BELIEVE

Pendragon: I have several albums by this band and like many I have a mixed feeling about the band. I have never compared them to Marillion. Marillion are their own beast and I am not the biggest fan as each album only has a few tracks I enjoy. Pendragon is in a class by themselves but they bleed into other prog bands like Genesis and Camel. The first album I heard was "The Window Of Life" and songs like "Ghosts" jumped out at me and caught me with great guitar and keyboard riffs! I love that song! After hearing a few other albums, they felt flat. I tend to see most bands have put out their best works early in their career and have not much else to accomplish if their main songwriters stay the same. This is not always the case however and in this case, it is not true at all.

"Believe" I believe is a great album. It has its good moments and a few that are more boring. I tend to stay away from albums that are largely acoustic in nature and really dislike "unplugged" albums especially by bands that are extremely electric. I cannot imagine Judas Priest as being a great acoustic band but who know, maybe they have jumped on that wagon as well. However, like others I love the additional acoustic guitar parts and it is interesting to note the sound of the instrument is a little different than what I have heard before so that is a good production technique as it gives the songs a unique sound.

While I know many think they have changed their style a great deal here I still hear plenty that remind me of past albums, just not as keyboard laden. I would not consider myself a Pendragon expert so I do not have a great deal in terms of their history. To be honest I have a few of their albums I have had for a long time that I am just now giving a listen to??.. including this one. I do not review lyrics as I have a hard problem actually understanding them without looking them up. My reviews are mostly about the music behind it and how the vocals enter in as an instrument.

I was pleasantly surprised! The opening number "Believe" was a great ambient opener, but then they tore into "No Place for the Innocent" and I was concerned. The first track was a progressive tune and this one is just straight ahead rock. I hoped this was not a an indicator of great change. It's a good track but??. Then came "The Wisdom of Solomon" and this song I like a lot. It has a great acoustic guitar entry and the song just blazes with shifting about and great guitar work by Barrett.

The long "Wishing Well" is a good song. I had heard the live version and it was very well done. The "Sou' By Sou'" has a taste of Genesis in the sound that I like for the first half and then the Latimer like guitar solo mixes well with the symphonic surround. Then it dives back into another set of acoustic riffs and spoken word that reminds me of old Nektar and Genesis. Then comes the rocking and intense "We Talked" which was attention catching. The ending sequence of the 4 "Two Roads" was not as strong.

"Learning Curve" had some great production in that the various sounds were scattered all over the stereo spectrum and on my headphones it comes across strong. I like the flow of the song and the thick layers of sounds. While the keys are more minimal there is a definite warm blanket in the background. If that was missing it would take something vital from the song. Barrett's guitar work is splendid through this song and on the album in general. The last half is definitely Pendragon of old. The last track "The Edge Of The World" the distortion effect on the guitar solo was interesting. This track was weaker and did not offer much.

I was shocked that I found something in every song that made it at least one I would listen to again. When I hear a prog album they always have tracks I do like and ones I do not care for but on this record I am impressed by all the songs. Weird. Very weird for me. So that is saying something. I give this is a solid 4! Now I need to go hear the other ones I have that I have not touched! Maybe I will come back and reassess this one.