This is a huge undertaking, an eight-CD set comprising all the band’s official studio albums released between 2006 and 2014, with a few added extras. It features not just the original albums, remixed and remastered (and notably not by Steven Wilson, prog’s ‘go-to’ man for this task), but also rarities, bonus tracks and acoustic reinterpretations, as well as new stereo and immersive mixes. Together, these highlight the journey The Pineapple Thief has been on since taking their early formative steps.
Retracing Our Steps is the second such release commemorating the legacy of The Pineapple Thief, following on from 2023’s How Did We Find Our Way, 1999–2006, which serves as almost the definitive guide to the band and their early period history. On early releases like Abducting the Unicorn (1999) and One Three Seven (2002), the band was mostly mainman Bruce Soord with a couple of musically inclined friends helping out. It wasn’t until 2003’s Variations on a Dream that current bassman Jon Sykes came onboard, and 10 Stories Down (2005) when keyboard player Steve Kitch entered the fray. Soord, Sykes and Kitch, alongside superstar prog drummer Gavin Harrison, now comprise the present-day Thief.
The road to becoming The Pineapple Thief as we now know them is largely the story of one man’s singular vision, and it hasn’t been an easy road to travel. Bruce Soord’s dream of making music for a living was only able to be realised with the support of his wife, plus family and friends—including several who worked as unpaid roadies at gigs—all of whom made financial sacrifices to keep his show on the road.
Much of this is made clear in the 78-page hardback booklet included with the set. Featuring interviews with and anecdotes from Soord and Kitch, plus friend and superfan Peter Clemens—someone who’s been in Soord’s corner almost since the very beginning—the book was compiled by Classic Rock writer Polly Glass and gives a rounded picture of what it’s really like to follow a dream. The rest of the booklet goes into detail about every studio release, with track listings, the context of each album (family issues, liaising with record companies, and more), as well as a list of every gig performed and lyrics to every song.
This, then, is everything you could ever possibly want to know and hear about The Pineapple Thief and their raison d’être during their middle years. But my reservation about this release is this: as good as the music now sounds after a 2025 remix and remaster by Soord and Kitch, any fan of The Pineapple Thief will already have most or all of these albums, with some having been previously re-released with bonus tracks. You’ll be quite the dedicated fan if you’re willing to pay for them all again—even with the 78-page hardback book.
