ALL THE WARS

Pineapple Thief is something your non-proggy friends could absorb whilst playing Cards Against Humanity and not feel like a deer caught in headlights. There are enough pop hooks and secular references to keep the music community at large interested -- yet it could also be the catalyst for the masses to investigate more crossover prog titles. Once again, you'll have the confidence to breech your party with sonic flagellations without fear of them throwing their Hot Pockets at you in musical disgust. It's even plausible that you may make new friends when you play Airbag, Amplifier or Von Hertzen Brothers immediately following.

Pineapple Thief's sound is not a shot served straight. It's as if a cosmic bartender muddled together the music of Travis, Porcupine Tree and Radiohead, then garnished with a twist of Billy Corgan. Seriously? listen to "Build A World." Is that Billy Corgan singing under a pseudonym? ?Is it prog? It'll be up to the listener to decide. It's definitely modern -- well produced and recorded, gladly taking part in the overly compressed, sonic loudness wars. The strings and the vocal phrasing is very Travis inspired music, drawing vocal comparisons to Fran Healy at certain intervals. There are even parallels in the lyrical content. It's a solid 4 star album for mainstream music, one star less for attempting the progressive genre.

My turn to deal. The card: Instead of coal, Santa now gives the bad children ________.