Confessions
of a Marquee Veteran
or
The 'Rise and Fall' and
fall and fall of 'The Sentinel'
May 2000 - InsideOut re-release 'The Sentinel' by Pallas
Catalogue No. IOMCD0
Home page: http://www.dprp.vuurwerk.nl/bands/pallas/
Track list:
Shock Treatment (4.29)
Cut + Run (4.59)
Arrive Alive (4.05)
Rise And Fall (6.05) (part 1)
East West (4.58)
March On Atlantis (5.23)
Rise And Fall (part 2) (4.08)
Heart Attack (7.59)
Atlantis (7.59)
Ark of Infinity (7.05)
Multi-media section featuring a video clip of the "original"
Pallas live at London's Hammersmith Odeon 1984
(What follows are my own personal recollections and memories of
the time, era and conversations with bands and their fans. It
must be clearly noted that this is my personal memory of those
times almost 20 years ago. You can see from reviews on other
sites that this album is beginning to be hailed as a 'lost
classic'. From this distance, to me, the story surrounding the
album is more interesting than the album itself. So instead of a
straight review of the album re-release I hope to have provided
something a little more interesting)
I suppose it all started about 1977 with the Sex Pistols' 'God
Save the Queen', a great record that really turned the music
world upside down. However, it was all about image. Four guys up
on stage that couldn't give a flying toss about anything. And
what is more they encouraged everyone to join them. You don't
need to play an instrument - just get up there, look good, act
angry and swear a lot - it's hip, it's cool. As for anyone that
actually cares about what's being played - well f*** off you
boring old hippie has-beens. The Press just loved it and the (until
that moment) hip album-buying public were dismissed to the
corridor of shame….
The UK progressive rock scene was just about dead and buried.
There were some very honourable exceptions such as The Enid and a
great flash of brilliant light with UK that was soon extinguished.
But in the main, nothing really new happened with prog for about
five years.
The exception to this, the one related scene that never really
died out during that period, was the UK Space Rock / Festival
scene. Bands such as Hawkwind, Planet Gong, Here and Now,
Chemical Alice and Haze. I suppose the reason they survived and
in some ways kept the prog banner flying during those five years
was that they themselves generally embraced the Punk ethos and,
as always, remained part of a vibrant underground subculture. Let's
face it, Hawkwind were proclaiming and living 'Anarchy in the UK'
years before Mr. Rotten and co.
In 1982 things began to change. After half a decade people were
rediscovering their love of progressive rock and were unashamed
of going against the current fashions ('New Romantic' at that
time). The bands soon found a home at the Marquee Club in Wardour
Street, London where for the next two years twice a week or so
one or other of the leading bands of the movement played host.
If you look at the progressive Marquee house bands of the time
the hierarchy was: -
Headliners: Marillion / Solstice / Twelfth Night
/ Pallas
Support bands: IQ / Quasar / Pendragon. (Just
let that sink in - those bands were always rated as second league
support).
Also-rans: Citizen Cain / Liaison (who were
actually very good) / Trilogy / La Host
The Marquee crowd (Fish's 'Marquee veterans') all knew each other
and even had their own well-defined viewing areas in the Marquee.
With my friends and myself it was always to the right of the
stage, left of the first column. Yep, clique-y it was!
One of the main topics of conversion after any gig was who was
going to be the biggest - who was going to make that breakthrough
first out of the big four? These were our personal impressions at
the time:
Marillion - At that stage we really couldn't
understand why they were so popular. 'Grendel' just made us laugh…you
just wanted to go up to the nearest Marillion fan and say, "listen
to this - hear the real thing", thrust a pair of headphones
on him and play 'Foxtrot'. However, their singer did have a lot
of charisma.
Solstice - They were our party and stoners band.
You knew at once that they really didn't have what it took to
become a major act (and probably didn't want to anyway). Their
gigs were great in that confined atmosphere but they were really
the last of the great Hippie bands.
Twelfth Night - Very arty. Had an underground,
dark, punk-like sensibility, but seemed always in danger of
disappearing up their own backsides and becoming that generation's
Van De Graaff Generator. Deep, meaningful, very 'heavy' and
completely 'cult'. I personally preferred them when they were
totally instrumental (check out 'Live At The Target').
Pallas - Now the smart money was always on
Pallas. So why and what went wrong? Read on my friends.
