Customer Reviews

Not As Good As The Book

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

 

 

Great, great, great!!! If you liked their past work "A place in the Queue", expect something more conceptual, more progressive, more inmmersive job. The masterpiece is divided in 2 Cd's, the first one is less conceptual segmented in small songs but linked together to make a cohesive work, maybe the last one form CD1 "Bat of Basildon" the less progressive work; but the the 2nd CD is a progressive, fusion, jazzy extravaganza, two great epics for about 20 mins each., a great job from Tillison and Co. Recommended if you're a prog. fan. 5 stars

While there may have been other bands that released an album package which included a novel written by one of its principals, I can't think of one. With the special edition of Tangent's new album Not As Good As The Book, that's exactly what happens. And while songwriter/musician/novelist Nick Cave has no reason to look over his shoulder, The Tangent has come up with a novel concept that could well be emulated by the literate polymath Cave in the future.
I've liked The Tangent's other work and so I pre-ordered this here and received it shortly after its release. Overall, I'm not as impressed as I was with the last one, but there is still a lot of "red meat" for the prog lover. Some prog lovers are into it only for the intricacies of the music. But with The Tangent, the lyrics are as important as the music. So, if you are going to enjoy the music as it is meant to be enjoyed, you should also pay attention to the lyrics. This is made easy by the inclusion of the lyrics in the handsome informational booklet that accompanies this set.
Though I pretty much enjoy the entire package, I reserve special admiration for the second disc. This is prog at its best. The two discs together give the listener ninety something minutes of music. The novelette, written by bandleader Andy Tillison, bears the same title as the album and is best enjoyed while listening to the album because of its frequent progressive rock references. You'll even catch a few allusions to earlier Tangent songs.
The uninitiated listener probably will not really understand what this music is about, but fans of The Tangent and other modern prog groups should eat it up.

I admit I am a Tangent fan. I got the special edition with the short story booklet and I can say this is a very very special project, recently i had a discussion with a friend regarding the stagnation and impossibility of evolution of prog, as its cemented in nostalgia. This is a concept album, but its not the usual prog concept with epic storyline or topics. For fans of Prog music with a certain knowledge of the genres history this will be a treat, the sci/fi short story/novel and the concept album feature many many references to prog music and the whole idea of nostalgia (the common glue binding the genre together) is handled in a very interesting and at times humorous way.
The main character (alter ego of tangent leader Andy Tillson) goes through a sort of midlife crisis as he recognizes that life is not the promised marvelous, colorful and bright future, but just grim, hence not as good as the book.

I admit I am a Tangent fan. I got the special edition with the short story booklet and I can say this is a very very special project, recently i had a discussion with a friend regarding the stagnation and impossibility of evolution of prog, as its cemented in nostalgia. This is a concept album, but its not the usual prog concept with epic storyline or topics. For fans of Prog music with a certain knowledge of the genres history this will be a treat, the sci/fi short story/novel and the concept album feature many many references to prog music and the whole idea of nostalgia (the common glue binding the genre together) is handled in a very interesting and at times humorous way.
The main character (alter ego of tangent leader Andy Tillson) goes through a sort of midlife crisis as he recognizes that life is not the promised marvelous, colorful and bright future, but just grim, hence not as good as the book.

This double disc is a worthy addition to any prog collection. Not original, they sound like a cross between The Flower Kings and Glass Hammer, but satisfying. It takes a great rhythm section and killer musicians to change time signatures, tempos, and moods without blinking an eye, and make it work so it doesn't sound cheesy. No problem for The Tangent and I especially like the jazzy passages. The new electric guitarist is tasty and his solo on "A Crisis in Mid-Life" burns. However, the weak link of this band, as it is for many prog bands, is the vocals. They are on key and in time, but I don't care for his tone. Disc one is 51 minutes in length and the songs average about 7 minutes. Disc two is 44 minutes and has two epics, both over 20 minutes long. Overall, everything is solid but the last two songs on disc one.

Just got this in the mail today, and I already listened to it twice. Both discs have a very good flow to them. I did not hear any song that I would ever skip. If you like their past albums you will definitely love this one too! It has everything.