Pallas – The Midas Touch: The Recordings 1998-2007 (9 Disc Boxset)

Cherry Red follow up their Eyes In The Night boxset, which covered Pallas’s early recordings, with this release which focusses on the period from 1999, and the album Beat The Drum, up to the end of their tenure on the ‘InsideOut’ label. This was a time which, as Mike Bentley notes in the accompanying booklet, the band went from relative obscurity and self-promotion to revival and critical acclaim as a resurgent and leading prog rock outfit. Along the way, they would record what many believe to be their finest album, The Cross And The Crucible, featured in this set alongside the double CD, The Blinding Darkness, which is one of the shows from the much-lauded tour which followed it.

Beat The Drum is the disc which opens this collection and is the first of three studio albums featured here. With more than ten years having passed since the release of The Wedge there was a lot riding on this effort. Thankfully, the band’s hard work paid off. With a number of tracks reworked from their Sketches EP, and the rest made up of newer material, the album could have ended up feeling disjointed. As it turns out, though, the overall flow of the songs works well, and the band steer a course between mainstream rock and prog quite successfully. Call To Arms and Hide And Seek are definitely more of the former style, whilst the Gilmour-esque guitar strains of Fragments Of The Sun and the epic Ghosts speak more of the latter. Particular standouts are the title track and the beautiful, elegiac, Blood And Roses which reminds one of just how much can be done with layering and arranging a simple piece of composition.

Live Our Lives is ostensibly a live album from the Beat The Drum period but, unlike the other live material in this boxset, it is actually a curated set of in-studio live pieces built around the setlists of the time and culminating (on CD3 here) with the Atlantis suite. By its nature, then, it is unsurprising to learn that it is a pretty polished collection of material. It does, though, offer an insight into the band’s touring at the turn of the century and how things were moving towards the next album. There isn’t much here that doesn’t reappear on the other live records, but it is nice for it to be included as it has proved harder to come by than the other live albums on here and provides some alternate approaches to the songs that feature.

The Cross And The Crucible is the standout studio album of the three on offer here. To my ears, it is the band’s finest offering, with 2023’s The Messenger a very close second. Songwriting, musicianship and production are all superb on this album. TCATC is the sound of a prog band at the very peak of their game. A concept album about the tensions between science and religion, the band explores warfare, technology and greed to reflect on the more dystopian aspects of the recently-ended Twentieth Century. Themes addressed on previous recordings are given a dramatic makeover in texture and soundscape. Church organ soloes and choirs compete with the thunder of the bass and guitars. At other times, acoustic guitars provide moments of reflection. But mood is well accompanied by melody, with strong choruses on For The Greater Glory and The Blinding Darkness. Both of these are amongst the album’s highlights, so to the ten-minute Midas Touch. But even with all that said, the album has no weak points.

The Blinding Darkness was a live album from the TCATC tour which I missed out on after its release. Listening to it here, I can see that was an oversight. My CD collection has far too many live albums in it and many of them don’t offer much different (or improved) from the studio album. This is not the case here. Live versions of songs from before Beat The Drum are excellent and shine more than their studio counterparts. I think particularly of Crown Of Thorns and The Executioner. This is a very well-presented live effort which places old and new material together in a seamless set and is a double which keeps drawing the listener back. I missed seeing them on this tour and this recording from De Boerderij shows me that that was an error on my part.

The Dreams Of Men is a more ambitious album than TCATC and, whilst that mostly works, it doesn’t always come off completely. This was obviously an album which intended to build on what preceded it and it occasionally trips over its own ambition. The Bringer of Dreams is a fine start but the two tracks which follow are a little on the busy side. Too Close To The Sun starts out in a similar vein until the track breaks into a haunting balalaika piece which then has keyboards overlaid. It’s beautiful, reminiscent of Blood And Roses and should stand alone. Mr Wolfe is fantastic; one of my favourite Pallas tracks and it is led by Graeme Murray’s driving bass lines. Invincible is also great, if a little long. What does baffle me is the decision to leave off the bonus CD from this album which featured a range of alternate versions, not least the standalone ending of Too Close To The Sun I earlier mentioned I had hoped for.

