IQ
EVER GIANT ELECTRIC PEA New vinyl release for neo-proggers’ early-90s creative rebirth.
When IQ look back on their 1993 album Ever, they’d be forgiven for wincing. Not at the album, but at the events preceding it. They parted company with Phonogram at the turn of the decade despite two very tidy albums – 1987’s Nomzamo and 1989’s Are You Sitting Comfortably? – and with founding bassist Tim Esau and vocalist Paul Menel taking their leave, prospects were bleak. Although IQ were boosted by original singer Peter Nicholls rejoining, tragedy then struck from several directions when new bassist Les Marshall died suddenly and Nicholls’ and Mike Holmes’ fathers both passed away around that time.