Just started watching a few IQ things on the You of Tubes. I'm thinking of starting my venture into full albums with The Road Of Bones. Seems right up my alley
I stumbled on this band maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I can see why they guys have struggled with ranking the albums - such consistency and top (and I mean top) prog rock. Stunning.
Love The road of Bones although i dont love every Song on it. But Without Walls has to be one of my favourite Songs ever, i can't help tearing up every Time i listen to the Ending of that Song!
Fantastic show! Started to listen to IQ a year ago. Dark Matter, Frequency, Resistance, The Road of Bones, Ever, Subterranea and The Seventh House in my CD collection so far. All great, The Road of Bones and Dark Matter maybe my choice.
They’ve leapfrogged a lot of bands and are among my favorite bands. 1.) Subterranea 2.) Resistance 3.) The Seventh House 4.) The Road Of Bones 5.) Dark Matter 6.) Frequency 7.) Ever 8.) The Wake 9.) Tales From The Lush Attic 10.) Are You Sitting Comfortably?
I am a 50+ year old I have never heard of IQ even though I am a prog fan. UA-cam suggestion IQ 'Dark Matter' a month ago I listen and am blown away! Get a similar vibe as Porcupine Tree. I will have to listen to your favorites. A band I've been a fan of for ever is Gamalon. I'm sure you're familiar with them if not gotta check them out.
One of my favorite bands of all time, been a fan since 1995, own all albums and concerts. My top 5 (not an easy task) 1) The Road of Bones 2) Ever 3) The Wake 4) Dark Matter 5) Subterranea
Hey Pete, love the content. I had a question on what you think of stone temple pilots. I know you dont like some grunge but I was just wondering your thoughtz
Oh how I love IQ... For what it's worth, my listing. Didn't include 7 into 98 but it would be near the bottom based on the cassette version included on the deluxe Lush. 1. The Wake 2. The Road of Bones (didn't see this as a concept. The second disk is optional and includes songs that didn't fit on the main album. BUY THE DELUXE EDITION though) 3. Tales from the Lush Attic. Too much history to be lower 4. Subterranean 5. Seventh House 6. Resistance (agree that the first two tracks drag down the initial impressions) 7. Ever 8. Frequency 9. Nomzamo 10. Dark Matter (Sorry, just doesn't grab me) 11. Are you sitting comfortably. (No hate for Menel who's great, the material just isn't "IQ") Funny how all the key Prog Renaissance (love that term, hate neo Prog - never heard that until the late 90s) lost their lead singers - Marillion, Pallas, Twelfth night, and IQ...
To me, the early 80s Neo bands all had three landmarks -- a "Warm-up" cassette, live album or EP followed by the proggy classic followed by a slightly poppier album (or at least one with shorter songs)... for Pallas, IQ, Twelfth Night, Pendragon and Marillion.
IQ is a band I need to listen to more. I've only listened to a handful of their albums so far and I've likely listened to The Seventh House the most, not to mention starting out with The Road of Bones. Still need to check out The Lush Attic and The Wake too. And speaking of epics in debut albums, I do wonder what if Pallas got to release their 2CD version of The Sentinel as they originally intended.
I'm late but my list reads: 12. Are You Sitting Comfortably? 11. Nomzamo 10. Seven Stories into '98 9. Tales from the Lush Attic 8. The Wake 7. The Seventh House 6. Frequency 5. Resistance 4. Ever 3. Dark Matter 2. The Road of Bones 1. Subterranea The reason "The Wake" appears so low on my list is Nichol's vocal's are too low in the mix. The song-writing is not as strong as the other releases but the music is very good. Martin Orford shines on this one. Mike Holmes channels Steve Rothery and Steve Hackett with finesse without being derivative. The drums are there, but buried deep in the mix. Otherwise it's brilliant! For it to be so low testifies to the strength of the remainder of the catalog. This catalog is so good "The Wake" will fluctuate into the top five on any given day--but not today.
I'm definitely a fan of the darker stuff, because Dark Matter and Road Of Bones are my top 2 IQ albums. Dark Matter probably even ranks in the top 10 Prog albums of all time for me. It has a beautiful dark atmosphere with gorgeous melodies and it just sucks you in and doesn't let go. Side note: if you want to get the full double whammy dark experience, listen to Road Of Bones and then follow it up with Mostly Autumn's Dressed In Voices, which is a concept album from the perspective of a person murdered in the street.
