The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

Post by Nick »

Has anyone read the faux blog they made for the album (http://handcannoterase.com/)? This has interested me in the album more than anything else.
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That is interesting indeed. All the photos and the trailer must have been shot in Poland though.
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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Oh, that's pretty cool! Love that he's pushing the concept like this.
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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[youtube]http://youtu.be/CYX_sEeAV9Y[/youtube]

Great insightful interview with Steven. Could listen to him speak for hours.
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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[youtube]http://youtu.be/gOU_zWdhAoE[/youtube]

New song! I think it's really nice. Will probably sound even better in context with the rest of the album. It really sets a mood.

Beautiful video as well.
Last edited by Timotheus on Wed Feb 04, 2015 10:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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Not a fan of this particular song, but still waiting for the full record to come out! Can't wait to hear the songs which were put in the footages from the studio.
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

Post by BSC »

Well that was a waste of almost five minutes. I'm sure it fits much better in context to the album, but then again, concept albums don't really do much for me.

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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

Post by Nick »

Not a big fan of it at first either. I'm not a huge fan of spoken word when it's used like this. It feels artificial. And though I love concept albums, I don't like when they set themselves up (as this one seems to, though we'll see) as a thing that can only be listened to as a whole.
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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I just heard the new album (it leaked, don't worry I'll buy it when it's out).

I think it's another really strong album in Steven Wilson's catalogue. The title track and Perfect Life are not a good indication of the sound of the rest of the album, so people who didn't like those tracks don't really have anything to worry about (except Nick maybe). There are a few more moments where there are electronics drums (like in the intro of Ancestral), but most of the time they're in the background. There also were less female vocals than I was expecting. They are mainly in Routine (which is an incredibly impressive song) and 2 or 3 other tracks, but less prevalent.

For the rest it sounds like a Steven Wilson record. The jams are there (Regret #9 is so good), Gurthie Govan's solos are spectacular as always, it just takes a bit more time sometimes to get to those moments.

I won't go into detail too much about the songs (I could, but I don't think anybody here would care that much about my thought, lol), but I'd love to mention that Ancestral's the song that he played when I saw them live, a year ago. Here's something I said about the track back then:
Towards the end it got really heavy and at moments I thought it sounded a lot like Fear Of A Blank Planet (title track) and Arriving Somewhere But Not Here (heavy interlude), which surprised me a lot.
I immediately recognized that part when I heard it :D

Anyway, it's exciting to have new Steven Wilson music. Can't wait to give it another listen and buy the CD when it's out.

By the way: highlights for me were Routine, Regret #9, 3 Years Older and Ancestral (mainly because of the first part though).
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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I've also heard the record and I must say that I prefer it to the Raven, which is also very good, but it's just another type of mood. Having said that, I'm not a big fan of the first half of the album. It all starts to me in the middle of Routine. Keyboard riffs on Home Invasion and the whole Regret #9 are outstanding. Heavy parts and Guthrie's solo on Ancestral blew me away as well. There is definitely a lot of PT and Opeth vibe going on. I may revisit this record a couple of times when it is released.
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

Post by BSC »

I'm very surprised at how much I am enjoying Steven's new album, it's fantastic. I like the first half of the album, but I agree with Dolo in that it all kicks off in the second half. Home Invasion is great, Regret #9 is crazy, Transcience is a pretty little song, Ancestral is fantastic and Happy Returns is a lovely way to finish a really good album. The lyrics to Routine are a bit off-putting, it's almost like it's a song about household chores. I usually not pay much attention to lyrics, so the fact that the album has a concept doesn't really do too much for me, but it's nice to know that there's some deeper meaning behind the album. It's a very cohesive album, it flows well and each song feels like it belongs on the album, but at the same time, each song sounds different.

I'm seeing Steven next Friday for the first time, which I'm really looking forward to, especially now that I enjoy his new album. I think it's an 'Evening With...' tour so the set list should be interesting. I'm not too familiar with his other solo stuff apart from Raven, I hope he plays that album's title track, I'd quite like to hear Raider II, although I'm not expecting him to play it, and I wouldn't mind if he played the whole of his new album in its entirety. Incidentally, both Halestorm and Steven Wilson are playing in Cardiff on the same day, I would have gone to both if I could, but it wasn't a particularly difficult decision to make!

