Short Reviews [Pangaea - 2002 - "A Time and a Place"]

By the time of the third album there had been some changes in the band. Ron Poulson had left, with Robert Berry taking his place on the album (although I note Maurice Bettaglio is also credited on Discogs – he was certainly a member for a time but don’t know how much he contributed to this), but the biggest change was the return of Steven Osborn on vocals and acoustic guitar. Osborne was a key member of the band when they were performing as Artica, recording all four albums with them, but had left to continue his studies before they became Pangaea. This allowed Darrell to move back to providing backing vocals as opposed to lead, with the rest of the line-up of course being Andi Schenck (drums & percussion) and Corey Schenck (keyboards & guitars). By 2001 I was now in contact with the band who sent me a four-track sampler of material they had recorded for the new album, hoping to get a deal. I was sure they would get something, but I never heard from them again and had no idea this had been released by Musea, which is a real shame as there is something about this release which is a step up from the other two. Possibly it was the return of Osborne which had given them a lift, but all aspects of the band have improved as while Masingale is a fine singer, Osborne has an extra edge, and his presence allowed Darrell to concentrate on the guitar which is far more to the fore and Corey is tight in with him in classic neo, while Andi is being more adventurous around the kit, which may have had something to do with Berry being way more involved on this one. There is some real bite here, an album which is a sheer delight to listen to even more than two decades on from when it was released. What I find difficult to understand is that it was not more widely heard at the time as there is a mix of commerciality which makes me a real delight, with the ten-minute plus “The Journey” a blast from beginning to end. This is undoubtedly their finest album to date, and with three as Pangaea and four as Artica surely the time was set for them to really make their mark. So what happened?