Porcupine Tree Classic Or Dud? Search & Destroy.

ned the solo album is great. the most down-to-earth thing i've heard by him

I agree, plus it sounds an awful lot like Radiohead to me – in a good way. In fact it sounds like the album Radiohead could and should have gone to to make after OK Computer. I suspect that if Insurgentes had Radiohead written on it it would be being hailed as a masterpiece by now.

Ha well considering that a late nineties lyric from Wilson included the line "You make me listen to The Bends" that's not so surprising!

DISEMODIED LUMINOUS HAND makes me listen to the Bends

cover is nice too, like the "picture" of "carles" the village voice ran last winter, sitting behind two computers with a gas mask on

There is also this other cover, although I'm unclear on which versions have which covers:

http://arcona.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/steven-wilson-insurgentes.jpg

yeah this new album is pretty good, probably better than FOABP although that album DID have some storming highlights (well, the opening and closing tracks, maybe My Ashes)

wanna hear 'insurgentes'

In fact it sounds like the album Radiohead could and should have gone to to make after OK Computer.

I feel that Mew are doing the same thing. Elbow and Muse also started the same way, but have sort of developed there own thing (Elbow more rhytm oriented whereas Muse have taken the pomp and circumstance to new levels, adding a bit of Queen)

really think i need to re-evaluate this band from 'occasionally very good if largely one-dimensional and repetitive psych-metal act' to 'genuinely important indie/metal crossover act with a largely fine body of work'

I've only listened to this new one once so far, but it seems like the best I've heard from them yet.

yeah I can't believe you wouldn't love this, LJ. although there is a fair amount of their stuff that doesn't work for me. Also, still, to this day, most No Man albums leave me completely cold, they just sound so, so dated. The last one was good though.

still, to this day, most No Man albums leave me completely cold, they just sound so, so dated

Out. (I have the new DVD on order.)

The new one is great and I think it works well because of the profusion of shorter tracks among the more fleshed-out songs. Ideas don't live on anywhere beyond their sell-by date.

So I should give this one a chance then? The last one was my first try with these guys and as I mentioned before the lyrics just killed it for me.

I never really listen to the lyrics of PT. They sort of slide subconsciously by. Give this a listen, yeah. It is ** ****** so you don't have to go far.

lol er *******, I meant

other than "disembodied luminous hand", the lyrics on this one are great. even that line is kind of great.

I do like the last No Man record, Ned. And individual tracks here and there.

I dunno, that lyric about being weaned on Zeppelin is sorta precious...

missed that line, unless you mean the 'i was born in 67, the year of sgt pepper and are you experienced" line, which I like

'glass arm shattering' is like musical morphine to me

I might be in the minority, but I thought 'The Incident' wasn't very good. To me, it seemed to be a bunch of fragments that didn't really come together and some of the music seems to be rehashed from previous songs, which they have done a bit before but in a more clever way. Maybe it is the lack of 'marshall riffs' but really even on the pre-crunchy Porcupine Tree the tunes while epic are still catchy and memorable. This one is just an sonic blob that never really gets defined. I've gone back to the well a few more times to see if it is a grower record, but it hasn't caught up with me at all.

I don't listen to it very much any more. Aside from 'Drawing The Line' and 'Time Flies' it isn't exactly memorable.

I'm mostly a fair-weather fan of PT (prefer I.E.M. and Bass Communion much more), but the recent Tape Op interview with Wilson was pretty inspiring. Rather shocked (but not surprised) to learn that his recording studio these days is just a laptop, a really good microphone, and wherever he happens to find inspiration.

His remixes of those King Crimson records sound pretty sharp!

saw them this week in SF (they are touring with coheed and cambria for some awful reason; luckily we were spared that in SF and they played a two hour set), it was great although all the little things about steven wilson's stage manner that bugged me before still bug me. But, I am mainly reviving this to note that he has apparently finished the Cover Version series of singles and they are coming out compiled; I've heard all of these and they're really good, particularly his cover of Kate Bush's "Lord of the Reedy River".

New SW solo album on the way:

http://www.gracefordrowning.com/

anyone heard steven wilson's new solo album? dying to know if it's as awesome as his last one

. . .and so far, it is! second time in a row i'm preferring this moodier, less bombastic side of him to porcupine tree. recording under his own name seems to provoke more tastefulness, perhaps

song that closes out the first disc is killing me

"raider ii" sounds like he's been to lizard lately

wide-ranging SW interview here:

http://www.innerviews.org/inner/wilson.html

yes the latest solo album is excellent.

also that's a pretty good interview. wilson comes across much better these days than he used to when his press releases and stuff were just filled with ego boasting and self-aggrandizement (or so they seemed to me at the time; I avoided his music for a few years because of it). really anticipating the storm corrision album. seeing wilson in april (and opeth in april as well! not together though).

wilson comes across much better these days than he used to when his press releases and stuff were just filled with ego boasting and self-aggrandizement (or so they seemed to me at the time; I avoided his music for a few years because of it)

I've always gotten this same vibe, like his every waking moment as a musician was literally *killing him* because he wasn't as successful and lauded as someone like Radiohead.

