Steven Wilson, for the uninitiated, is best known as the creative brain-trust behind the British progressive rock group, Porcupine Tree. I can already hear a lot of you scratching your heads and asking "who?" right about now, and in America at least, you'd hardly be alone there.
Porcupine Tree doesn't sell that many records on this side of the pond, and they enjoy what could be best described as a cult following. That said, Steven Wilson and his cohorts in PT have made some pretty amazing music over the past decade and a half or so.
They have also made a buttload of it.
So much so, that after discovering and falling instantly in love with this band roughly a year or so ago, I ended up spending a small fortune going about the process of obtaining their complete recorded catalog. Let me tell you, these guys have made a ton of records, too - especially for a band that by and large remains undiscovered on this side of the world, at least in terms of finding a mass audience anyway.
The records also all sound quite different from one another.
The first PT song which really grabbed me was "Sentimental," from the band's 2007 album Fear Of A Blank Planet. The song uses haunting piano minor chords overlaid with gorgeous sounding acoustic and electric guitars as a backdrop for Wilson's lyrics about youth and alienation (the song, like much of the album, appears to have been inspired by the school shootings at Columbine). An acoustic version of this song, with just Wilson on guitar, can be viewed below:
Elsewhere on the FOABP album you'll find songs like the opus "Anesthetize," which over the course of its eighteen-plus minutes goes from similarly lighter shades to the sort of metallic bludgeon played in weird time signatures you'd normally associate with someone like Tool.
Meanwhile, on a wide assortment of E.P.'s, singles, and full length albums (at least two of which are multiple disc sets), PT's sound runs pretty much the entire table of progressive rock styles - from metal and ambient electronica to atmospheric Floydian space rock (check out the amazing double album The Sky Moves Sideways for the best stuff there). It's a lot to digest, especially for the recently converted neophyte.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
"or better yet, get a review copy from you if you are so inclined to send one."
Since its sold-out, does he need anyone to review it? He's urging you to steal it, though. What choice do you have?
2 - Benny
You should have at least mentioned "Trains" as one of their most commonly known tracks. I listened to a bunch of their albums in my earlier days, too, but kinda lost track after I discovered some other bands one of which being Radiohead. Maybe, after reading this, I'm going to purchase some of the records you mentioned.
3 - Pico
Amen, brotha Glen.
Amazing all these records Wilson has masterminded over the last 20 years and yet this is (I think) the first one under his own name. He sure seems to love titillating his audience with all these limited edition releases, though. We'll see how well this latest marketing ploy gooses the demand for the commercial release next year...and will it be supported by a tour.
4 - simon
i am one of the lucky 3000
:)
but then i am on the burning shed mailing list, so i get an email when these things happen.
an idea for the future?
5 - Tom Johnson
I'm one of the "lucky 3000," as well, but I'd rather see Wilson just offer ALL the music to everyone and offer lush packages to to die-hards who want that kind of thing. He willfully creates this kind of collector mindset among fans, many of whom really just want to get the music. By being so secretive with the contents of the package, he encourages the ravenous behavior that causes these things to sell out immediately. Works for him, right? It's not cool, however, and it's exactly the kind of thing that is causing people to steal music in the first place. Rather than just buy the retail CD in February, people are going to download both discs in early December and forget all about buying the real deal a few months later, even though it will contain the DVD with surround-sound mixes, the 18-minute film, etc. Only the bonus tracks and the packaging are exclusive to the deluxe edition, which, frankly, is pretty annoying. Either make stuff exclusive and charge a lot, or be upfront and say that most of the set isn't all that exclusive and there won't be that many bonus tracks (4, as I read) so people can decide beforehand whether to invest. Fans were forced to blindly invest in this one, and that's not a fun predicament to be in when you know that a particular artist's stuff goes both ways - it either goes LONG out of print, or just randomly goes right back into print or is offered as FLAC/MP3 downloads on their website. This was very badly handled for people who like to OWN music, not just simply take files from sites.
quite possibly the most prolific rock musician alive
I'm veering off topic, but that is what I'm good at . . . Wilson is FAR from achieving that title, actually - I believe it's Robert Pollard that earns that. He's not just written but RECORDED thousands of songs in the past 20 years - he even has two four-disc boxsets of demos that are 200 songs in length! He once made a joke about how he goes to take a dump and thinks up five songs - and three of them are good. He's a little spottier than that, IMO, but his catalog is surprisingly solid for someone who churns out so many songs so quickly.
6 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
I, personally, think that Mr. Boyd & Co. are just unhappy because they weren't in the loop. Simon(#4) has a vaild point, If you are really that infatuated with a band or artist, they usually have an email list set up to send out news about tours,cds,etc..
7 - Glen Boyd
I'm not really unhappy Brian, but was rather just trying to make a point which Tom may have done a better job of actually doing. I'm actually subscribed to the Burning Shed newsletter myself, but still somehow managed to miss the news about SW's solo record. Burning Shed sends lots of mails, most of which I tend to skim just because I get so much mail as it is. And I must skimmed right over this one.
I just read that the commercial release will be a double disc, which to my mind indicates most of the material will be included on it. So I'll live with that I guess and pick up whatever leftovers I can find on the internet. Like Tom said though, I just wish that SW would either make these special edition thingies available in larger quantities or just do a more uniform release where everyone gets the same thing.
-Glen
8 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Like Tom said though, I just wish that SW would either make these special edition thingies available in larger quantities or just do a more uniform release where everyone gets the same thing.
Well, then it wouldn't be a "Limited Edition","Special Multi-Disc",etc... I mean it's not as if this guy was a megastar. He probably had to spend a lot "out of pocket" to make this thing a reality. Tom's argument would hold more water if Mr.Wilson was some greedy,over-hyped conglomerate like Madonna that can pump out as much shite as they want to. BUT, that's the great thing about Steve Wilson's work. It's like art and has great value when its not printed too much(for a lack of better words).
9 - Glen Boyd
Fair enough. But like Bicho said above, he's practically begging people to steal it when he does things this way. A limited run can still be more than 3000 copies which quickly sell out, and although SW may not have Madonna's fanbase, i'm sure he realizes that it's a bit larger than 3000.
"Art" by definition is meant to be shared with the world, and not be some exclusive club (who can afford the $80. price tag I might add).
-Glen
10 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
I hear what your sayin,Glen. I can even see your point, but, it always takes uploading in order for it to be downloaded(stolen). And, maybe, at this price tag & its limited status, people won't be so willing to share it(especially the DVD audio)...who knows?
Personally, I could care less for the packaging, handbook & most definitely, the shipping. I would love to see the music(including the DVD-Audio) available,in a lossless format, for d/l'ing via Burning Shed or some other outlet.
11 - The Lone Beader
Just received an email stating that my copy of the disc has just been posted! :D
12 - Alan Smithee
Don't worry, Glen. If PTree's fanbase grows significantly over the next 3-5 years, there'll be a re-release, if only to give the new fans equal opportunity to
be gougedhear the material. Face it - the man can't help but reissue his stuff constantly. Case in point: Voyage 34. The 12"s went out of print, so Snapper released a CD. Then a few years later it's released again, only with new artwork and an additional 30 seconds of Phase IV that got cut off. And don't get me started on the Cover Versions singles. I like most of the man's music (I don't get Bass Communion), but for all his crowing about music as art, he treats it equally like a commodity.