Pangaea - 1997 - The Rite of Passage

(76:02; HMG Records [2024 Editon] )






















In 1995 the band Artica comprised Andi Schenck (drums & percussion), Corey Schenck (keyboards, guitars & backing vocals), Darrell Masingale (vocals & lead guitar) and Ron Poulsen (bass guitar & backing vocals). They worked with Robert Berry at his Soundtek Studios and released ‘Liquid Placidity’, which I must confess to having never come across. Undeterred by the success they changed their name to Pangaea, and over the next few years released three albums under that name, all recorded with Robert and then disappeared. Until now. Not only is there a new album but they have remastered the others and refreshed the artwork, which is why, only 27 years after its debut release, I am now playing ‘The Rites of Passage’.

Back in the 90’s the most popular (in a relative sense, prog wasn’t really popular at all and the mass media were doing their best to keep it that way) form of progressive rock was neo prog, but the styles coming out from the two sides of the Atlantic were very different indeed with the Americans often coming to it from their style of melodic rock and such is the case here. While the likes of Ilúvatar and Timothy Pure managed to make their presence felt in Europe, I missed out on this album at the time and confess that from the beginning to the end I played this with a massive smile on my face. This is very much an album of its time with nice vocals, great hooks, and that neo-prog knack of having a strong rhythm section combining with a guitar and keyboard attack. That this sounds quite dated is of little surprise, given that this style of prog really only flourished for a certain period of time (and is often looked down on by many progheads even though many popular bands have released albums in this vein such as Pendragon, Galahad, IQ, Marillion and many more), but this takes me back to when the underground prog scene really was that and the only way to know what was going on was to read fanzines and go to gigs as the internet did not exist and glossy colour mainstream mags like ‘Prog’ were a fantasy.

Hearing this now I am somewhat surprised it did not have more impact at the time, especially with the involvement of Robert Berry who always gets the most out of bands and can provide whatever instrumental or production support is required. But they obviously made someone sit up and take notice as the next album would be released by Angular Records in Germany.

Kev Rowland, July 2024

Links:
https://pangaea.band/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thirteen of Everything - 2023 - Time and Other Delusions

Image
(68:22; Basement Avatar Records) Track list: 1. Timeline 8:57 2. Alternate Life 12:02 3. Where the Time Goes 5:32 4. The Penultimate Flight of Armando the Pigeon 7:11 5. The King of Istanbul 10:35 6. Warmth and Darkness 7:32 7. Count All the Days 16.33 Line-up: Brett Cosby - guitars Mick Peters - Chapman stick, bass, pedals, vocals Ted Thomas - drums, percussion, vocals Bob Villwock - keyboards with: Thad Miller - keyboards Prolusion. US band Thirteen of Everything has been a going concern for a bit over 20 years, releasing their initial demo back in 2002 with official albums following in 2005 and 2019 respectively. Following what has been a brief pause between albums for this band they are now preparing to launch their third studio album "Time and Other Delusions", which will be released on US label Basement Avatar Records. Analysis. In terms of the different variations one can find in the progressive rock universe, Thirteen of Everything resides safely inside the symphonic ...
Read more

Deaton Lemay Project - 2022 - The Fifth Element

Image
(63:04; Deaton Lemay Project) Track list: 1. The Great Awakening 5:32 2. A Different Place in Time 7:24 3. Dragonfly 3:35 4. The Nightmare 4:28 5. Exordium 6:24 - Elements of Life Suite 6. Overture 4:43 7. Fire 6:10 8. Water 6:11 9. Air 4:19 10. Earth 6:53 11. Music 7:25 Line-up: Roby Deaton - keyboards, guitars, vocals Craig LeMay - drums, percussion with: Hadi Kiani - vocals Ehsan Imani - guitars Josh Mark Raj - guitars John Haddad - bass Charles Berthoud - bass Liza Evans - violin Prolusion. US band DEATON LEMAY PROJECT started out officially back in 2018, following a 25 year long period of gestation. They released their debut album "Day After Yesterday" in 2019, and following what I suspect has been a rather busy planning and recording period during the years of the pandemic the creative twosome of Deaton and Lemay are back with their second album "The Fifth Element" at the start of 2022. Analysis. While the fifth element apparently used to be defined as aether ...
Read more

Jay Graboski - 2023 - Authentic Fake

Image
(77:11; Oho Music) Track list: 1. In Dotage 3:55 2. Season of Extremes 3:54 3. 28721 3:38 4. Dot on Your Door 4:55 5. Die Before You Die 4:00 6. Hidden Agenda 4:43 7. Out on a Limb 3:58 8. Mired in Malaise? 3:00 9. Cosmos of the Soul 3:51 10. The Hours 5:32 11. Frog Legs 2:41 12. Metaphors 3:28 13. The Witness Watchers 3:41 14. Authentic Fake 3:05 15. Your Luck is Awake 4:43 16. The Crown 3:51 17. The Doomed Princess 4:01 18. St. Judas 4:12 19. Where Words Do Not Reach 3:28 20. Well, I'll Be 2:35 Line-up: Jay Graboski - vocals, guitars, bass, percussion, glockenspiel with: Dale German - guitars Ray Jozwiak - accordion, keyboards, bass, Moog Dave Kelly - guitars, programming, keyboards, percussion Julie Keough - backing vocals Harry Maben - drums Patrick McAvinue - fiddle Gene Meros - saxophones Bill Phelan - backing vocals, guitars, mandolin, recorder Bill Pratt - keyboards, backing vocals, horn arrangements David Reeve - drums, percussion, keyboards Gyro J. Scope - sequencing Prol...
Read more