On 13th May 1985, IQ performed a concert at the Camden Palace in London, one of a series of rather strange afternoon concerts performed for the television series Live from London (a series that also included performances from Twelfth Night and I do believe, if I remember it right, Pallas, a series that wasn’t that great in terms of presentation and such, it eventually was broadcast in the early of the morning in some part of the UK). At the time of the recording IQ had just completed The Wake, an album released in June 1985 and now, as this press release that comes with this reissue of the live album rightly states, an album regarded as a true classic of 80s Progressive Rock. The Wake was IQ are their cutting edge best, and this performance, although a long way from them at their very very best at that time – you really needed to catch them on home turf in a dark sweaty packed and bouncing Marquee for that rather than this relatively cold yet still rather good early afternoon performance at Camden Palace.
The Wake, as well as the previous album, Tales From A Lush Actic and what IQ were doing back there in the early 80s was a lot more than just another part of the admittedly rather brilliant rather underground DIY Prog Rock scene that really was buzzing at the time, IQ always had something a little more, they were a touch more than just one of those Prog bands to pigeonhole over there
“Featuring a line-up of Peter Nicholls (vocals), Mike Holmes (guitars), Tim Esau (bass), Martin Orford (keyboards) and Paul Cook (drums), the band’s live set for this album included powerful renditions of material from The Wake, along with other early IQ classics. This new CD/Blu-ray release features a new mix of the performance from the original 24-track master tapes, along with a restored video master of this fine performance on a region free Blu-Ray video disc”.
IQ were a regular part of early editions of Organ, a big part of the reason why we started all this in the first place and this live album did originally come out back there in the 80s, a vinyl album and a separate VHS release of the concert footage, and it probably has been re-issued before? This is a full remastered re-issue though. Not sure how involved the band are in this version? Do we see sleeve notes from Pete Nicholls as well as some commentary and background from music writer Steve Pilkington – although I am once again going to take issue with the Neo Prog tag here, that was something awfully watered down that really properly came along a little later, no this isn’t Neo Prog and this wasn’t the Neo Prog scene, that was later, that was bloody awful! This music had life, attitude, a cutting edge, the scene was dangerously good back there, everything that the later to emerge way-too-polite and rather limited and totally unprogressive Neo Prog scene simply wasn’t (and still bloody well isn’t). This early 80s scene spearheaded by IQ, Twelfth Night, Pallas and a lean Marillion was something very very special, it happened without permission, it was fuelled by self-released cassette albums sold by hand at gigs alongside the handmade zines, the word of mouth, the tape trading and the DIY gigs and yes that is where Organ originally came from, yes we were there writing about it, we were sometimes putting the gigs on (and yes early issues of Organ did have a comic strip called Wiggle, you know where we go that from!).
Talking of zines and underground gig promoters, yes that is the much loved, much missed Grob of Urban Guerilla zine fame and lots more besides dancing and headbanging like a idiot at the front of the crowd on the video, those days of the Marquee Choral Society were wonderful days, it was a big family of people it really was something. Nah, this was closer to punk rock than it was to that later thing that was boring Neo bloody Prog.
Not sure how directly involved IQ are with this re-issue, I certainly got the idea they had little or no control over the original release, it almost felt like a semi-bootleg at the time, something that weren’t that happy with back there. We’ve not been in touch with the band for years, we can’t ask them (we have tried) it does feel like this re-issue is a lot more sympathetic and far less let’s just make a quick buck out of it than the original release was. This version sounds like someone who really cares about the music has a hand in it, the mix sounds brighter, like the best has been coaxed out of the recordings. It sounds damn good (the artwork looks a little throwaway, a little put together at the last minute, shame about that, an album cover is important, especially a prog rock album cover)
IQ were always a little darker, all that sex, death and gardening over it all, and of course the Enemy Smacks isn’t here, that was way too dark for television back then, it probably still is. IQ had a clarity, a spareness to them back in those earlier days, there’s a darkness in those tunes as well as in the lyrics, melodies that were really English without ever being cheesy or twee back in the days of The Wake, Tales From The Lush Attic and the gloriously raw Seven Stories. IQ had a sparse early 80s almost gothic sound, something that almost touched on Post Punk and had as much in common with bands like This Heat or Killing Joke as it did with Rush or Genesis, they really should have been put alongside The Cure or XTC as much as they were put alongside Marillion or Twelfth Night. Their rich use of beautifully raw analogue synth and that almost indie guitar sound they married it all to made IQ rather unique at that point, there was an almost effortlessness to their sound, their melody were always absolutely glorious back there in those glorious early days. The start to The Thousand Days always sounded like The Smiths or maybe The Pretenders to these ears, I always thought IQ should have been exposed to and loved by a lot more than just the prog rock crowd who adored them, IQ were brilliant in those early 80s (they still made great albums now, slight older now and a little more restrained and polite now but this year’s Dominion is indeed a damn fine album)
Back there though, back there IQ always did feel slightly more JG Ballard than Thomas Hardy (or indeed Tolkien), there was a distinct lack of airey fairie nonsense that made them feel very contemporary back at the time, something that feels rather timeless now and although this album isn’t them at their very very best in terms of live performance – they were working under all kinds of constraints with this recording – it is still an excellent documentation of the cutting edge band IQ really were at that point and right now at the end of 2025, some 40 years later, this still sounds more than good. That special thing IQ were back there is still here in these recordings, no gardening over them yet, if you were there you’ll still want to see this, you’ll want to feel it again, IQ were a magical band back there, it was a wonderful scene, something very special. Yes, the live footage is rather flawed, the shoot uninspired, the lighting not great, there surely must be better footage around, but the recording, the live album, although not perfect, has that magic, that feeling, that euphoria that pulled us all together, this is why we cared so much about IQ back there, this was Organ fuel (sw)
The IQ: Live From London – Camden Palace 1985, CD/Blu-ray album is released via Cherry Red/Esoteric in January 2026, find order details here or find it via Burning Shed
Track list for both discs…
- Awake and Nervous
- Outer Limits
- It All Stops Here
- Just Changing Hands
- The Wake
- The Magic Roundabout
- Widow’s Peak
- The Thousand Days
- Corners
IQ are playing London this weekend, find them at Islington Assembly Hall on Saturday 20th December
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