Music for the head (Porcupine Tree) (LP 3517 - 3526)

Porcupine Tree  On the Sunday of Life... (CD, K Scope Records, 1993) ***  

Porcupine Tree  Voyage 34 (CD, K Scope Records, 1992/1993) ***  

Porcupine Tree  Up the Downstair (CD, K Scope Records, 1993/2005) ****

Porcupine Tree  Staircase Infinities (CD, K Scope Records, 1993/2005) ****

Porcupine Tree  The Sky Moves Sideways (CD, Snapper Records, 1995/2004) ****    

Porcupine Tree  Signify (CD, Snapper Records, 1996/2007) ****  

Porcupine Tree  Insignificance (CD, Snapper Records, 1997/2007) ****  

Porcupine Tree  Coma Divine (CD, K Scope Records, 1997/2007) ****  

Porcupine Tree  Coma: Coda (Vinyl, Porcupine Tree Ltd Records, 1997/2021) ****  

Porcupine Tree  Stupid Dream (CD, K Scope Records, 1999/2006) ****  

Genre: Psychedelic rock, prog rock

Places I remember: HMV, Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Signify 

Gear costume: Up The Downstair

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: It's a bumper crop of albums from Porcupine Tree (PT). I'll divide them into a couple of piles. First up - the nineties albums. 

Deep breath and a cuppa tea needed first - there are quite a few PT albums as Steven Wilson is a creative guy. Not only was he active with PT in the nineties, he also had albums out with or without collaborators in the No-Man, I.E.P, and Bass Communion projects. Blackfield and other collaborations were to come in the 2000s.

Fittingly, Porcupine Tree began life in Steven Wilson's boyhood bedroom. As he points out - On the Sunday of Life isn't really the first PT album - more a compilation of his early songwriting that he put on cassettes.

It has become a fascinating document though, as it definitely has elements of his later work scattered amongst the blind alleys, and in Radioactive Toy he has his first substantial leap forward.

Same goes with Voyage 34 - a genre exercise that Steven Wilson put out originally as a single/ an EP/ then an album with its complete four parts. As he says - it stands alone in the catalogue as an early experiment. I like its concept - delving into the world of a Timothy Leary acid freak; exploring a moment in time.

All up - these two releases show what a prodigious talent Steven Wilson possessed back in his teenage bedroom.

So, I guess Up the Downstair could be seen as his first real Porcupine Tree album. It was certainly the first PT album for me back in the early 2000s (after hearing the band on a music magazine sampler). Porcupine Tree wasn't a band quite yet.

Although Steven Wilson still does it all, this album sees the introduction of a few other musicians on some tracks: Colin Edwin (bass on Always Never); Richard Barbieri (electronics on the title track); and Gavin Harrison (drums).  

The original album has been subsequently tinkered with - the electronic drums were even eventually removed and replaced with Gavin Harrison's 'real' drums. My CD copy is the 2005 expanded version with Harrison on board and the Staircase Infinities EP added.

The EP begins strongly with Cloud Zero and the Up The Downstair quality carries over to the E.P. This is a great package! It certainly sold me on the work of Steven Wilson.

He clearly has a soft spot for Pink Floyd post Syd and pre the Roger Waters split. The Sky Moves Sideways has quite a few echoes (sorry) of that Pink Floyd era, and I have zero problem with that! The Sky Moves Sideways Part 1 and Part 2 bookend the album (as Shine on You Crazy Diamond does on Wish You Were Here).

Barbieri, Edwin and Harrison turn up again on a few tracks, as does Chris Maitland on drums. It's still the Steven Wilson show though.

There are various versions of this album - mine is the 2004 extended remaster from 2004.

The reissue caper is hard to keep track of with Porcupine Tree. Signify was the PT's fourth album and my 2007 reissue has it twinned with an album's worth of demos originally released a year later called Insignificance - material that didn't make it to Signify or was reworked or B-sides. As I said, the man is prolific in his output!!

Previous to this the Porcupine Tree albums were basically solo projects, but Signify is the first with Porcupine Tree existing as a band. 'Existing' being the operative word because as Steven Wilson has said: "Signify was slightly odd in the way it was recorded in the sense that although it is a band album, because we were never able to actually all be in the same room at the same time, because of physical limitations... I tended to demo the tracks to a fairly high level, and they would just replace the parts that I'd played on synthesizers with the real thing. So, there wasn't a great deal of input from the other guys."

Generally, Signify is a progressive step forward and the continued input from Barbieri, Edwin and Maitland does help provide a strong instrumental base for Mr. Wilson. The riffarama of Signify is a highlight.

Coma Divine was recorded live in Rome and showcases the Signify album. The album is from their third night in Rome, while Coma: Coda features their second night and includes a lot of material not done on night 3. Following along? It gets complicated, doesn't it. Doing these posts helps me sort things out in my brain, and also puts things in order in my collection.

The double CD and double vinyl sets combine to produce an excellent snapshot of the band live in the late-nineties (Coma Divine has some overdubs, but Coma: Coda has none).

Final album in this list is their next studio album after Signify - Stupid Dream released in 1999 (my copy is the 2006 reissue with a separate disc containing high-res versions). 

Stupid Dream sees PT ending the decade on a high. The album contains some of their heaviest music to date, while also balancing that with some gentle acoustic music. It's another brilliant record - the quality control was set to brilliant during the nineties.