They are worth making the effort to see live. Still have fond memories of watching them play in pubs in and around Guildford before they got 'famous'. Also, I'm fairly sure that Martin got disillusioned with the whole music industry and decided he didn't want to be involved in it any more. Really sad when he left but they carried on strongly, which was great.
Wait Im so confused he's holding up Tales (the omega godtier one by this band) and talking about it like he's talking about The Wake lol I can't tell which album he's praising ffs lmao
This video caused me to buy IQ's Entire Catalog and some super pricy DVDs. Damn you Pete. Was not much into Post 1980 Neo Prog at all, but thanks to you I have about 3 dozen new Bands I love in this and the Prog Metal Genre.
The only two IQ I hate are Are You Sitting Comfortably and Nomzamo. Both were intentionally radio friendly and neither had Peter Nicholls. They improved instantly when Nicholls re-joined. They've never looked back, despite line-up changes. I've seen IQ live many many times since mid 80's, they never fail to deliver.
Full disclosure - I occasionally do merch for IQ, That was a really interesting discussion, I appreciate the effort and thought that went into it. Loved the way Subterranea ended up top of one your lists and near the bottom of the others’, it is quite a divisive album and for a long time I described it as my least favourite, not because I disliked it but because it was exactly that. There were a couple of things I just wanted to clarify because they jumped out at me...someone else upthread did mention that Wurensh is an anagram of New Rush, it was a working title that stuck because it sounded like...you guessed it... You’re completely accurate in saying that without Genesis, there would be no IQ...Mike and Peter met in a queue for Genesis tickets. Possibly the archetypal Prog meetcute. The Road of Bones is NOT a concept album. The title song is about a serial killer but none of the others on disc 1 are. If I recall correctly, when the album came out, people started talking about it as a concept album and the band were quite surprised that it was taken as such. Admittedly, it is relentlessly dark and that’s where the concept lies, in the sound rather than the theme. The logos are not throwaway. It is a deliberate decision to have a different one for each album and some measure of thought goes into each and every one. John Jowitt is indeed a splendid fellow and gets around a bit - in a Prog way - but I’m fairly certain he’s never played in Threshold or the other band mentioned, I can’t remember now which. He did play in Ark, Jadis, Arena, Neo, Frost* and probably several more that escape me. Now I have to do a complete relisten in order of release starting tomorrow, I’m blaming you guys!
1_ Subterranea 2_ Ever 3_ Road of bones 4_ Dark matter 5_ Frequency 6_ Seventh house 7_ The wake 8_ Tales from the ash attic 9_Seventh stories into 8 10_ Resistance ... 11_Nomzamo 12_Are you sitting comfortably?
Its always great when Steven is on with Pete- I really enjoy these even when you talk about bands I am not familiar with, and you inspire me to check them out.
I watched this months ago, but I decided to watch again and comment. IQ is perhaps my favorite band all time. I appreciate that they never betrayed their roots like so many other bands did. Ever through Resistance are perfection, and I cannot rank them other than fantastic. Nomzamo and Are You Sitting Comfortably? are the weakest in the catalog, yet still very good. The early one's, The Wake and Lush Attic, are prog masterpieces! Hail IQ!
Welcome back, Steven and great show opening as well. Your enthusiasm and knowledge on the SoT shows with Pete are always enjoyed. Since you both wonder whether you are bringing new listeners to the music you discuss, this is certainly one of those shows for me. Completely unaware of this band - I actually paused this show after Pete ranked The Road of Bones. Just had to listen to some of any album that the two of you describe as dark but brings such fun in your discussion. Listened to the first few tracks....wow. Since Steven ranked it his top choice, this will be the album for first full and repeated listen, then The Wake and perhaps more. My thanks to you and Pete for another great show.
I enjoy the passion Steven brings to the show.
Thanks for the kind comments. Very much appreciated and I'm even more delighted that you're enjoying the music we and all of Peter's guests discuss. That's what it's all about!
The Road of Bones is one of my top 10 albums ever made. Without Walls is a tear jerker.
I second this!
Doug McAuliffe great album.
+++ 10 000 !!!
