Off: PORCUPINE TREE Live

[Jonathan Jarrett]

On Mon, 10 May 1999, Keith Henderson wrote:

> But I don't see why it's called 'pop'.  I just think it's less
> 'rock' so what else to call it?  I guess 'shoegazer-dream rock' a la
> Spiritualized, Slowdive and/or the first Verve album. And so what, those
> bands may sell more albums than PT, but I've never heard any of them on the
> radio (Spiritualized was used in a TV ad though).  Well, I don't listen to
> the radio I admit.  :)

        Gods, you couldn't get _away_ from The Verve last year! Not their
first album, I grant you, which I heard some of on John Peel (which isn't
radio as we mean radio :-), but definitely an air-play band. I think SW's
aware that his nice new label will want him to sell records, and from the
reaction of my more mainstream-listening friends to it, it's probably
going to do that. Let's hope this is a temporary trend. I don;t like it
when PT actually produce bad songs, like 'Stop Swimming', though I have to
admit I thought 'A Smart Kid' was one of the best tracks...

> So, yes, I think it was a bad move in a way, but only because it got away
> from PT's strength - ie., crunchy riffs a la 'Signify' and energetic
> drumming from Chris Maitland (who is woefully underused on SD).  But this
> album *might* have worked
> alright for a different band.

        I've said to several people: Steve has written a load of No Man
songs for PT. They used to sound like Floyd and now they sound like
Radiohead only less damaged. What annoys me is that this was supposed to
be the album where the band all composed together for the first time, and
actually there's less collaboration than there was on 'Signify'. Yours,

Jon