Customer Reviews

Are You Sitting Comfortably

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

IQ is one of the best post-70s progressive rock bands; if you like Genesis and Yes, you'll like IQ.

And "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" is a worthy addition to their catalogue. For starters, it's got 2 extended, kick-*ss prog tracks: the brooding, then exhilarating Nostalgia/Falling Apart at the Seams (clocking in at over 10 minutes) and the driving, multi-part suite Wurensh (9:37). War Heroes (6:26) is another atmospheric track similar to mid-period Genesis.

Then it's got the fun prog pop of Drive On and the romantic Through My Fingers. The only two weak tracks are the overly simplistic Sold On You and the forgettable Nothing At All.

Add in great production from Terry Brown of Rush fame, and you've got an excellent IQ album.

The album is usually underrated by IQ fans, but I feel it's better than Nomzamo (too commercial), Tales From the Lush Attic (poorly produced) and even The Seventh House (poorly written - I swear I can't remember a melody from that album!)

If you like post-70s prog, in particular mid-period Genesis and 80s Yes, you'll enjoy this album.

The IQ story is a strange one. One would have thought that if the band was going to be picked up by a major label that it would have happened after "The Wake". Instead the band changes lead singers, put out the moderately received "Nomzamo" album, and then get picked up by a major. However it happened, apparently IQ had made enough of a splash for PolyGram to take a shot at them for this album. Unfortunately record company pressure to have a "hit" would plague much of the material on this disc. The album is an obvious attempt at a more commercial sound and radio airplay. The album was produced by Terry Brown, best known for his work with Rush. Paul Menel is still on the vocal mike for this one along with the rest of the original band. To my ears this is IQ's weakest album. That being said I don't think IQ has ever made what I would consider a bad album, and there is some good stuff to be found here. The two long proggy tracks are both good ones with "Nostalgia / Falling Apart At the Seams" being the highlight. The other one "Wunensh" is good, but pales in comparison to some of the epics on other IQ discs. Of the shorter songs the opener "War Heroes" is great, and although it may be the most commercial song IQ has ever done, whenever I listen to "Sold On You' I can't get the chorus out of my head for days. The rest of the album is pretty weak. It is my least favorite IQ disc, but about half of it is worth a listen. Of the two Paul Menel albums I think that "Nomzamo" is by far the best.

This CD is an excellent sample of the high quality music IQ makes. It has all, excellent lyrics and the instrumentals are phenomenal. I recommend it very much.

I love IQ music. I have been a fan since 1990, when working for a record label I got a Polygram Promo CD with two IQ songs from the Nomzano CD. Then this CD came out next and I loved it. The coolest thing I did with this CD was back when you could have electronics on planes while taking off, I would start this CD the second the plane started to move for take off on the runway. With its driving starting beat to when start of the full music was exactly the same amount of time it took for the plane to start to leave the ground, it was very exhilarating.

The producer of this CD is the one and only Terry Brown from Rush fame.

As other reviewers have alluded to, a release leaning much closer to pop sentiment than progressive, with Paul Menel's vocals considerably weaker than Peter Nicholl's, and song construction far less complex and satisfying than on later albums.

To my ears, the music on this CD is evocative of "Songs From the Big Chair" era Tears For Fears, and indeed, Paul Menel sounds a LOT like Roland Orzabal, although Orzabal's voice commands better pitch and timbre.

Some fine moments to be heard, granted, but if you're new to IQ definitely pass on this one and pick up "Subterranea", "Dark Matter", "The Seventh House" or "Frequency", any one of which are far, far superior to this CD.

Starting with War Heroes and Drive On , this is classic 80's prog when prog wasn't in fashion. Terry Brown of the Rush fame does a great job capturing IQ at their finest. Nostalgia and Falling apart at the Seams are classic prog as is Wurensh. There are some poppy tunes but these songs are way better than the mess on the radio at the time. I really like Sold on You and Nothing at All. All hail IQ. All hail IQ!!

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but AYSC is not in the same league as Seventh House. AYSC is an OK album. It does have two excellent long tracks, a couple of turkeys, and some in between. Polished production. This was a treading water album really. I suspect they might have split up, had Menel not left to allow Nichols to rejoin.