The only tear jerkers this band ever wrote are in the 80s for me, MULTIPLE points on the debut album for me which is in my top 3 albums ever made, Headlong from the second one as well which is why I was SO happy they closed with that in Zoetermeer after having flown across an ocean to see em. (two exceptions being Harvest of Souls and Alampandria which also get me super emotional)
Thank you guys for your Ranking the Studio Albums: IQ🎤🎸🎵🥁
Thanks Pete and Steven IQ are a band I had totally ignored since the Nomzamo and are you sitting comfortably albums. Having watched this when it first aired I decided to give them another go based on you both rating them as a band. I have now managed to track down most of the catalogue and have been highly impressed especially with road of bones a total masterpiece in a mostly top notch catalogue.
I'v never heard of this band but it's time to check them out.
I bought The Wake when it first came out, and it is still my favourite IQ album. All are great apart from Nomzamo and Are You Sitting Comfortably. These two were made after Pete Nicholls left, and they became radio-friendly. They returned to form Big Time when Nicholls re-joined.
Time to go-o !
You've got some catchin' up to do, Thomas! My faves are Dark Matter and Frequency but you can't go wrong with any of their albums from 2000 up to the present with Resistance.
Never heard of them either, Thomas, but they must have a pretty thick catalog to earn an hour-plus review on SoT. I'll take Michael Cottle's advice if accessing their site instead of finding them on UA-cam means IQ gets money.
You won't regret it.
Pete that's what I love about you're channel. You give every band your all and that's It.
Pete and the inimitable Mr Reid - who surely deserves his own show - these rankings of British prog and 'pomp' bands have kept me going over the last 18 months. This one in particularly piqued my interest as I skipped over IQ until recently. They have turned up in magazines over the years and I always think of Nichols in his death mask, but I never bothered to delve deeper - this was a crime and I am now addressing that! Road of Bones is an incredible piece of work.
The guitar solo from “The Province of the King” is one of my absolute favorites. There are times when I will fast forward the song just to get to that part
A ranking episode I've been waiting for on this channel!
Thanks guys for an excellent ranking the albums, IQ deserve to be heard by more people and I'm glad reading through the comments that some more are. Want to comment for both Steven and Pete, you've got it exactly right Pete regarding Resistance. It's a very complex album musically I think and takes quite a lot of listens before you really get into in to it. I think it's best to take the 2 cds in separate chunks. I believe that yourselves and others will actually rank it a bit higher in years to come when it's really sunk in to the psychi, The Road Of Bones tunes are more immediate, granted, but after repeated listens I think it's virtually as good in a different way.
Love your MARILLION shirt!!🎤🎸🎵🥁
Just ordered a couple of albums, thanks to you guys! Keep up the good work.
"Dark Matter", "Frequency", "The Road Of Bones" and "Resistance" have been in constant circulation with some small deviations towards the remastered "Tales", "Wake" and "Ever".
Suprisingly "Subterranea" only got one play this last couple of weeks. Not because I don't like it, it's just so many hours of new (or remastered) music that keeps on sounding great!
Welcome back Steven. Looking forward to all the episodes. Particularly the Sensational Alex Harvey Band one of my all time favorites.
yes sir!!
Ron Petersen Vambo Rules
OK!
Welcome back, Steven! I've been looking forward to this episode. I've loved IQ for years but only have a few albums (Subterranea and Are You Sitting Comfortably?)
Great ranking show guys! Great insight and information. I discovered them back in 2000 with “The Seventh House” and then rapidly collected their catalog. I can’t rank IQ albums myself simply because EVERY ONE is my favorite when I listen to it, at the time I listen to it!
Great to hear Runrig mentioned! There are a couple of albums by them that I really like, most notably Heartland. And I'm Dutch! I would love to hear a worst to best about them, with Steve.
IQ are masters of shade, dark and light, contrasts. There is usually a
huge emotional, dramatic turning point in their songs that just floors
you, whether a lyric, a guitar solo, a tempo change... the albums are wonderfully produced, each instrument clearly stands on its own. I love how the songs move along like a journey with different sections instead of typical verse/chorus/solo arrangements. Dark Matter and Frequency might be my faves but everything from Ever onward are 5-star albums in my book, just a remarkable catalog.
Mike Holmes has a very distinct guitar sound. Great player that wrings every bit of emotion from a song.
Perfect timing, I wanted to get into IQ in the next few weeks.
