THE WEDGE

My God, this must have been a huge disappointment back in 1986. After two promising albums (arrive Alive in 1981 and The Sentinel, 1984) scotish band Pallas decided to (maybe under pressure) go pop. Actually, this is very much a new wave, technopop album much in the vein of likes of Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, etc. Yes, that means a lot of electronic drums and that eras cheesy keyboards and production. Small wonder the band ended up calling it quits after releasing this turkey. It would took more than a decade for their comeback, with a string of excellent albums, I must say.

However, releasing The Wedge was not the first time a neo prog band tried to change its style looking for success after Marillion made it big with Misplaced Childhood. Their biggest mistake was to take that album and the single Kayleigh as pure pop. While more melodic and accessible, Marillion at the time was unmistakably a progressive band, so they kept their base of fans while reaching a bigger crowd at the same time.

Unfortunately that was not the case with Pallas (and others). Although not a total disaster in terms of songwriting (The Executioner and Rat Race are good tunes), the production really sucks all the life from it. Even if you like techno pop you´ll find hard to endure a full listening of this album. A pity, for Pallas were a promising band up until then. It would take another 13 years for the faithful to see they were right.

I can not recommend this album to anyone but hardcore fans and completists. Thanks to some good tunes I rate this album a little above one star. But it is by far Pallas worst effort ever.1,5 star.