Pendragon - 1984 - Fly High Fall Far

Pendragon 

1984

Fly High Fall Far

01. Fly High Fall Far (4:45)

02. Victims of Life (6:40)

03. Dark Summer's Day (5:20)

04. Excalibur (6:15)

Nick Barrett: Vocals, Guitars

Rik Carter: Keyboards

Peter Gee: Bass

Nigel Harris: Drums

This was Pendragon´s first officiail release, an EP with four tracks. I was quite surprised to find it so good for such a new band. Ok, it lacks the sophistication of their 90´s material of course, but if you look closer it´s easy to see that all the basic elements that made Pendragon one of the best prog bands to emerge from the so called neo prog movement are right here: the Gilmour/Hackett influenced guitar lines, the fine symphonic keyboards (although it would take a little over than an year for Clive Nolan to take over those duties), excellent rhythm section. And, sure, Nick Barrett´s unique voice, love it or hate it.

The title track is quite heavy on parts and show the group´s versatility since the early days. Victims of Life is a more familiar synphonic prog track, being mostly isntrumental and showing off clearly Genesis influences. Dark Summer Days on the other hand is quite different, with its jazzy guitar, slightly bossa nova rhythm, dreamy keys and fine melody. The last track is the isntrumental Exclibur, where the Steve hackett influence comes to the fore again. Very nice!! Production was only average, but the energy and passion of the performances were so strong they overcome such small detail.

Like Marillion Market Square Heroes EP, Fly High Fall Far proved once and for all that progressive music was far from dead. In fact, a whole new generation of prog artists would show that not only the style was alive and well but they had a lot of new sounds to offer. Small wonder Pendragon is still making fine and relevant music almost 30 years after they appeared. They were truly special from the get go.

This record sounds definitely like "The Jewel". There are tons of fast cymbals, loud and sophisticated bass (its sound is really unique and definitely not bland). The electric guitars are really good, and the keyboards are impressive too: many moog solos, floating keyboards streams (e.g. organ) and more modern sounds. The guitar rythmic is loud, aggressive and addictive. The four songs are very good, especially "Excalibur", which IMO started the neo progressive style: just listen to those guitar solos, full of pedal effects a la Steve HACKETT. The composition of "Excalibur" is very structured, elaborated and varied. The lead vocals are excellent, as always. The songs have something very addictive and catchy. It can sound like MARILLION-FISH era. Again, the sound is recorded too loud, so that the cymbals sound saturated. This record doesn't leave me indifferent. The style is very urban and tracks may be played in the car on a hot summer night.