The return of No-Man as a performing act, however irregularly, is a welcome thing, and if Love and Endings is Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson's second live album in just a few years, counting the similar DVD/CD release Mixtaped -- and without any full new studio release in the interim -- it's still a lovely souvenir of a still underrated duo. Beginning with a version of "My Revenge on Seattle," which starts with just the pair's guitar and vocals, they present a now near-trademark, shimmering, beautiful melancholy with the rest of the band slowly drawing in behind them. Love and Endings is one lovely moment after another, the work of performers who clearly value their professional abilities but who never succumb to the dull sterility of excessive polish. If anything, the band might be as close to Porcupine Tree as it's ever been in terms of sound -- not that Wilson has suddenly changed the dynamic of this partnership, but there's a full-bodied power that recurs throughout the album, up through a big rock-out ending to the concluding song "Things Change." "All the Blue Changes" is initially in a calmer spot, with a notable piano and the guitar a bit of focused beauty, but then Wilson's solo begins fanning out into a huge electric sweep and swirl as the band locks in behind him. In slight contrast, "Lighthouse" shows another example of focused delicacy in the arrangements, yet Bowness' voice is, in ways, a secondary factor here given the intricacies of the band, it's almost as if it's more of a Wilson project for the first time. Add in other fine moments, like the cool funk of "Pretty Genius" and the striking version of "Wherever There Is Light," and it's another strong effort from an endlessly fascinating act.
© Ned Raggett /TiVo