I love EPs, always have. In the same way that all Christmas songs tug at the heartstrings, an EP always makes me nostalgic for the mid-90s and my daily trips to the record shop and the classics I bought then.
Some of my favourites were on the B-sides to those singles. And I made some discoveries, like Mott the Hoople because Thunder did one of their songs. Eddie and the Hot Rods because The Almighty covered them. Others, like The Wildhearts, Silver Sun, and Mansun, seemed to save their best for the unreleased stuff.
And it’s “unreleased stuff” that matters here, too. Because in the same year as “It Leads to This” comes “Last to Run.” Five songs that never made the album, but each could have.
“All Because of Me” bursts out with no intro, as if it has so much to say, and bursts into life with its chorus and superb solo.
But it’s a fragile, more traditional prog feel to the expansive title song—or at least it is until the screeching guitar jolts. Indeed, Bruce Soord seems to be really enjoying himself here. The swirling harmonies at the end really speak to that.
Keyboard player Steve Kitch is right to the fore on “Election Day,” front and centre with Soord—and the “it will all be over” refrain lodges itself in the memory.
There’s always a hint of sadness here, and “The World to Me,” which has a real metal edge, begins…
It’s a feature of this EP that it’s a short, sharp shock of a record, but “No Friend of Mine” packs more into three and a half minutes than most bands do on a full album. The synth here is brilliant.
The best always have great ideas. The Pineapple Thief are most definitely one of the best. “Last to Run” is a brilliant record in its own right.
If these are the leftovers, then you’d best believe they’re a damn sight tastier than the Boxing Day turkey sandwiches you’ve just eaten.
Rating 9/10
REVIEW: THE PINEAPPLE THIEF – LAST TO RUN (2024)
Published:
