PENDRAGON — 9:15 Live (review)

PENDRAGON — 9:15 Live album cover Live album · 1986 · Non-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Warthur
Recorded at one of the band's regular appearances at the Marquee, the main London home of the neo-prog revival in the 1980s, 9:15 Live captures Pendragon in smashing form, presenting the best songs from their debut album, The Jewel, as well as the instrumental Please and Red Shoes, the studio version of which would be the band's next single preceding the Kowtow album.

The album marks Clive Nolan's entry to the band, original keyboardist Rik Carter having departed. (He'd later be more of a presence on the goth scene, appearing on releases by The Mission and All About Eve.) The Jewel material, being quite keyboard-heavy, represents the perfect chance for Clive to showcase his skills; his lively interpretations of Rik's original keyboard contributions lend these songs a spark which makes this album an interesting companion to The Jewel.

The album also shows how Nick Barrett is an endearing frontman; the audience can't help but be caught up in his enthusiasm and good cheer. The mixture of radio-friendly, melodic pop-prog and more progressive songs is more immediately gripping than it is on The Jewel (which took a long time to grow on me to the extent that it did), perhaps because the catchy pop tunes carry more energy live, and the live portion of the album concludes with an absolutely incredible rendition of The Black Knight, a song which I don't think Pendragon ever managed to top in the first decade or so of their existence.

Aside from Red Shoes, which just isn't quite as solid a song as the others, this is a an enjoyable live effort, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the early days of neo-prog, though Pendragon's early material tended to be a little shakier than that of their peers and arguably their music only really firmed up on The World.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Reclamation Of I Metalcore
IMMINENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 10 hours ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 10 hours ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 6 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed