Porcupine Tree – Voyage 34 (2000)

Another Ebay trawl delivered this CD - originally a single track destined for the Down The Upstair album, which took on a life of its own, was released as two 12" singles in 1992 and 1993, with four phases of the voyage. These were gathered together in one package in 2000, while this is a slightly later CD issue.

So technically, you could argue that it's a CD single most discographies describe it as a compilation, albeit a compilation of just two singles, weighing in at over an hour.

Phase I describes a bad acid trip of a character called Brian (it being his 34th trip, but his first bad one, gives the piece its name), with spoken third person commentary woven into a solid rock / dance beat. Phase II is more abstract, ambient, joining first hard account and acid proselytising, a character describing use of LSD in religious terms, with a very much more 1990s dance feel to it than the first phase, before the more expected guitar based rock sound of the last five minutes.

Phase III is a long, dreamy ambient dance track, which doesn't really go anywhere, just meanders for far too long, while Phase IV returns to the narrative format from the second phase, while the music has a slower Krautrock feel, and a pointless 'hidden' track five minutes after this finishes.

It has its moments, but for me, after the strength of Phase I, the whole thing doesn't grab the interest in a similar way. But it's still an enjoyable listen, if perhaps a bit of an experiment, which isn't wholly successful.

Link to full album

3* - an interesting compilation of two extended singles, with some great parts. But perhaps it's over-extended.