Also love Steven's accent.
Thanks guys!! I see someone mentioned Alex Harvey in the comments, I would love to hear you rank all of his and SAHB's discography.
IQ is one of my favorite "newer" prog artists along with Spock's Beard & The Flower Kings. For many years "Subterranea" was my favorite. Until "The Road Of Bones" was released. That is not only my favorite IQ album but a top ten album all time for me. It is an unquestionable masterpiece.
Interested that you both like Frequency. Between the two of you, you nearly mentioned every track on there except my all time favourite, Closer! It is simply classic.
Great episode again lads!
The picture of Rae Dawn Chong Was taken from the movie Quest for Fire
Heck yes! I just listened to Resistance today as I worked outside. Love that album.
I'm watching this show for the fourth time because it's so informative and entertaining.
Steven of Tranquility! All jokes aside, I'm not familiar with this band, but im a big prog fan and am always looking for new prog albums to dive into. Thanks guys!
Dark Hymns From The Cold North you will not be disappointed. Haven’t watched this yet but dark matter and road of bones are my recommendations for a newbie
@@wernersteynberg4034 thank you!
@@darkhymnsfromthecoldnorth I would say start with 'The Seventh House'. That's the first album from IQ I started with and still a favorite of mine.
@@gkirms thanks for the tip!
Frequensy and Dark Matter are my favourites. Should be higher up in the ranking.
I mean they're the best later albums but for me there's no way they'd ever compare to literally every progressive song they wrote in the 80s (except Harvest of Souls thats a mega masterpiece)
Thanks for your time and very good work and show I have some in albums but have not listened to them for some time now
As time goes by I look at Resistance as two releases.. disc one is the sequel to The Road of Bones.. and an excellent follow-up indeed, Disc two is IQ doing their "Tales of Topographic Oceans" so deep, a treasure, but not easily accessible.
I am immensely thankful to you Peter for this. IQ is one of those bands nobody knows (except for False Promises) and alongside Threshold are the most active prog rock/metal bands currently.
Check out whenever you can if you can make a Ranking on Ayreon. If you don't know that project... you should 😜
Yes, great to see Steve back. IQ is a band that I started to checkout last year. So far my favorite albums of there’s are
1. Ever
2. Frequency
3. Dark Matter
4. Subterranea
5. Resistance
Yep, I like those in that order - except The Wake is at No 1!
@@lemming9984 - try as I may, I'm having a tough time getting into The Wake. Ever and Subterranea alternate between one and two for me on any given day.
@@Redundant_underscore Maybe "you had to be there" !! I saw IQ live many times at this period (the only time I ever went to a gig at the Marquee) and it sounded fantastic on it's release. Yes, it's very 80s but I always thought it stood up.
The Road Of Bones was my entry into IQ and it went into an endless loop. So it was an excellent entry for me😃
Cheers Gentlemen!
1.) Ever (my Prog gateway album)
2.) Dark Matter (basically tied with the below album...)
3.) The Road of Bones
4.) Subterranea
5.) The Resistance
6.) The Seventh House (this one took me awhile to get into)
7.) Tales from the Lush Attic
8.) The Wake (one of the great production tragedies of our time, such good songs though)
9.) Frequency (still a great album even this low)
10. & 11.) I think there were two more albums........nahhhh couldn't be
My absolute favorite Neo Prog band. Been listening to them since Subteranea and The Seventh House. Really enjoy the last 4 releases. A band that seems to get better with age. Very vocal band.
Great rankings, thanks for doing this! The Wake, Subterranea, The Seventh House and Dark Matter are terrific albums.
Guys, in an '85 Kerrang! mag issue with Fish on cover due to Misplaced Childhoods release, IQ were in the same mag with "The Wake" being reviewed. It scored 5/5 "K's" with references to Marillion. As a result, STILL to this day, big IQ fan and attended four Xmas bashes, 1 at the old Mean Fiddler. Awesome band.
Similar story to me, although I saw IQ support Marillion prior to the release of Misplaced Childhood, I had paid them much attention until I saw the THE WAKE review in Kerrang.
Excellent IQ reviews Pete and Steven! Rewatching the review and gradually going through IQ’s music. Would love to see them live in the US when it is safe to do so. Would love to see you and Steven do a follow up of your top songs from IQ.
