What does it sound like?:
This is a reissue of the 2007 album in a sumptuous set incorporating a remaster of the original album (Steve Wilson mixed albums don’t need a Steven Wilson remix, obvs), the spinoff “Nil Recurring” EP, a disk of demos, a live performance of the songs, a number of BBC and other sessions which includes tracks from other albums and finally a 5.1 surround sound Blu-ray. Also included is a well written book with many photographs and a film about the recording of the album. All you could possibly want then!
The album at the centre of this followed “Deadwing”, the PT album which heralded some much deserved success after the band completed the hard yards of global touring and making in-store appearances to an enthusiastic but frustratingly small(ish) audience though SW himself will admit that progressive music is a tiny genre of passionate fans and that’s how he likes it. Richard Barbieri notes that they were not making any money, but at least weren’t losing any. It is a concept album (naturally) inspired by the Bret Easton Ellis book “Lunar Park” and takes the perspective of the son of the narrator who lives in a valueless world of affluence, television, video games and endless consumption which leads to a state of desensitised boredom and the dystopian theme is reflected in the dead eyed child on the cover. The book includes a dreadful story about two teenage PT fans who committed suicide and the album remembers them in one lyric.
The album sounded magnificent when it came out and sounds equally great here if prog is your thing. SW has a knack of writing proggy songs with a pop sensibility (his influences growing up were “Dark Side of the Moon” and ABBA’s Greatest Hits with a side order of Donna Summer) so whilst the tracks are long, complex and there’s much which is instrumental, they are very listenable. Mrs. T, for example, struggles with Yes or TMT but likes SW/PT.
The Tree are an interesting prog band in that they avoid the “5 virtuosos playing solos” problem by, in the main, not being virtuosos. Recently arrived drummer Gavin Harrison probably does qualify, and his drumming is superb throughout (he has a side gig in King Crimson which is no place for an apprentice) but the others, whilst great players, don’t overdo it and the vibe is much more about developing thematic ideas within the soundscapes created by Richard Barbieri, ex- of Japan. The combination of melodic sensibilities within the lush settings is a winner for this listener. It also continues the incorporation of crunching heavy metal riffs into the sound which started two albums earlier with “In Absentia” and continued with “Deadwing”. Additional soloing firepower is added by the presence of Alex Lifeson from Rush on “Anesthetize” and Robert Fripp in fiery form on “Nil Recurring”.
The film has enjoyable chats with the band members telling the story of the album and its genesis. Interestingly they took the initial music which SW had written earlier in 2006 and decided to take it on tour and gauge how well the tracks worked in a live setting before recording them. As a result of this, maybe unsurprisingly, the songs evolved with the experience of playing them in a live setting and some which were great in their own right were deemed to not fit the flow of the album, hence the addition on disk 2 of the “Nil Recurring” EP which was released shortly after the album and includes “Cheating the polygraph” which was originally intended for the album itself. The live album included in the set is from the tour which predated the actual recording of the album.
You might not be surprised to learn that SW demos are as good as many bands’ finished albums, and it’s fascinating to hear the demo then the live version which developed it then the final album version, then a post release live version. Like many box sets you wonder how many plays a disk of demos gets over time, but these sound like finished tracks not someone strumming a muffled acoustic guitar and singing “boiled eggs” or similar in place of lyrics. Some of the songs benefit from drum loops created by Gavin Harrison and sent to SW during the writing process and sound all the more complete for it. As you’d expect the songs differ in various ways with bits of melody and lyric appearing in different places on the final songs and whole sections abandoned or modified.
The live sessions disk is a nice extra – you can’t have too many versions “Trains” or “Lazarus” which are here along with songs from across the band’s career. It’s nice to hear some of the very early PT songs such as “The sky moves sideways” or “Stars Die” in stripped back in-store form along with full band performances from a BBC Session.
What does it all *mean*?
Porcupine Tree went to extraordinary lengths to create an album which lasts. They succeeded!
Goes well with…
Headphones. This is an old school album, created to be listened to in one sitting at a user friendly length of 50 mins, you can light a joss stick, turn down the lights and wallow.
Release Date:
25/10/24
Might suit people who like…
Prog really.
Seriously tempted by this – the Nil Recurring e.p. has been a favourite of mine since it was released…
Great review. I like ‘Ver Tree, and think you are spot-on in your analysis. I saw them in 2010, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed the ‘Raven SW tour more than his ‘Percolating one, as I find his Abba talk a bit over-compensating. But it’s only pop music.
I was surprised, on listening to this album, to discover it’s really rather good.
Having listened some years ago to some of their early stuff, I’d written them off as a bit “prog-by-numbers”.
I followed this revelation up by giving their most recent album “Closure/Continuation”(most recent AFAIK) a go, to see if I’d like that one too. They appear to have reverted to prog-generic somewhat. I found I’d got rather bored with it by the album’s finish.
It’s the old Good vs. Great dichotomy. There are thousands of Good albums but Great ones are less plentiful.
It did get me thinking about how influential King Crimson’s “Lark’s Tongues”/”Starless”/”Red” trilogy were on the world of modern Prog. Them and early-period Genesis, obviously.
I think of PT in three phases:
Early – Floydy spacy (Sky Moves Sideways)
Mid – Songy (Lightbulb Sun)
Later – Metal flavours (In Absentia, Deadwind, FOABP)
There are ample overlaps in these phases.
I like all of them. You might like the Later ones? Of course there is a bewildering array of live albums, alternative mixes, studio experiments etc. SW is nothing if not productive. I’ve worked my way through most of them but I’m sure there is plenty I’ve missed!
“I was surprised, on listening to this album, to discover it’s really rather good.”
Oh my hat!
Prog needs to have a bit of edginess to it, to hold my attention. This album has some edginess.
I came to PT from No-Man. I liked The Sky Moves Sideways. I saw them at the Junction and at the Scala for mid/late period gigs. I left both early – prog/metal really isn’t my cuppa at all.
I loved early and mid PT, but they lost me after In Absentia as they became heavier and more metallic. I didn’t like this album so much that I sold it on eBay so won’t be buying it again in expanded form, although some of the extras sound interesting.
I’ve seen him a few times live. The Raven, Hand Cannot Erase and To The Bone are all great. I wasn’t wild about The Future Bites or Harmony Codex. But I’d still put him near the top of my favourite artists.
My PT path started with ‘Signify’ (bloody brilliant), then back to ‘The Sky Moves Sideways’ (almost as good), then forward to ‘Stupid Dream’ (another immense belter) and ‘In Absentia’, and the latter (too noisy) is where I stalled for a few years. Keen to see if they would deliver again of the quality of ‘Signify’, I was finally tempted into purchasing ‘Deadwing’, and I’m afraid that was where we parted company. I went as far as to buy the big Delerium Years set a while back, but with little intention of ever venturing further into their musical development.
On that historical basis, it doesn’t sound like I would enjoy this one – too busy, too manic, too over the top. I’ve tried to listen to the opening track, but I have to bale after about 30 seconds. If I can’t get past the opener, sadly the album is lost to me!
I’m aware that basically I’m saying that ‘I liked their early stuff’!
Try”Lightbulb Sun”. Great songs.
On its way. 🙂
I’ve been keeping an eye on this thread because Fear Of A Black Planet is one of my favourite albums.
I’ve only just realised that Twang doesn’t do typos. 😉
Arf!
Not when I know you’re watching Tig!