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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

Post by Crumbso »

Gah. Just got this album yesterday and its absolutely great. I've listened to it front to back about 3 times now. The lyrics are fantastic and the music is superlative. Modern classic. Guthrie Govan is god too!
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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I had a really good time seeing Steven Wilson last night. The visuals going on behind him are superb. They played the majority of the album (minus Transcience) in the main set, along with Index, Lazarus and Harmony Korine. I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone, but there was a really fantastic animation playing behind Routine which was really gripping and shocking at times. Songs like Perfect Life and Regret #9 sound a lot fuller live. Hearing the album played live, with the visuals behind it, is really quite an experience.

For the encore they played behind a curtain, during Watchmaker, my least favourite from Raven, there was an incredibly spooky visual of the watchmaker, and then his wife on the curtain, it was rather creepy. Sleep Together was also played behind the curtain, with lots of blue/purple lights, and it was one of the highlights of the show, it was really heavy. The crowd was quite respectful and just enjoying the show most of the time, but throughout Sleep Together there was an unanimous head-sway. The last song was Raven, and the video for that song was played behind it, it was really something, I almost had a little tear to my eye, similar to how I feel whenever I watch the end of Lord of the Rings Return of the King.

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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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Awesome to hear you had a great time! It's interesting that Steven played some PT material. How did Lazarus and Sleep Together sound?
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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They sounded great. Definitely a different feel with Marco on drums though, Gavin was a huge part of PT's sound. I think Nick was doing some different stuff on bass than Colin does, I couldn't really hear and I don't know enough about bass to be about to describe to you what he was doing, but it certainly wasn't a traditional style of playing bass. Nick's backing vocals on Lazarus were a little off, I guess I'm just a bit too used to the album version and John Wesley's live vocals. Steven did introduce Lazarus, he said it's one of his best short songs, and they're playing it because it fits in with the theme of the new album.

Sleep Together wasn't introduced, so I don't know why he decided to play it, but it was awesome. It was really heavy, and it was great towards the end of the set. I didn't notice any big differences between how Steven and his band played it and would PT played it. I'm glad he played those two songs, it's probably the closest I'll get to see Porcupine Tree play live.

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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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Incredibly beautiful video for Routine:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/sh5mWzKlhQY[/youtube]
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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It's incredible how a song can turn in such an fascinating story. Although I prefered video to Raven, this one is pretty good as well.
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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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Routine was by far my least favourite song on Hand Cannot Erase before I saw Steven live. When I saw Steven live in March the video blew me away, I was almost on the brink on the tears (I certainly was on the brink of tears watching him play Raven and the accompanying video). The video was so engrossing that I don't really remember watching the band play during Routine. I'm amazed that I went to a concert where I was paying more attention to the videos playing behind the band than the actual band.

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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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22nd January will see the release of a new Steven Wilson album “4 ½”, so titled because it forms an interim release between Steven’s recently released fourth album Hand. Cannot. Erase. and the next studio album.
4 ½ comprises 6 tracks with a total running time of 37 minutes. 4 of the songs originated during the sessions for Hand. Cannot. Erase., and one from the recording sessions for the previous album The Raven that Refused to Sing. The final track is a version of Don’t Hate Me, a song originally recorded by Porcupine Tree in 1998, and is based on a live recording made on the recent tour of Europe with additional recording later done in the studio. The vocals on this new version are sung as a duet between Steven and Ninet Tayeb.
Also appearing on the album are members of Steven’s band over the last few years; Adam Holzman, Nick Beggs, Guthrie Govan (Official), Dave Kilminster, Craig Blundell, Marco Minnemann, Chad Wackerman, and Theo Travis.
4 ½ will be released by Kscope on CD, 180 gram vinyl, and blu-ray, with all formats housed in a beautiful die-cut sleeve photographed by Lasse Hoile and designed by Carl Glover. The blu-ray (audio only) edition includes high res stereo, a 5.1 mix of the album, and a bonus 5.1 mix of the new version of Lazarus (recently included on the Transience vinyl compilation). The vinyl edition will include a download code for the album in a choice of FLAC or mp3. The album will also be available digitally on 22nd January from iTunes, Amazon.com, Google Play & Apple Music.
Steven Wilson - "4 ½"
1. My Book of Regrets (9.23)
2. Year of the Plague (4.15)
3. Happiness III (4.31)
4. Sunday Rain Sets In (3.50)
5. Vermillioncore (5.09)
6. Don’t Hate Me (9.34)
https://www.burningshed.com/store/stevenwilson/

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Re: The Official PORCUPINE TREE Thread

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Can't wait for anything that Steven does.
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