Just discovered this fab band. I just love the sound of their music. Put their entire catalog of music on cassette tape. Play it on my Sony CFD-G50 boombox sounds so sweet. Your video was a big help.
Great show guys. First caught the band live in early April '84. Lost touch with what they have been releasing over the last few years, about time I got re-acquainted though. My fav of the the New-Age of progressive bands was always Solstice. Their first LP 'Silent Dance', was to these ears anyway, the best album to come out of that era. Even better than 'Misplaced' Childhood'! They have a new album coming out soon Sia. I hope you get around to reviewing it Pete
Masterpiece band!!! They’ve never released a single bad album
1. The Road of Bones, 2. Dark Matter, 3. Frequency. Guess I need to re-listen to their older Peter Nicholls stuff, and their latest.
fyi John Jowitt and Andy Edwards also played on Jem Godfrey's first two Frost* albums (as does John Mitchell).
I never knew that about Rae Dawn Chong, I remember her from the film Soul Man which is a film you could not make now.
Stellar show. Steven Reid is awesome!
Thanks for the support Darrell!
the consistency of this band is amazing
Watched this about 3/4 times now as I pick the catalogue up...great band...
April 1, 1983- after reading a March 1983 KERRANG discussion about the new wave of Brit progressive rock, I went to 3rd st jazz and rock in Philadelphia and bought several of the bands: Marillion, Pendragon, Solstice, Pallas and...IQ!
Excellent band!
Brilliant ranking video! Uncanny how Steven describes some of these albums, think we must be using the same pair of ears on occasion! About ten years ago I was outside a London Underground station in the outskirts of town and got chatting with a guy who was wearing a band t-shirt(might have been Jethro Tull, not sure?). He told me he was a roadie for a band so I asked him which band. "Ah you`ll have never heard of them" he said. "IQ" Ha, well of course I surprised and impressed him with my reply! Not that long afterwards in the same town I`m 99% certain I walked past Peter Nicholls. I was walking out of HMV and he was walking in. Should have turned round really and said hello. Thing is as I passed him I was only 70% certain and as time went by I became more convinced it was him, specially as the roadie I`d spoken to said one of the band was living nearby in a canal barge. Oh well. My list if I may(only have ten) -
10.Nomzamo - got this on cassette somewhere. Not bad!
9.Subterranea - keep thinking I`ll suddenly love this one day but it hasn`t happened yet
8.Resistance - still early days with this one for me
7.The Wake - very good but up against stiff competition
6.Ever - played this quite a lot recently-ish
5.Dark Matter -- can consider itself a little unlucky not to be higher
4.Tales From The Lush Attic
3.Road of Bones
2.The Seventh House - very good album slightly elevated by the title track which is in my top ten prog tracks of all time "This time it`s harder than ever, I`ve weathered the storm and I kept you safe and warm, I`ll never feel this way again". Aaah, love it!
1.Frequency - the album I`d recommend to newbies
Great band, I think their later albums are better than their earlier albums. You need to do a Pendragon countdown Pete.
Yes Pendragon!
Pendragon kicks ass!
Eric Walker I love that band.
Yeah, I do too. I hope he does a ranking of them soon. Not Of This World just blows me away. I had tickets to see them up in Montreal earlier this year before Covid hit.
Eric Walker probably my favorite album by them, that or “The World”.
Need to get into this band....have heard of them for ever but not delved into the catalogue ....you both sold me...at that's what it all about...Steven is a great reviewer I've said it before..✌️
Thank you so much once again for such an awesome episode, I love The Wake, what a great album !
I love IQ! I discovered them in the late 80s with "Are you sitting...", but then I walked my way back to the first two albums and then never missed one. My absolute favourite is Dark Matter. Then Seventh House and Ever (remaster). Since Orford left, only Frequency has touched me. I must admit that Road of Bones and Resistance, though formally very beautiful, bore me quite a bit. I hope the next opus will bring me back the IQ spirit that I love.
OMG, I thought it was only me that knew about this band? Oh, Tales of the Lush Attic.
I made a special trip to Soton to pick up my hand numbered copy 😎
I believe I'm the only guy in Spain that knows this band. Subterranea is one of my top 10 albums of all time.
