Porcupine Tree "Deadwing" (was: [OFF] Bavarian Planes)

[Denis Regenbrecht]

Hello,

On 01.08.2005, at 21:17, Jon Jarrett wrote:

>> Depends on where you're exactly. But if the planes are 30-year old
>> F-4 Phantoms that smoke like a chimney, than they're definitely
>> ours ;-)
>
>         Not even G for Germany either ;-(

Nope, ours are F-4F, with the F standing for nothing :-)

[Eurofighter]
>         They've finally made it into squadron service in Britain,
> so yours
> can't be too far behind... Then you only have the first few years'
> teething troubles while the service gets used to a new plane after the
> same one for 30 years...

Though we're the second Fighter Wing that'll get the EF in Germany,
we're the first to fly it operationally (the other Wing is just for
training the pilots at the moment). Additionally we'll continue
flying the old Phantoms until the EF is fully operational (at least
'til 2008), so everything will be very much fun in the next few
years.... ;->

[Porcupine Tree, "Deadwing"]
>         Hopefully not an appropriate title :-) How's that come out,
> anyway? Any reviews for it? SO far I've only been able to get
> thumbs up
> from people who liked the Blackfield album and I found that pretty
> dispensable, so I'm wondering how much I need this. What's
> different from
> _In Absentia_ and what's stayed the same?

I'm not a PT-expert, in fact "Deadwing" and "In Absentia" are the
only two albums I have of the Wilson-troupe. Nevertheless I'll try to
do a short review/IMHO of sorts.
DW is a further development of the sound of IA. It's louder, heavier
and more brute (especially so on "Deadwing" [with an Adrian Belew-
guest appearance] , "Shallow" and "Open Car"). That's not to say that
it sounds exactly like your typical (prog-)metal-band, but it's more
aggressive and energetic than some of the older PT stuff, with a
dominant distorted metal-like guitar-sound.
Nevertheless there are also more "classical" PT-songs with all the
floydish synthworks, calm melodies, undistorted guitar-solos and
psychedelic influences one expects from PT ("Mellotron Scratch",
"Arriving Somewhere..." and "Glass Arm Shattering").
To sum it up, I say that DW is varied and interesting album. It is
not as accessible and more dark than IA, but the path of development
can clearly be seen. Those who can't stand certain (prog-)metal
devices won't like it, but everyone who liked IA,  won't be
disappointed by DW IMHO. 8 out of 10 on my own D+R'o'meter

(c)IAO
                             D+R
np: Kraftwerk, "Minimum-Maximum"