COMA DIVINE

Porcupine Tree has already have a long career behind them while releasing this live record. While I have never been over- enthusiastic about their releases, when I looked at the tracklist, I was really pleased to discover this album.

It is really a "Best Of" PT live release. Of course the outro space signals of the opening number still irritate me. But I guess that there is no way th get rid of these ones since they also open several studio albums. Since they are very short, I guess that I will have to live with these...

This is the "Signify" tour, so no wonder that the first three songs are taken out of this album. In my review of the album, I already mentioned that I liked very much the "Waiting" phases. Nothing changes here. First phase is still my fave and is the first highlight. But there will be many available during this live set. The excellent "Sky Moves Sideways" is another one.

The only weak song here is "Dislocated Day". Although I liked the song in its studio version, I am far much more sceptical for this live one. But since the next song is exactly the opposite, I guess that it can easily happen while a band is "interpreting" one of their work on stage.

I was not so keen for "Moonloop" so far. But I have to say that this version is just great. Format is a bit shorter (by six minutes or so) and the closing part is seriously rocking. This will ensure that it is by far superior to the studio version which was the prototype of pure space-rock (with all its down sides like monotony, repititiveness, and to a certain extent boredom). Nothing as such here. The song sounds fresher, more dynamic. Another highlight.

The band will also extend one of their very good (and very old) song. "Radioactive Toy" comes from their debut album "On The Sunday Of Life". It is true that the middle part is over-extended and weakens the original. But I guess that this just can happen during a live set. One does not always control every single elements to keep the whole together.

The closing number is going under the same sort of surgery. It is expanded to almost 300 %. But we all know that live sets (especially when reaching their end) might lead to some sort of exaggerations. But don't worry, not too much harm has been done.

This is definitely an excellent entry for the ones who would like to get a good overwiew from the band. There is a two CD set also available with another twenty-five minutes of live music. I have just ordered it and since it sells for cheap, I guess that it is the best option for this very good live album.

Four stars.