Progressive Rock Reviews

Pineapple Thief is:
Bruce Soord, Nick Lang & The Dead Romeos.

The tracks are:
1. Private Paradise
2. Drain
3. What Ever You Do - Do Nothing
4. No One Leaves This Earth
5. Punish Yourself
6. Everyone Must Perish
7. Judge The Girl
8. Parted Forever

Pineapple Thief came about after I had spent a year bumming about doing sod all after recording 'Sleep with the Fishes'. Well, I didn't really bum about. Fishes came out and didn't do as well as expected so Neil (the other half of Vulgar Unicorn) and I took some time off.

Eventually, we decided to open a recording studio called 'The Dining Rooms'. Yes, I know, a bit of a silly name, but it all began in my dining room so it wasn't such a bad idea.

Anyway, a year was spent engineering 'very good' & 'not very good' local bands. This wasn't half as much fun as it seemed.
'Why doesn't my guitar sound like Nirvana?
I want a Neil Peart drum sound!
My voice sounds out of tune!'.
YES, IT'S BECAUSE YOU SUK! And what's more, after a 12 hour day trying to polish a turd, the last thing on our minds was doing our own music. In other words, our great new business venture was about as successful as the Sinclair C5.

So, we shut it down, buggered off back to Yeovil and began recording a new Vulgar Unicorn album. We decided to drop the Vulgar Unicorn name - sounds too much like 'journey to the plains of glass to banish dragons to the nether world' concept album style band.

Well, our recording turned out to be too dance orientated for the Cyclops label so we are still looking for someone to put it out. The name of the project was Divadroid and if you're interested you can listen to some real audio from the album here .

So that was that - Two years since Fishes and not much to show for it. I decided to sort it out. I had the equipment. I had to do an album. So I bought a cheap mid terrace house, made the spare room into a studio (to the horror of my neighbours) and there you go - music heaven.

Hopefully, if 'Abducting the Unicorn' does ok, there will be many more albums to come.

The first track 'Private Paradise', starts the whole thing off, and is a wonderful track, nice melody and quite catchy in places and is about a relationship that has turned sour. The acoustic guitar rhythm simply sounds great and coupled with the drum machine with some superb guitar/synth sounds giving the track lots of atmosphere. The vocals sound a bit like Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins). This track has a very tight rhythm and some stunning guitar work throughout and finishes off with just drums playing which kind of runs into track two...

'Drain', is once again similar to the first track, quite pacey, tight rhythm and some excellent guitar.

The third track 'Whatever You Do, Do Nothing', is a track that gradually builds up with some excellent guitar and keyboards, then it mellows out with some nice echoey effects used on the vocals to good effect. Once again, a catchy chorus and lots of acoustic guitar.

The next track 'No One Leaves This Earth', starts off with some atmospheric keyboards sounds before going into a keyboard sequence, while other keyboards sounds are going on as well. Then another keyboards sequence is added with a bassier sound to it, then drums are added and in comes some spacey keyboards sounds. Then it all quietens down to a softer sound. The vocals give the track quite a haunting feel, then a terrific guitar solo come in, the music then quietens down again and this time there's a keyboard solo with lots of atmospheric sounds around it. Then there's more of the haunting vocals and more atmospheric spacey sounds to finish.

'Punish Yourself', is a nice acoustic mellow track with a strong melody. The music gets louder for the chorus, which once again is very catchy. The track has plenty of changes in mood, tempo and direction along the way and the guitar work is excellent throughout. Just before the end the music dies and a keyboards sequence come in and this continues into the next track...

The sixth track 'Everyone Must Perish' , carries on from the previous track and acoustic guitar is added. Then in come some sampled Middle Eastern voices and the sound of bongo drums. Added to this is some atmospheric key and then finally some excellent guitar work. Then gradually the instruments are taken away and as the music fades away your left with just the sound of the Middle Eastern voices.

The next track 'Judge The Girl', starts off with atmospheric voices, echo effect guitar sounds, and then other instruments are added one by one, guitar, drums and then bass to the rhythm. Just before the vocals come in the echo effect on the guitar is taken away and then the track then builds up for the chorus. Once again the track features some excellent guitar work and there's also a terrific solo too. This is quite an uptempo track once it gets going and has quite a sudden ending.

The final track is 'Parted Forever', and is the longest track on the album. Starts off with intricate acoustic guitars to which electric guitar and piano are added. The vocals on this track appear to be quite a bit softer and towards the middle there's a change in mood when the guitar work really shines, then it's back to more acoustic guitar and vocals. Later there's some more excellent guitar work and then towards the end its acoustic guitar with atmospheric sounds and subdued vocals and then more acoustic guitar and atmospheric keyboards and yet another stunning guitar solo.

Well, if you haven't guessed it already, I think this album is brilliant. One of the best progrock releases this year so far. To some degree you could say that there's some resemblance to other bands such as Radiohead, The Smashing Pumpkins and Porcupine Tree, but personally I think fans of the above and fans of good progrock will love the album.
What are you waiting for, GO OUT AND BUY!!!
Highly Recommended!!!

Released by Cyclops Records (CYCL 079)
33a Tolworth Park Road, Tolworth, Surrey, KT6 7RL.
Website: http://www.gft-cyclops.co.uk
Pineapple Thief web site: http://www.pineapplethief.com

Pineapple Thief are:

Bruce Soord: Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards, Samples & Programming
Adrian Soord: Mellotron, Fender Rhodes, Prophet 5, Piano, Misc. Synths
Nick Lang: Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Mark Harris: Bass Guitar

Tracklist:
1. lay on the tracks (4:44)
2. perpetual night shift (5:27)
3. kid chameleon (6:56)
4. incubate (3:28)
5. doppler (7:33)
6. ster (4:05)
7. release the tether (5:09)
8. how did we find our way? (3:54)
9. 137 (5:09)
10. preserve (5:44)
11. warm me (3:36)
12. pvs (11:29)
13. md one (3:48)

After the success of the first Pineapple Thief album 'Abducting The Unicorn', Bruce Soord and companions have decided to create a successor to their debut, which was done as a side-project from their regular band Vulgar Unicorn.

