The Tangent
Encyclopedia
Formation
Originally formed by keyboardists Andy TillisonAndy Tillison
Andy Tillison is a British keyboardist and singer best known for his work in the progressive rock bands Parallel or 90 Degrees and The Tangent.-Biography:...
and Sam Baine of Parallel or 90 Degrees and The Flower Kings
The Flower Kings
The Flower Kings are a Swedish progressive rock group. Formed in August 1994 by veteran guitarist Roine Stolt as a touring band to support his solo album The Flower King, the band stayed together after the tour and have gone on to become one of the most prolific studio recording units in rock music...
guitarist Roine Stolt
Roine Stolt
Roine Stolt is a Swedish guitarist, vocalist and composer.A major figure in Sweden's rock history, guitarist/singer/composer Roine Stolt led two of his country's most successful progressive rock bands: Kaipa in the 1970s and The Flower Kings in the 1990s onward...
, bassist Jonas Reingold
Jonas Reingold
Jonas Reingold is a bass guitar player from Malmö, Sweden. He started to play bass in 1986 when he subbed for a friend in the local famous act WIRE. The band was happy with his performance and offered him the spot...
, and drummer Zoltan Csörsz
Zoltan Csörsz
Zoltan Csörsz is a Hungarian drummer who is most well known as the current drummer with the progressive rock band The Flower Kings.- Biography :...
. The septet was completed by renowned saxophonist David Jackson
David Jackson (rock musician)
David Nicholas George Jackson , nicknamed Jaxon, is a British progressive rock saxophonist, flautist, and composer. He is best known for his work with the band Van der Graaf Generator and his work in Music and Disability...
of Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester. They were the first act signed to Charisma Records. The band achieved considerable success in Italy during the 1970s...
and multi-instrumentalist Guy Manning
Guy Manning
Guy Manning is an English multi-instrumentalist and singer, best known for his own album work and for his membership of progressive rock bands Parallel or 90 Degrees, The Tangent and his own, Manning.-Biography:...
.
The Tangent has an improbable history and numerous changes in personnel. In May 1999, Andy Tillison and Sam Baine's band Parallel or 90 Degrees performed a Classic Rock Society
Classic Rock Society
Classic Rock Society, also known as the CRS, began life in 1991, originally as a society founded in Rotherham, England at the Florence Nightingale public house, which quickly progressed to become a large and well recognised organisation helping to forward the cause of Progressive rock, and Classic...
gig at Rotherham supporting Swedish band The Flower Kings. Neither band had heard of the other.
While writing the next Parallel or 90 Degrees album, More Exotic Ways To Die, Tillison began to filter out certain ideas that were more overtly "prog" in nature and pass them over to what he called a "solo album". Inspired by the Flower Kings albums he was now listening to on an hourly basis, he decided to separate his "prog" from his rock, and the result was a Parallel or 90 Degrees album stripped of much of the flowery style of progressive music which suited that band's cause well.
This 'left over' music was put to one side until Tillison had a row with Flower Kings crew member Ian Oakley. "I made the fatal mistake of slagging Po90 off in a review of that first concert the bands played together," remembers Oakley. "I was obviously reviewing the Flower Kings, and I'd not in honesty paid that much attention to Po90's set. I guess what I wrote must have looked a bit dismissive, just a couple of lines about them. I got this mail from Andy that tore me to bits. I wrote back and told him it was the actually the very first review I'd ever written. He wrote back to me and apologised, we started to talk a lot about prog music, discovered we had a lot in common, and he sent me this CD of demos he'd been sitting on. Suffice to say I am now the Tangent's manager..."
Oakley sent Tillison's demo to Roine Stolt of the Flower Kings. Stolt liked it, offered to play on it, invited Jonas Reingold and Zoltan Csorsz to help out on drums and bass and suggested adding a saxophonist. Tillison happened to know David Jackson's telephone number.
The resulting album, The Music That Died Alone
The Music That Died Alone
The Music That Died Alone is the debut studio album released by the progressive rock group The Tangent.-Track listing:#"In Darkest Dreams" – 20:06##"Prelude - Time for You" – 2:26##"Night Terrors" – 3:26##"The Midnight Watershed" – 3:03...
, was welcomed by the progressive rock community and the band won 'Best newcomer', 'Best artwork', 'Best debut' and 'Album of the year' in nearly every worldwide progressive rock poll. Each subsequent album has achieved similar acclaim.
Subsequent albums
Though the original line-up has changed significantly, Tillison remains the driving force behind the band, and they have of late branched out from the usual symphonic prog format to include jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, Canterbury scene
Canterbury Scene
The Canterbury scene is a term used to loosely describe the group of progressive rock, avant-garde and jazz musicians, many of whom were based around the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
, electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, and a variety of other styles.
