MOMENT TO MOMENT

Alan Reed was a busy man on 31st October 2007. Not only did he appear on stage for 2 hours as one of the lead characters in Clive Nolan's production of "She", but before that he had already fronted Pallas in a support gig for the event. This DVD is the recording of that performance by Pallas in full, the gig running for around an hour and a half.

The songs performed are taken from a wide selection of albums by the band right through from "Arrive alive" to the current (2005) album "The dreams of men". A couple of crowd warmers, "Warriors" and "Hide and seek" get things going, before the band get into the meat of the gig with a succession of songs which define their style and sound. "Ghostdancers" from "Dreams of men" is an atmospheric homage to the native Indians of North America while "Queen of the deep", a song from the band's earliest days is given a fine dusting down for the occasion.

In an amusing excursion before "Queen of the deep", Graeme Murray offers a detailed background to "Northern star", only to discover that he is introducing the wrong song. In reality, most of his introduction was probably lost on the Polish audience anyway, Murray's fine Scottish accent no doubt contributing to the loss in translation.

The music here is a wonderful mix of Marillion, IQ, Arena etc., with a sprinkling of Runrig. Those Marillion influences are most obvious on the older songs where Niall Mathewson's guitar work pays homage to Steve Rothery, while Alan Reed naturally sounds a little like Fish (especially in the spoken word sections). What sets Pallas apart from most is the superb orchestral and choral keyboard textures laid down by Ronnie Brown. These add a whole new dimension to songs which might otherwise simply have become good rock numbers.

"Moment to moment" reassures us that Pallas are very much alive, continuing to develop their sound while utilising their fine back catalogue to add genuine substance to the overall performance.

The DVD extras include an interesting interview with Murray and Reed, who take us through the history of the band with candid observations and anecdotes. Also included are a couple of home video style clips of the band's tour bus and rehearsals.