Where do they all belong? On to the 2000's and the productivity remains vast. Where does he get the energy from? His book - Limited Edition of One provides some answers and is warmly recommended!

Citadel (Bass Communion) (LP 3253)

Bass Communion   Cenotaph  (CD, Tonefloat Records, 2011) *****  

Genre: Ambient

Places I remember: Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/ Gear costume: Cenotaph

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: Bass Communion is a solo venture by Steven Wilson (Blackfield, No-Man, Porcupine Tree, and solo) and this is his nineth album as such.

I am a big fan of all his music and Bass Communion is no exception. I find Cenotaph extremely relaxing. If you're after calm at the end of the day - try this.

Where do they all belong? I've tried to find other Bass Communion albums without success so far.

Hello (Blackfield) (LP 2151 - 2156)

Blackfield  Blackfield (CD, Koch Records, 2004) ****  

Blackfield  Blackfield II (CD, Atlantic/Snapper Music, 2007) *****  

Blackfield  NYC (Live In New York City) (CD plus DVD, Kscope, 2007) *****  

Blackfield  Welcome To My DNA (CD, Kscope, 2011) *** 

Blackfield  Blackfield IV (CD, Kscope, 2013) ***   

Blackfield  Blackfield V (CD, Kscope, 2017) *** 

Genre: Pop rock, art rock

Places I remember: Fopp; HMV.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pain (Blackfield)

Gear costume: My Gift Of Silence (Blackfield II); Kissed By The Devil (Blackfield IV); From 44 To 48 (Blackfield V)

Active compensatory factors: Blackfield started life as a side project for Steven Wilson in cahoots with friend Aviv Geffen. 

As it's progressed Aviv has mostly kept things going as a solo project with Steven rejoining him from time to time. 

Blackfield is definitely more poppy than progressive and as such the band has carved out its own niche in the Wilson-verse.

First album, Blackfield, sets out the stall well with some singles friendly tunes although the subject matter is a tad dour and the packaging downright depressing!

Blackfield II came out three years later. Steven dominates this one with only one lead vocal by Aviv. It's a lighter record with a lot of pop smarts. This is the album I heard first and then got hooked!

I've awarded it 5 stars because there are no duds to be found, and it's full of wonderful inspired moments, like the way the track End Of The World evolves and resolves is perfect. Great final track to a great album.

The Live in NYC set also came out in 2007. It serves as a best of collection from those first two albums with some inspired performances. No dud songs on this one either.

A bit of a change with the third studio album - Welcome To My DNA, with Steven Wilson taking a back seat (he only contributes one song). So this is more Aviv's baby.

It's good, has the Blackfield sound, but compared to Blackfield II it just misses a couple of Wilson magic moments. Similar comments for Blackfield IV and V where Wilson becomes a contributor to the album rather than a card carrying member of the band.

Geffen's vocals are good (Kissed By The Devil is excellent), but he needs Wilson's contributions to lift the sound into the stratosphere.

That's noticeable again on Blackfield V - it has some good songs, Geffen sounds more confident in his delivery and then Steven does From 44 to 48 and slays it!

Then you notice what's missing since Blackfield II.

Where do they all belong? I'll need to listen to their latest release from 2020 (For The Music). Once more, it's more of a Geffen album with Steven only on three tracks, but I'm sure it's worth searching for on Spotify.

Permanating (Steven Wilson) (LP 331)

Steven Wilson Home Invasion (CD/DVD, 2019) ****

Genre:  Prog rock

Places I remember: HMV Oxford St., London. The day before it closed down forever I decided to finally buy this package.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Permanating (really you need to see the actual DVD for the Indian stylised dance troupe that Wilson shares the stage with). As he says - he wrote a great pop song!




Gear costume:  Lazarus

Active compensatory factors: As I was watching the DVD of this concert (after listening to the CD a few times in the Purdmobile pootling to and from school), I realised something: if push came to shove - I could listen to Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson albums exclusively, and be a happy man.

Yes, I'd miss many things but really, when the man is firing (and he's seldom, if ever, 'off') he is amazing and the listening pleasure to be derived from such activities, is immense.

The range on this concert is breath-taking from full on prog wig outs - Vermillioncore, to tender ballads - Lazarus, to pop confection - Permanating.

The band is as tight as a fish's bum - all locked in and delivering some extraordinary sounds.

Where do they all belong? I own all of Wilson's Porcupine Tree and solo albums and trust me when I say: this one is special!

I haul you in a sea of silence (Rain Tree Crow)

Moods.  Music and mood sometimes match perfectly in a synergistic way.

Today is Saturday (I know it says Friday in the post title bar - I have no idea why it does, but trust me - it's Saturday). A beautiful sunny day. Jacky and I have just returned from a long walk into the shops at Oneroa to get an engagement card for Samantha and Jesse. We are now back home, Jacky's having a nap and I have Rain Tree Crow (by Rain Tree Crow) playing on the p-pod dock.

It's a perfect match - languid, spacious, thoughtful, atmospheric, ambient music for a languid, sunny afternoon on Waiheke Island. 

Rain Tree Crow (released 1991) is really Japan's last album before David Sylvian closed up shop and went solo, so it's got elements of Japan style pop but leans towards a proggy ambient sound scape. Actually, I couldn't help thinking about Porcupine Tree while I listened to it. Richard Barbieri is common to both endeavours after all and Steven Wilson's vocals could easily be substituted for Sylvian's.

Blackwater was the album's only single.