WHERE WE STOOD

4.5 stars. It's pretty funny that every track from the previous studio album "Your Wilderness" is on here except for "Where We Stood" which of course is the name of this live recording. I have to say that "Your Wilderness" continues to blow me away to this day. I rated it as the second best studio album of 2016 but man one day it might get bumped up to number one. My favourite PINEAPPLE THIEF album for sure and it sure didn't hurt having Gavin Harrison(PORCUPINE TREE, KING CRIMSON) playing drums on it. Thankfully he's playing on this live album, it was one of the first things I checked out before spinning it. Darran Charles(GODSTICKS) adds extra guitar as he did on "Your Wilderness".

This was recorded live at the London Islington Assembly Hall on February 11/17. It was interesting to hear the three tracks off of "Magnolia" because it's the only studio album from this band I don't own, although the only two tracks that didn't do much for me are from that particular record. My top four tracks are from "Your Wilderness" and I have to say that a few times I kept this in my stereo instead of moving on to the other two cds I was listening to last week simply because I couldn't get enough. So much emotion on this album for me and take away the two tracks from "Magnolia" that don't do much for me then this is a five star album.

I'm not going to go track by track since I've reviewed all these songs except for the three from "Magnolia". By the way the one song from that album I did like on here was "The One You Left To Die". By the way Gavin is his usual brilliant self on the kit here, I can't get over the difference he makes to the PINEAPPLE THEIF sound. So lets look at my top four songs.

"Tear You Up" is a fantastic opener. The emotion and the heaviness makes this a great opener to the live set. I can't get enough of this song. "I cannot tear you up, I cannot tear you up." No I can't get rid of you like tearing up a picture and throwing it out. Before I get to the next top four tune I must say that "The One You Left To Die" sounds amazing live. It's that rhythm section really.

"No Man's Land" is an emotional piece that is ballad-like. Picked guitar and vocals much of the time. Bruce sounds incredible vocally on this live recording including the wonderful vocal melodies that are featured prominently on the "Your Wilderness" songs. How good is this 2 1/2 minutes in when it turns more intense and the vocal melodies are beyond fantastic. Check out Gavin during this section. Not worthy! It then kicks into gear. Oh my!

"That Shore" is another laid back beauty filled with emotion and atmosphere. Again I'm sooo moved here. "I throw you a rope and you do what you want with it, cause your face is leaving me. You should never have left this soon, this soon. And I can never forget you washed upon that shore. Just pull up that rope, and that's all that I beg from you." Bruce I hear you man. Been there not so long ago.

"The Final Thing On My Mind" is the longest track at around 10 minutes. Guitar and drums to begin with as it starts to build. Vocals just before a minute. Check out those vocal melodies before 3 minutes that continue and intensify. How many times I've sung these wordless melodies at work and other places. When he stops singing before 4 minutes the crowd cheers. It feels like this song has to breakout soon, so much tension. And instead he starts to sing the lyrics which are causing the water to rise in my eyes. Sometimes words seem so useless. "How did we get to be so cold, how did I let you get so far from me, we got it so wrong, so wrong. How did we get this cold". Then back to those vocal melodies. "Everything you did is a part of me, ripped apart from me" and more wordless melodies. Check out Gavin after 8 minutes. Amazing guitar solo late. Man the crowd absolutely roars when this one ends.

I love this band and have for many years, even when all I could see on this site was negative reviews back in the day. If I could take three studio albums from this band it would be "Your Wilderness", "Someone Here Is Missing" and "Little Man". So yeah they just keep getting better.