Strong recommendation: What Have We Sown? (song) by THE PINEAPPLE THIEF

Album: What We Have Sown
Year: 2007
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 27 mins. 23 secs.
Spotify link
YouTube link

Back in June, when I was compiling the Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces list, there was one song in particular that I had a problem with classifying. The song in question was Remember Us (2003), by the British indie rock / prog group The Pineapple Thief. I have already mentioned it earlier, when writing about the album whose closing track it is: Variations on a Dream.

Remember Us is a beautiful, long, even touching song that refers to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But is it really prog? I wasn't sure of that, so it was very easy to drop it out of the top 20 and think of it as #21. More recently, I have come across another song by the same group that might be close to that same rank: a long prog masterpiece, absolutely, but not quite worthy of the top 20.

The Pineapple Thief's 2007 album What We Have Sown is one of those recordings that I have somehow overlooked for a long time. Once again, thanks go to Spotify. It was only about one month ago that I noticed this album listed there and checked it out. It didn't take long to realise that What We Have Sown is overall one of the group's better efforts.

On top of that, it didn't take long to notice what was easily the most essential track on the album. What Have We Sown? is a long, challenging, constantly evolving song that runs for nearly half an hour. And what a rewarding half hour it is! This is prog at its best: creative, challenging, and unforgiving. What Have We Sown? offers neither an easy entrance nor an effortless way out. This is not a background musical piece. It requires you to really concentrate.

There are prolonged instrumental passages that have an ominous feel to them. The vocal passages are considerably easier on the ear, but they offer only temporary relief. The track opens with individual sounds that are more like sound effects than instrumentals parts of a composition. Overall, the long song fits perfectly the slightly off-kilter, almost supernatural feel of the album cover. It is an example of modern prog art at its very best, and definitely not far outside the Top 20 list of long prog masterpieces of all time.