Pendragon
Acoustically Challenged

The Pendragon make me think of a pair of old comfortable shoes, all meant in a good sense, of course. Imagining puzzled faces, I will immediately explain the comparison. If you buy yourself a new pair of shoes, you will surely be fashionable and satisfy your desire to change, to try new things. From the comfort point of view, however, the matter is much more delicate as it might go well, and you might buy shoes that won't make you miss the old ones, but you might also stumble upon deadly "foot traps". I am referring, for example, to those shoes with built-in "bumper", Tecnocasa employee model, or those faux-athletic leather shoes that, if worn in summer, show all the hatred you feel for your extremities. Or, finally, if you belong to the fairer sex, those shoes which, although the Almighty created us with five toes, have a long point that seems made to contain only one big one, as if you were Velociraptors (for those not knowledgeable in paleontology or haven't seen Jurassic Park, Velociraptors are sauropods equipped on the lower limbs with a large sickle-shaped claw...). What to do in case you encounter one of these unfortunate events? Simple: throw away the torturing shoes and go back to the shoe rack to retrieve the old, worn-out Clarks that are as comfy as slippers, or, if we are in the warm season, that pair of old sandals for which your feet will never stop thanking you.

Coming back to Pendragon, it should be obvious where I am going: I mean that approaching one of their albums, we are absolutely sure of what awaits us, and we know that we definitely won't be taken for a "sóla" (Roman slang for "scam"). From them, in fact, we should not expect surprises, nor would we want any, for that matter. So, if we don't feel like taking risks by getting the CD of that much-praised Malagasy band on internet discussion groups, with Pendragon, we delve into a well-known terrain, and we are sure that we will find nothing more than that warm, pleasant new prog (let's face it, always more or less the same...) made of beautiful melodies, heartbreaking guitar solos, delicate keyboard touches. What has been said so far obviously applies both to studio works and, even more so, to live albums or, as in this case, "unplugged" (they used to call them acoustic), in which in the end, they do nothing but rehash the same slice from the day before with sauce.

Acoustic album, we were saying, this "Acoustically Challenged", recorded during a show held at Polish radio (the album is indeed released by the Polish Metal Mind) by Nick Barrett (vocals and guitar), Peter Gee (guitar), and Clive Nolan (keyboards). Ten tracks comprise it, aiming to provide an overview of the group's extensive discography. It starts with "And We'll Go Hunting Deer", a delicate piece from Pendragon's masterpiece, "The World", which in the acoustic dimension neither loses nor gains anything but flows pleasantly and lightly. It is followed by "Fallen Dreams And Angels" from the homonymous EP, a track which, despite being one of the so-called "light" compositions in their repertoire, can be enjoyed with pleasure. Then it's the turn of "A Man Of Nomadic Traits" and "World's End", rather pleasant tracks that hold their right charge of pathos even in the acoustic version. The level rises further with a beautiful version of "The Voyager", a great track from "The World", immediately followed by another gem, "Alaska", which represented one of the highest points of the band's debut album, "The Jewel". The album concludes with four more tracks, among which stands out a nice version of "The Pursuit Of Excellence" and the melancholic "Unspoken Words" from the first solo work of bassist Peter Gee.

Finally noteworthy is the very beautiful digipack packaging and the addition of a multimedia section (with photos, an interview video with Nick Barrett, and more). After the long and somewhat delirious introduction to this review, which I hope hasn't irritated you too much, I can only conclude by saying that it is, ultimately, a very pleasant album that will certainly satisfy the many Pendragon fans, while on the contrary, it will not move the band's detractors an inch and perhaps even make them "more bitter" in their disdain, especially since this is the fifth or sixth live album made by the group.... (okay, this is unplugged, but still, aren't they a bit too many?).