siLLy puPPy PENDRAGON had a slow start releasing some of the worst neo-prog albums the 80s had to offer but then almost like magic was propelled into the top ranks of the subgenre with 1991’s “The World” in pretty much every way. Led by the indefatigable Clive Nolan who was juggling two top tier neo-prog bands in the 90s with Arena being his other baby, PENDRAGON delivered a trilogy of amazingly exquisite albums that started with “The World” and then was followed by “The Masquerade Overture.” The third installment was NOT OF THIS WORLD which features one of my all time favorite fantasy album covers of any genre and delivered all the symphonic prog bombast you could possibly hope for in a space rock influenced neo-prog style.

This would be the last album the band would release before jumping into heavy borderline metal material but at this point NOT OF THIS WORLD was all about layers of sizzling synthesizers with oscillating arpeggios, dreamy atmospheres and droning sustain keeping the band high in the clouds for the 67 minute duration that includes three parts, two of which were multi-track suites. The opening “If I Were The Wind (and Your Were The Rain) opens with an outa this world synthesizer run that makes you think you’ve died and gone to synthesizer paradise with wind sounds and chimes slowly ratcheting up the tension much like classic Pink Floyd along with reverberating guitar riffs that slowly drift away from the Floydian connections and take you into the world of PENDRAGON.

Beautiful guitar sweeps dance in the breezy synthesizer party and the bass slowly grooves along. The intro is just magical and then one of my favorite singers in the world of neo-prog jumps in: Nick Barrett commences to sing a song written to his son and his fatherly advice in navigating the world at hand. The instrumentation is so lush and produced to the perfection made all the better by the divine backing vocals of Tina Riley simulating the female backing sounds of Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.” True the band has no shame in wearing its influences on its sleeves and the album has rightfully been criticized for a lack of originality but NOT OF THIS WORLD delivers a magical journey into a synthesized soul soothing world of neo-prog like no other except of course the band’s previous two releases that this one follows.

A fairly laid back and slower tempo album, this one is a true mellow out type of musical experience that takes you through a never-ending series of arpeggiated guitar parts, beautiful piano rolls, bass grooves and a million and one ways to create an orchestral effect out of spacey synthesizer sounds. The tracks pretty much run together seamlessly and although it takes a while for the album to really jump into any real rock aspects by the time “Dance Of The Seven Veils Part 2” kicks in, the music becomes a guitar-driven rocker with thumping bass and hefty percussive drive. Of course PENDRAGON excels in alternating heavier passages with lush acoustic guitar moments with all those atmospheric excesses but that’s what makes them so unique and even more dreamy and atmospheric than bands like Arena and IQ.

Add to the dreamy musical processions that never wear me out in the over hour’s experience, Nick Barrett is a gifted poet whose precise and clearly enunciated lyrical deliveries offers the perfect prose for the musical accompaniment and it all comes together so well with alternating segments that range from dreamy to fast tempo rock at key moments but not quite into metal yet at this stage of their career. As always this band crafts the most sensual and addictive melodies on NOT OF THIS WORLD with captivating emotive guitar sweeps and a contrasting bass groove that work perfectly in tandem and of course all those layers of synth sounds that frost this cake a thousand times over making it ever sweeter! The diversity of the tracks really keeps this one from stagnating. Each one ratchets up the tension a little bit more with clever creative subtitles seeping into the recurring themes.

This was one of those growers that kept drawing me back in. While it started out as a strong 4 star album in my world, the recurring visits have made this one of my all time favorite neo-prog albums and on par with the band’s previous “The Masquerade Overature.” Sure it can sound a little cheesy at times as can a lot of neo-prog but if you’re in the mood for this kind of melodic synthesizer overload then there’s nothing like it. Something you just want to soothe your soul with over-the-top melodic constructs that offer a gazillion variations. There are even moments of amazing virtuosity such as the guitar and keyboard works on “Not Of This World Part 1.” When investigated further this album will reveal an amazing detail that matches the outstanding cover art. It’s bright, colorful and bursting with life. Definitely one of the band’s best and although they would continue to deliver some interesting albums, this particular trilogy is one of the highlights of the neo-prog branch of the world prog. True it’s not the most original album ever released but the delivery is so impeccable i am the fish that got hooked!

Warthur Pendragon were riding high in 1996. As well as releasing The Masquerade Overture, another very popular album in a similar vein to The World and The Window of Life, the band also recorded their best live album to date (Live In Krakow) in honour of the successful tour to support their Overture.

Then, however, things went awfully quiet, with only compilations and archival releases trickling out of the Pendragon camp - all in all, their longest period of inactivity since they founded their own Toff Records label. What had happened to cease the steady trickle of new studio and live recordings that the band had been issuing from 1991 onwards?

Sadly, it transpired that the band's activities had been disrupted due to Nick Barrett going through an emotionally devastating divorce - a process which was sufficiently messy and financially draining as to take up all his resources for some time. Eventually, however, the band got back together to produce Not Of This World, which I consider to be the last of a quartet of studio albums beginning with The World.

Part of the reason I look at it this way comes down to its musical style, which is still very much in the school established with The World - Floyd-influenced, highly emotional melodic neo-prog is the order of the day here. On top of that, the album has a particular atmosphere of looking back at past experiences - not in a nostalgic way, more as a sort of taking stock of where you've been and what you've endured and what survived the process and what got lost along the way.

Lyrically speaking, it's clear that Nick Barrett's divorce was high in his mind at the time - really, could anyone seriously expect that he'd be thinking of anything else? - but rather than merely wallowing in self-pity Barrett takes the chance to sift through his feelings, examine them, come to terms with them and, through the songs here, depict the process of moving on. There's a hint of the sense of hurt and betrayal that comes with divorce, of course, but there's also an acceptance that things weren't to be, and that it's best for both parties if they can move on to a new phase of their lives. It's tempting, on that basis, to suggest that this is neo-prog's answer to Peter Hammill's Over.

However, whilst the theme of Nick's personal loss keeps cropping up, his subject matter is somewhat broader than that. There's a healthy dose of self-examination here and there, as well as consideration of issues of loss and failed dreams in a more general sense. On the whole, in fact, I think this is one of Barrett's best works as a lyricist, and it helps craft the album into a sort of spiritual twin of The Window of Life, which in its own way was very taken with themes of bereavement and loss and looking to the future. (Perhaps that was Pendragon's reaction to the deaths of Twelfth Night's Geoff Mann and IQ's "Ledge"? After all, IQ's own Ever came out in the same year and also was stuffed with bereavement themes for those exact reasons.)

This is ultimately the fourth album Pendragon did in essentially the same style, and despite having the novelty of having a bit more of a downer focus to the lyrics it's the fourth album doesn't make much of a musical breakthrough. Some of the refrains will likely grate and annoy over time as well.