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Pendragon - Utrecht...The Final Frontier

Artist:	Pendragon
Title:	Utrecht...The Final Frontier
Label:	Toff Records MOB3CD
Length(s):	58 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1995
Month of review:	04/1995

Line up

Nick Barrett - guitars and vocals
Fudge Smith -drums
Peter Gee - bass
Clive Nolan - keyboards

Tracks

1)	Kowtow	10.02
2)	Breaking The Spell	8.37
3)	The Mask	3.43
4)	The Last Man On Earth	15.06
5)	Am I Really Losing You?	5.04
6)	The Voyager	12.11
7)	Nostradamus	3.41

Quite an SD eh!

Summary

Should be known to all, but Pendragon is a band in the slipstream of Marillion, but never really made it like the latter (joining Pallas and 12th Night in that sense). for some they run Toff Records and everything seems to go quite well. The album The World marked a diverging from the music that got more and more commercial, moving P. into the direction of a band like Pink Floyd: lots of guitar and mostly atmospheric. The hardest part for most people when they get to know P. are the vocals, because Mr. Barrett has an accent, oh yes Mr. Barrett has an accent. I'm used to it by now, but then again I've known them for several years.

The music

I wasn't there, I'll admit that right away. And it's only some 20 miles away from my home. The place they played at is a very good one as well: Vredenburg (Peaceborough might a good translation :) ).

It's quite a large venue at which they also played their first concert in Europe (the conctinent think they mean) supporting Marillion on their Misplaced childhood tour. The first time I saw P. was also when they supported Marillion, but this was when Hogy was in the band already, the Seasons in Eden tour, but I digress.....

...I'm back (got myself some coffee)...ehm, oh yes Pendragon, after Kowtow it seemed that they would have gone in charts direction, but no, they came back with the Floydian The World and a CD to finish up with the past containing B-sides and all. I missed out on the Windows of Life, through some strange coincidence, but as anyone can check in the tracklisting of this CD, I'm thoroughly compensated for this amiss, because most of the material is from that last album (KowTow, The Mask and The Voyager are not). This means not a lot of The World (but I guess there's a lot on the Very Very Bootleg fanclub live CD), but judging from what I've heard, the Window of Life does not differ much in approach and sound from The World.

It's still true that Mr. Barrett has an accent (oh yes, he still has that accent), but I find it rather charming, although it doesn't help when you want to catch on to the lyrics.

What you get on this album is a pack of melodic songs based on the guitar with some Nolanesque keyboard playing on the side. It never gets really heavy or frightening, but it rather wanders along a bit.

I'm afraid that Mr. Barrett will take it a little too hard, but this is an album that you can put on at a party, because the music is very non- obtrusive. I must admit that I'm more a fan of the earlier P. because although they made Red Shoes :(, they also made Alaska (and that's just to start with) songs containing more emotion for me than anything starting from the World. I mean the songs are alright and I like them, but that's how far it goes.

Best track is The Last Man On Earth, with Voyager 2nd. A song that is not really up to mark is Nostradamus. It's a bit up tempo, but not a good one, like The Mask, which I do like. I also do not think the music fits in with the title. I expected something entirely different. Well, one never gets too old to learn. KowTow was never my favourite (I like the Haunting a lot better and actually most of KowTow I like more than KowTow (save Solid Heart and Saved by you)), but now I do like it more than I ever did.

As concerns art work, there quite an extensive booklet involved with lots of colourpicture and the CD tray is a see-through.

Conclusion

I should write these reviews for people who are not sure about buying this thing, fans already have it (if they could get it). This is an album that might start you off with P., but I must mention that they concentrate on the later P. while 9:15 PM is more a primer for the earlier Pendragon. I like the latter a bit better, maybe I heard it more often, but thos songs were really songs, with a head and a tail and not sidesongs (short for side-long songs) that just are. I mean it's okay to write long tracks, but the problem is that a lot of tension gets lost along the way. The choice is up to you: do you choose for long Floydian passages or are you more the song minded fan.

So do not understand me wrong: the album is pleasurable to listen to and at times beautiful and I really do like it, but it's not a trip.