After listening to this album quite a few times now, and even though I liked it the first times, it grows on you the more you listen to it. There are a few influences I can hear within the tracks, a little of Porcupine Tree and early Radiohead, especially some of the vocal style, but taking nothing away from Pineapple Thief, this is an excellent album.

The first track 'Lay On The Tracks' starts quietly with some nice acoustic guitar and keyboards, once Bruce's excellent vocals come in, the track starts to build, and let me tell you, this is a very catchy song with some great lyrics

"This is a love song about nothing
because there's nothing in my head.
Another love song, made for nothing
so can I close my eyes instead?"

On the whole this track is fairly mellow, and has some great guitar and keyboards.

The second track 'Perpetual Night Shift', once again starts off fairly mellow, I just love the keyboards effects that Pineapple Thief have adopted into their tracks. Towards the middle there's a superb guitar solo, reminds me a bit of Radiohead, and I will point out that on this album Bruce's vocals to me are more towards Radiohead's vocal style, rather than the Smashing Pumpkins style I heard on their previous album ''

'Kid Chameleon', starts with some nice acoustic guitar, percussion is added, then slide guitar, this track again to me has a slight Radiohead feel to it. Then we have a change in direction, and an electric guitar comes in, intricate at first, then getting heavier, this then returns to some more intricate work with some atmospheric sounds coming in over the top, once again the vocals are superb, there's some stunning guitar work, full of emotion, with some spacey sounding keyboards.

The next track 'Incubate', starts with a few sound effects before the electric guitar comes in, then when the vocals come in, you get this echoey kind of keyboard effect. This is another catchy song and the shortest track on the album.

'Doppler', is an excellent track which contains a fair amount of mellow passages, and some fairly heavy guitar work too, the guitar sound has quite a lot of distortion to it. Towards the middle, there's a section when it's more atmospheric with some nice acoustic guitar and mellow keyboards, but with time this gradually starts to build and towards the end there's some excellent guitar work.

The seventh track is 'Ster', starting with the vocals sounding like they were done in the room next door, before the track really starts, nice acoustic guitar and another catchy song, later there's some nice keyboards and guitar. Possible single material?

The next track 'Release The Tether', starts with some atmospheric sounds, keyboards and guitar, there's some nice flute sounds and at this point there's a slight middle eastern flavour, in comes some heavier guitar work, then after a while we return to the middle eastern flavour, not for long though, its now back to some more heavier guitar sounds. Then there's a change in direction becoming more atmospheric sounds with some heavy guitar sounds coming in. Towards the end we have a change to keyboards and this continues playing to the finish.

'How Did We Find Our Way?', flutes, acoustic guitar, fine drums, and some fairly mellow vocals from Bruce, Lots of emotion to this track.

long ago
I remember ever minute of the days
would go so fast we didn't notice we were here to stay
how did we find our way?

For me, if Pineapple Tree decided to release a single from this album, it would be this one.

The next track is the title track '137', another catchy song, but there's a part of it, that reminds me of something else, but I just can't put my finger on it at the moment. There's quite a lot of sampling on this track, and once again there's some excellent keyboards and guitar.

'Preserve', starts with piano and some strings, very nice, kind of soothing, nice vocals from Bruce and a little while after, heavier sounding guitars come in. Quite a lot of changes in direction on this track.

The next track 'Warm Me', starts with heavy guitars, then quiets down when the vocals come in. Another catchy song with some good guitar work.

'PVS', is the longest track on the album at 11 mins and 29 secs, and starts with some nice keyboards and acoustic guitar. Excellent vocals once again from Bruce coming over with lots of emotion. Although I have to say I find the music is full of emotion too, there's some wonderful keyboards and a little later the heavier guitar sounds come in, this doesn't last long before going to more of an atmospheric keyboards sound, back to heavy guitars. Then we have some excellent acoustic guitar and then this fades to a drum machine with atmospheric sounds coming in, a while later the acoustic guitar returns and then more heavier guitars and a superb guitar solo. When this eventually fades you are left with some spacey sounding atmospheric sounds, and gradually the acoustic guitar returns and also some strings, then a piano and this continues to the end.

The last track is 'MD One', and is another catchy little number, full of emotion with some excellent keyboards and guitar.

This album features quite a few of what I would call 'old fashioned' instruments, Mellotron, Prophet 5, Analogue Synthesisers and a Fender Rhodes and these are used throughout the album.

And for me, this is what has helped to create the Pineapple Thief sound, there are some excellent tracks on this album, try 'PVS', 'How Did We Find Our Way?' , 'Kid Chameleon' and 'Doppler' for starters, but to be honest, I couldn't fault any of the tracks on this album, they are all excellent.

One thing that did confuse me on reviewing this CD is the fact that the tracklisting in incorrect on the CD, but the listing above is correct.

If you are a fan of their previous album, bands such as Porcupine Tree and Radiohead, then this album is a must.

Highly Recommended!!!!

Released by Cyclops Records (CYCL 079)
33a Tolworth Park Road, Tolworth, Surrey, KT6 7RL.
Website: http://www.gft-cyclops.co.uk
Pineapple Thief web site: http://www.pineapplethief.com