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| IQ - IQ20-The Twentieth Anniversary Show |
 Released: 2004 Label: GEP Cat. No.: GEPDVD9002 Total Time: 230:00+ | |
Reviewed by: Marcel Haster, July 2005 A belated birthday present, but then the belated meaning three years too late. That is what you could call the latest live DVD by British prog heroes IQ. Recorded at the legendary Mean Fiddler in London in 2001, they celebrate their 20 years of prog-nonsense, as they call it. A quick count will tell you they spent three years working on the DVD … but it is totally worth it! In 2002 they released their first DVD, the Subterranea - The Concert, which was great, but I still find the 5.1 mix questionable. Well, hang on to your seats because the audio on this DVD is fantastic! Of course the video is equally good and disc one offers an amazing show, with a varied setlist. The choice of tracks forms a nice anthology on the 20 years they have been around. From Tales From The Lush Attic (1983) up to The Seventh House (2000), their highlights are brought to you with skill and lots of enthusiasm. The visual aspect has always been very important to IQ and that is again evident in the show: not only did Peter Nicholls paint his face, bringing back visions of the early days of Peter Gabriel and Fish, also the huge video screen on stage plays an important role. I particularly like the camera positions the band has used to give you a good and close look at the stage and the musicians. Especially during solos that is nice. The 5.1 mix is excellent and the menu of the DVD is clear and easy. As I mentioned, I do have some comments on the Subterranea DVD, but here they improved a lot. The three years of work on this release definitely paid off, as this is a must have document of one of the absolute best prog rock bands this world knows. Every song sounds perfect. I honestly admit I am not too familiar with the older work of IQ, but what I hear here, songs like "The Thousand Days/The Magic Roundabout," from Ever (1985) or "Just Changing Hands," from Tales From The Lush Attic (1983), sound fantastic. The humour pops up when the band plays the theme from the kids puppet show "Postman Pat," just before "The Seventh House." "Headlong" is a memorable song, as it was never played live with the original bass player, Tim Esau. He is one of the two guests on the show, the other being saxophone player Tony Wright. With almost 2 hours, disc one offers plenty to enjoy. But the fun does not stop there! Disc 2 contains loads of bonus material. First of all, the encores: 4 songs, also available in the same 5.1 mix, including a Paul McCartney Cover, "Jet" and the Osmonds cover "Crazy Horses." Then three songs by none other than The Lens (IQ minus singer in hilarious outfits), who acted as support of IQ on the occasion. I have to say The Lens sounds pretty amazing! Last but not least they added a last bonus song: "Mamma Mia/Out Of Nowhere," which they performed in the Netherlands in 2004; this the only song that is not in 5.1, but still great they added this Abba part :). The rest of disc two is filled with stuff like a photo gallery, a tour diary and some behind the scenes stuff. The last thing to mention is the “Cookie Cam," a camera placed below drummer Paul Cook, where you can watch him play his parts from up close. These two lavishly filled discs are wrapped in a luxurious slipcase, with inside a summary of the history of this incredible band. OK, what else can I say? If you have Subterranea, you still should get this DVD, as it only contains a few songs of this album, so it complements the other DVD nicely. If you don’t have the Subterranea DVD, you still should get this one, as it is a fantastic document of one of the most important prog bands around. It is hard to believe they are around for already 23 years! Sad to see Paul Cook leave the band, but hopefully the new drummer, Andy Edwards, will fill his place with honour and success and hopefully IQ will be around for many more years! Rating: 5/5 More about IQ20-The Twentieth Anniversary Show: Track Listing: Disc One: Awake and Nervous / The Thousand Days/The Magic Roundabout / Erosion / State Of Mine/Leap Of Faith/Came Down / The Seventh House / The Narrow Margin (Middle Section) / Human Nature / Capricorn / Just Changing Hands / Guiding Light / Headlong / The Last Human Gateway Musicians: Contact: Website: www.gep.co.uk/iq Discography
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