DREAMS OF THE FERRYMAN

I bought this one many years ago to complete my discography of this very fine neoband. This EP can be compared to those of Pendragon and Jadis both where impact and significance are concerned. This is not a must have for everybody, maybe not even for every neo progressive fan but certainly for the fans of Shadowland.

Shadowland has always been the personal child of Clive Nolan. The connoisseurs know this man has been active for over 17 years in many neo bands and projects but Shadowland is the one he is the true leader of and doing all the vocal contributions for. The other class act of Shadowland is the brilliant guitarist Karl Groom who is mainly known for his exploits for Threshold and besides that he is one of the best producers in progworld.

The first two songs of this EP are edited versions from Through the Looking Glass, I always liked The Hunger a lot thanks to Karls great performance in that track. Third track is Dorian Gray, a far less compelling track. The song one could buy this EP for is the 4th, I, Judas. Not that this is a mindblowing song but for collectors and certainly completionists this is a must have. So the music stops is a ballad-like composition, with very nice piano play by Clive.

This is a typical 3 star case. It's good, but non essential and mainly suited for the fans.

Well done, no longer rare

"Dreams of the ferryman" is a five track EP released in 1994. While some of the tracks have appeared on the band's albums, none of the versions here will be familiar to those who have those albums in their original form.

The title track is a 5 minute edited version of the 8:44 song from the band's second album "Through the looking glass". This was the last track to be written by Clive Nolan for the album, being inspired by a recurring nightmare of his about a serial killer who went by the name of "The Ferryman". While this version captures the essence of the song, the full length version is the definitive one.

"The hunger" is also slightly edited, but here the bigger issue is that it should really be heard as the latter part of the two track suite which begins with "A matter of perspective". The remaining three tracks were originally recorded as bonus songs for the Japanese releases of the first two albums. They have since been included as bonus tracks on re-releases of those albums, and are also available in the recent "Cautionary tales" box set. While they are decent representations of the band's style and sound, none might be considered essential listening.

In all, a single which at the time of its release offered access to some rare material. Subsequent re-packagings have removed much of that rarity value, rendering this set enjoyable but largely superfluous.