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Pallas (Band) Pallas is a progressive rock band based in the U.K. Pallas was one of the bands at the vanguard of what was termed the "neo-progressive" movement during progressive rock's second-wave revival in the early eighties (other major players included Marillion, IQ, Twelfth Night, and Pendragon). Beginning life as Pallas Athene, they dropped the latter moniker and began hitting the club circuit at the beginning of a grassroots revival of full-blown progressive rock; which, at the time, was extremely unfashionable due to the overwhelming influence of pop and new wave. They eventually secured a successful headlining run at London's Marquee club (a hotbed for the neo-progressive revival). 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, rape and murder, the climax of "The Ripper" featured lead singer Euan Lowson 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). After releasing a self-produced LP entitled Arrive Alive (recorded in Scotland in 1981), Pallas was courted by EMI records (who had just signed contemporaries Marillion) and thrust into the studio with none other than Yes/ELP wunderkind Eddie Offord to record the LP that would become The Sentinel. All this boded well for Pallas, but EMI's initial interest in the band waned (EMI perhaps feeling that Marillion had the better potential for mass-market success, and the market may not sustain both bands), as did Offord's enthusiasm for producing the album properly, and when The Sentinel was released in 1984, it was regarded as a compromised affair by all involved (despite sporting what was widely regarded as one of the genre's most beautiful covers ever, illustrated by Patrick Woodroffe). When the album was finally released on CD, it was in a remixed version with additional songs that had been written for the album and released as singles, but not included on the original release. Thus the CD gives a much better idea of how the original concept was meant to sound. Some elaborately staged shows in the UK (using The Sentinel concept as the theme and featuring props by the special effects team from Doctor Who) failed to generate the needed interest, and by the time the band was ready to record the second LP for EMI, lead singer/songwriter Lowson decided to leave the band (and the music industry) for good, effectively ending Pallas' chances for the big time before they had even begun. needs more here about the Knightmoves EP and Wedge LP Pallas reformed with a new singer to mixed success in the late 80's, but by then even neo-prog was out of fashion with all but the die-hards, and the die-hards wanted something more than the simple, pop-oriented albums Pallas was offering in a vain attempt to attract a mainstream audience. Pallas did perservere on & off for several years, and managed to release a respectable comeback album, The Cross & The Crucible, in 2001 to generally positive reviews.
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