Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Pendragon
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2005
Length: 51:31
Rating: 3/5
British neo-prog rock veterans Pendragon pulled off a pretty unexpected stylistic about-face on »Beleive«, their seventh studio outing, a big break from the direction of their albums over the previous decade. From »The World« (1991) to »Not Of This World (2001), Nick Barret and his buddies swore by a sophisticated, melodic brand of symphonic prog rock. That formula brought them quite a few fine results and a huge surge in popularity across Eastern Europe, especially in Poland, where neo prog rock is particularly revered, but it couldn’t go on forever if they wanted to live up to the adjective ‘progressive’ in their musical direction. After the relatively interesting acoustic album »Acoustically Challenged« (2002), they figured out that certain stylistic experiments aren’t necessarily bad, in fact they were pretty much essential, even though after the botched ‘pop’ experiment »Kowtow« (1988), still their weakest effort, they should have learned that swinging too far to the other extreme and alienating your loyal fanbase isn’t a great idea.
On »Believe« they didn’t make as radical a break as on »Kowtow«, even though its overall atmosphere is a lot gloomier than anything in Pendragon’s past. There’s also much more of Barrett’s acoustic guitar, probably thanks to the positive effect of »Acoustically Challenged«, and even a few minor world music influences, which is definitely not a bad change. All of this should really have been a plus for a band under constant threat of recycling its own sound, and yet something went badly wrong during the writing of the individual songs, because apart from a few exceptions, most of them lack the expected depth and soul. Barrett, who was never more than an average singer, could have made a bit more of an effort too, since in the moments when his voice wobbles, it comes out rather hollow. His lyrics, with a few exceptions, are nothing more than pretty empty, quasi-religious philosophizing, which is admittedly a problem with most Pendragon albums. The only difference is that the lyrics have turned a bit more cynical. Still, some of the arrangements, where Nick’s old buddy, cult keyboardist Clive Nolan (Arena, ex-Shadowland), plays a very important role, are once again excellent and full of ethereal beauty, while Barrett has even improved as a guitarist and come up with quite a few interesting, heartfelt improvisations.
The worst impression comes right away with the opener »No Place For the Innocent«, which on earlier Pendragon albums would have been a mere B-side at best, or a tasteless piece of filler. After a short, completely atypical, instrumental new-agey intro in the form of the title track, which, thanks to an ethereal female vocal, even slightly recalls Enya, plus Nolan’s witty electronic improvisations, comes a sudden swerve into a bizarre pop section with an almost danceable rhythm, where Barrett’s vocal is like salt in the wound. The only things that soften the bad aftertaste are the melodic, acoustic arrangement and, as always, the excellent interplay between guitar and keyboards. The rhythm section of bassist Peter Gee and drummer Fudge Smith, who left the band after »Believe«, is solid, though you can feel that on some of the tracks Smith was no longer fully ‘in the game’, so some of the drum fills come across as pretty sterile.
»Wisdom of Solomon«, which has no shortage of biblical connotations, is a noticeably more successful and ambitious effort compared to the weak opening of the album. In fact, it’s one of the better moments on »Believe«. After yet another ‘new age’ intro, reminiscent of some religious incantation from the Middle East, comes a very pretty guitar solo heavily influenced by Dave Gilmour (Pink Floyd), who has surely shaped Barrett’s guitar style more than anyone. Barrett then surprises with some flamenco on acoustic guitar, which he uses to slowly build a melodramatic mood. Quite a few surprises also come in the form of some aggressive rhythmic twists, unusual even for Pendragon, and a bigger dose of electronics on Clive’s keyboards. If this were just an instrumental track, it would have turned out great, because in the more aggressive sections Barrett sounds almost completely lost vocally.
Pendragon stayed true to tradition and created an epic suite on this album too, titled »The Wishing Well«, split into four separate parts. The first part, »For Your Yourney«, is clearly symphonic in direction, with mighty orchestral arrangements courtesy of Mr. Nolan and female choral harmonies in the background. The most bizarre moment of the entire suite comes when Barrett tries to morph into some kind of neo-prog Leonard Cohen and starts reciting his (quasi-)intellectual poetry, which has exactly the opposite of the intended effect, as it totally ‘kills’ the whole thing. »Sou’ By Sou’ West«, loaded with an ethereal and melancholic atmosphere, has a string of solid orchestral and acoustic arrangements, which is its main charm, while Barrett’s vocal strains in vain to crank up the drama. Where he fails as a singer, he makes up for as an excellent guitarist. On »We Talked«, which once again has very decent arrangements and tasteful improvisations, plus a few praiseworthy, punchy transitions, something they’ll be practicing more actively in the future, Barrett’s ‘singer-songwriter’ vocal is downright hopelessly sterile. »Two Roads« suffers from similar problems and has similar strengths. The short instrumental interludes are excellent, and Barrett’s vocal is a lot more bearable this time thanks to generous backing support.
»Learning Curve«, enriched with world music wind instruments, has a wonderfully pleasant, subtle intro that promises a lot, and it really does deliver: despite a thoroughly average vocal performance, with the help of elegant acoustic and symphonic arrangements and melodic improvisations, it comes out as one of the album’s better moments. »The Edge of the World« is an average, not particularly inspired, acoustic-leaning closer with narration at the start and the end. It could easily have been at least half as long.
»Believe« isn’t without its appealing moments, when Pendragon’s traditional ambient magic shines through, but the change of style unfortunately didn’t deliver the results they were after, which makes the album as a whole one of the less inspired moments of their career. The sad fact is that the individual instrumental sections are once again excellent, with both Barrett and Nolan doing top-notch instrumental work, but some of the songwriting ideas could have been executed far better without leaning so heavily on the acoustic guitar. With »Believe« Barrett and company still made a solid album, but these days it will only thrill the most hardcore Pendragon fans. They proved much better on their next studio project, »Pure« (2008).
Line-up
Nick Barrett – guitar, vocals
Clive Nolan – keyboards
Peter Gee – bass guitar
Fudge Smith – drums
Production
Pendragon
Tracklist
1. Believe (2:56)
2. No Place For The Innocent (5:36)
3. The Wisdom Of Solomon (7:06)
The Wishing Well (21:07)
4. For your journey – 4:30
5. Sou’ by sou’ west – 6:48
6. We talked – 5:29
7. Two roads – 4:17
8. Learning Curve (6:34)
9. The Edge Of The World (8:15)
