OFF: Porcupine Tree

[John Majka]

I do enjoy Porcupine Tree quite a bit, but In Absentia left me cold.  To my
ears, it sounds rather derivative of the then-current metal fashion (which
is, thankfully, already fading).  I am extremely disappointed to hear that
Deadwing is supposedly in a similar metal-ish vein.  All of that sort of
faux-gothic imagery and lyrical content is... funny!  It seems there is
quite a bit of criticism of Lightbulb Sun, but I still think that album is
their most fully realized one, in that it successfully blends their rambling
psychedelic tendencies with song structures and very solid lyrics.  Stupid
Dream is a close second.

John Majka


> On Thu, 7 Apr 2005, Tony wrote:
>
>> What does this list think of Porcupine Tree?  I'm only a recent convert
>> to
>> them, only having heard a couple of tracks from their last album - In
>> Absentia.  But I have to say I'm now a fan!  I saw them last weekend
>> during
>> their UK tour and they were magnificent.  What's more Steven Wilson
>> (songwriter, guitars, singer and all round genius) likes Hawkwind too.
>> On
>> his personal website he lists "In Search Of Space" on his March playlist.
>> http://www.nomansland.demon.co.uk/playlist.html
>> Cool!
>
>        I'm kind of ambivalent about Porcupine Tree these days, which is
> sad because they're the band I own most records by after Hawkwind by a
> pretty clear margin. The trouble is partly that a lot of that material is
> duplicated because they went through a period between record deals when
> they were really milking the fanbsase with re-release stuff with only a
> few new tracks on it, and I got sufficiently fed up of this that when _In
> Absentia_ came out in the US and was only available here on import I
> didn't get it because by then was sure that the eventual European release
> would have bonus tracks on it.
>
>        The other reason is that I got into the band just after they
> released _The Sky Moves Sideways_ which point Steven Wilson played guitar
> like Dave Gilmour, they were doing huge long atmospheric prog pieces and
> tended to play fairly small spaces with Fruit Salad Lights who have also
> got less interesting since then, not tailoring their illuminations to the
> material and so on. The gig of theirs I saw in the late lamented Boat
> Race in Cambridge, which held about 200 people if you packed them in like
> sardines, and they were, with full light show, has got to be one of the
> most intense gig experiences I've ever had. And _Signify_ and so on held
> out the promise at this was going to be the band that did something new
> with the whole English psychedelic progressive crossover field that
> no-one's otherwise got over early Floyd in. Then everything went quiet
> except for re-release rarities and so on, they left their label (which
> died) and when they finally re-emerged it was with what I felt was a
> terribly uneasy attempt to mix the old lengthy prog with a new set of
> poppy singles which all sounded alike (this was _Stupid Dream_--unlike
> Keith H. I think this easily their worst album and is far worse than
> _Lightbulb Sun_ which actually managed to blend the styles
> convincingly) and from then on it just never got as interesting again.
>
>        I do like _In Absentia_, and there's no doubt that Steven Wilson
> is developing all the time as a songwriter, but there's something
> distinctively his about PT material, and indeed the stuff he's written
> with Opeth, which these days I find dampens any excitement. The
> I. E. M. stuff and Bass Communion stuff also have their distinctive
> flavours but I haven't yet got bored of those; I imagine I easily could
> though. The early stuff, where each album was effectively by a different
> band, and that `voice' wasn't as set, still interests me much more. I play
> all the albums except _Stupid Dream_ now and again, and I'd hold up
> _Signify_ as one of the best albums Delerium ever released. The triple LP
> _Coma Divine_ is a gorgeous thing to own, and _Stars Die_ is a proper
> obsessive's box-set at bargain price for what you get. But, I am no longer
> very fanatic. Haven't seen them in ages because I don't expect to be
> surprised any more. I really should, but it seems difficult to believe
> it's going to be worth the effort because they won't do what I associate
> with the name.
>
>        When I finally get round to getting the new one I may change my
> mind, but reviews so far don't make it seem likely. Let me see if I can
> frame this simply. When _Signify_ came out, there was nothing else around
> which did that and this was a band at the top of its game. When _Stupid
> Dream_ came out I got it at roughly the same time as Blur's self-titled,
> and the Britpop darlings had the supposed champions of the British
> underground out-psychdelicked in the first fifteen minutes. (That Blur
> album I would still say is really a great little pysch album, especially
> once you get the earphones on and start listening to what the guitar parts
> actually *are*.) Likewise, when _In Absentia_ came out it was more or less
> at the same point as Queens of the Stone Age's _Songs for the Deaf_, both
> bands with a mixed history going determinedly for the MTV2 jugular without
> compromising their actual quality of material as I saw it, and _Songs for
> the Deaf_ is by far the better album for me. These days PT are no longer
> the biggest and shiniest fish in a small pool but averagely remarkable
> fish in a much bigger sea, and they're not doing what made them stand out
> any more. So it seems to me, anyway, yours,
>                                            Jon
>
> ObCD: Farflung - _Nine Pin Body_
> --
>                Jonathan Jarrett, Birkbeck College, London
>    jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk/ejarr01 at students.bbk.ac.uk
>  "As much as the vision of the blind man improves with the rising sun,
>       So too does the intelligence of the fool after good advice."
>       (Bishop Theodulf of Orleans, late-eight/early-ninth century)