PURE

This is my first album by Pendragon so I am not judging it based on any previous incarnation of their music. In my opinion, its a great album with and interesting concept worthy of 4 stars at least. The packaging in the hardback book it gorgeous and the making of DVD is interesting. My only beef with it is the poor sound quality. While it sounds OK on my Creative Zen MP3 player it really sounds poor on my stereo system to the point of distraction. Dynamics are resticted with the drums sounding like they were recorded in a padded closet with no echo or shimmer on symbols. A view of the DVD which came with the album confirmed the drum kits tiny recording space and the fact that the players recorded their parts in their various home studios. The end result, while great music, is predictable. When the various parts are mixed together, there is little ambiance present. Switching to many great prog album from the 70s on vinyl demonstrated how poor the sound here really is. 4 stars for the music but beware the mediocre sound.