Damn.....nothing in my mailbox yet.Originally Posted by battema
Damn.....nothing in my mailbox yet.
Thanks for that.
He said: Closure/Continuation is solidly in Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet territory.
Fine by me! Looking forward to my copy in the post.
Brilliant, quite.
Now that's funny
I only listened to Harridan ahead of receiving the album so the rest of the tunes are new to my ears. Initial impressions: it's fine. It's Porcupine Tree.
I don't think it reaches the heights of stuff like In Absentia or Fear of a Blank Planet, but it's certainly not subpar either. All three players are clearly bringing their A-game.
I can't see a fan of PT not enjoying this for what it is. Even if it isn't some out-of-the-blue masterwork or anything. And I'm sure the songs will be fine when they play live.
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
I'll probably get this just because I own everything else, even if I think they peaked with Deadwing. FoaBP and Incident are albums I rarely reach for, in fact I only listen to Sentimental and Time Flies respectively on my playlist. What I hear in the few releases so far are at least as interesting as anything off their last two albums to my ears.
Got it today! Will celebrate and listen to it with a couple of nice headphones and a cold beer
I’ve been such a supporter of PT and SW over the years, but have not been especially excited enough to buy an advanced copy of this, even though I have every PT album to date. I’ll give it a listen on streaming and will undoubtedly get a copy at some point as the completist in me will demand as much. My personal preference is for the era,y sound through to Lightbulb Sun, so if it’s much more metal riffing, I’m less likely to be enthused.
ok, my take after three starttofinish runs is: it’s a great record, their best after In Absentia, way better than FOABP, IMHO. Choruses are back, finally ! :-)
End it or keep going? It appears that Porcupine Tree asked themselves this question. The band may have intended to close the previous album so they could begin work on the new one, as suggested by the album's title, CLOSURE/CONTINUATION. In fact, they're finally finishing old songs that have been lying on the hard drive for so long while simultaneously writing new ones for their first studio album in 13 years.
The finished album now features some lovely songs in a range of genres, including the outstanding jazz-rock song Rats Return, the Pink Floyd-inspired Dignity, and the heavy-rocking Herd Culling.
Other songs include Walk the Plank, which has a pop/wave influence, and Harridan, which, with its succinct slap bass, has references to the 1990s.
Overall, the CD is really strong and should convince connoisseurs of the Porcupine Tree discography.
Release day is today. Amazon US is already out of stock, both the single CD and the deluxe CD versions, vinyl still available. PTree website had single CD version, but sold out of the deluxe CD boxset. Disclaimer says more to come.
Just had a first proper listen and I give it a big thumbs up. There are a few trademark SW sounds here and there but mostly I am impressed at how many new ideas & sounds they have come up with. On a first listen this doesn't sound like any other PT album but sounds new and fresh. I wouldn't say the bonus tracks are the best on the album necessarily but you wouldn't want to be without them, happily they are available separately for lossless download here:
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/cl.../oqqp421laxpmc
I look forward to getting more into this and will explore the Blu Ray this evening.
somebody stop Scrotum Scissor from buying up all the copies, damn it!
Like Steve983, I'm pleasantly surprised by this new album. And for me, the bonus tracks add a lot of very good music. The sound/style has evolved from their earlier albums. I'll have to listen more, but I still don't think approaches the pinnacle of the PT catalog. But take that for what it's worth; I'm one of those (seemingly in the minority) that likes and still listens regularly to The Incident.
I'm looking forward to the tour, with tickets to both their Washington concert (around 170 miles from home, but I also have an office a few blocks north of The Anthem that I've begun to return to after 2 years) and their Wembley Arena concert in November (combining with a visit to London with my wife; we both love wandering around London and have been going there annually for many years).
Ugh. Preordered it from Amazon, and it still hadn't shipped this morning with no date pending and no DL option, so I canceled the order and bought it from iTunes. About to load it on my iPod and go for a walk.
Just got an e mail from PT, a full download of the whole album with bonus tracks, instrumentals & artwork is available here for just £4.99
https://porcupinetree.tmstor.es/prod...ree_2022_06_24
Is it me or is there something wrong with the mix? It sounds a bit compressed. Besides, the bass and the keyboards are mixed too low.
Wow, this is very affordable for those who prefer digital downloads. In the US, this deluxe edition is available for $6.99 (with both CD-quality FLAC and MP3 on offer, along with a PDF of the booklet).
Edit: I see that I also received the email from PT. Supposedly this inexpensive digital edition is only available through next week.
Last edited by jefftiger; 06-24-2022 at 04:09 PM.
The bass seemed unusually present in the mix to me relative to their other stuff, and a lot of the arrangements are much more focused on bass than usual (thinking here of the busy bass line in Harridan, the interesting drum/bass texture in Rats Return, the way they use a thick bass line when Chimera's Wreck starts building to its climax. In general the role of bass in the arrangement struck me as the most distinct part of the album, relative to their other stuff.
As far as the keys, I love Barbieri's work with Japan, PT and Tim Bowness, but this felt like the first time where his sounds and textures have come across as predictable and standard. Most of the time he's just kind of Barbieri-ing away in the background. It might be that he was involved in the writing process, but in terms of song texture his role seems much less essential than the other two. Might partly be a mixing issue, I dunno. And time may reveal things I'm not hearing now.
I'm mostly immune to compression so YMMV on that one.
Overall I like it fairly well, aside from a couple of duff songs. I agree with the general sentiment that the bonus tracks are better than some of the album cuts, and wish all ten were available on one standard-priced disc. But it's nice to hear Wilson's voice atop complex guitar rock and Harrison's drumming. I'm not in love with it but that will probably keep me from burning myself out on it and will allow me to return to and find some freshness in it as time goes on. I look forward to thinking "hm, could do with some Porcupine Tree" while I'm grabbing discs for the road in 2024 and having an additional disc to grab.
It seems like this album is in a situation where it's inevitably going to disappoint people somewhat. Since it's the return of a major band, it can't help but be presented as an event, but since that band's catalog and legacy are firmly established, it doesn't have a lot of avenues available to be a significant achievement. And Wilson & Harrison have been omnipresent in the last decade -- so even though there's some sense of the return of something lost, its main components are hyper-exposed and familiar.
Listen to my music at https://electricbrainelectricshadow.bandcamp.com/
From a few interviews, it sounds like a good amount of the album was written on bass, as that was all Gavin had laying around when Wilson stopped by his space to jam.
I keep getting a "not found 404" when I try to access the link. Is it possible this is not available to USA buyers?
Picked up the new one at Newbury Comics today, first spin very favorable. We have great seats for Boston!
The album shows up as available on Bandcamp on the phone app but not on my PC for whatever reason. I bought it and listened on my phone with the app, but it doesn't show up on my PC. I get a message on the app that it is no longer available for download, but it appears they charged me for it...
While the music is hopefully growing on me I must say I am not a fan of the artwork. I had some Amazon vouchers so I shelled out for the deluxe cd/bd set but the packaging is pretty unpleasant to my eyes. A load of meaningless photos, some of which could be good but they all have that white square in the middle. The layout of the text is also unattractive and frustrating. Anyone like it? Not me!
I checked out the blu ray; the stereo mix is very good and sounds better than cd although the bonus tracks do not appear here, only on cd2. Accompanying the music there are digital 'visualisations' which are something to look at but they get boring after a while. Also on here are the 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos soundtracks.
I agree. I find the big white squares very annoying. I do recall in one of Wilson's recent interviews that he addressed his motivation for putting these squares in all of the pictures. He was making some sort of profound artistic statement, but I can no longer remember the details!
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