SPIRAL CIRCUS LIVE (LP)

Originally put out on cassette in 1994, the first Porcupine Tree live album extracts material from performances in the early December of 1993 - a period when Porcupine Tree was evolving from a Steven Wilson bedroom project into a proper band, and the group which would eventually bring us The Sky Moves Sideways was playing some shows as part of the process of getting on the same page.

As you might expect from its age, it comes from squarely in the band's space rock era, and since they'd only put out two "proper" albums at this point (On the Sunday of Life and Up the Downstair) they don't have a deep bench of material to draw on. You get a short take on Voyage 34, you get Radioactive Toy from On the Sunday of Life, and then everything else is from Up the Downstair - and since Voyage 34 had been considered for inclusion on that, you end up with a sound very much focused on the style of Up the Downstair, albeit with moments here and there where the band seem to be evolving towards the approach of The Sky Moves Sideways.

The sound quality is OK but not pristine, and given the tight focus of the setlist how much you enjoy this will likely hinge on how much you like Up the Downstair. I'm keen on it, so for me it's a four star release, but if you don't think Porcupine Tree got good until after this then shave a star off.

(Note that Porcupine Tree have subsequently put out a recording of the entire Nag's Head show - their very first live gig, from which the latter half of this is sourced - as a download.)