VARIATIONS ON A DREAM

I have been listening to Pineapple Thief off and on for about three years now courtesy of a Prog Archives introduction. Always hard to put my finger on it, but I have worked them out at last. They are a hybrid sound of Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins and themselves of course. Variations On A Dream was released in 2003 and begins with the pleasant " We Subside" Great vocals and guitar work, though the repetitive keyboards becomes a tad bit irritating before fading." This Will Remain Unspoken" is a great emotional song with some excellent accoustic guitar. It is really hard not to like Bruce Soord's vocal style. " Vapour Trails" has some great drum work and sound effects building to soaring climaxes, the chorus does jarr the senses after a while unfortunately. " The Bitter Pill" is a nice ballad with beautiful vocals,keys and accoustic guitars. His voice again so similar to someone but I can't quite put my finger on it. Anyone heard of As Tall As Lions? " Part Zero" has an excellent guitar solo which is actually quite mind bending. The sixteen minute closer " Remember Us" finishes the album on a very high note, again the lead guitar is simply superb. The one weak spot on Variations On A Dream is " Sooner Or Later" which seems oddly out of place here. I want to give the album three stars because I always round down however this is such a strong 3.5 stars I am going to give the album the benefit of the doubt and round up for a change. Very addictive music so be warned.