Pendragon - The World

1991 saw their most ambitious project to date, ‘The World’. Produced by Tony Taverner and with amazing artwork by Simon Williams (who recently did the covers for the EMI Classic Experiences releases), the album is immediately accessible and timeless. It captures all that is good about prog rock, great musicianship, wonderful lyrics and great melodies, yet does not fall into the trap of meaningless musical meanderings. Although Nick is the songwriter, singer and leader of Pendragon, he does not let his guitarwork override the rest of the band. The album displays the maturity of a band that have been played together for years and know exactly what they want to achieve and how to go about it. To put it simply, there are six songs on this nearly hour-long album and every one of them is a winner. Even the music press agrees, and Pendragon have been getting some rave reviews for the first time in years. To consolidate this success, they are just about to start another European tour, where they will be linking up with their old friends Marillion. It is strange to see how Marillion have fallen from grace over the last few years, but Pendragon now seem to be in the ascendance. They are arguably the leaders of the underground prog scene, which is about to break in a big way: when they discuss the Nineties prog scene then the name of Pendragon will be there at the very front. They have set up a very useful and informative newsletter, ‘The Mob’, and membership is only £5 a year, for which you not only get full details of what is going on, but also a free tape. All in all, Pendragon are a band that care very much for their fans, a factor sadly lacking from many these days.