PASSION

Passion is an utterly fantastic achievement in prog music. This album finds Pendragon reaching for greatness....and finding it for sure! I have read a lot of reviews and posts about how people do not like the "new direction" Pendragon have taken with Pure and especially Passion. But frankly, while I certainly respect everyone's individual opinion, I still suspect that in most cases this is because folks have not taken the time to truly digest this amazing work. And its understandable why this would happen. As prog music goes, much of Pendragons earlier works might be classified as "easily accessible". This is a catch phrase you hear a lot in music reviews abound. Essentially, it means that the music is so melodic and straight forward, that it does not take much for the "hooks" to grab you and for you to fully grasp the structure and changes within the music. Its "easy"!

But this is not Passion. Passion is full of challenging structure....sharp changes into varying "motifs" and "passages", and deep detail that at first listen may seem confusing and "Hard" (the opposite of "easy"). But what you are not getting at first listen is the fact that buried within this unknown musical "landscape" are melodies and hooks that will satisfy you and grab you even MORE than your average "easily accessible" music, and it will continue to feed your mind and soul over dozens and dozens of listens as you digest, understand, and LEARN this music.

This album GROWS on you. Its a SLOW BURN into a huge blaze of satisfaction. First you need to understand its structure. Then you find its melodies. Then the subtle HOOKS grab you. Then its the deep detail and unique elements within the production. I have had this experience with a few other bands.....Rush and Porcupine Tree come to mind.....where there is so much depth and excitement waiting to be DISCOVERED....but you have to LEARN the music to find the treasure. To the casual listener, it just sounds like mush. Once you find it though.........the reward is fantastic and lasting. This is Passion!