Porcupine Tree - Spiral Circus (1994)

Another cassette only release that Porcupine Tree put out was 'Spiral Circus' in 1994, which was a collection of recordings of some of their very earliest live performances. It was issued in a limited edition of 500 copies, of which the first 480 have white/pink artwork and the last 20 came with a different colour-scheme of white/blue, and it was given away free to subscribers of the Transmission information service. These recordings are taken from the band's live performances at the BBC, The Borderline in London, and The Nag's Head in High Wycombe, all recorded in 1993 directly from the mixing desk by Mike Bearpark, resulting in superb sound quality for a then unknown band. The album was re-issued on vinyl in 1997 by Chromatic Records, once again in a limited edition of 500 copies, and so as these are also now long gone, CD bootlegs have started to appear. The Nag's Head set has recently been expanded and officially released as 'First Live Performance' on Bandcamp, so do check that out as it includes the full hour-long set, and is an outstanding recording. 

Track listing

01 Burning Sky (1st half BBC broadcast 06 Dec 1993/2nd half The Borderline 07 Dec 1993)
02 Voyage 34 (The Borderline 07 Dec 1993)  
03 Always Never (BBC live broadcast 06 Dec 1993)  
04 Radioactive Toy (The Nags Head, High Wycombe 04 Dec 1993)  
05 Up The Downstair (The Nags Head, High Wycombe 04 Dec 1993) 
06 Not Beautiful Anymore (The Nags Head, High Wycombe 04 Dec 1993)