Nice to hear this. Thanks. I lost them a bit since Subterannea. Good to hear your opinions about the later albums. What I miss in your list is Nine In A Pond is Here. Very strange double album that came out after The Wake. I like the Menel albums, have to mention Common Ground from Nomzamo, one of their best tracks from the beginning years. Allways give me goosebumps. Have been lucky to see them live 3 or 4 times. Great live performances. My fav album... The wake!
Delightful! I've been a big fan of IQ over the years. My top three are 1. Road of Bones; 2. Frequency and 3. Dark Matter - you will guess I go for the dark stuff. Me and the missus saw them at the Garage in Highbury in 2019 - superb! Little did we know that a few months later we would be locked down for the best part of eighteen months. Great stuff Pete and Steven!
Hi there Pete. How about ranking the albums by british melodic rockers Ten. A band with a solid career and huge potential.
Yes! Ten is a great band🤘
1) Subterranea
2) The Wake
3) Ever
4) Tales from the Lush Attic
5) Frequency
6) The Road of Bones
7) Dark Matter
8) The Seventh House
9) Resistance
10) Seven Stories Into 98
11) Nomzano
12) Are You Sitting Comfortably?
Nice review, thanks!
My favorite:
1. Subterranea
2. The Road of Bones
3. Dark Matter
...
12. Are you sitting comfortably? (but listening to uncomfortably, only did once 😉)
If I may say as well the 25th ann boxsets of the wake and Ever are absolutely incredible. A must buy.
I've had Tales, The Wake, Are You Sitting Comfortably?, Ever, Subterranea, and Dark Matter for years. Got Frequency a few months back, and got Road Of Bones today.
I've had a chance to delve into IQ's catalog since I saw this show... And Subteranea is now one of my favourite albums of all time.
Completely agree. Absolutely brilliant album!
Great to see an I.Q. album ranking. It's a tough one since they are been a very consistent band quality wise. I actually first heard them during the period with Paul Menel as singer, so I like those albums better than a lot of people who slag them off as "too poppy".
Great show!! I always thought only the first half of Road of Bones was the concept and the second CD was extras. Was I wrong? Anyway, here's mine top 5, but I love all of them;
5) The Seventh House
4) Tales from the Lush Attic
3) Road of Bones
2) Ever
1) Subterrenea
Yeah, cd2 is extras, still essential stuff, constellations is a favourite. Don't see the concept personally. "Ocean" and "Until the end" don't sound like the mind of a serial killer, only the title track...
thanks guys, Wake and Tales are great. I need to check out more of their catalogue
John Jowitt also played for Jadis. I've got their first cd album and saw them perform live and got all four signatures (autographs) on the booklet. Remember having a nice talk with him and also a very nice, then already thinking about retirement issues, Martin Orford.
At last! Great show, Pete! Got all albums from IQ, my number three since forever (after Rush and King Diamond, in that order). Any plans on ranking KD and MF albums? Stay safe!
Who is MF?
@@gregorykrug8034 Mercyful Fate
@@elaticodecygnus Thanks!
@@gregorykrug8034 You're welcome!
Great video!
Huge IQ fan. My ranking:
1 Subterranea
2 Road of Bones
3 Ever
4 Dark Matter
5 The Wake
6 Tales From the Lush Attic
7 The Seventh House
8 Frequency
9 Nomzamo
10 Are You Sitting Comfortably
11 7 Stories into 98
12 The Resistance
But none of them are bad albums.
And Martin Orford's 2nd solo album The Old Road is astonishing.
Great stuff lads, quality reviews.
Martin Orford did two solo albums, namely The Old Road and Classical Music and Popular Songs. Both are brilliant.
The Old Road is a marvellous bombastic album with a host of luminaries from the prog scene. I only bought it this year and love it.
Couldn’t agree more
IQ are scheduled to play in Oslo at the Cosmopolite on April 17th. And I got a ticket!
Now, Covid-19 might change that plan, but they will be here sooner or later.
And I must be a lucky guy, because I live just down the road and my regular pub is right next door.
Fantastic! Big fan of Stephen! That said, the description of album 12 for both of you is a kiss of death, LOL! Jon Jowitt is a great pal and a 4 string brother.
I could never rank the catalog of IQ. I will share though, when "Ever" came out, I purchased it and it was on repeat for weeks. They have so many great albums. No stinkers for me. I do like "Are you Sitting Comfortably." Some really interesting songs on there I though. Not in my top 5 IQ albums, but good.