Gripping new video for the title track of SW's new solo album. The song's no slouch either. This guy just gets better and better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8sLcvWG1M4

i feel like i shouldn't like this guy but he seems to dedicate himself so much to getting better and pushing forward that I can't help it. his methods feel too calculated at times but I can't deny the results.

the new album is spectacularly good. live recording has done wonders for his music.

highlights, probably in this order: title track (just gorgeous and so very melancholy); the holy drinker; tempus fugit luminol

borrows a trick or two from Oceansize at the tail-end of that. decent, but for all his impeccable taste and musicianship, there's always something a bit...clinical about his music

that is ultimately why I figured I would dislike the guy but I do listen to PT albums a lot more than I really want to. back when he was opening aping the Orb and Pink Floyd there was something so mechanical about it. like if PT is your first obsession you're probably going to really love them, but once you've heard it all, it just makes you feel old and cynical. and then you realize that they (he) stayed better for longer than the Orb or even Floyd, precisely because he always puts his best foot forward, and yeah ultimately I do like this guy. plus his remastering job on Lizard may be the greatest remaster I've ever heard (in comparison to the original, that is). he definitely knows his shit.

i haven't really listened to this guy seriously in years but i always enjoy 'trains' when it comes up on shuffle

what's his best record from the past 10 years?

what's his best record from the past 10 years?

If collaborations are in scope, I'd go with No-Man's Together We're Stranger and Schoolyard Ghosts. The Raven That Refused to Sing is, as mentioned, outstanding and easily the best of Wilson's solo work.

I haven't heard it yet but a lot of prog dudes whose opinion I really trust are going nuts over Raven so I would say that one, even though, like I said, I have not heard it.

I could well believe he's just released his best work. That track really was quite pleasant

Looking forward to hearing this and hoping it restores some of the goodwill that was sucked away by that terrible Storm Corrosion record from last year. Seriously, that thing had the potential to be so wonderful, but it was deathly boring.

Insurgentes is a great record as well, not so keen on Grace for Drowning.

I'm not too well versed in PT but the last one The Incident was ace

He's coming to my shop for an in-store on Saturday. He visited us the year before last as well and is a lovely bloke. Looking forward to it.

Okay, holy fuck this thing is good. Now that I've had some time to spend with it, I can safely say this is the best thing he's ever released and I don't think its too far of a stretch to say that this would stand up well amongst even the best of the 70s Genesis and Yes catalogs. For all the neo-prog bands out there right now, this is the first one that I actually feel captures 100% the spirit of the original, classic run of prog. Fucking stunning.

it really is that good, and it also sounds thoroughly modern. the fact that it was recorded live (not steven wilson's usual way of doing things) only adds to the energy of the album.

i'm guessing his remix work on crimson's lizard album got under his skin, because he's sprinkled that exact jazz sound throughout this album, and it adds just the right colour.

That's a good point, I actually forgot he was involved in working on that, but it makes total sense. This thing is just so fucking good.

it is a great album. Insurgentes is also great; Grace almost as good. All three are excellent and if P Tree is done (which it kind of feels like) I'm not really going to miss them that much if he keeps putting out work of this quality.

strange, because I find his solo albums much more involving than most PTree releases. that said I'm jazzed about this album and this tour, even though tickets were expensive as fuck. I've never paid this much money for Wilson or PTree in the past.

I think The Raven That Refused to Sing was fantastic and represented the peak of his solo work, been kind of diminishing returns for me since then, though I suspect it's more because I've kinda lost interest in the particular threads he's been chasing down, especially on the last two solo albums.

I am super excited for this one though.

That interview was weird, it does not paint a very pretty picture of Wilson and they all kind of do Colin dirty. There's not even a fleeting reference to him or acknowledgment that he was even a part of the band.

Yeah I wonder what went down with Colin Edwin

maybe i already said this before but colin used to live in the flat upstairs when my wife and i first moved in together. would hear him practsing his double-bass through the ceiling and it sounded cool, had no idea who porcupine tree were though. seemed like a nice guy

apparently that was in 1997-ish, just in case you were wondering (you so weren't)

I always felt that his kinda festi-dub meets the shopkeeper from Mr Ben vibe didn't really jive with the rest of the band.

It causes me mild dismay that some Porcupine Tree fans refer to them as "The Porkies". Still never really heard them, my taste in mainstream prog ceases at around 1976 though so maybe for the best. Apologies for shit contribution to the thread anyway.

theres only one porky and he does the prime cuts

In Absentia was a huge album for me in 2002-03 at the tail end of high school. I played it today for the first time in 20 years, and it still sounds wonderful to my ears, but I have no idea where to listen next in the Porcupine Tree discography and/or Steven Wilson Cinematic Universe. Should I move forward or backward from here? Are there specific albums I should seek out or avoid? Any pointers appreciated.

Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun are both pretty similar. I think I like those two slightly better but yea those 3 make up my favorite PT phase. They get a little heavier after that (Deadwing is still good), their prior stuff is spacey and nice but sometimes too derivative. Like it's a really good impression of King Crimson and Pink Floyd but he seems reluctant to do much that those groups don't do.

I also recently listened to In Abenstia for the first time in forever, it's really well made but it's made for a specific audience I think. Everyone I knew who was big into it was also into Radiohead and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, it's music for misanthropic-leaning teenagers who spend a lot of time alone and have deep thoughts. My wife has a 19 year old cousin and I found out this era of PT is still really huge in the college dorms in Mexico

wilson has a huge following in Mexico. It's still the only place I've randomly run into people on the street wearing his or PTree tour shirts.

I'd recommend Deadwing after In Absentia, it's a very similar album with the same proportion of heavy stuff to ballads. Last few tracks on Deadwing are exceptional.