In 1993 a rejuvenated and reformed IQ returned with the wonderful ‘Ever’, a statement album which declared to the world that they were truly back where they belonged. Peter Nicholls had come back to the fold alongside Michael Holmes, Martin Orford and Paul Cook and with ex-Ark bassist John Jowitt completing the line-up they released a series of stunning albums up to and including 2004’s ‘Dark Matter’. However, all was not well within the IQ ranks, and by the time of the next album, 2009’s ‘Frequency’, both Martin and Paul Cook, both of whom had played on every IQ release, were no longer in the band, their places taken by Mark Westworth and Andy Edwards. There were more significant shifts before the next album, 2014’s ‘The Road of Bones’, with original bassist Tim Esau and drummer Paul Cook both returning, and new keyboard player Neil Durant (ex-Sphere). This meant that 4/5 of the line-up which recorded 1983’s ‘Tales From The Lush Attic’ were now in the band, since when they have also released the incredible ‘Resistance’ and ‘Dominion’.
This change in line-up and approach means that in many ways, ‘Frequency’ is something of an outlier. Certainly, it is the studio album I play least, and I am sure I am not the only IQ fan saying that. I am sure it was this feeling of music never being given the attention it deserves which inspired the current line-up to play ‘Frequency’ in its entirety in Poland on October 3rd last year, even though only Michael and Peter performed on the original. ‘Riding The Frequency’ is just that, the complete album played in order, and this release contains no other tracks at all.
I have been reviewing IQ for more than 30 years, while I first saw them play more than 40 years back, and I have always loved them, but this does not work for me as well as it could. The performances from everyone are as good as one would expect, but I never truly connected with the original album, and that has carried through for me into this. According to PA, ‘Frequency’ is currently rated as 4.11/5, so a great score by anyone’s standards, and is currently ranked #11 on the 2009 charts, so there are a lot of people out there who love it, it is just that for me it is the album of theirs I enjoy least. Music is all about personal taste and it would be unfair of me to give this a poor rating as the guys are on top form, as always, with Cookie all over the place, Tim adding his additional musicality and finesse, Neil truly demonstrating why he has made the position his own, Michael providing his flourishes of brilliance and Peter being Peter, the ultimate singer and frontman. This may not be my preferred IQ live album, but all power to them for revisiting the original and giving it a fresh airing.
