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Pendragon - Live ... At Last! Krakow Poland

Artist:	Pendragon
Title:	Live ... At Last! Krakow Poland
Label:	Toff Records Pend9v
Length(s):	98 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1997
Month of review:	10/1997

Line up

Nick Barrett - guitar
Peter Gee - bass
Clive Nolan - keyboards
Fudge Smith - drums

Tracks

1)	March Of The Torreodores [intro]	(not on CD)
2)	Nostradamus	(not on CD)
3)	As Good As Gold
4)	Paintbox
5)	Breaking The Spell	(not on CD)
6)	Guardian Of My Soul
7)	Back In The Spotlight
8)	The Last Man On Earth	(not on CD)
9)	The Shadow
10)	Leviathan
11)	Masters Of Illusion
12)	The Last Waltz [Queen Of Hearts Part 2]

Summary

Well, all should be at least familiar with this band, who according to the accompanying The Mob fanzine have now finally recorded video material that they are entirely satisfied with (other recordings exist, but all had their problems).

The music

Yeah, I know, it's a bit silly. Having to review a video and not owning a video recorder (are there still people not owning a VCR? Yes there are, I know, I'm one of them). Fortunately there are even sillier people that do own one (thank you Roberto!). After the live CD Utrecht...The Final Frontier that borrowed heavily from the Window of Life, the new one, not surprisingly, is dominated by Pendragons latest studio release, The Masquerade Overture, of which all but the opera intro and The Pursuit of Excellence can be found on this lengthy video. There's not that much difference between the studio and live versions of the songs, but for many among you, who have never seen the band, it will probably be nice to see them at work. It can be said that the songs sound a little more dynamic and an extra bonus is that as always the enthusiasm of the band is infectious. Still, I have seen them at work live and I do prefer to see them like that. The problem with most music video's is that many bands cannot really afford to make a real show of it to make it visually as well as musically interesting, because to be honest, Pendragon's musical merit is in my opinion not in question (after a masterwork such as The World, who can be?).

Some points of attention with regards to the video are that Nolan doesn't seem to bounce his keyboards around as he does during "ordinary" gigs and Fudge Smith is on screen quite a lot (this in contrast with how easily he can be seen during a gig, so this is something else again) which is justified, since he's much more present in the live renditions then on the studio albums. Peter Gee doesn't move around much (he's not John Jowitt) and Nick is of course in the picture for the most part. Another thing that struck me was that the band had so much room to play on stage. Exceptionally much. I must also admit that the footage seems to be quite professional (although in the beginning I found the quick focus changes a little on the neurotic side), but especially the fact that they had a swing-by camera adds to the dynamics of the footage. In the latter respect for instance, I found the IQ video a little too static, although this band added some more theatrical effects to some of the songs to make it interesting to watch. Contrary to for instance Fish (or better yet, Tom Waits), both bands lack a singer that can really tell a story (in fact most bands do), so most of the concert, as this one, is reduced to playing a list of tracks with in the best case, as in this one, a more lively and enthusing rendition of the studio material.

Conclusion

Again, as with the IQ video, the music is in my opinion more important than the music and although this release is recommended to all of you that have never seen the band in action, I'd still say that buying their albums and visiting their gigs in the flesh is to be preferred. This is not a point that diminishes the band, but in fact illustrates that seeing them live is just more of a kick and the atmosphere of the living room does not lend itself very well to viewing a gig. Still a technically professional video, but the musical aspect of Pendragon overshadows the visual one.

Recently a CD under the name of Live in Krakow 1996 has been released and it contains the songs noted above.