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IQ - Seven Stories Into 98

Artist:	IQ
Title:	Seven Stories Into 98
Label:	GEP MIMP00000002
Length(s):	52+43m minutes
Year(s) of release:	1998
Month of review:	09/1998

Line up

Martin Orford - keyboards
Mike Holmes - guitars
Pete Nicholls - vocals
Paul Cook - drums
John Jowitt - bass on the first disc
Tim Esau - bass on the second disc

Tracks

Disc 1:

1)	Capital Letters (In Surgical Spirit Land)	3.49 (3.46)
2)	About Lake Five	5.27 (5.02)
3)	Intelligence Quotient	8.18 (6.55)
4)	For Christ's Sake	5.17 (5.05)
5)	Barbell Is In	4.54 (5.32)
6)	Fascination	7.03 (5.56)
7)	For The Taking	4.34 (4.17)
8)	It All Stops Here	7.53 (6.58)
9)	Eloko Bella Neechi	5.16

On disc 2 same songs with different lengths (as indicated) and without track 9.

Summary

Well finally it has arrived, but only as a fan club disc and to be sold directly from GP or during gigs (compare to Pallas' Arrive Alive). Anyways, it took a long time coming, but finally Seven Stories into 98 is available and never to collapse material, so hide away those tape copies and listen to how it all began. Included with this double disc is a booklet with lots of info and LYRICS. Ah, never to guess at the lyrics of It All Stops Here anymore.

On a more personal note: this is one of the band with which I can say to have nostalgic feelings (for most reviewers these go back to seeing The Wall or The Lamb live, but IQ was one of the first prog bands I got involved with (mostly with Are You Sitting... at the time. Later I heard their fan club bootleg Nine In A Pond Is Here on a bootlegged version and it features some of the songs on this disc, but sung by Paul Menel. Here is the old as well as a recorded version of the original tape. Coincidently, the release of this disc enabled me to obtain rather cheaply (for $4) an original tape from somebody. So good thing they did release this one.

The music

So the music then. The second disc contains the original demo, with far worse sound quality of course than the first disc which features the same music, but newly recorded, sometimes a little bit longer and including a track not found on the tape: Eloko Bella Neechi, never before recorded old song of the band. Capital Letters (in Surgical Spirit Land) starts it all off. The sound is rather jazzrockish with quite a lot of fiddling by Martin Orford. Later on the music becomes somewhat more powerful, but this is certainly a weird one. About Lake Five is a more melodic track with something of Fascination in it, but aside the rather often repeated jolly melody, there is also a dreamy Camel-like part. IQ is a more known track, from the fan club bootleg Nine In A Pond... The extended version of IQ starts with some Hackett-like acoustics as though to introduce the main reference. After the slow, melodic intro, the guitar solo makes its grand entree, with a majestic melody. Although the song is rather plodding, the guitar really fires it on. The lyrics are as always vague, but appealing. As often happened in these early IQ period, there are some repetitive and striking interludes that will not strike everybody as being rather straightforward and obvious. This contrasts with their later more songdirected approach. However in this track, these bouncy parts do seem to connect the musically more appealing passages. For Christ's Sake is a darling instrumental with quite a lot of speed (compared to the other tracks). At the end the song becomes almost anthemic and pleading in a way. Barbell Is In was released on single once. The song is slightly worldlike and might remind some of Peter Gabriel. A hard song to get into when I was junger, but now it reeks of familiarity. There are some rather strange parts in this one and there are quite a lot of lyrics to it. the song is not a very happy one, but there is a very poppy intermezzo. For The Taking could also have been one of Geoff Mann's ballads. This is a beautiful ballad (especially the part in which he is dying for her), but with very depressing lyrics. It All Stops Here is my fave among these songs. The version here however does't fire away as it does live. The rhythm section has really been revamped for this version as well as the keyboard sounds of the intro. The sound is in some way more concise, cut short even. The live version is always great and energetic, and this version also has the speed with the best part saved for last. The peaceful and after a while majestic ending is one of my favourite parts made by this band. A new one to my ears is Eloko Bella Neechi. A strange title for a mostly insutrmental track that has some of the qualities of the ending of Common Ground. After a long intro with mostly piano and keyboards, the guitar takes over and the plodding drumming of Cook is put on the foreground. After Nicholls recites his lyrics during a spacy interlude, a passage on acoustic guitar and the recurring of the electric guitar, the piano puts it all to rest.

A few words then on the second disc containing the historical recordings. The sound quality is of course not to be compared to the newly recorded version. I did not really dig into it to find the changed details, but on the whole we can safely say that the rendition on the first disc is also an updated, modernized one. Still, for the nostalgic among you, the guys have included the music and even though the quality maybe not so good, the songs are still there. With respect to lengths, most of the songs on the new disc are longer and in some case, I.Q., Fascination and It All Stops Here, quite significantly so. This might have something to do with the fact that they are most well-known and most often played live.

Conclusion

Not surprising that IQ hs become one of the most important prog bands of the moment. Already on this early tape there was a promise. There's still a lot of fiddling about, that would come to be become less on their "classic" first two albums, after which they evoluted (as some say devoluted) into something else. History and nostaliga, neatly packaged into one or should I say eight. Now, all that rests is to play this album while we wait for the next one containing other obtainable stuff such as Hollow Ground, and maybe they even will take the time to reliven all those covers the band used to play.