BELIEVE

After a four year wait, since the release of "Not Of This World" in 2001, autumn 2005 will see the release of the eagerly anticipated new Pendragon album Believe - and, in my opinion - although admittedly biased (as a member of the band!) it will have been well worth the wait!

I personally see "Believe" as a mixture of all that is good and strong about Pendragon, plus some exciting new elements added too. "Believe" is an emotional album, in that Nick has once more put his heart and soul into the songs, and I feel that the vocals and lyrics are among the best that he has ever done - yet it is not as introspective or moody album in the same way as NOTW, and has a much more up beat, positive feel to it. Yet "Believe" has a powerful rocky edge to it in terms of how the instruments have been played and in terms of the production of the album, and it also sees some really modern sampled sounds which add a whole new edge and dynamic to the Pendragon sound.

In my humble opinion, "Believe" is very much a mature, positive and 'grown up' album - yet with references in it which are reminscent of earlier Pendragon albums. I feel that those who wanted a 'new' Pendragon style of album will have got it in "Believe" - but also those who wanted Pendragon to stay true to their melodic roots and quality of song alongside instrumental passages, have also got what they wanted. We are all very proud of "Believe" as an album, and as I write this, we are in the final stages of mixing it.

Recording the bass parts for "Believe" was a real pleasure to record for me, as it was the first Pendragon album that I have literally been able to record in my own home - as I only recently got my own home for the first time - but also, because I now have a computer at home suitable for recording straight onto. The deadlines were quite tight in terms of me getting my parts down, which was also quite reminiscent of early albums, such as "The Jewel", but this can be a good thing - as it makes you that much more focused on what you have to do. It is also more relaxing recording and engineering your own parts, without a producer/engineer waiting for you to 'get it right' on take 1!

As with any Pendragon album, each song on "Believe" has its own character:

No Place For The Innocent has a good rocky groove to it, with some nice instrumental sections in it.

The Wisdom Of Solomon is a longer song with an eastern flavour to it and some great acoustic guitars and fast instrumental passages.

The Wishing Well is made up of two distinct sections, with a melodic opening section and a soaring/floating/dreamy second section, powered along by Fudge's drums.

Two Roads is a song with a great vocal melody and some fantastic trademark guitar playing by Nick.

Learning Curve has got my favourite groove of the whole album on it at the beginning of the song, with some great vocals and it then goes into a spanish style second half with some great guitar work on it.

The final track (The Edge Of The World) is written for the classical guitar and strings and has a powerful vocal and some great guitar playing on it - very emotional.

The album also features Nick doing some narrated parts, which are very emotional and powerful.

I think for me the first sign of a good album is always that it feels like a 'whole' piece of work - that it has a continuity to it and a sense of completeness about it - and also that it has a collection of really strong songs on it. And I think that "Beleive" has both good songs and this sense of continuity and completeness about it. It feels finished. It feels complete.

But hey, don't take my word for it - go and check out a copy for yourselves when it comes out in the autumn of 2005. (August 29th).

REFERENCE: http://www.toffrecords.com/petergee/default.htm

MY RECOMMENDATION... PROGLUCKY (founder of ProgArchives)

I BELIEVE IN PENDRAGON ... A MASTERPIECE 5/5

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