Moment To Moment features a gig performed in Katowice alongside Clive Nolan’s Caamora. The set is obviously predominantly geared towards The Dreams Of Men, though it’s a pity Mr Wolfe didn’t make it onto this set. What is a pleasure is to see a live version of Heart Attack appear here. For me, this was the standout song from the ‘full’ version of The Sentinel. The quality of the recording is, as one might hope given what else is available here, of the highest standard.

Any prog fan who doesn’t already have the studio albums on offer here really ought to consider giving this package a go. Retailing for around £50, the albums alone are worth the investment. Add to that, one of the best live double albums in the genre (The Blinding Darkness) and the other live material, in video as well as audio, and this is definitely a worthwhile package. It’s very well-presented in a compact clamshell with an extensive booklet. There are also interviews and other features on the Blu-ray which supplement the videos of the two concerts.

Normally, I wouldn’t have much to say about remasters from after the early ‘90s (remixes, on the other hand, are a different matter). In this case, though, I feel it is worth pointing out what a great job Ronnie Brown and Ben Wiseman have done with these recordings. Even on a cheap CD Walkman, the tracks are noticeably clearer, crisper and polished in the mix with voice, melody and rhythm all occupying distinct spaces. As with other reissues by Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint, this collection has been done properly and with real attention to detail. One really does get quite a chunk of content for the price ticket. Midas Touch is a worthwhile investment and whets the appetite for Alan Reed’s shows and the new Pallas and Alan Reed albums to come in the autumn.

TRACK LISTING
CD 1: Beat The Drum
01. Call To Arms
02. Beat The Drum
03. Hide And Seek
04. Insomniac
05. All Or Nothing
06. Spirits
07. Man Of Principle
08. Ghosts
09. Blood And Roses
10. Wilderness Years
11. Fragments Of The Sun

Time – 71:40

CD 2: Live Our Lives 1
01. Intro
02. Call To Arms
03. Cut And Run
04. The Executioner
05. Hide And Seek
06. Ratracing
07. Beat The Drum
08. Insomniac
09. Blood And Roses
10. Fragments Of The Sun

Time – 64:39

CD 3: Live Our Lives 2
– The Atlantis Suite
01. Rise And Fall
02. East West
03. March On Atlantis
04. Atlantis

Time – 26:31

CD 4: The Cross And The Crucible
01. The Big Bang
02. The Cross And The Crucible
03. For The Greater Glory
04. Who’s To Blame?
05. The Blinding Darkness
06. Towers Of Babble
07. Generations
08. Midas Touch
09. Celebration!

Time – 64:06

CD 5: The Blinding Darkness 1
01. The Cross And The Crucible
02. For The Greater Glory
03. Who’s To Blame?
04. The Executioner/Ratracing
05. Crown Of Thorns
06. Beat The Drum
07. Blood And Roses
08. The Blinding Darkness
09. Towers Of Babble

Time – 73:41

CD 6: The Blinding Darkness 2
01. Midas Touch
02. Celebration!
03. Rise And Fall (Pt.1)
04. East West
05. March On Atlantis
06. Atlantis
07. Cut And Run
08. The Ripper

Time – 61:02

CD 7: The Dreams Of Men
01. The Bringer Of Dreams
02. Warriors
03. Ghostdancers
04. Too Close To The Sun
05. Messiah
06. Northern Star
07. Mr Wolfe
08. Invincible
09. The Last Angel

Time – 73:08

CD 8: Moment To Moment
01. Warriors
02. Hide And Seek
03. Ghostdancers
04. Cut And Run
05. Heart Attack
06. Queen Of The Deep
07. Northern Star
08. The Last Angel
09. Invincible
10. Midas Touch
11. Fragments Of The Sun

Time – 78:00

Total Time (circa 450:00)

Disc 9:
Blu-Ray Video including The Blinding Darkness and Moment To Moment concerts, plus bonus features and interviews with Graeme Murray and Alan Reed

MUSICIANS
Alan Reed – Vocals, Guitars
Graeme Murray – Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Niall Matthewson – Lead Guitar
Ronnie Brown – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Colin Fraser – Drums, backing Vocals
Euan Lowson – Guest Vocals (CD6: 7 & 8)

ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Esoteric Recordings | Cherry Red Records
Country of Origin: UK
Date of Release: 26^th June 2026

LINKS
Pallas – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Boxset info at Cherry Red Records