The Pineapple Thief has just released a huge box set that reissues its first five albums along with two bonus albums. It’s entitled How Did We Find Our Way, and it includes remixed and remastered versions of Abducted At Birth, One Three Seven, Variations On A Dream/8 Days, 10 Stories Down/8 Days Later, and Little Man. There is also a Blu-ray disc that has 5.1 and Atmos mixes of seven albums. The discs come in a beautiful 64 page hardcover book with enlightening notes for every album from Bruce Soord, Jon Sykes, and Steve Kitch, as well as reminiscences of the band’s early years by French journalist Julien Monsenego.

Brad Birzer and Tad Wert are so excited about this release, they decided to do a joint dialogue/review:

Tad: Brad, it’s good to be doing another music review with you! 

I already had all the albums in this set from the versions KScope Music released earlier. However, based on the fact that there are quite a few unreleased bonus tracks in this new set, as well as the surround sound mixes, I bit the bullet and bought it. I have to say, I do not have any regrets! The new mixes are fantastic – they really open up the soundstage and allow every instrument to be heard clearly. What led you to splurge on it?

Brad: Dear Tad, my friend, it is great to be doing these reviews with you again.  Too much time has elapsed since our last such outing.  I blame myself–the summer has been wonderfully crazy.  Wonderful, but crazy!  Anyway, very glad we’ve got the band–so to speak–back together.

I’ve been a huge fan of The Pineapple Thief and Bruce Soord ever since Tightly Wound came out in 2008.  That was my introduction to Soord’s music.  So, coming up on fifteen years now.  That album, pop rather than prog, demonstrated to me the brilliance of Kscope.  I thought (and still think) that Soord created a genius album, a pop masterpiece, with Tightly Wound.  From there, I began to explore The Pineapple Thief’s music, going backwards in time.  Much to my joy, I found that I loved everything the band had done up to that point, but I was especially taken with One Three Seven and What We Have Sown (not included in this package).  Little Man, too, really grabbed me.  You might remember that 3000 Days came out right after Tightly Wound.  Though I’m not generally a “greatest hits” or compilation kind of guy, I loved 3000 Days, and it certainly introduced me to the best of Soord’s music. 

As to How Did We Find Our Way. . . I actually own all the early The Pineapple Thief cds as well, but I was happy to spend the money on these remixed and remastered versions, and I especially wanted the blu-ray.  So, I asked for the set for Father’s Day!  What are dads for???

Let me also state, at this point in our dialogue, that I absolutely love Kscope’s packaging.  When Porcupine Tree released their latest last year, I was sorely disappointed that they went with a company (Sony) other than Kscope.  I bought the album, of course, and I loved it, but I was very disappointed with the packaging.  Kscope, though, always does things with excellence, and I now have a very tidy collection of releases in this earbook (is this the right term) format from Gazpacho, The Pineapple Thief, and others.

Tad: Brad, it looks like our Pineapple Thief experience is remarkably similar. I too first heard them via KScope’s release of Tightly Wound, and I enjoyed it so much I sought out their earlier releases.

Okay, on to the current set: as I mentioned earlier, I think it’s worth buying just for the new mixes. In addition to them, though, we also get to hear all of these classic albums in 5.1 mixes, which is wonderful! I spent an entire afternoon reading and listening to them, and it was as if I was hearing them for the first time.

Also, there are quite a few very good bonus tracks that were not included on any of KScope’s reissues. One of my all-time favorite songs of Soord’s is Watch the World Turn Grey, which was included on the infamous 12 Stories Down – the album that Soord quickly pulled from the market because of mastering issues. It’s a beautiful little gem of a song that, for some reason, he never included in any reissue or compilation.

In the liner notes, Soord mentioned that, while going back and remixing his back catalog, he had neglected some songs that were actually quite good. Yes, Bruce! I’m glad we now have a complete set of early TPT tunes.

Speaking of the liner notes, I learned so much about the early history of The Pineapple Thief. I was really surprised to discover that the first three albums were basically solo albums recorded in his home. In the original albums’ credits, he made up names of musicians to make it look like The Pineapple Thief was a real group!

When Variations On A Dream was reissued by Kscope, I reviewed it on Amazon, and I wrote that Soord’s music would appeal to fans of minimalist composers like Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Arvo Part. Sure enough, in his commentary here for that album, he says that seeing an ensemble performing some Reich compositions was an important formative experience for him.

Before this set, if I had to pick a favorite early Pineapple Thief album, I would go with Variations On A Dream. However, after my marathon listening session, I am now thinking Little Man is the best. It takes on real emotional heft for me, now that I know the context in which it was written and recorded. In his commentary, Soord explains it was put together in the aftermath of the tragic loss of his prematurely born son. 

Are you able to pick a favorite, Brad?

Brad: Tad, thanks so much for your enthusiastic and very interesting response.  Great that we came to the band at the same time.  Obviously, the band’s switch to Kscope introduced them to an entirely new audience.

You ask what my favorite album is.  I must admit, I’m not entirely sure.  I’ve been listening to these albums for at least fifteen years, so they kind of have become just a part of my life, at least autobiographically speaking.  Re-listening to them again, especially in this new package, I find that I’m still relatively neutral when it comes to ranking them.  That is, they all seem rather extraordinary to them. 

Of this new set, though, I can state unhesitatingly that my favorite music are/is the “leftover” albums–Eight Days and Eight Days Later.  I love the idea that Soord spontaneously recorded each of these after finishing massive album projects.  There’s something deeply special, original, and wholesome about music so created.  It’s almost like giving rock a jazz-sheen.

Before we finish this review and dialogue, I also want to note that I’m a rather proud The Pineapple Thief fan.  This set shows that Soord was inventive from the beginning and that he possessed, again from the beginning, an immense amount of integrity.  It makes the more recent albums–I especially love Your Wilderness–shine even more.  Truly, Soord has progressed, but really from excellence to excellence.

Tad: I agree that there is something very fresh and endearing about the Eight Days and Eight Days Later albums. In my aforementioned Amazon review from many years ago, I made the same point. Soord seems to work well under pressure, when he isn’t able to “fix” every little detail of the songs. I think that works to their benefit.

Brad, thanks again for resurrecting with me our dialogues on music. And thank you, Spirit of Cecilia followers for reading! We are already planning to discuss the recently released North Atlantic Oscillation album, United Wire, so stay tuned for that!