137 [AKA: ONE THREE SEVEN]

137 is the second album from alternative rock band Pineapple Thief. It´s an improvement over the somewhat flawed debut which I gave a small 3 star rating. It´s not a bad album but pretty average alternative rock. 137 is a bit more experimental without leaving commercial territory though.

The music can be described as a mix of Radiohead, Porcupine Tree ( Stupid Dream, Lightbulp Sun) and a bit of Smashing Pumpkins. Add some psychadelic instrumental sections with lots of tremolo effects on the guitar and you just about have the music on 137. There is nothing here that offends me but on the other hand there´s only few things that arouse me. First of all the album is way too long with it´s 71:28 minutes. With music that is not more challenging or diverse than this this album overstays it´s welcome with at least 30 minutes. For the real fans of the band this is probably great, but for us who only have a slight interest in the band quantity is not always preferable.

The songs are all good and some of them are even bordering excellent like Lay on the Tracks, Kid Chameleon ( note how the bass changes through the song, just excellent) and the instrumental Ster with nice flute playing. Most songs are not that memorable though and they are too much alike which isn´t helped by the trivial Thom Yorke clone vocals from lead singer Bruce Soord. Why does every british band have vocalists who sound like Thom Yorke ?

The musicianship is excellent and the band seem very thight and well playing. As mentioned I ´m a bit annoyed by the vocal approach but it´s an aquired taste for sure.

The production is excellent. Grand and clear.

137 is a very good album despite the above mentioned flaws and for long I considered giving it 4 stars but after having listened to the album over a long period I still have trouble remembering some of the songs and that´s not good enough IMO. So I´ll end up with 3 star rating and a recommendation to fans of the above mentioned bands and also fans of a band like Muse.