THE JEWEL

You should know that I like Pendragon a lot. I have always been charmed with their poppy and straight-forward music. Some might find it too childish. I just believe that their melodies rank amongst the nicest ones. I enjoy Barrett's voice as well as his passionate guitar play that will be more on the foreground on later releases.

Their debut album will hold more defect than qualities. They still need to find their own way, in terms of songwriting. A song as "Leviathan" has already the Pendragon TM attached to it, except the so romantic guitar play from Nick. But this is a general remark throughout this work : it will be very much keyboard oriented. Soft and pleasant music. Not complex for a penny. But I like this quiet mood once in a while.

This album holds very little from the other world. I would not recommend it if you are new to Pendragon. Some of their longer number, will be very good. "Alaska" of course, with a very emotional vocal part (like Nick will be used to a lot during Pendragon's long career). Again, we'll get some very nice keyboards while the guitar solo (of the few) might be a techically good one, but it does not hold the emotion that we'll get on later releases. The finale part sounds very Genesis-esque : "Cinema Show" structure with a very strong rhythmic section backing up the keys. I think you got the idea. It is one of the highlight of "The Jewel".

The album gets more interesting towards the end. Songs as "Oh Divineo" and "The Black Night" are extremely well polished and are 100% into the Pendragon's mould I love so much. All aspects of the band are here again. They maybe lack some grandeur but these pieces of music are so relaxing and pleasant to listen to.

There will be four bonus tracks on the 20th anniversary edition. Actually, the whole of their EP debut. "Victims Of Life" is my preferred one : a bombastic intro will feature good keyboards work (although I will prefer Nolan in this role). "Cinema Show" oriented again. The catchy and melancholic mood makes it another attempt to a "jewel". It is almost there...

"Dark Summer's Day" is very romantic. Very subtle backing keys but childish chorus. I guess that detractors will call this a useless song. I just want to mention to them, that it does not hurt to produce just beautiful songs. Very good intro again for "Excalibur" which is an intrumental piece. It sounds pretty much like Genesis but with less grandeur (Camel as well is not far away). The poppish "Fly High Fall Far" was their attempt for a hit and it was a good idea actually to regroup the original EP work on this remastered edition.

"The Jewel" will of course please Pendragon's fans, but I doubt that people who do not know them will be overwhelmed with enthusiasm with this work : therefore it lacks in true jewels (sorry about that one). But we'll get them later. Three stars for this one.