A nearly 20-minute rock song from 1983 has kept its place among progressive rock fans more than four decades after its release.
“The Last Human Gateway,” the epic opening track by British neo-prog band IQ, never became a mainstream hit, but it helped establish the group and remains a key part of its story.
Released on IQ’s debut album, Tales from the Lush Attic, the song fills almost an entire side of the original vinyl record. Its long form, changing tempos and detailed keyboard and guitar work made it very different from the shorter rock songs dominating much of the music scene at the time.
Mike Holmes, Tim Esau, Peter Nicholls, Neil Durant and Paul Cook of British neo-progressive rock group IQ, taken on November 12, 2011.Photo by Will Ireland/Prog Magazine/Future via Getty Images/Future via Getty Images
The song emerged during a difficult period for progressive rock. By the early 1980s, the style linked with bands such as Genesis and Yes was no longer seen as fashionable. Punk had changed the mood of British music, while many record labels were unwilling to sign new progressive rock acts.
“Prog was such a dirty word then,” says Holmes, according to Lourder Sound. “It really wasn’t something you admitted liking in polite company.”
IQ began taking shape after guitarist Mike Holmes and keyboard player Martin Orford connected through their shared interest in progressive rock. Holmes had met Peter Nicholls outside a Genesis concert at Stafford’s Bingley Hall in 1976. The two teenagers began exchanging letters and bootlegs, eventually helping form the musical partnership that led to IQ.
By 1981, the band decided that London was the place to build a career. Holmes, Orford, Nicholls and bassist Tim Esau shared a two-bedroom flat in Kensal Green, while drummer Paul Cook remained outside London for a time.
The band survived on very little money and played small venues, including the Marquee in Soho. Their live shows carried some of the energy of the punk era, even though their music remained rooted in progressive rock.
“The music wasn’t all that punky,” admits Holmes, “but the attitude was onstage. We regularly had stage invasions at the Marquee.”
By early 1983, IQ was part of a growing group of British bands helping revive progressive rock. Marillion, Pallas, Pendragon and Twelfth Night were also gaining attention. Marillion’s Script For A Jester’s Tear, released in March that year, quickly became one of the major releases of the new movement.
IQ, however, struggled to find a record label.
“I remember being told there was no room for another major label prog band,” says Orford, “so we might as well forget being signed.”
Recording Tales from the Lush Attic was rushed. IQ had only four days for recording and one day for mixing. Even “The Last Human Gateway” was not completely finished when the band entered the studio.
The track also became a source of tension between Holmes and Orford.
“I always had it in my head that Gateway should have a big reprise of the Mellotron flute intro at the end,” says Holmes, “and Martin really didn’t want that.”
Despite the arguments and limited studio time, IQ completed the album. The original track listing gives “The Last Human Gateway” a running time of 19:57, while the supplied description by Spotify places it at 19:59 close enough to make it one of the album’s defining long-form pieces.
The rest of the record mixed shorter and longer songs, including “Through The Corridors,” “Awake and Nervous,” the playful “My Baby Treats Me Right 'Cos I'm A Hard Lovin' Man All Night Long” and the 13-minute “The Enemy Smacks.”
The album was released independently in September 1983. Its first copies even appeared with plain sleeves because the artwork was not ready. Later, Nicholls’ artwork became an important part of the album’s identity.
More than 40 years later, IQ’s debut remains important to the neo-prog story. The band never achieved major commercial success, but it built a loyal audience that continued to grow across generations.
“I have to say they did a remarkable job,” says Orford, who retired from music in 2007. “They made it what it should have been in the first place. It now has a production that matches the songwriting. So the story has a happy ending, really.”
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