South of the border the first thing we heard of this Scottish
band was a self-produced live album, 'Arrive Alive',
recorded in Scotland in 1981. Pallas were quite well-known in
Scotland as their first real home grown Prog band, starting life
as a cover band known for a great rendition of Genesis' 'Supper's
Ready' and Pink Floyd's 'Echoes'. By the time the live album was
recorded Pallas were developing their very own distinctive style.
This was 'Shock Prog' or, as the band described it, 'Symphonic
Punk'!
The lead vocalist
Euan Lawson modeled himself more on Alice Cooper than Peter
Gabriel. Euan's style was totally theatrical, introducing a new
character for each number. Having no real personal connection
with the audience as Euan - just the various characters acting
out the parts. One of the unique things about the band was that
in essence they had two lead vocalists. The second was the
constant on-stage presence of bassist Graeme Murray. It was
Graeme more than Euan who took on more of the traditional front
man jobs (such as actually talking to the audience). When Euan
was acting out his various personas, Graeme provided the linking
vocal narration.
A highlight of their set at that time and also a highlight of the
early Marquee shows (until the Marquee threatened to ban the band
if they did not stop playing it) was a track called 'The Ripper'.
A fifteen-minute epic about child abuse, insanity and rape and
murder. The climax of 'The Ripper' featured Euan dressed half as
an old man, half as a woman, acting out a chilling rape on stage
(it should be remembered that the infamous 'Yorkshire Ripper'
case was still, at the time, a relatively fresh news item). The
onstage blood-curdling screams still haunt me to this day as, in
my mind, I replay the memory of that performance. On 'Paris is
Burning' Euan played the ghost of a WW2 pilot. 'Crown of Thorns'
featured Euan acting out a crucifixion complete with blood
capsules.
The music was, put very simply, a cross between classic-period
Genesis and Rush, with some Hawkwind, Black Sabbath and Alice
Cooper thrown in for good measure. Other than the theatrics, the
one trick that really set the band apart from the opposition was
a natural understanding of the use of musical power and
atmosphere - when to hold back and build the piece, and when to
introduce the power chords / riff for maximum climactic and
dramatic effect
Throughout late 1982 and 1983 Pallas regularly made the 1000-mile
round-trip journey to play the Marquee. First introducing us to
the tracks to be found on the 'Arrive Alive' album
- by then almost three years old - then gradually introducing us
to 'The Atlantis Suite', later known as 'The Sentinel'.
By early 1983 Marillion had signed their contract with EMI.
Pallas were being courted for the next big signing and being more
business-minded than Marillion, held out longer for the best
possible deal. It's rumored that their eventual signing fee to
EMI was a lot more than Marillion's.
Pallas wanted to do it right, exactly as they planned, with no
compromises. Euan told me at the time, "when we do the album
it's going to be the ultimate prog piece - triple gatefold sleeve,
amazing prog graphics, and a top producer." They almost got
everything they wanted - gatefold sleeve with artwork by Patrick
Woodroffe (second choice to Roger Dean), EMI even specially
resurrected their prog offshoot Harvest for the release, and the
band were flown out to America to have the album recorded with
Eddie Offord (of ELP and Yes fame). And it's there that things
started to go wrong…
As soon as the band had recorded the album they flew home with
only a rough mix. The master tapes were left with Mr. Offord for
him to complete the final mix and master at his leisure. I was
lucky enough to hear part of the rough album mix when the band
next returned to the Marquee and all seemed well.
Of course the track everyone was looking forward to finding on
the album was the complete Sentinel saga. At this point, live, it
consisted of:
Rise And Fall
East West
March On Atlantis
Rise And Fall (part 2)
Atlantis
Encore - Ark of Infinity
Heart Attack was played live sometimes, especially at the earlier
concerts but it wasn't apparent, at that time, that it was part
of the actual Sentinel myth.
Mistake 1
When the album was released EMI had decided to market them more
as a singles band and had concentrated on the shorter tracks,
thereby destroying the eagerly anticipated saga. The track
listing was:
1- Arrive Alive - Now called 'Eyes In The Night' because of
copyright problems.
