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Pendragon - The World CD (album) cover

THE WORLD

Pendragon

 

Neo-Prog

3.86 | 507 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

ZowieZiggy
Prog Reviewer
4 stars As I have mentioned in previous reviews (and I work chronologically), I like Pendragon a lot.

Their music is of course not complex. But most of the time (if you expect "Kowtow" of course) it is full of emotions, melodic and beautiful music. Actually, the best point of comparison I can think of, since I am also reviewing the entire catalogue for Barclay James Harvest, is the similarity between those bands. Nice music. Beautiful harmonies. Great guitar breaks. This is also how Pendragon sounds.

It is of course easy to say that this studio album is their best one to date (since there were not so many). If you are looking for weird lyrics or incredible and complex pieces of music, you'll have to knock on your neighbour's door. What you'll get here is just wonderful music with lots of feeling. From start to finish.

None of the tracks are weak. There will be some outstanding ones. "Voyager" is a perfect example. Nick is of course not the best lead singer in the world (I have already said this about John Lees), but he is so emotional and sincere... I have seen Pendragon live in May 2006, and this feeling was present during the whole of their (very long) live set. The audience being really passionate. Of course we are not in front of a new Genesis or Floyd. But we all know this.

Pendragon just brings me A LOT of emotion. And I can tell you that this record won't be dissapointing. Of course "Voyager" sounds like a Genesis song, but do you really have too much of these ? I don't, and I never will. I'm just overwelmed with joy when I listen to this track. So beautiful, yet so simple...

It is clear that with "The World", the band reaches full maturity. It will be the first of a wonderful trilogy. The finale of "Voyager" is a pure jewel of prog music... I have never understood (except for "Kowtow" which was rather poor) that this band is categorized in the neo-prog genre. They sound so symphonic and beautiful that there is no hesistation for me : Pendragon is a symphonic band.

"Shane" is very Floydian. So what ? There are poorer references, aren't they ? This is a wonferful and melodic song. I just have the shivers when I listen to it. "Prayer" is at least as good. What a great melody ! Nick 's vocals are just great (but some will say that he can't sing...).

The "piece the resistance" is their epic "Queen of Hearts" divided into three movements. It is a real pleasure to listen to Pendragon. So beautiful music is just fabulous. If you do not like to listen to this type of albums all the way through and are missing some dull improvisations and weird sounds, just put another CD into your multiple CD reader, but be sure to get one spot free to insert "The World" (or a later one of the Trilogy). Just to give you a breathe (in the air).

The middle part ("A Man Could Die Out Here") is my preferred one. All symph and beauty. More rocking as well. A very good track indeed.

Pendragon is of course not an influent band. It does not play in the major league for its global work. But still, they produce a powerful symph-pop-prog. Some blunders in their career (but which one did not produced one ? Remember Yes, Tull, Genesis).

When playing live, they are also great. Nick being a good entertainer and positive person. I just love them. Clive being the cement of their sound as well.

This album is not a masterpiece as such, but it is really close : it holds some pure symph prog gems. Besides, I like it an awful lot. Four stars (but I would have rated 9 / 10 if it was possible).

ZowieZiggy | 4/5 |

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