Thank you Pete and Steven for doing this show on a wonderful band.
Just started watching a few IQ things on the You of Tubes. I'm thinking of starting my venture into full albums with The Road Of Bones. Seems right up my alley
Really enjoyed this. I'm just re discovering IQ.
I stumbled on this band maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I can see why they guys have struggled with ranking the albums - such consistency and top (and I mean top) prog rock. Stunning.
Love The road of Bones although i dont love every Song on it. But Without Walls has to be one of my favourite Songs ever, i can't help tearing up every Time i listen to the Ending of that Song!
Fantastic show! Started to listen to IQ a year ago. Dark Matter, Frequency, Resistance, The Road of Bones, Ever, Subterranea and The Seventh House in my CD collection so far. All great, The Road of Bones and Dark Matter maybe my choice.
Wonderful to see people picking up on this band. They should have been enormous. By the way, there is a "Rush" link during the Squawk days ........
They’ve leapfrogged a lot of bands and are among my favorite bands.
1.) Subterranea
2.) Resistance
3.) The Seventh House
4.) The Road Of Bones
5.) Dark Matter
6.) Frequency
7.) Ever
8.) The Wake
9.) Tales From The Lush Attic
10.) Are You Sitting Comfortably?
Love your ranking videos! I couldn't find one for Carptree, do you have it? If not, consider doing one for them, they are great!
I am a 50+ year old I have never heard of IQ even though I am a prog fan. UA-cam suggestion IQ 'Dark Matter' a month ago I listen and am blown away! Get a similar vibe as Porcupine Tree. I will have to listen to your favorites. A band I've been a fan of for ever is Gamalon. I'm sure you're familiar with them if not gotta check them out.
One of my favorite bands of all time, been a fan since 1995, own all albums and concerts.
My top 5 (not an easy task)
1) The Road of Bones
2) Ever
3) The Wake
4) Dark Matter
5) Subterranea
Hey Pete, love the content. I had a question on what you think of stone temple pilots. I know you dont like some grunge but I was just wondering your thoughtz
Not a fan, sorry.
Easy. Purple #1. It has the most Classic Rock feel to it. Core #2. A constant decline starting with Tiny Music.
It was amazing.
Oh how I love IQ... For what it's worth, my listing. Didn't include 7 into 98 but it would be near the bottom based on the cassette version included on the deluxe Lush.
1. The Wake
2. The Road of Bones (didn't see this as a concept. The second disk is optional and includes songs that didn't fit on the main album. BUY THE DELUXE EDITION though)
3. Tales from the Lush Attic. Too much history to be lower
4. Subterranean
5. Seventh House
6. Resistance (agree that the first two tracks drag down the initial impressions)
7. Ever
8. Frequency
9. Nomzamo
10. Dark Matter (Sorry, just doesn't grab me)
11. Are you sitting comfortably. (No hate for Menel who's great, the material just isn't "IQ")
Funny how all the key Prog Renaissance (love that term, hate neo Prog - never heard that until the late 90s) lost their lead singers - Marillion, Pallas, Twelfth night, and IQ...
Your list is about the same as mine. Other than a couple of weaker efforts in the late 80s and early 90s, IQ is very consistent.
Oooh somebody knows Twelfth Night! Favourite album?
@@ShinDSER "Fact and Fiction", but the "Live and Let Live" expanded edition on Bandcamp is awesome. Haven't got anything after "X"
@@michaelcottle6270 I have the 3CD edition of Fact and Fiction and I absolutely love it.
To me, the early 80s Neo bands all had three landmarks -- a "Warm-up" cassette, live album or EP followed by the proggy classic followed by a slightly poppier album (or at least one with shorter songs)... for Pallas, IQ, Twelfth Night, Pendragon and Marillion.
IQ is a band I need to listen to more. I've only listened to a handful of their albums so far and I've likely listened to The Seventh House the most, not to mention starting out with The Road of Bones. Still need to check out The Lush Attic and The Wake too.
And speaking of epics in debut albums, I do wonder what if Pallas got to release their 2CD version of The Sentinel as they originally intended.
