Short
biography:
Short
biography:
Together with Mike Holmes, Martin Orford
(born 10-06-1959 in Southampton; nickname: Widge) became the nucleus of
the band IQ in July 1981, after the demise of The Lens, which had been
founded back in 1976. IQ may not have been the most succesful progressive
rock band from the eighties commercially, but they are to me by
far the most interesting one. Although the strength of IQ lies in the combination
of musical skills and artistic creativity, Martin's talent has been the
cork on which the music of IQ kept floating. Or better: remains solid as
a rock. Besides his (not unimportant) contributions as second singer of
the band and his occasional playing on flute or saxophone, his keyboard
playing is without comparison, although he definitely flirts with Tony
Banks. Martin, who once described the music of IQ as `heavy metal with
keyboards', is the only keyboard player from the 80's-generation who can
be compared with the big names from the seventies when it comes to talent,
bigness of sound and striking compositions and arrangements. His careful
choice of sounds (partly analog, partly digital) is based on a vision that
few other progrock keyboardplayers seem to have. Martin proves that the
combination of a Mellotron and a Roland D50 is far from odd. Partly thanks
to his vision, albums like The Wake and Ever have proven to be far superior
to modern mediocre progrock. Also because of his contribution, Jadis was
finally able to get rid of the label "promising".
The albums Subterranea and The Seventh House show a direction towards digital soundscapes (in Martin's words: "pre-production"), but the feeling of listening to a real keyboard player is not lost, as there are still plenty of gorgeous solo's to enjoy. These albums prove that IQ is able to keep on developing itself at an artistically high level. The most recent album, Dark Matter, is, in that respect, a step backwards for Martin, with a return to the keyboard style we know from The Wake and Ever, or actually: from the seventies, with lost of (sampled) organs and mellotron. It is a beautiful album, but not as adventurous as Subterranea or The Seventh House.
As IQ isn't performing that much anymore since they turned into a leisure time band, Martin has taken up several side duties. The most time consuming one is probably running the band's label, Giant Electric Pea. Acknowledgement of
Martin's talents outside the (small) progrock scene came with the invitation
of John Wetton to come and play in his backing, both on record and on tour.
Martin also started to do solo performances, occasionally joined by Gary Chandler of Jadis. At these performances, which brought him as far as Chile, he not only plays classic
IQ tunes, but he also shows his true classical side, with brand new instrumental
songs. These ended up on his first solo album, which cannot be considered to be "A curious feeling", but nonetheless it is a nice and varied album, which qualifies as a portrait of the man himself.
Short discography:
| IQ: | Jadis: | |
| Seven stories into eight (1982)
Tales from the lush attic (1983) The wake (1985) Nine in a pound is here (1985) Living proof (1986) Nomzamo (incl. Here there and everywhere) (1987) Are you sitting comfortably? (1989) J'ai pollette d'arnu (1991) Ever (1993) Forever live (1996) Subterranea (1997) Seven stories into '98 (1998) The lost attic (1999) Subterranea, The concert (2000, CD & DVD) The seventh house (2001) The archive collection, vol. 1 (2003) Dark Matter (2004) Solo:
|
 |
More than meets the eye (1992)
Once upon a time (mini-CD, 1993) Across the river (1994) Once or twice (mini-CD, 1996) As day light fades (1998) Understand (2000) Medium rare (2001) Alive outside (2001) Fanatic (2003) View from above (2003, DVD) John Wetton:
Other:
|
Favourite
songs:
It all stops here (Seven stories into eight/98)
Awake and nervous (Tales from the lush attic)
The enemy smacks (Tales from the lush attic)
The Magic Roundabout (The Wake)
Headlong (The Wake)
No love lost (Nomzamo)
Wurensh (Are you sitting comfortably?)
Nothing at all (Are you sitting comfortably?)
Further away (Ever)
Leap of faith (Ever)
Tunnel vision (Subterranea)
Infernal chorus (Subterranea)
The seventh house (The seventh house)
Guiding light (The seventh house)
Born brilliant (Dark Matter)
Other WWW pages about Martin:
IQ (official band site)
The Lush
Attic (by Ed Sander)
Photo's (all taken by myself): close up: London, Marquee, 13-07-85; backstage: Amsterdam, Paradiso, 13-09-87; diva: Kleve, Stadthalle, 10-11-90 (with Jadis). The cartoonlike drawing on my music page also depicts Martin, and is made by Peter Nicholls.
