I’m not really sure why but at one given time
it seems that drummer Fudge Smith was not able to join his Pendragon friends
on tour so rather than postpone the entire event the remaining threesome
thought it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to tackle the ‘unplugged’
format for a change. That’s exactly what happened when Barrett, Nolan and
Gee set off to record some wellknown Pendragon classics albeit in acoustic
fashion for Radio 3 Warsaw in Poland. With Gee switching to acoustic guitar
as well the sound is much more different than the Pendragon we all know and
love so well. Whilst the electric Pendragon with Fudge holds a lot of Pink
Floyd elements mainly due to Nick’s guitarplaying, this time some of the
arrangements hold an early Genesis feel. Listening to this album once again
illustrates what I have been saying for many years namely that folk and prog
often gets very close indeed ! This is once again proven here by means of
‘The Pursuit of Excellence’ which could one day be tackled by The Pogues
if they’d fancy it ! Recording for a national radio station often
means you can be certain that the endresult will be perfect, that every
little detail will be captured for prosperity. The beautiful digipack also
contains all the lyrics to the songs and because Nick’s vocals are not
hidden amongst loud keyboards, electric guitars and powerful drums, we get
the chance to really explore his lyrics and the deeper meanings of some of
them. So all in all you get a different view about Pendragon, making them
more mature if you like, obliging people to really listen as opposed to
dance away to the rhythm. There’s a wide variety of material to be found
here harking as far back as the band’s very humble beginnings in the form
of ‘Dark Summer’s Day’, an uplifting song with kind of a bossa nova
feel tucked away in the distance. The song also includes a splendid
guitarsolo by Nick. This intimate set closes with a track from the hard to
find first solo album of Pete Gee, Heart of David (was released on the now
defunct SI label and might be re-released soon). Being a strong Christian
all songs on the album were inspired by his belief in God as is the song
included here ‘Unspoken Words’, a nice surprise to hear it here sung by
Nick as the original is sung by a certain Paul Wilson. Our Polish friends certainly wanted to make this
release a memorable one so next to the ten acoustic songs delivered here
they have added an extra multimedia segment. Here you’ll find some notes,
the tour dates and some live pictures as well as a 9’ interview with Nick
interspersed with bits of live concerts to create a complete picture about
Pendragon. With Pendragon having decided to stop releasing any more live
albums by the band this album is kind of different as it illustrates the
craftmanship of our three musicians blending together to create some truly
wonderful music which indeed is and will always remain the true identity of
Pendragon ! Reviewed
by : John ‘Bo Bo’ Bollenberg |
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