Pendragon – Utrecht…The Final Frontier

Utrecht…The Final Frontier is Pendragon’s seventh album and third live album, recorded in 1994 in Utrecht, Netherlands. If you’ve never heard this great progressive rock sound, then it’s time to start.

The sound quality is crystal clear and the band’s performance takes your breath away. The dramatic ‘Kowtow’ which opens the album is worth the money the lucky concertgoers paid for, with Nick Barrett’s subtle voice being used to its best advantage. Add to that the momentum they brought to the complex art-rock masterpiece “The Last Man On Earth” as well as a newly remastered rendition of “The Voyager”, with some extra bass and alternating percussion, and you have an album not to be missed, not only by any Pendragon fan, but by any lover of good music. What’s impressive about Pendragon’s recordings is that they really manage to give a leading role to all the instruments in the mix, with the result that the guitars, basses, drums and keyboards really shine. The album packaging and song selection is top notch, with the band later releasing ‘Live At Last: Krakow 1996’ which is also well worth having in one’s collection.

So this live album recorded from Pendragon’s “Window Of Life” tour is a step up from their previous 1993 Very Very Bootleg in both sound quality and song selection.

Drawing heavily from 1993’s The Window Of Life and with a single song from ’91’s The World, ‘Voyager’, the album closes towards the best material from Pendragon’s repertoire, providing an interesting change of pace with this more recent material, highlighting in comparison to older songs just how far the standards of what Pendragon can achieve can go.

Additionally, the production on the album is above average in quality by far of The Very Very Bootleg, but the mixing is also a bit forward, with Clive Nolan’s synths sounding just a touch too quiet.

Out of this excellent live album I choose the track “Kowtow”.

Tracklist

1. Kowtow 10:02
2. Breaking The Spell 8:37
3. The Mask 3:43
4. The Last Man On Earth 15:06
5. Am I Really Losing You? 5:05
6. The Voyager 12:11
7. Nostradamus 3:40