For early 2007, The Tangent released a double live CD and DVD on InsideOut Records, "Going Off On One". The material was taken from recordings of their recent UK shows and some of the ROSfest US recordings. The album features music from all three studio albums. The line up for the band featured Swedes Jonas Reingold, Krister Jonsson and Jaime Salazar and Brits Andy Tillison, Sam Baine and Theo Travis on all tracks and Guy Manning on the UK based tracks.
In 2007 a new variant line up of The Tangent was started: a trio consisting of Jonas Reingold, Andy Tillison and Jaime Salazar. Their live shows will be advertised and promoted as "The Tangent presents: Tillison, Reingold, & Salazar" and will feature new music, familiar Tangent favorites in a new arrangement, and - although no details are given - the trio are planning a full performance of a "major, well loved progressive rock classic". This could also be accompanied by a limited independent band release of a new studio version of said "progressive rock classic".
Early 2008 saw the next full blown Tangent album Not as Good as the Book released (on Insideout), featuring new guitarist Jakko Jakszyk. However, for a series of live dates in Europe in Spring 2008, the band performed as a quartet with Andy Tillison, Jonas Reingold, Jaime Salazar and the return of guitarist Krister Jonsson. Jaksyzyk and Theo Travis guested with the band on selected dates.
The Tangent + Beardfish union
A new statement issued by Andy Tillison on the Tangent Email Forum on June 30, 2008 gives the information that The Tangent will not work with the Malmö based trio (Jonsson, Reingold, Salazar) for the next tours/records. The replacement musicians will be the four members of SwedishSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
progressive rock band Beardfish
Beardfish (band)
Beardfish is a Swedish progressive rock band formed in 2001. Their style resembles progressive rock bands from the 1970s, such as Yes and Genesis. The band was signed by InsideOut Music after releasing two albums independently; they have since released three more albums.In 2008, the band toured...
. Tillison also stated that both bands "will continue to exist, record and perform in their own right" and that the "lineup will still be variable at concerts depending on location, budget etc." This makes The Tangent being now an 8-piece band, something completely new to them.
This happened to be as The Tangent met Beardfish in their last tour together. Tillison was invited to guest in one of Beardfish performances and felt the need to work with them. At that time (and prior to that), Reingold "couldn't see a development within the band", this fact culminating with his (and the other two Swedish members) leaving the band, which was confirmed by recent statements made by him. Rikard Sjöblom from Beardfish also made statements confirming the new union band.
The new line-up debuted by headlining at the UK's Summer's End festival in September 2008
Down and Out in Paris and London
Due to the busy schedule of Beardfish, their collaboration with The Tangent had to be suspended and yet another lineup change was required for the recording of the fifth studio album, Down and Out in Paris and LondonDown and Out in Paris and London (album)
Down and Out in PARIS and LONDON is the fifth studio album released by progressive rock group The Tangent. This is the band's first album to feature a 100% British lineup...
. In addition, guitarist Jakko Jakszyk had decided to leave the band after the union with Beardfish.
The new lineup has seen the addition of drummer Paul Burgess and bass player Jonathan Barrett. While waiting to decide on a new guitarist, all the electric guitar parts in the album have been played by Andy Tillison.
COMM and the Departure of Jonathan Barrett
In September of 2011, The Tangent released their album COMM, which received a positive reaction from fans and critics. The lineup featured on this album is Andy Tillison (keyboards, vocals), Theo Travis (flute, saxophone), Jonathan Barrett (bass, vocals, lead vocals on Shoot Them Down), Luke Machin (guitar, vocals), and Nick Rickwood (drums).In October of 2011, bassist Jonathan Barrett announced his departure from the band due to a number of personal reasons, along with his frustration that fans were downloading The Tangent's music illegally on the internet. Soon afterwards, Dan Mash (bassist for Luke Machin's band Concrete Lake) was announced as the new bassist for The Tangent.
Live performances
Since 2003 the band in its various forms has played concerts and festivals in the US, UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and France.Cover art
The band had much of their cover art done by artist Ed Unitsky, who worked closely with the band when designing their album artwork. Ed has completed five album covers for The Tangent.Cover artwork for the album Not as Good as the Book (2008)
Not as Good as the Book
Not as Good as the Book is the fourth studio album released by progressive rock group The Tangent. The Special Edition of the album includes a 100-page novella by Andy Tillison with illustrations by Antoine Ettori.-Disc one - A Crisis in Mid-Life:...
was created by French artist Antoine Ettori, for Down and Out in Paris and London (2009)
Down and Out in Paris and London (album)
Down and Out in PARIS and LONDON is the fifth studio album released by progressive rock group The Tangent. This is the band's first album to feature a 100% British lineup...
by mbl graphics.
Current members
- Andy TillisonAndy TillisonAndy Tillison is a British keyboardist and singer best known for his work in the progressive rock bands Parallel or 90 Degrees and The Tangent.-Biography:...
