IQ
Tales from the lush attic 2013 remix

A masterful album containing a suite ("The last human gateway") worth an entire career!

"Tales from the lush attic" is the debut album of the British prog band IQ. Released in 1983, I take this opportunity to strongly recommend listening to and purchasing the 2013 boxed set remastered version, which, after 38 years, finally does justice to a masterpiece album originally released with poor audio quality due to the recording occurring in 1983 with very limited financial resources.

Someone doesn't know IQ and wants to start discovering them with this debut album? Perfect! The first track of the album is the best approach one could desire. "The last human gateway" is the most beautiful track in their discography as well as one of the most smooth and astonishing suites in the entire history of progressive rock! 20 minutes in which romantic passages, pressing rhythms, and instrumental virtuosity alternate. When Peter Nicholls delivers the opening lines: "across the plateau no cloud storm the sky…" one is left stunned by a voice so touching and so similar in delivery to that of Peter Gabriel!

Following is "Through the corridors", which is an excellent example of how to create prog in a track of only 2.35 minutes.

"Awake and nervous" (7.45 minutes) captivates with its magnetic keyboard intro guided by the skillful hands of Martin Orford. The track is a progressive ballad of elegant craftsmanship.

"My baby…" (a diminutive of the track's long and singular title) is a brief and elegant piano interlude with a purely classical stamp. It is a prelude to the monumental progressive finale that awaits us in the album's last track.

"The enemy smacks" is the definitive masterpiece of the album, establishing "Tales from the lush attic" as a milestone among new prog albums (and beyond). A frenetic keyboard intro is followed by an initially aggressive and then discursive electric guitar to introduce the verses sung to a metric that recalls the lines of "White Mountain" by Genesis in the album "Trespass." Then a stunning electric guitar interlude by the great Mike Holmes is followed by an acrobatic synth solo that preludes a dark moment where the lights dim, and everything stops except for the twilight and obsessive keyboards that provide a backdrop to a tormented and theatrical singing. What follows is a mad tangle of notes, another wonderful guitar solo, and a new theatrical organ moment where the singer stumbles through the effects of drugs on man (dressed in live concerts in a disturbing cloak and horror mask). So closes this marvelous album!

The 2013 remix version includes additional bonus tracks, original audio files and demos, a booklet rich with photos and stories about the genesis of the album, and a DVD where IQ performs the entire album live in 2011. A product that every prog fan must have in their collection!