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Pendragon - Once Upon A Time In England Volume 2

Artist:	Pendragon
Title:	Once Upon A Time In England Volume 2
Label:	self produced MOB6CD
Length(s):	60 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1999
Month of review:	05/1999

Line up

Various but including Nick Barrett, Peter Gee, Clive Nolan, Nigel Harris,
Robert Dalby and John Barfield.

Tracks

1)	Time For A Change +	3.55
2)	Last Bus Back +	2.08
	(on Tape, It Was Called Short Bus Back)
3)	The Mask +	3.51
4)	Whalespeak +	3.03
	(on Tape Speaking Of Whales)
5)	No More Tricks +	3.47
6)	I Walk The Rope +	4.28
7)	Holiday 89 +	1.59
8)	Victims Of Life	6.43
9)	More Than Just Freedom	4.12
10)	Whispered Words	3.00
11)	Sleep	2.37
12)	Oriental Man	3.54
13)	Valleys	1.44
14)	The Black Knight	10.20
15)	Son Of Sun	4.12

+ on the demo Beginner's Guide To Pendragon volume 2 (no, I'm not selling)

Try a sample of the album in

Summary

See the reivew of part 1.

The music

Time For A Change opens the album. This track ended up on the Kow Tow album later on, but now it only features Peter Gee and Nick Barrett. This is why we are stuck with a Mr. Monotonous, the drum computer. Last Bus Back is like the booklet says an answer to Metheny's Long Train Home. A strange thing is that on the Beginner's Guide To Pendragon tape the title of this track is Short Bus Back. Played by Barrett himself in his bedroom, this has a good melody that might have ended up on the World or something. The Mask is itself a powerful track. A bit poppy for some perhaps, but I admit liking it. Again, the drum computer is there since on this track as well it is only Gee and Barrett at the instruments. Whale Speak was called Speaking Of Whales on the Beginner's Tape. The title speaks for itself somewhat I would say. A very tranquil piece already in The World style. No More Tricks is an interesting one, because the guitar solo can be recognized as the one from Higher Circles. The latter track is better I think, especially the harmony vocal part of this song is not great. Walk The Rope is a great song in itself. It also ended up on Kow Tow, but here in a demo version. Actually with 2AM this is probably the first songs I ever heard of this band when they came out. I had no idea that they were originally a prog band and I got none the wiser from these two songs. Still, they are still among my favourite songs of the band. Here ends the second Beginner's Guide so the following recordings are also new to me. After the short acoustic Holiday 89 we come to the familiar Victims Of Life recorded life during the BBC Radio One Friday Rock Show in 1983. An up-tempo beginning as most of you know, but the continuation is a bit plodding. We back to the beginning now with More Than Just Freedom, a frolic little ditty. Not an interesting one and the sound quality went down as well. Whispered Words is an acoustic one. The song is a bit of a dreary one and rather monotonous. Sleep is another one of those Nick-only songs. Going to Japan with Oriental Man with in fact a somewhat oriental sound. The singing is not very good. Valleys a nice one, but rather short. Think of something like Horizons here. After a live version of the classic Black Knight we close with Son Of Sun. Barrett usually sings in a quite neutral voice not showing much emotion, but here there are some parts he shows a bit more. The music is a bit too slow and uneventful, although the guitar solo at the end tends to liven it up a bit.

Included in the booklet is a lengthy story about the band, it is the same story as in the other booklet.

Conclusion

Generally the sound quality is better here since more of the music is from the late eighties. Still many of those are not a band effort but feature Gee and Barrett or Barrett solo and some of the oldies feature only Barrett. It feel that the really good songs are the ones that turned up on a reocrd (as they should), but for the fan, there are some worthwhile things here such as Whalespeak, Last Bus Back or a live of The Black Knight, a favourite among the lovers of old Pendragon.