THE JEWEL

I have a bias towards Pendragon for various reasons, so keep some salt, but this album is a jewel deserving of recognition for representing an era of Pendragon just on its own: they have The Jewel, then the trilogy World-not of this world, then the period of transition Believe-Passion, and lastly the 2 last albums. The Jewel stands out as a unique piece, a proto-Pendragon. Some of the tracks, notably Higher Circles, have that playful, joyous vibe that you'll find in The World as well; thoughout the tracks there is some garage vibe as well, and the album is not *that* dissimilar to the next album Kowtow. But already with The Pleasure Of Hope we have a playful vibe that goes beyond what the simple Higher Circles offered, with very good signature guitar notes (already giving us a touch of next years' Pendragon), simple but pleasing chorus chanting the lines: it's not the most original and profound thing, but I really appreciate it, you really spend some good time there. That's really what I'd want to highlight with this album, it's real positive energy, with some mystery veiled within it, that has not yet blossomed, some potential you can feel already, some nostalgy and romantic feelings throughout Alaska. - Alaska, probably the best piece of the album. Which would lie at the heart of a 3/5 album. Yet, there is another piece in this album, which pushes it to 4/5 stars. It even belongs to me to the top 10 of prog songs all bands considered. I'm cheating a bit, because although it's a track of this album, it's not in the version of the album. It's The Black Knight. Don't take the album's rendering, nor from live, trust me and go listen to the BBC session, available on YouTube. Believe me, it's one of the greatest pieces ever made. You'll understand why Tommy Vance was impressed by it and it really fueled the beginning of their career.

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