(keyboards, guitars, vocals) - Luke Machin (guitar, vocals)
- Tony "Funkytoe" Latham (drums)
- Dan Mash (bass guitar, vocals)
- Theo TravisTheo TravisTheo Travis is a British saxophonist and flautist.Travis received his degree in flute and saxophone from the University of Manchester and has worked among others with Robert Fripp, Gong, Porcupine Tree, The Tangent, Bill Nelson, Bass Communion, No-Man, Steven Wilson, David Sylvian, Harold Budd,...
(saxophone, flute)
Former members
- Roine StoltRoine StoltRoine Stolt is a Swedish guitarist, vocalist and composer.A major figure in Sweden's rock history, guitarist/singer/composer Roine Stolt led two of his country's most successful progressive rock bands: Kaipa in the 1970s and The Flower Kings in the 1990s onward...
(guitars, vocals) - David JacksonDavid Jackson (rock musician)David Nicholas George Jackson , nicknamed Jaxon, is a British progressive rock saxophonist, flautist, and composer. He is best known for his work with the band Van der Graaf Generator and his work in Music and Disability...
(saxophone, flute) - Sam Baine (keyboards, piano, vocals)
- Zoltan CsörszZoltan CsörszZoltan Csörsz is a Hungarian drummer who is most well known as the current drummer with the progressive rock band The Flower Kings.- Biography :...
(drums) - Krister Jonsson (guitars)
- Jonas ReingoldJonas ReingoldJonas Reingold is a bass guitar player from Malmö, Sweden. He started to play bass in 1986 when he subbed for a friend in the local famous act WIRE. The band was happy with his performance and offered him the spot...
(bass guitar) - Jaime SalazarJaime SalazarJaime Salazar is a Mexican football midfielder who played for Mexico in the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Club Necaxa.-External links:*...
(drums) - Rikard Sjöblom (keyboards, vocals)
- David Zackrisson (guitars)
- Robert Hansen (bass guitar)
- Magnus Östgren (drums)
- Jakko JakszykJakko JakszykJakko M. Jakszyk is an English guitarist, singer-songwriter , multi-instrumentalist and producer...
(guitars) - Guy ManningGuy ManningGuy Manning is an English multi-instrumentalist and singer, best known for his own album work and for his membership of progressive rock bands Parallel or 90 Degrees, The Tangent and his own, Manning.-Biography:...
(acoustic guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, keyboards, vocals) - Michael Gilbourne (drums)
- Jonathan Barrett (bass guitar, vocals)
Studio albums
- The Music That Died AloneThe Music That Died AloneThe Music That Died Alone is the debut studio album released by the progressive rock group The Tangent.-Track listing:#"In Darkest Dreams" – 20:06##"Prelude - Time for You" – 2:26##"Night Terrors" – 3:26##"The Midnight Watershed" – 3:03...
(2003) - The World That We Drive ThroughThe World That We Drive ThroughThe World That We Drive Through is the second studio album released by the progressive rock group The Tangent. This album also marks the first appearance of Theo Travis in the band's lineup....
(2004) - A Place in the QueueA Place in the QueueA Place in the Queue is the third studio album released by the progressive rock group The Tangent. This is the band's first album not to include guitarist Roine Stolt and drummer Zoltan Csörsz.-Track listing:...
(2006) - Not as Good as the BookNot as Good as the BookNot as Good as the Book is the fourth studio album released by progressive rock group The Tangent. The Special Edition of the album includes a 100-page novella by Andy Tillison with illustrations by Antoine Ettori.-Disc one - A Crisis in Mid-Life:...
(2008) - Down and Out in Paris and LondonDown and Out in Paris and London (album)Down and Out in PARIS and LONDON is the fifth studio album released by progressive rock group The Tangent. This is the band's first album to feature a 100% British lineup...
(2009) - A Place On The Shelf (2010)
- COMMCommThe comm command in the Unix family of computer operating systems is a utility that is used to compare two files for common and distinct lines. comm is specified in the POSIX standard. It has been widely available on Unix-like operating systems since the mid to late 1980s.-Usage:comm reads two...
(2011)
Live albums
- Pyramids and StarsPyramids and StarsPyramids and Stars is the third album, and first live recording, released by the progressive rock group The Tangent.-Track listing:#"The World We Drive Through" – 14:46#"The Canterbury Sequence" – 9:15#"The Winning Game" – 12:15...
(2005) - Going Off On OneGoing Off On OneGoing Off on One is the second live album released by the international progressive rock group The Tangent. It was released as a double CD/single DVD format , but also as a limited special edition, containing both CDs and the DVD, plus a deluxe digipack cover with enhanced artwork and extended...
(2007) - Going Off On Two (2011)