UTRECHT ...THE FINAL FRONTIER

Pendragon is an English neo-prog rock band that was established in 1978 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England as Zeus Pendragon by guitarist/vocalist Nick Barrett. The word "Zeus" was removed before the band began recording, as the members decided it was too long to look good on a T-shirt. There were some personnel changes in the early days, but since 1986 the line up has remained relatively stable with only the drummer changing several times since then. The band is still active today remaining as one of the former bands of the neo-prog style and one of the most important too.

"Utrecht?The Final Frontier" is the second or the third live album of Pendragon and was released in 1995. It was their second live album if we don't consider "The Very Very Bootleg Live In Lille France 1992" as their second live album. In reality and despite its name, "The Very Very Bootleg Live In Lille France 1992" isn't in fact truly a bootleg but an official fan club release. The recordings were taken from the band's live performance in Lille, France in 1992. As the recordings were never been remixed or dubbed, we probably can consider it a quasi official release. It's something between both.

"Utrecht?The Final Frontier" was recorded and released when the band made their "The Window Of Life" live tour. It became as the most extensive live tour that Pendragon ever made until that date. They played on the prestigious Muziekcentrum Vredenburgh in Utrecht, Holland in 30 April 1994. The recordings for this live album were taken from this live show. Pendragon played together with their compatriots Jadis and the German band Everon. Which is more interesting is that ten years before they performed in the same place with Marillion. However, ten years after Pendragon was the support band of Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood" tour, but now they returned to Vredenburgh as headliners.

Beyond this live concert in Utrecht, Holland in April, the "The Window Of Life" tour comprised other places. So, in the same month they played in Lille, Paris, Besancon, Lyon, Grenoble, Bordeaux and Marseille, all in France and Barcelona in Spain. On May they played live in Andernach, Stuttgart, Nordhausen, Hanover, Hamburg and Wiesbaden, all in Germany, Milan in Italy, Zabrze and Warsaw in Poland and Plymouth, Winchester, Rotherham and London, all in UK.

The line up on "Utrecht?The Final Frontier" is their classical line up. So, we have on "Utrecht?The Final Frontier" the performance of Nick Barrett (vocals and guitars), Clive Nolan (backing vocals and keyboards), Peter Gee (backing vocals, bass guitar, Taurus bass pedals, Olw Korg keyboard and guitar) and Fudge Smith (drums and percussion).

"Utrecht?The Final Frontier" has seven tracks. The first track "Kowtow" is the title track song that was originally released on their second studio album "Kowtow" in 1988. The second track "Breaking The Spell" was originally released on their fourth studio album "The Window Of Life" in 1993. The third track "The Mask" was also originally released on "Kowtow". The fourth track "The Last Man On Earth" was also originally released on "The Window Of Life". The fifth track "Am I Really Losing You ?" was also originally released on "The Window Of Life". The sixth track "The Voyager" was originally released on their third studio album "The World" in 1991. The seventh and last track "Nostradamus (Stargazing)" was also originally released on "The Window Of Life".

It wasn't a coincidence that Nick Barrett says at the beginning of show: "It's great to be back in Holland". The band has a large and enthusiastic fan base in Holland. In a sold out house and if we compared it to the live recordings that have been released to date, "Utrecht...The Final Frontier" can be reconciled in terms of sound, pressure and a real energy.

The album opens with a very animated version of "Kowtow" that almost sounds the same as the studio version. The live version of "Breaking The Spell" is very good. Especially the guitar sound is better compared to the studio version. "The Mask" is a very common Pendragon's song with a very good chorus. This is a great version. "The Last Man On Earth" has always been great and this live version is even better. The instrumental part proves why this is a great live version. "Am I Really Losing You?" is close to the album's version. "The Voyager" has always been a great song and this live version is played very aggressive without losing its impact. "Nostradamus" (without the ballad intro), was played as an encore and this version is better than the album's version. It's very enthusiastic and a very rocky version.

Conclusion: Comparing "Utrecht?The Final Frontier" with "9:15 Live", we can say that "Utrecht?The Final Frontier" is, without any doubt, a better album than "9:15 Live" is. In general, this is an album with better songs and the band at that time is much better, confident and more mature when playing live. However, there will be better Pendragon's live albums very soon. The only problem of this live album is that it was released in a very short format. Unfortunately, it represents only one part of all the live set. Nevertheless, "Utrecht?The Final Frontier" is a great live album with some great live versions of the original studio versions. We may say this was a night to remember for all who were present.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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