STARS DIE: THE DELERIUM YEARS 1991 - 1997

If you are only mildly interested in Porcupine Tree's space rock beginnings, then this is one fine document with the essential songs from that period. It's a beautifully package with excellent liner notes and an interesting list of non-album tracks that will also charm the fans of the band that already own all or most studio albums.

The first 4 songs are compiled from the debut, PT's most psychedelic album and an acquired taste even for most fans. The selected tracks will give you a good idea of what that album was about and will probably suffice for people not enthused by it. The Voyage 34 album is one of the very few PT releases that I would rate below excellent, the fine excerpt here makes it even more unnecessary.

PT's second full length album Up The Downstairs is represented by the remainder of the first CD. For me that's an entirely essential album. The extended version of Synesthesia and the beautiful acoustic Phantoms (only to be found on this compilation) still makes this section interesting for fans.

The second CD concentrates on the 1995 and 1996 albums. If you should not own the reissue of The Sky Moves Sideways for one or other obscure reason then Stars Die might be another reason to win you over to the spaced-out trip rock period of PT. For fans, there is the little psychedelic tune Men of Wood which belongs more to the early PT years but which wasn't recorded till 1995.

PT's most amazing album for me is Signify, which is documented with 7 tracks of which one comes in an extended version and 3 are unique to this compilation. Especially the instrumental trip The Sound of No-one Listening appeals to me, but also Colourflow In Mind will be a nice addition to your collection. Fuse The Sky is ok but probably the least interesting rare track of this excellent compilation.

Because this compilation is equally worthwhile for fans, newcomers and people that are only mildly interested in PT's earlier trips, 4 stars are deserved.