Porcupine Tree
Coma Code

I must make a preliminary statement: I adored Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree more or less until 1997, the year of the release of the live album Coma Divine. However, over time, the character became unpleasant to me with his arrogant attitude, so much so that someone ironically calls him "the genius." I also confirmed this by seeing him live in Pistoia in July 2013 with the Van Der Graaf Generator. Wilson, as he has stated, has always been a fan of Pink Floyd (copied in the beginning almost to the point of plagiarism) and Van Der Graaf Generator. It could have been an occasion to play together on stage with Van Der Graaf and instead he maintained a snobbish attitude and nothing came of it, a real shame. However, the early Porcupine were great, and I believe they wrote songs that perhaps even Pink Floyd would have wanted to write, like "Radioactive Toy". His early "Gilmour-like" guitar style was terrific, similar but sweeter compared to the guitarist of Pink Floyd. Then Wilson began to be less creative and leaned towards a harder guitar style close to prog-metal, as in the disappointing (at least for me) Fear Of The Blank Planet. Today he has become a cumbersome figure who continues to release albums sometimes just decent and, in some cases, like the latest The Future Bites, embarrassing and indefensible. Among other things, he has virtually remixed all the albums of the most important prog bands starting with King Crimson. And he himself admits that some of the boxes he remixed he would never buy as they contain essentially published or surplus material. That said, the album in question, an extension of Coma Divine (concert held at the Frontiera in Rome for 3 nights), is worth retrieving. The material present on Coma Divine came from the third night held in Rome. What was released only in digital format in 2020, titled Coma Code, was taken instead from the second night. The difference between the 2 recordings is that those of Coma Divine were overdubbed while these sound exactly as they were performed. We find the aforementioned monumental "Radioactive Toy" as well as an incomplete version of "Dislocated Day." The highlight is perhaps the version of "Dark Matter" introduced by "Cryogenics," an unreleased track from their repertoire. We can then listen to the ballad (here in acoustic version) "Nine Cats" from On The Sunday Of Life. The closure is entrusted to the long "Voyage 34 Phase II (Rome)," a true psychedelic trip. Recommended for lovers of early Porcupines. Anyway, this remains a good live performance. Available on Bandcamp: https://porcupinetreeofficial.bandcamp.com/album/coma-coda-rome-1997.