2- Cut and Run
3- Rise And Fall
4- Shock Treatment
5- Ark of Infinity
6- Atlantis
Mistake 2
The story goes that Eddie Offord had 'forgotten' to mix and
master the album as he was concentrating on a more financially
lucrative Police live video soundtrack. After being reminded
about the EMI deadline he rushed the mix in a weekend. As it was
so close to the deadline EMI went straight ahead with that mix
and started pressing the albums. That final mix was awful, bereft
of any life or the power that the band was known for. The track
order was wrong, and one of the great guitar solos of the piece (Rise
and Fall) was faded out almost as soon as it had started. And
where had half of 'The Sentinel' gone?*
By the time the band themselves heard the mix it was already too
late (a few months later a remix was done for the American market;
it's slightly better, but the only real difference is that the
drums were boosted).
* (Well a couple of missing sections did appear, in a typical 'milk
the fans' ploy - 'East West' as the B side to 'Eyes In The Night'
(Arrive Alive), along with a new studio recording of 'Crown Of
Thorns'. 'March On Atlantis' and 'Heart Attack' appeared on the 'Shock
Treatment' single. However all the B-sides were not Offord-produced
but in fact recorded late in 1983 during the Brave New World tour
(A three band touring package Pallas, Solstice and Trilogy), and
mixed, by the band, early 1984. The annoying thing then was that
to have the entire Sentinel as one piece you had to make a tape
from the album and singles. This itself had one drawback - The
newly-recorded, better-mixed 'East West' and 'March . . .' stood
out like sore thumbs with their completely different sound
qualities.
Mistake
3
Seemingly EMI had thrown a lot of money behind the band - videos
were shot, 'pin-up' photo sessions arranged (results made the
band look like 80's AOR fashion victims), and the press deluged
with interviews and adverts. In February 1984 the album was
released (with a limited edition poster) and launched with a
headline gig at London's prestigious Hammersmith Odeon - support
Twelfth Night. The staging and lighting had been specially
designed around the Sentinel concept. Euan's homemade costumes
had disappeared and were replaced by professionally-made items
that would not have been out of place in a blockbuster sci-fi
extravaganza. The band was certainly being groomed for stardom.
Then the Pallas bubble really burst. Within a few months of the
album launch Euan had left / been sacked by the band. I have over
time heard various rumours as to the reasons, but as the band
have cast a veil of silence over this period so will I.
Touring was halted and the hunt was on for a new vocalist. After
many auditions they chose Alan Reed. A couple of Marquee gigs
followed but Alan was no replacement for Euan. I met the band
again after the first gig, had a chat, and welcomed Alan. On the
way out a music journalist approached us and asked us what we
thought of the new vocalist, as he really had no idea or
understanding about the earlier Pallas incarnation. It was hard,
I said - "he's new, so we'll have to wait and see." I
didn't say what I really thought at that moment - that the magic
had gone; everything I loved about the original Pallas - the
theatrics, the power - had vanished.
Looking back from this two-decade distance, I have to revise my
thoughts of 1982. Marillion went on to make two outstanding
monuments of modern prog, 'Misplaced Childhood' and 'Clutching at
Straws', survived the departure of their front man, and still
produce interesting music to this day. Listening to 'The Sentinel'
now in its remixed glory (not as good as the live memories, but a
hell of a lot better than the Offord production), the album is
definitely a product of its Cold War paranoia time. The drum
sound especially roots it in the early 80s. Marillion's 'Script .
. .' has weathered time a lot better.
The last time I saw Pallas was the first gig in the Knightmoves
tour, at University College London I think. Again the staging was
especially themed, and must have cost a fortune. EMI's money was
still there and the next night they were going to make a live
video to be shown on ITV, so this was an important warm up.
However, there were so few people in the audience that at the end
the band were able, from stage, to individually thank and wish
goodnight to each person there - one by one. At that moment I
think even the band realised it was all over.
'Knightmoves', for me, contained the last of the
classic Pallas tracks, 'Sanctuary'. I listened to 'The
Wedge' when it came out and there was nothing left of
the band I once loved. Pallas were now just another AOR band -
the aggression, majesty and all sparks of originality seemingly
sunk like The Sentinel and lost with Euan.
To my knowledge Euan completely left the industry at that point (Someone
please correct me if I'm wrong). I often wonder what happened to
him and the great answered question what would have happened to
Pallas if he had remained?
The latest release, 1999's 'Beat The Drum' is so
'safe' it just sounds like comfortable middle-aged prog for and
by comfortable middle-aged men. Perhaps that's what Pallas have
become. I hope to be proved wrong.
Ian
Oakley May 2000