THE JEWEL

"The Jewel" is the debut studio album of Pendragon and was released in 1985. This is a very different album 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 "Kowtow", released in 1988 because it represents a very special and unique album on the musical career of the group. At that time the band was facing a transitional phase in their musical career pursued a more commercial direction.

"The Jewel" is a kind of a pre-album from the band and where their classic keyboardist Clive Nolan and their drummer Fudge Smith weren't yet members of the group. 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).

Originally, "The Jewel" had only seven tracks. The first track "Higher Circles" written by Barrett, Carter, Gee and Harris is a very nice and pleasant song to open the album. This is a song with the typical Pendragon's guitar sound and the typical charm and melodic Nick Barrett's vocals. It has also a good keyboard work and an unusual drum performance, which is also very nice too. The second track "The Pleasure Of Hope" written by Barrett, Gee, Harris and Barnfield is a kind of a song with a more romantic style. It's a song with good lyrics and a nice and melodic sound. The keyboard sound is also very good, but for me, the most impressive and interesting thing on the song is the drum work, which is superb. The third track "Leviathan" written by Barrett, Gee, Harris and Barnfield is one of the highlights on the album and that became as one of the all-time Pendragon's favourite song and it's still played in some live concerts nowadays. It's a very good song full of fast musical passages and where the keyboards are the great highlight on it. The fourth track "Alaska" is divided into two parts "At Home With The Earth" and "Snowfall", and it was written by Barrett. This is another highlight on the album. It's a song with an excellent musical composition, and once more, it has another great keyboard work. The guitar work is also excellent and the bass line of Peter Gee completes perfectly well the general picture of the song. It's a song that reminds me deeply, the sound of Camel especially due to the guitar and keyboard works, which are, in my humble opinion, very close to Andy Latimer and Peter Bardens' styles. The fifth track "Circus" written by Barrett, Carter, Gee and Harris is a very dramatic song with great instrumental parts and some breaks that sometimes reminds me Rush. By the other hand and once more, it has some parts that remind me Camel too. The song has some fantastic parts with a perfect harmony between all musical instruments, indeed. The sixth track "Oh Divineo" written by Barrett, Gee, Harris and Barnfield is a very beautiful and melodic song with a series of different musical passages and where, once more, I can see some influences of Rush, even on the vocal parts. This is another very good track in the same vein of the rest of the album keeping it at a good level of quality, really. The seventh track "The Black Knight" written by Barrett is another highlight on the album and it's still loved by Pendragon's fans and all prog rock lovers, even today. It's the lengthiest track on the album and it's a song surprisingly full of musical changes all over the song. This is an excellent track that gives perfectly well the glimpse of what would be the later Pendragon's music style. My version of "The Jewel" has more four bonus tracks, the eighth track "Fly High Fall Far" written by Barrett, the ninth track "Victims Of Life" written by Barrett, the tenth track "Armageddon" written by Barrett, Gee, Harris and Barnfield and "Insomnia" written by Barrett, Gee, Harris and Barnfield. The first two bonus tracks "Fly High Fall Far" and "Victims Of Life" appeared for the first time on their debut EP "Fly High Fall Far" and represent the side A of it. The other two songs "Armageddon" and "Insomnia", from what I know appeared for the first time on their compilation "Once Upon A Time In England Volume 1", released in 1999. As you know, usually, I don't review bonus tracks. So, I'm not going to do an exception in this case. However, if I did it, that wouldn't change the final rating of my review. In general, its quality level is perfectly at the same level of the rest of the album, with the problem to be less cohesive than the album itself.

Conclusion: "The Jewel" is, in fact, the second Pendragon's album after their mini-album "Fly High Fall Far" released in 1984. That mini-album appeared on "The Rest Of Pendragon" compilation's album released in 1991. "The Jewel" is clearly a very good musical effort by Pendragon and constitutes an excellent debut album for any band. It's clearly a very different musical proposal from the band but it also represents a very solid and cohesive beginning for Pendragon. It's true that here we can't see clearly what the band want for their music, because the musical influences are probably too much varied for a single album. However, the high quality level of its music and its musical cohesion make of "The Jewel" a good prog rock album. This was their break-through album. In the slipstream of Marillion, Pendragon with this album was responsible for the revival of prog rock in Europe. If you love prog music this could be in your collection.

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 (#2742930)
• 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 The Jewel page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for PENDRAGON related discussions