COMA DIVINE

This is one of those Live Albums that I loved since the very first listen, one of those live albums which have caught my full attention, one of those concerts that I would have loved to attend, when all the music is almost perfect (or perfect) and you think to yourself "God, lucky people who attended to that concert, they had a wonderful night". I am pretty sure that sometimes the concerts that the band choose to record and then release as a Live album or the DVD, are not necessary their best shows ever, but I am sure that they have to be something special as well, this time, the Coma Divine concert in Rome reflects the quality as musicians and composers of the band, linked as well with their excellent communication with the audience, you can notice it while listening to the album.

So this show was recorded back in 1997 and features songs from their first 4 albums, you know from on The Sunday to Signify which was their new record at that time, so for obvious reasons, don't expect songs like Trains or Lazarus here, expect their spacey and best era.

I believe there is a one cd version of this Live album, however the one I have is the 2-CD version and of course the one I am reviewing. So Coma Divine contains 14 songs divided in 8 on CD 1 and 6 on CD2, the first is the one where the band introduces music from their newer album at that time, opening with "Bornlivedie" as the intro, and following immediately with the great "Signify" which is the first of their instrumental passages, a song that I like a lot. Next we find a couple of sweet songs named "Waiting (phases 1 and 2), the first one containing lyrics, a great acoustic guitar sound and a delicate sound overall, the second is instrumental and has a darker atmosphere on it, these songs also belong to the Signify album.

The next song, is my all time favourite PT song, and it's called "The Sky Moves Sideways", as we remember that is a very long song divided in 2 parts on the album with the same name, but the version played here is reduced to a one part song, with a 12-minute length, and it is simply awesome, I really love it. The song is very complex and it is growing and growing through the minutes, starting with a calm and melancholic sound, then pausing, bass lines enter and little by little the song is progressing into a more aggressive and exciting sound, becoming a hell of a song, masterpiece, if I ever wanted to listen a PT song in a concert, that would be this version of The Sky Moves Sideways.

The following songs of CD one are "Dislocated Day", "Sleep of No Dreaming" and "Moonloop", which together make almost 25 minutes of great music, the first two with vocals, great musicianship and pointing that heavy prog label the band has here in PA, while the last song provides us with excellent spacey progressive rock that catches you to its sound, entering deeper and deeper into a another dimension.

The second CD as I previously mentioned has 6 songs, taken from Up the Downstair, The Sky Moves Sideways and On the Sunday of Life, opening with the title track of Up the Downstair, keeping the same spacey sound that finished the first CD. The next track is The "Moon Touches Your Shoulder" which I like a lot particularly because of the guitar, I mean the sound is very peculiar producing a soft sound and a feeling of tranquility, and at the same time the background sound made by both bass lines and synth is beautiful.

The next couple of songs are not really their best, but they both do fit perfectly in this performance so their value Is the same as the other songs, though their complexity might be less, those are "Always Never" and "Is?NOT", worth listening songs of course. I must mention that the second one is a prelude to probably Porcupine Tree's most classic song, yes you guess, "Radioactive Toy" from their very first album (where Wilson was the only official member), so that song is practically a hymn to any Porcupine Tree fan, a great performance for a great song.

And the last track closing this live album is "Not Beautiful Anymore" which again provides the audience of first quality hard/spacey progressive rock, almost ten minutes of great music and an excellent way of finishing the concert, some people would say that there were a couple of songs missing on that show, it is impossible to please all the audience, for me, this is a perfect live album, so as you guess, my final grade will be 5 stars, highly recommendable to any prog lover, and of course a must having for a PT fan.

Enjoy it!

Share this PORCUPINE TREE review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to memowakeman
• Report this review (#224665)
• Buy PORCUPINE TREE music online with PA partners
• Show all PORCUPINE TREE MP3/Stream
• Go to PORCUPINE TREE page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Coma Divine page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for PORCUPINE TREE related discussions