In the past 15 years or so, the world of contemporary progressive rock music has seemed to solidify on bands who either tow the expected traditional lines of the genre, and those who spend a lot of their time denying that they play "prog" at all. And then there's The Tangent. ‘Auto Reconnaissance’ features a 70 minute menu that includes Prog Rock Foot Stomping, some of the band's most sublime Jazz to date, humour, narrative, a modern R&B love song(!), straight pop music, funk/soul and a 28 minute long emotional epic about the band's home country of England, laden with orchestration, jaw dropping instrumentals, melodies and Andy Tillison's trademark story-telling at its best.