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Porcupine Tree - Futile CD (album) cover

FUTILE

Porcupine Tree

 

Heavy Prog

3.48 | 164 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

russellk
Prog Reviewer
2 stars An EP of PORCUPINE TREE's high quality, but perhaps suffering from poor song selection.

There are three new songs here (though one has been issued as a bonus track from 'In Absentia'. 'Orchidia' is a pleasant enough rock instrumental, and 'Futile' is a superb track, a composition deserving of inclusion on 'In Absentia' proper. 'Drown With Me' is an odd juxtaposition of upbeat music and maudlin lyrics. Of the other nine tracks, one is an interesting interview and another a station id. That leaves two live tracks, always a mixed blessing at best, an edited version of 'Strip the Soul' that feels tantamount to sacrilege - so good is the album version - and, oddly, an OPETH track, tangible evidence of the friendship between STEVEN WILSON and MICHAEL AKERFELDT.

So, one outstanding track - the title track - and a selection of curios. As other reviewers have noted, the 'In Absentia' sessions created a great deal of other unreleased material which might better have been placed here. The appearance of 'Out Absentia', a non-sanctioned release, shows there was a demand for supplementary material. It's out (or in) there, but is relatively hard to find. This release, while welcome, goes only part of the way. The downloadable version is superior.

russellk | 2/5 |

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