IQ’s The Wake is an album I’ve been meaning to get my hands on for a few years after being repeatedly told it’s a 1980s stone cold prog rock classic. Finally got around to buying it a few days ago and with one exception it is indeed a classic.
Lush progressive rock with a strong symphonic element. Delicately composed strong songs, lashings of keys, moogs and other assorted synths, sweeping guitar washes, complex bass lines and crisp drumming all making an expansive and atmospheric listen which is slightly dark too.
Now you’re wondering perhaps what the exception is……it’s the vocals. Poor old Pete Nicholls couldn’t make or hold a tune. He puts in here one of the worst vocal performances you’re likely to hear anywhere. He left IQ shortly after The Wake though returned a few years later.
Whilst the vocals do detract a bit from the overall album I can get past it and enjoy listening to The Wake as the musically it’s so good. Particularly Martin Orford’s extensive and varied keys and synths giving proceedings a sharp, neo-progressive edge.
Outer Limits – the opener – begins with a simple bass note before being joined by some jangling keys as the song slowly builds up in a fine, jaunty affair with well-judged changes of pace and back again ultimately leading to an excellent extended fade out of tasteful guitar and keyboard interplay finally ending with the bass note it started with.
The title track is a bit gentler and catchy leading in to The Magic Roundabout – a glorious eight minutes which, like Outer Limits, builds up sweeping this way and that with more of the excellent, varied leys from Orford and expressive guitar from Mike Holmes. Glorious.
Corners goes somewhere different. A stuttering jaunty clip driven by the rhythmic, repeated drum pattern and spooky keys giving it a strangely ethereal feel and guitar which sounds much like a sitar.
The closing trio of Widow’s Peak, The Thousand Days and Headlong are individually and collectively immense. They stand up against any other neo-prog you’d care to mention. So expertly composed, musically sublime bringing in a bit of everything.
Headlong being for me the best of the three with the somewhat sad, emotional beginning brooding along then giving way to the good stuff twisting this way and that as the pace changes and an excellent, lush and atmospheric fade out with even more of that wonderful Orford, Holmes interplay throughout.
Have a listen to Headlong:
The Wake is approaching forty years since initial release. It sounds fresh now as it must have on original release back in 1985. A stronger vocal would have pushed it up a notch – but even so it is a superb album of neo-progressive style rock. Make no mistake. Various formats available.