The Pineapple Thief provide hours of spot-the-difference fun on Give It Back

Old favourites The Pineapple Thief get a whole new lease of life on non-standard collection Give It Back

The Pineapple Thief: Give It Back cover art
(Image: © K Scope)

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Much loved by the prog community, The Pineapple Thief haven’t gone hungry for glowing reviews over the years, thanks in no small part to the music collected on Give It Back

Perhaps inevitably, though, this is far from your standard greatest hits compilation, but a reinvention of tracks from Little Man, All The Wars and Tightly Unwound, scrupulously chosen by drummer Gavin Harrison (also of King Crimson), who wasn’t in the band when they were first released. He and frontman/TPT central force Bruce Soord then reworked and rerecorded the final tracklist, adding a new depth and maturity, and sometimes even new lyrics, to works from the band’s infancy. 

Their claim that they sound like entirely new songs is stretching it. But the title track, the first to be given an aural spruce-up, shows just how accomplished The Pineapple Thief were from the earliest days, its stern, Tool-like rhythm the rigid spine around which Soord’s swirling guitar work and downbeat vocals can stretch their explorative tendrils. 

This should provide hours of spot-the-difference fun for fans.

Emma has been writing about music for 25 years, and is a regular contributor to Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog and Louder. During that time her words have also appeared in publications including Kerrang!, Melody Maker, Select, The Blues Magazine and many more. She is also a professional pedant and grammar nerd and has worked as a copy editor on everything from film titles through to high-end property magazines. In her spare time, when not at gigs, you’ll find her at her local stables hanging out with a bunch of extremely characterful horses.