SPIRAL CIRCUS LIVE (LP)

Spiral Circus is the first live album released by Porcupine Tree in April 1993, the period of Up The Downstair and is the first album to include the band as it was then all playing together on their first ever tour. The album name is a reference to the song The Sky Moves Sideways despite the song not being on this album however that may be due to the fact that their next album The Sky Moves Sideways had not been released yet.

Steven Wilson - Guitar and Vocals

Richard Barbieri - Keyboards and Electronics

Colin Edwin - Bass

Chris Maitland - Drums and Backing Vocals

On to the tracks where the first 3 tracks are from a mixture of the BBC and Borderline, London. The last 3 tracks are from recordings made at The Nag's Head, High Wycombe on the 4th Dec 1993.

1) Burning Sky - This track is from the album Up The Downstair and was the first half is from the BBC live broadcast on the 6th Dec 1993 and the second half is from the Borderline, London on the 7th Dec 1993. The track is very good quality considering it is 2 different recordings for that time and espcially since it was realeased on cassette.

2) Voyage 34 - This track is from it's own single and is the classic drug trip song from Porcupine Tree which at one point was to be a part of the album Up The Downstair and this was recorded at the Borderline, London on the 7th Dec 1993. This recording is not the full version and only comes in at 5.34 minutes long which i think spoils it as well as a slightly less better sound quality.

3) Always Never - This track is from the album Up The Downstair and was a live broadcast from the BBC on the 6th Dec 1993. For me the sound quality is not mixed well between the instruments and the vocals which again spoils it.

4) Radioactive Toy - This track is from the cassette album Tarquin's Seaweed Farm and is not the better extended version in my opinion and for that matter this live version is still even a minute shorter than the TSF version and again the sound quality is poor.

5) Up The Downstair - This track blends in straight from the end of the previous and still suffers the same sound quality if not worse espcially when the electronics and ambience comes in half way through the track. The quality is dreadful when the beat comes in after the ambience and probably would have sounded better being there to hear it.

6) Not Beautiful Anymore - This track is from the album Up The Downstair and being from the same recording as the previous 2 tracks, it suffers from quality.

This album is for collectors and hardcore fans only because of its poor sound quality. This album for me just sounds like an unofficial bootleg recording rather than a genuine album from Porcupine Tree and does not nearly sound as good a quality as Porcupine Tree would later introduce to their albums including their live ones. However this could be due to the fact that these are recordings from their first tour and are also playing together as a proper band for the first time. Not a live album that i come back to listen to and i much prefer to hear the studio albums if i want to hear these tracks.