ProgRock Records, 27th January 2009

With a limited budget, a one-of-a-kind sound and about as much support as an ice skater on water, commercial success was never in the cards for Parallel Or 90 Degrees. They kept on trucking, though, the English ensemble leaving approximately five and a half albums in their wake prior to going on indefinite hiatus. Band-leader Andy Tillison (vox and keys) along with Sam Baine (also on keys) have since gone on to form renowned prog rock group The Tangent, whose debut album, according to Tillison, managed to outsell Parallel or 90 Degrees' entire back-catalogue in under a month. Ouch. A Can of Worms is a best-of album that chronicles Po90's career from 1996 through 2002,

We start with 2001's "A Man of Thin Air". At just over five minutes, it is the album's shortest cut, and it is a groovy one. The vocals are delivered in a sort of cool, laid back fashion, and the use of keys--the band featuring spacy electro-synths as well as hammond organ both separately and simultaneously throughout this song--is quite inventive. A wild guitar solo towards the end is followed by more dual keyboard goodness, the song coming to an end that is as abrasive as it is abrupt. Next up is "The Single" from 1998, another good, albeit more typically prog, tune. It has a spoken word part where Tillison takes on the persona of a radio station executive, proclaiming "we don't want a ten-minute song when two will do just fine". Very apropos, his statement leads right into a section that eats up somewhere near two minutes before kicking back in with the chorus.

The remaining tracks on disc one--on which there is still more than an hour's worth of music left--are almost exclusively epics. The one exception is "Modern", a song recorded back in '91. With its lack of keyboards, more aggressive vocal approach and considerably less crisp production, it is nowhere near as polished as the rest of the material. Still, it is an intriguing peek into the past. 

For a peek into a future never quite realized, there is disc 2. The b-sides and rarities disc begins with a 28-minute composition, but its biggest draw is the tracks from the as-of-yet unreleased Po90 album "A Kick in the Teeth". "Four Egos, One War"--which can be found covered on The Tangent's 2008 release, Not as Good as the Book--is here in its original form, while "Fadge" and the title track see a more sinister and ferocious Po90 embrace alternative and punk rock elements. It works surprisingly well; it would be interesting to see them build on this sound if they were to resume band activities.

Best-of albums are often criticised. Sometimes with good reason. A Can of Worms is obviously not an attempt at making a quick buck, however, and it is actually a rather welcome release. Po90 had good ideas, and they executed them efficiently, drawing on inspirations from several decades and even pushing the envelope at times. For the most part, their post-2000 material comes across as more adventurous and daring, but if this career retrospective is any indication, they played solid prog rock during their entire lifespan. The songs on the main disc are no longer available to buy anywhere, and you also get thirty minutes of previously unreleased material, making for an album that runs over two hours. To top it off, you can read the band's history from Tillison's point of view in the liner notes. You can't ask for more than that--and you certainly shouldn't, because A Can of Worms is, well, the good stuff.

For more information: www.po90.com