THE WINDOW OF LIFE

This album was the first I heard from this band and I was very pleased! Being from then old school of prog, when Genesis lost Hackett and after the amazing "Wind & Wuthering" started down the path of the evil pop rock that would propel the remaining 3 to stardom I knew prog was quickly dying. Yes continued but even they dabbled in it! ELP had their (WTH!) "Love Beach" and I began to go into prog mourning.

When the 2nd wave or neo wave hit in the early 80's I never even knew it as I had tuned out. Marillion came out but it would be many years before I would even listen to them and while they had promise I was always let down as only a few songs from each album really rocked me. It would not be until about 2014 before I would run into newer prog bands and then I couldn't believe how many there were so for this old dog the second wave of prog while old is still new to me and the number of acts is impressive.

Pendragon was one that I immediately found tickling my ears. This album was the one that got me started. This album has so many tricks and while it has a few sounds like other bands they have their own recipe. They have hints of Comedy Of Errors, Marillion, Genesis, Nektar and Camel.

This album has so many layers of keys and guitars and the production quality is excellent. "The Walls Of Babylon" starts out with a great keyboard / guitar drum less lead-in and then gets to a great guitar harmony section. "Ghosts" will always be one of my absolute favorite tracks by them. It stars with the piano opener and the melody is immediately catchy. I found the instrumental portions brought out an emotional response in me that I cannot explain. Barrett's vocal to start in the song reminds me of the singer of Comedy Of Errors, another band I never realized was out there. 2:25 into the song starts the emotion milking portion that just has such weight to it. His lyrics proclaiming that "her eyes are full of stars" is perfect for the instrumentation. I found it stopped too quickly. About 5:45 minutes in there is a short section that sounds reminiscent of the middle of Genesis "Eleventh Earl Of Mar".

"Breaking the Spell" has a great symphonic sound with the guitar for the first part until the drums kick in and then it comes back in. It's a great instrumental that only has vocals at the end. The guitar solo breaks out and really zings. "Nostradamus" has that great symphonic background. "The Last Man On Earth" Seems a little long as it repeats a few things too many times. The drums once they kick in were in need of being re-recorded as they were a bit sloppy when they first rolled in. The harmonica felt out of place but made it a bit interesting and even sounded a bit Supertrampy. It's still a great track.

"Am I Really Losing You" is a love song and not really much else to say and not a good way to end a prog album.

The bonus tracks on the version I have are good. "The Third World in the UK" is pleasant and the guitar in the first half is a bit Andy Latimer. "Dune" brings back the rhythm from "Ghosts" a bit. This is a mainstream hit wanna be if I ever heard one. My version did not have "Sister Bluebird". "Fallen Dreams and Angels" I liked for its simplicity.

This album is for sure the best if not one of the best new prog albums I have heard. Definitely a 4 but I will give it 4.5 (if it was possible).