I'm late but my list reads:
12. Are You Sitting Comfortably?
11. Nomzamo
10. Seven Stories into '98
9. Tales from the Lush Attic
8. The Wake
7. The Seventh House
6. Frequency
5. Resistance
4. Ever
3. Dark Matter
2. The Road of Bones
1. Subterranea
The reason "The Wake" appears so low on my list is Nichol's vocal's are too low in the mix. The song-writing is not as strong as the other releases but the music is very good. Martin Orford shines on this one. Mike Holmes channels Steve Rothery and Steve Hackett with finesse without being derivative. The drums are there, but buried deep in the mix. Otherwise it's brilliant! For it to be so low testifies to the strength of the remainder of the catalog. This catalog is so good "The Wake" will fluctuate into the top five on any given day--but not today.
One of my all time favourite bands. I even like the Menal Years.
IQ do not have one bad album. Not one.
The movie you're talking about is "Quest for Fire" from 1981.
I'm definitely a fan of the darker stuff, because Dark Matter and Road Of Bones are my top 2 IQ albums. Dark Matter probably even ranks in the top 10 Prog albums of all time for me. It has a beautiful dark atmosphere with gorgeous melodies and it just sucks you in and doesn't let go. Side note: if you want to get the full double whammy dark experience, listen to Road Of Bones and then follow it up with Mostly Autumn's Dressed In Voices, which is a concept album from the perspective of a person murdered in the street.
Resistance is also Dark
They are worth making the effort to see live. Still have fond memories of watching them play in pubs in and around Guildford before they got 'famous'. Also, I'm fairly sure that Martin got disillusioned with the whole music industry and decided he didn't want to be involved in it any more. Really sad when he left but they carried on strongly, which was great.
Wait Im so confused he's holding up Tales (the omega godtier one by this band) and talking about it like he's talking about The Wake lol
I can't tell which album he's praising ffs lmao
This video caused me to buy IQ's Entire Catalog and some super pricy DVDs. Damn you Pete. Was not much into Post 1980 Neo Prog at all, but thanks to you I have about 3 dozen new Bands I love in this and the Prog Metal Genre.
The only two IQ I hate are Are You Sitting Comfortably and Nomzamo. Both were intentionally radio friendly and neither had Peter Nicholls. They improved instantly when Nicholls re-joined. They've never looked back, despite line-up changes. I've seen IQ live many many times since mid 80's, they never fail to deliver.
I love war heroes absolutely brilliant
Tales is still my favorite IQ album. Primo compositions and arrangements.
yes i have iq subterranea on vinyl masterpiece --your review is a masterpiece to thank you both
Full disclosure - I occasionally do merch for IQ,
That was a really interesting discussion, I appreciate the effort and thought that went into it. Loved the way Subterranea ended up top of one your lists and near the bottom of the others’, it is quite a divisive album and for a long time I described it as my least favourite, not because I disliked it but because it was exactly that.
There were a couple of things I just wanted to clarify because they jumped out at me...someone else upthread did mention that Wurensh is an anagram of New Rush, it was a working title that stuck because it sounded like...you guessed it...
You’re completely accurate in saying that without Genesis, there would be no IQ...Mike and Peter met in a queue for Genesis tickets. Possibly the archetypal Prog meetcute.
The Road of Bones is NOT a concept album. The title song is about a serial killer but none of the others on disc 1 are. If I recall correctly, when the album came out, people started talking about it as a concept album and the band were quite surprised that it was taken as such. Admittedly, it is relentlessly dark and that’s where the concept lies, in the sound rather than the theme.
The logos are not throwaway. It is a deliberate decision to have a different one for each album and some measure of thought goes into each and every one.
John Jowitt is indeed a splendid fellow and gets around a bit - in a Prog way - but I’m fairly certain he’s never played in Threshold or the other band mentioned, I can’t remember now which. He did play in Ark, Jadis, Arena, Neo, Frost* and probably several more that escape me.
Now I have to do a complete relisten in order of release starting tomorrow, I’m blaming you guys!
Thank you for your insight and quite correct corrections. Very much appreciated Jane.
1_ Subterranea
2_ Ever
3_ Road of bones
4_ Dark matter
5_ Frequency
6_ Seventh house
7_ The wake
8_ Tales from the ash attic
9_Seventh stories into 8
10_ Resistance
...
11_Nomzamo
12_Are you sitting comfortably?
I admit I don't know all of their catalogue but Frequency is definitely a must have album.