FLY HIGH FALL FAR

The history of Pendragon began at Stroud, Gloucestershire, England in 1978. Four young musicians got together and decided to form a rock band, Zeus Pendragon, later shortened to Pendragon. The band started playing cover versions of classic rock tunes by Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and Santana. In 1982, it was asked to Pendragon if they would like to support Marillion at the famous Marquee Club in London. At the time, Marillion had already gained a tremendous recognition. This was the break that Pendragon really needed. Thus, soon they released their debut work.

So, "Fly High Fall Far" is the debut EP, mini album or maxi single, as you wish to call it, of Pendragon and was released in 1984. This was Pendragon's first release made up only by four studio tracks. "Fly High Fall Far" sounds definitely close to "The Jewel", their debut studio album, which was released in 1985, about one year after the release of this EP. Like happened with "The Jewel", the absence of Clive Nolan is particularly evident and noticed on this work too. He hadn't yet joined the group, which means the guitar work is more prominent and the keys are more mixed on the back.

So, "Fly High Fall Far" and "The Jewel" represent a very different musical proposal when compared with their following studio albums "The World", released in 1991, "The Window Of Life", released in 1993, "The Masquerade Overture", released in 1996 and "Not Of This World", released in 2001. I left out of this comparison their second studio album "Kowtow", released in 1988, because it represents a very special album on the musical career of the group. In those days, when Pendragon released "Kowtow", the band was in change, facing a transitional phase in their musical career.

Thus, "Fly High Fall Far" and "The Jewel" began to Pendragon, as a kind of two pre-studio works from the band and where their classic keyboardist Clive Nolan and their drummer Fudge Smith weren't yet members of the group at the time. So, the line up on the album is composed by Nick Barrett (vocals and guitars), Rick Carter (keyboards), Peter Gee (basses, guitars and bass pedals) and Nigel Harris (drums and percussion).

As I wrote above, "Fly High Fall Far" is an EP with four tracks. The first track is the title track song "Fly High Fall Far". This is a very aggressive progressive rock song with great tempo breaks and some outstanding keyboards by Rick Carter. It sounds as a petty basic piece of rock with nice guitar and keyboard works that shows clearly the group's musical versatility since the early days and that became a true testimony of their musical roots and background. It isn't one of their best tracks but it's enough interesting and pleasant to listen to. The second track "Victims Of Life" is a very melodic piece of music with superb guitar parts, and again, it has also a lot of tempo breaks all over the song. This is a more familiar progressive rock track, mostly instrumental, that shows clearly the initial Genesis and Marillion musical influence of Fish's era, on the band's music. It sounds very symphonic and very beautiful as Pendragon can sound. This is a better song than "Fly High Fall Far" is, with many soft musical segments very catchy and amusing, which is enough to turning this track also very pleasant to listen to. The third track "Dark Summer's Day" is a mellow ballad with a great and emotional guitar break at the end of the song, which reminds me very strongly Carlos Santana. Santana is an artist that I like very much of his guitar style. It's a song with a fine melody, slightly jazz and bossa nova rhythm, nice harmonies, good keyboard work and a magnificent guitar playing. This is a very melodic song that became to be a very nice piece of music. However, and despite of that, this is probably the weakest track on the album, its Achilles' heel. The fourth track "Excalibur" is an instrumental piece of music with a very nice keyboard sound, in which Pendragon shows their great skills. I think we may say that this is the song of the EP with the most authentic Pendragon's sound of all. This is a musical composition very well structured, very well elaborated and very varied that reminds me the early Genesis' sound in the time of "Trespass". This is also a track that reminds me very strongly the early sound of Camel. It's a track that features a very nice keyboard and guitar works. This is, without any doubt, the strongest point on the album and represents a great musical moment. It represents also the best and most progressive moment on the EP.

Conclusion: "Fly High Fall Far" has a real good early collection of songs that represents a kind of an interlude and a showcase to their debut studio album "The Jewel". It's a very different musical proposal from the band but it represents a very solid and cohesive beginning to Pendragon. I think it can be considered, perhaps, as only a specific item for fans and collectors and probably must be heard as a complement of their album "The Jewell". So, I share the same opinion of some other reviewers that "Fly High Fall Far" is a difficult album to rate by its own. Still, if we look to it with some attention, we can find on it the roots of their future music. The high quality level of its music and its musical cohesion make of "Fly High Fall Far" a very good progressive EP and a promising start for what will be, in the future, one of the best neo-prog bands in the world, a band that continues still creating great, fine and relevant prog music, even today

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Share this PENDRAGON review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to VianaProghead
• Report this review (#2735751)
• Buy PENDRAGON music online with PA partners
• Show all PENDRAGON MP3/Stream
• Go to PENDRAGON page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Fly High Fall Far page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for PENDRAGON related discussions