LIVE IN KRAKOW 1996

This is PENDRAGON's fourth live album since their debut CD "The Jewel" in 1985. It was recorded during their latest "The Masquerade Overture" tour. I can't remember any other band that has put out so many live albums on such a short time. This is their twelfth CD, which means that every third CD is a live album. But that's OK because they don't have the same material on those live albums (with a few exceptions). On the other hand, that could have been a problem for many other bands, to fill out four live albums with interesting material. But that isn't any problem for PENDRAGON. They have so many great songs to choose from, so this fourth live album is equally interesting as their previous live efforts. This is a must for every PENDRAGON fan but also a worthy introduction to the band if you haven't heard them before. As I am a PENDRAGON fan I'm waiting curiously for their new album "1999" that is said to come out sometime this year. In the meantime I will console myself with this excellent live album.

Twenty years ago Pendragon emerged in the slipstream of Marillion who speerheaded the neo-progressive rock. I have always loved their sound, especially on stage they are so enthousiastic and Nick Barrett knows how to communcaite with his audience, with his voice and his guitar! Ten years ago this live CD was recorded in Poland, a very progrock friendly country as we have experienced in the past but also recently with Riverside, Satellite and Quidam. Pendragon treated the super enthousiastic crowd on songs from the albums The Jewel, The Masquerade Overture and The World, the songs (from slow to up-tempo) sound very recognizable featuring lots of sensitive guitar work and sumptuous kebyoards, a bit melancholical vocals and a tight rhythm section. When the band asks the crowd to sing a Polish song everybody is happy and we can enjoy a great live atmosphere! If you like melodic and accessible neo-prog, Pendragon will please you! By the way, the reason to write this review is that I met a fellow 40+ proghead in a record store in Amsterdam, he was searching for Pendragon and we had a nice, nostalgic oriented chat. At home I decided to play some Pendragon music, it turned out to be this wonderful album....

I consider "The Masquerade Overture" as their best album ever released and a really must own in any prog discography. I could hardly be disappointed with this live release which was recorded during their supporting for this album.

The atmosphere is phenomenal. The band is very popular in Poland (there web-site is even fully translated into Polish, with several other European languages; which is a nice attention for their fans who do not necessarily master English. Nick will also here and there do some attempts in the Polish language. He such a fine person, really.

All of "The Masquerade" is present, if you except "The Overture", and the short and only weaker track "The Pursuit Of Excellence". So all these magical and melodic moments are here.

The poppish and very pleasant "As Good As Gold" in its long format, the wonderful "Paintbox" with the incredible and emotional guitar work. One of the highlight of this set. The long and nice "Gardian Of My Soul", one of their most beautiful song ever written "The Shadow" with his fantastic (one more) guitar solo; and the extraordinary "Masters Of Illusion" (the first encore with a gorgeous and Floydian guitar mood at the end). All played perfectly with the addition of a frenetic crowd (more to be noticed in the video :"Live At Last!").

But all the numbers are excellent. BEAUTIFUL. I tell you. And the hell with the ones who believe that this is useless music. Of course, Pendragon does not play with the big names. Although there are hardly any big names in activity in prog today releasing good new material (Yes is still touring until recently, as the pair Gilmour / Waters - separately of course -, Tull as well as Van der Graaf but these are very few examples).

Pendragon produces simple, extremely romantic and melodic music which IMO holds more symphonic elements than "neo-prog" ones. Both Clive and Nick are very well supported by Peter (on bass) and Fudge (on drums). The line-up of the band is pretty stable as well.

One number is taken from their debut album : "Leviathan". One of the good "Pendragon" numbers out of this album, but when compared to their later work, I'm afraid it does not hold the comparison. Rockier but less emotional. Still, it is pleasant to listen to an old number once in a while.

Two numbers come from "The World". The opener of the album : "Back In The Spotlight" another poppish and very accessible Pendragon song in a shorter version here (prog pop maybe ?) and a nice part of their epic "Queens Of Hearts".

Let's be grateful to Pendragon that we can still hear this type of music in 2007 and long live Pendragon. I don't know if this is a masterpiece but it fills my heart with joy and emotion. And I can do nothing less than rating this live album with five stars.

Recorded before a very receptive audience in Poland - where Pendragon are several orders of magnitude more popular than they are in their home country! - Live In Krakow 1996 is one of my favourite Pendragon live albums. Part of this is because it presents what I consider to be definitive renditions of just about all of The Masquerade Overture aside from the intro track and the brief interlude of The Pursuit of Excellence. As well as trimming back those two compositions from the album, the versions here also spark with energy and rock out a bit more than the ones on the studio album, which is beneficial.

