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Pendragon - Once Upon A Time In England Volume 1

Artist:	Pendragon
Title:	Once Upon A Time In England Volume 1
Label:	self produced MOB6CD
Length(s):	63 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1999
Month of review:	05/1999

Line up

Various but including Nick Barrett, Peter Gee, Clive Nolan, Nigel Harris,
Robert Dalby and John Barfield.

Tracks

1)	The Pleasure Of Hope	3.50
2)	Insomnia	4.19 *
3)	Armageddon	6.15 *
4)	Dawn In Vienna	2.18 *
5)	The Pleasure Of Hope (piano/vocal Version)	2.52 *
6)	Catch Me If You Can	4.52 *
7)	Melody	3.37 *
8)	Dead Stop	4.10 *
9)	Deja Vue	4.39 *
10)	Dream Of Tomorrow	4.42 *
11)	Stan And Ollie (live)	10.21 +
12)	Loving The Stranger	3.27
13)	Eye For An Eye	3.49
14)	Is This Life?	4.30

* on the demo Beginner's Guide To Pendragon volume 1 + on the demo Beginner's Guide To Pendragon volume 2 (no, I'm not selling)

Try a sample of the album in

Summary

The band Pendragon has had three "periods" in my opinion (I am talking here of the time that were album recording artists). The first one including the first mini, and the first two full albums, The Jewel and 9:15 AM. The music here is typical for progressive, but the band enjoys its very own sound with the strongly accented guitar playing of Barrett and his guitarplaying. The 12 inch of Red Shoes already indicated the new direction and Kow Tow signifies a new period: more pop, less prog. Still, Kow Tow, in my opinion, contains some of the most worthwhile music such as The Haunting and 2AM (rated by myself as one of the best tracks in existence, but I agree that this a very personal opinion). Saved By You continues this second commercial period and the Rest Of Pendragon released shortly afterwards concludes the period by including on CD the music of the two 12inches and some more. At the same time, The World had been released. From The World on the music has taken on a definite Floydish character with long, slowly evolving songs. From then on, the output of the band has been steady and there following growing. As a matter of fact, I've put quite a few friend onto their track (including a number of nonproggers). In waiting for the new studio album (the previous one is from 1996) this is something to keep the fanbase happy.

The music

This is not really volume one, since you might recall that another 'the rest of' disc is in existence, The Rest Of Pendragon. This and the other volume contain some unreleased songs and live and early recordings of some of the older Pendragon tracks, from the period up to Kow Tow. The opener The Pleasure Of Hope is one of the more well-known songs on the album since it can also be found on The Jewel. A keyboardridden track and a very good tense guitarintermezzo. A powerful piece. I wonder if the stereo effects in Insomnia are part of the song or are just showing that the tapes have been suffering a bit. This track is not as catchy as the first one, but the tempo is again high and the music is accessible. The drum sound is rather bad and the vocals are of demo quality. It is hard to imagine that it is Barrett singing here, because his vocals sound quite different. At the end I hear some Camel echoes. Armageddon continues with the same recording quality. A more epic track with a slow, melodic intro on guitar. Quite a good melody by the way. Afterwards I get the strange impression that the band wanted to start and play Jailhouse Rock, but it turns out we are to move into loud instrumental part. Rather typical for prog and not really going anywhere. The vocal part seems almost a different song with loud echoed vocals. The ending guitar almost solo again reminds a bit of Camel, but is much rockier. Dawn In Vienna has better soundquality and was played by Nick altogether. Acoustic guitar and synths mostly here. A nice quiet and relaxed piece. Pleasure Of Hope recurs then in a piano/vocal version with Nolan on piano. Almost a minute shorter this one and quite different from the bombast of the previous version. Another one of those catchy tracks is Catch Me If You Can. Again demo quality (strongl;y felt in the vocals), but as always the melodies are quite good. Camel is still in there somewhere. Especially compared to there later work in which I never heard much of Camel. A strange break towards the end. Melody is like an early Camel piece. Flowing, melodic and with some kind of jazzrock influence. Like the previous one a song on which Barrett does not sing lead vocals. Dead Stop is quite noisy piece (I mean the hum in the background here) and the music sounds rather far off. That's maybe a good thing, because now it doesn't sound so loud. Not a very strong track this, a bit too catchy and like Barrett says, he vocals have something of New Wave in it, and it doesn't become him. With the intro I'm thinking of Dreadlock Holiday. A bit of reggae in there, but soon the keyboards force their attention upon us. I really don't like this one. Something not entirely right here with the sound as well, so beware. Dream Of Tomorrow is the last track of the first Beginners Guide To Pendragon tape. A totally different sound and the Camel influence is back. These older track do sound better to my ears, though the sound quality may be lacking. Of the second Beginners Guide tape we find here the rather longish Stan And Ollie. The sound quality is much better here. The song is quite varied with rather weird vocals and a band introduction including solo's by the respective members. From 1988 comes the poppy Loving The Stranger. Not a bad melody and a terribly catchy chorus, but its a bit too ordinary. The liner notes with Eye For An Eye are exactly on the spot: the intro really brings Bon Jovi to mind. For such a new track, the sound is not very good. Closer is bouncy Is This Life? The sound of this also very poppy track is very different from the previous track.

Conclusion

Hard to say anything sensible about this album. If you have everything by this band I assume you really like them so then you will probably want to be complete, notwithstanding the not so good soundquality on many of the tracks. Some of the tracks (especially the older ones) are good songs and have good melodies. If you turned on to Pendragon because of The World, and later material and the older periods leave you cold, then this is not for you since the music on this disc is from the period leading up to Kow Tow. If you are interested in getting to know Pendragon I would advice you to start with The World, if you like your music slow; if you like it more quick or with more bombast try The Jewel.