I would rather he continues his cultural criticism and perhaps targeting different demographics, rather than giving in and embracing consumer culture warts and all.
I would rather he continues his cultural criticism and perhaps targeting different demographics, rather than giving in and embracing consumer culture warts and all.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
First, SW has every right to move into any music genre he chooses. Is he progressing? I guess...but upon hearing the 3rd track from The Future Bites, I'm done with him for awhile. His videos and sound mixes are always stunning, but I'm just not into the electronic pop-based music. I've always liked his psychedelic and prog efforts, but he's lost me on this new album, which IMO is long overdue anyway. I highly doubt that I'll buy the new album and/or support a future tour. Again he can go which ever path musically his heart desires, but to me he's kind of doing a Genesis. So for me the future doesn't bite, it sucks!
Day dawns dark...it now numbers infinity.
My Book of Regrets just came up on Morow radio. Great song, good mix of pop and prog sound. Wish he was still doing music in this vein. 🙁
He also released King Ghost at some point but it seems that it was later deleted.
"One should never magnify the harsh light of reality with the mirror of prose onto the delicate wings of fantasy's butterfly"
Thumpermonkey - How I Wrote The French Lieutenant's Woman
"I'm content to listen to what I like and keep my useless negative opinions about what I don't like to myself -- because no one is interested in hearing those anyway, and it contributes absolutely nothing to the conversation."
aith01
^^^^
On SW's website he describes it as 'grimy low slung funk' - not Prog then
As a Steve Wilson virgin (so to speak) I find this interesting, but admittedly not too exciting. I have none of his earlier stuff so cannot compare, but there is a great 1970s retro feel here. As it says on the can, grimy low slung funk.
We walked arm in arm with madness, and every little breeze whispered of the secret love we had for our disease
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
Eminent Sleaze and Personal Shopper so far. Oh and Raider III, The Raven That Refused to Shut the F**k Up, and Two Chords That Made a Million.
From SW's FB today - "Looking forward to sharing the stunning new Jess Cope video for KING GHOST with you. Jess doesn’t like to repeat herself (something we have in common), so this is quite different again amongst our collaborations."
"One should never magnify the harsh light of reality with the mirror of prose onto the delicate wings of fantasy's butterfly"
Thumpermonkey - How I Wrote The French Lieutenant's Woman
"I'm content to listen to what I like and keep my useless negative opinions about what I don't like to myself -- because no one is interested in hearing those anyway, and it contributes absolutely nothing to the conversation."
aith01
It's a bit confusing, but on Instagram SW was seen holding the vinyl release of Pure Narcotic. This is apparently a 2012 studio recreation of PT's 5-song "unplugged" set that preceded their 2010 RAH performance (apparently their last live show.) I guess the vinyl has been reissued. He's also promoting a digital download on Bandcamp.
But the thing that really caught my eye were all the comments. Thousands of likes and over 100 comments to the effect "Puh-leeeeez bring back Porcupine Tree! We need you!" Not one "Boy am I looking forward to some Eminent Sleaze!"
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
The funny thing is if you all like Porcupine Tree so much, you can just listen to all the bands in Kscope that sound like them. Riverside, Pineapple Thief, Gazpacho, etc.
Let Stevie move on and do what he wants, he's obviously bored with prog.
As a major fan of Porcupine Tree I have always kept an eye on SW's solo activities and will continue to do so. As far as I am concerned his albums always have something to offer. My tastes are definitely more in the rock field and over time I have become more indifferent to the "trappings" of Prog (as a generic category). As far as SW solo releases are concerned this has meant that, for me, Grace and The Raven rank the lowest - despite the presence of Drive Home and the title track on the latter. But SW is a musical omnivore - this has never been more clearly apparent than on his Album Years podcast with his No-Man bandmate Tim Bowness (also a musical omnivore I've come to realise) - and I think this means that he will continue to be worthy of my attention as he follows his muse (however limited or misguided that may be in the eyes others). I'm not sure how I'll react to TFB when it is released but I'm going to be listening. I was surprised to find that I absolutely loved the last No-Man album - I had it on continuous play for weeks. As The Czar suggested above, there are other projects out there that might be of interest to a fan of PT. I'm personally not interested in any acts who are sticking to a "PT blueprint" but I've been able to scratch my itch for prog-flavoured rock.
"One should never magnify the harsh light of reality with the mirror of prose onto the delicate wings of fantasy's butterfly"
Thumpermonkey - How I Wrote The French Lieutenant's Woman
"I'm content to listen to what I like and keep my useless negative opinions about what I don't like to myself -- because no one is interested in hearing those anyway, and it contributes absolutely nothing to the conversation."
aith01
Because to the majority of people, people who don't make art, art just happens for them. The idea that artists change and their art changes with them is beyond most people's capacity to understand. If they can go to Amazon and buy music by Steven Wilson that sounds like Deadwing, then why can't he just make more music that sounds like that?
"Bring back Porcupine Tree" is ridiculous. It won't happen because it can't happen. Steven Wilson of 2020 is not Steven Wilson of 2005 or 1995. The best he could do is try to mimic the music he wrote when he was 19, 25, 30 years old. Is that what people want? Half-hearted attempts to mimic the music he made at another time in his life? Even whole-hearted? Like, stop making the music you want to make and start wanting to make music that we want you to make, even if you have to fake it.
It's just so damn silly.
Yes, I think that is what some people want. Unfortunately.
Like has been said by others, if I want more music that sounds like Porcupine Tree, there's a lot of bands out there doing that style now. I don't need Steven Wilson to try to re-create that music, nor do I want him to. I'd rather he follow his muse and do what he feels like doing, even if it doesn't always resonate with me.
Steven Wilson's 5.1 mix of Tears For Fears' The Seeds of Love was released last week.
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