NOT OF THIS WORLD

"Not Of This World" is the sixth studio album of Pendragon that was released in 2001. After five years of inactivity, in terms of studio albums, Pendragon released this studio album in the same vein of their last three studio albums. While some may say that the band, especially at the time, never really progressed and that each album was a continuation of the last, the band still puts out well produced and expertly played albums. And "Not Of This World" is no exception too.

The line up on the album is the same of their four previous studio albums "Kowtow" of 1988, "The World" of 1991, "The Window Of Life" of 1993, and "The Masquerade Overture" of 1996, their second, third, fourth and fifth studio albums, respectively. So, the line up on "Not Of This World" is Nick Barrett (vocals and guitars), Clive Nolan (keyboards), Peter Gee (bass) and Fudge Smith (drums). The album has also the participation on the backing vocals of Tina Riley.

"Not Of This World" has five tracks. All tracks were written by Nick Barrett. The first track "If I Were The Wind (And You Were The Rain)" shows an initial very Floydian instrumental part, which makes clear that Nick Barrett remains loyal to one of his main sources of musical inspiration. The song sets the tone for the album with long and great instrumental musical passages, very emotional lyrics and a fantastic symphonic musical composition. The music of this track could hardly be more majestic and warm that it is, and it has also fine backing vocals by Tina Riley. This is the song that opens the album with a spacey musical atmosphere and excellent musical performances by all band's members, turning it on a true classic Pendragon's song. The second track "Dance Of The Seven Veils" is divided into two different parts, "Faithless" and "All Over Now". It's really a gorgeous song divided into two musical parts. The gentle tinkling tones of the part one brings to my mind "Paintbox" from their previous fifth studio album "The Masquerade Overture". Indeed, this song would have fitted perfectly well on that album too. It features a spacey musical atmosphere with great keyboards, sparse guitar work and a nice bass line. The second part has a very nice and captivating choral work and a lovely acoustic middle musical part. This is, without any doubt, a great piece of music, one of my personal favourites of the album. The third track "Not Of This World" is divided into three different parts "Not Of This World", "Give It To Me" and "Green Eyed Angel". However, despite be presented as a three part song, the long instrumental introduction might be counted as a separated part itself. It kicks in with four minutes of lovely keyboard solos and fantastic guitar playing. This is a very typical neo-prog song that shows the musical transition from up tempo music to delicate and sorrowful composition, with some Spanish guitar in the latter musical segment. It flows very naturally to the second part of the song that culminates on the third part, a much slower part with a typical romantic musical atmosphere that delights me. The fourth track "A Man Of Nomadic Traits" is a song with an acoustic musical introduction with some nice vocals, build in the same vein of those typical Pendragon's choruses. It opens with an acoustic guitar musical atmosphere where bass and drums then joined to the backing vocals. This is another great song with a nice keyboard work and a passionate vocal performance. The long instrumental section, driven by acoustic and electric guitar, sounds quite good to me, especially the keyboard solo by Clive Nolan, which is very tasteful, followed by another of those excellent guitar solos, so typical of Nick Barrett. The fifth track "World's End" is divided into two different parts "The Lost Children" and "And Finally?". It's another very atmospheric and spacey lengthy song with another two part track that opens with acoustic guitar. It starts as a very sensitive track with a lovely electric guitar on top of it. After some time, the full band bursts out majestic, with keyboards taking over the guitar theme. In the second part Nick Barrett sings accompanied by piano. This provides a very emotional and intense musical moment until the grand finale that features a very long guitar solo by him. This track closes perfectly this incredible and fantastic album without any kind of musical weaknesses.

My version has two bonus tracks "Paintbox" and "King Of The Castle". Both are featured here as acoustic versions.

Conclusion: "Not Of This World" is perhaps my favourite Pendragon's studio album. It concludes brilliantly the quartet of studio albums "The World", "The Window Of Life", "The Masquerade Overture" and "Not Of This World". I know that, in general, "The Masquerade Overture" is considered their best and most fine studio work. However, I haven't the same opinion. In my opinion, "Not Of This World" is more cohesive and well balanced than "The Masquerade Overture" is. By the other hand, it hasn't any weak points, such as "The Pursuit Of Excellence" of "The Masquerade Overture". Possibly with "The Masquerade Overture" and "Not Of This World" Pendragon reached the highest point on their musical career. In reality, it will happen with all the bands sooner or later. But, not all of them will be able to produce two great masterpieces throughout their career, as Pendragon did. So, "Not Of This World" is an album not to be missed, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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