The fact that the album also includes two well-chosen snippets from The World and an absolutely scorching version of Leviathan from The Jewel - which blows the original studio version out of the water - is the cherry on the top. This is by far Pendragon's best live album of the 1990s - and indeed of their career to that point; it's about as good an outing as this material can get.

Review Nº 806

Pendragon is a British progressive rock band. The band was founded in 1978 as Zeus Pendragon. The name "Zeus" was dropped before the band started recording, as the members decided it was too long to look good on a T-shirt. The style of the band is closest to Genesis and Marillion (Fish time period). Although Pendragon's name recognition is much lower than those two bands, it's a very big name within the neo-prog genre. Pendragon is one of the founder bands on the neo-prog genre with their compatriots Marillion, IQ, Pallas, Galahad, Twelfth Night, Solstice and Quasar. They became as one of the best and most important neo-prog bands. Pendragon is a band that still exists even today.

"Live In Krakow 1996" is the fourth live album of Pendragon and was released in 1997. It was released from a live show recorded live in Krakow, Poland, when the band made their "The Masquerade Overture Live Tour" in 1996. This live tour even took the band to America which wasn't very usual. This live album has a lot of "The Masquerade Overture" tracks and even played live it's difficult to find great differences with the original album's studio versions. Like some other neo-prog bands like Arena or IQ, Pendragon doesn't sound very different on stage than on studio. However, it's always pleasant to hear and see Nick Barrett and his band with their very emotional and professional live style of playing.

The production and the sound are very good and professional what is usual on all their works with the hand of Karl Groom. This live show also appeared on their video "Live?At Last" also released in 1997. It appears that video was recorded and filmed at a secret concert at Studio Leg in Krakow, Poland, on the band's "The Masquerade Overture Live Tour" in 1996, in front of a TV audience. Still, it's the same recording of the show on the live CD "Live In Krakow 1996".

The line up on "Live In Krakow 1996" is their classic line up. So, we have Nick Barrett (vocals and guitars), Clive Nolan (backing vocals and keyboards), Peter Gee (backing vocals, bass guitar and keyboards) and Fudge Smith (drums).

"Live In Krakov 1996" has eight tracks. The first track "As Good As Gold", the second track "Paintbox" and the third track "Guardian Of My Soul" are three tracks that were originally released on their fifth studio album "The Masquerade Overture" in 1996. The fourth track "Back In The Spotlight" was originally released on their third studio album "The World" in 1991. The fifth track "The Shadow" was also originally released on "The Masquerade Overture". The sixth track "Leviathan" was originally released on their debut studio album "The Jewel" in 1985. The seventh track "Masters Of Illusion" was also originally released on "The Masquerade Overture". The eighth and last track "The Last Waltz" was originally released on "The World" named "Queen Of Hearts". "Queen Of Hearts" is a song divided into three parts "Queen Of Hearts", "?A Man Could Die Out Here?" and "The Last Waltz", which is the part played on this live album.

Since the previously released "The Masquerade Overture", which logically also contains the majority of the songs on this recording, isn't only tailored to the guitar, there are also a few fast keyboard solos by Clive Nolan for a change, which suits the songs quite well. So, the band uses the same procedure as happens usually with Pendragon that also applies in other respects, which is the highly melodic neo-prog which is presented professionally and routinely. So, there's nothing here to complain about in terms of quality, as happens with their compatriots IQ, Pallas and Galahad.

About the live performance, "As Good As Gold" and "Paintbox" are played in a very easy way. On these tracks you can hear that Pendragon has also developed into one of the best live bands in the progressive rock scene nowadays. "Guardian Of My Soul" is a very good live version with very good backing vocals and some extended guitar and keyboard parts. It's probably better than its studio version. "Back In The Spotlight" is a very nice version with a great bass line. "The Shadow" is a good common live version of the song. "Leviathan" is a great live version, one of the best you can hear here. "Masters Of Illusion" is played with even more power than on the studio version because they left off the intro part. The band extended the last minutes instead and it works very well, really. This is a great song in the way they played it live. They end the show in a great way with "The Last Waltz", the third part of "Queen Of Hearts".

Conclusion: On "Live In Krakow 1996" all the songs of "The Masquerade Overture" are present, except its overture song, the title track, and the short track on the album "The Pursuit Of Excellence". Thus, practically all its magical moments are here. Besides that, the band included some other tracks that belong to two of their studio albums that were released at the time, "The Jewel" and "The World". Unfortunately, none of the tracks of "The Window Of Life" were included. Anyway, "Live In Krakow 1996" is a great live album with a great live performance. It's better than "9:15 Live" and slightly better than "Utrecht?The Final Frontier". With this live album, we see a band improving and progressing, which makes of Pendragon one of the leaders in the prog rock music and that can get better as they are getting older.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)