I liked some PT back in the day, but I’m not all that broken up over the idea of that chapter being finished. Mr. Wilson still has other avenues for his music to get made, so it’s not like fans won’t get to hear PT-styled stuff going forward.
Speaking for myself, I’ve cooled a bit on SW overall. I think I actually like To The Bone more than HCE, but overall I just don’t tend to reach for his music as much anymore.
Well, that underground elitist proggy prog is OK for beginners I suppose...but then there comes a time in your listening development when you have to put aside childish things and graduate to the real stuff. I'm talking about the super-elitist proggy proggy prog-prog.
When you're ready for it, though. Not before.
This. Especially wth touring HCE and Raven, who he came to the US with was always a crap shoot, which was truly frustrating to me. I miss PT more now because the last album he put out is just shite. At least with PT, there were other influences keeping the ship going in the right direction, right now he seems adrift to me.
Well, that's a very different thing from his own music. One, an engineer in demand for surround remixes and who started with prog but has been gradually moving into other areas as his reputation begins to precede him. I see nothing disingenuous about him happily remixing progressive classics, however, as it's music he loves...but is nothing like (at least, less and less) the music he makes.
So, two different gigs: one, over which he has total control (his music), and so can define his forward or backward direction as much as he wants; the other, a gig that is enjoyable for him, as he gets to work with albums he likes and many of which have had at least some influence on who he is today. But remixing old albums is not going backwards, sorry. I would be 99.9% certain that he is referring to his music.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
So here's a recent interview SW did in Finland (Feb 24). The thing that immediately struck me is that he is finally starting to show his age. And it wasn't just me -- the comments also had lots of the same reaction.
So that got me thinking: is his swing toward more "accessible" music and all the various comments nixing a PT reunion, dissing The Raven, etc. all part of some kind of mid-life crisis he's going through? As in: "I've only got so many really vital years left -- I better score some kind of popular success while I still can."
I dunno -- just thinking out loud.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
Well, I would argue that he already has had a lot of SOME kind of popular success. I mean, for years now, he has been filling decent sized venues. Just because you are not playing arenas, certainly doesn't mean you aren't successful. But, I'm sure that he'll continue to do what he wants.
neil
For me a mid-life crisis would be: he was doing Porcupine Tree then suddenly he did Bass Communion or IEM for two years. He's always issued 'wayward' side projects, which is part of his artistic integrity I guess. He's always done Pop as well (nothing on To The Bone is as Pop as 'Piano Lessons'). I think he's become strident on the “Permanating” thing because in the sleepy backwater of Prog he's been used to having pretty much unconditional support from his audience and he's been a bit rattled by the adverse criticism.
I pretty much stopped with PT after Signify and whatever album "Even Less" was on. He's better off just putting out depressing solo projects ad nauseum.
Mongrel dog soils actor's feet
That's almost a word-for-word quote from Peter Hammill back in 1999 when I posed the question to him of his interest in playing ProgDay. I should clarify that I never mentioned VDGG in the conversation. He felt going back would be a 'regression'. I was not cheeky enough to point out a 'regression' would be a 'progression' from stagnation as the show I'd just seen him do was virtually the same as what he'd done back in the mid-80s. Perhaps someday Mr Wilson will rethink his attitude as well. [I like Wilson's solo albums, but one should never speak so definitively about the future.]
Peter
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
I dunno, was it an early midlife crisis that spurred the first heavy pop phase in 90-91?
When Raven was new, I remember Steven observing that such an uncommercial package was a fairly bloody-minded move, but the response convinced him that trusting his instincts was the right decision. Come to think of it, each of his solo albums has always sold better than the previous one. If this was about success or popular numbers, he could have just stayed in the regressive-rock mold again instead of mixing it up.
Considering that the last two PT albums, FoaBP and The Incident are my least favorite PT albums, I'm not too broke up.about this. Whatever the band members contributed to the lyrics or compositions seem more and more minimal with every Wilson solo release. I was never under the impression that PT was much more than Wilson and his hired hands anyway.
PT was mostly that but there was a time when PT band members had a very significant input on Wilson's compositions, peaking on the Stupid Dream/Lightbulb Sun period. After that, he steered them more towards metal, which I never felt was really suited for Edwin's and Barbieri's styles even though they tried to make the most of it. When SW went solo, he could use the musicians best suited for the music, which he couln't do when PT went metal (he did bring in Harrison who's playing was much better suited for that musical direction than Maitland's but I doubt he would have gotten away with replacing all the PT members at that point).
And here we are now in 2022 and I'm waiting for the Deluxe Edition of their new album. Who would've thought it..? Amazing new album btw..!
Maybe The Future Bites didn't bring in the $$$ as expected? He was also losing his fan base. Just saying
Day dawns dark...it now numbers infinity.
Yeah, it would seem that his dour take on mass consumption and mindless consumerism did not translate into mass consumption of his product.
I don't know if this is proof and I don't have a dog in this race either way, but I WAS curious and found this:
https://www.billboard.com/artist/ste...t-history/tlp/
If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
https://battema.bandcamp.com/
Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com
^^^Wow! TTB is definitely low.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
Bookmarks