New album is mediocre, standout track 12 Things I Forgot excepted. Hopefully he's got the '80s prog pop thing out of his system now after two albums and can go back to doing what he does best, i.e. neo-prog.
Sums it up, really.
― pomenitul, Friday, 5 February 2021 19:39 (three years ago) link
he's an incredibly talented dude but the melodies he writes are just so unmemorable, outside of maybe that 2000-2002 period of PT. I can't quite place why that is exactly, it just sounds like library music to me, the stuff you get when you *want* King Crimson on your soundtrack but don't want to pay to license it so you pay someone $300 to write something with a similar atmosphere & chord progression. it doesn't surprise me his synthpop album is really well-made but ultimately something I don't have much desire to hear again.
― frogbs, Friday, 5 February 2021 19:53 (three years ago) link
I've only heard Hand Cannot Erase, and found it completely unmemorable, and later The Incident which was a decent emulation of his influences. Wilson's voice lacks any sort of character.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 5 February 2021 20:05 (three years ago) link
I'm listening to The Incident now, and it's so much about imitating older prog, it's like a more tasteful version of Spock's Beard.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 5 February 2021 20:26 (three years ago) link
Like he's done with every solo record/live recording and a good deal of the PT back catalogue and will, no doubt, continue to do until he's amassed enough money to retire.― Maresn3st, Friday, February 5, 2021 7:03 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglinkdon't hate the player, etc etc― frogbs, Friday, February 5, 2021 7:04 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Maresn3st, Friday, February 5, 2021 7:03 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
don't hate the player, etc etc
― frogbs, Friday, February 5, 2021 7:04 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
Oh of course he will, I'm not knocking him for that, fans are clearly willing to shell out for it all. Good for him, just noting the irony given the entire concept of this album.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 5 February 2021 20:30 (three years ago) link
His mentioning deluxe box sets in Personal Shopper is likely just an acknowledgement that he also succumbs to the same temptations. To me, he's complaining more about the appeal of shiny but unnecessary consumer products than suggesting that he's above them and we should be too.
― doug watson, Friday, 5 February 2021 20:38 (three years ago) link
I love the title track on The Incident. There's usually a few good tracks on his albums. I still really don't think he sounds like 70s prog bands.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 5 February 2021 21:18 (three years ago) link
OK, he imitates Radiohead too.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 5 February 2021 21:19 (three years ago) link
I heard the Radiohead way more
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 5 February 2021 21:24 (three years ago) link
I only just now found out that's Elton John doing the spoken word bit on "Personal Shopper".
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 12 February 2021 22:07 (three years ago) link
Gotta admit that I'm intrigued by this new compilation he curated:
Demon Records release Intrigue - Steve Wilson Presents: Progressive Sounds In UK Alternative Music 1979-89, a new compilation assembled by acclaimed musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, Steven Wilson. The collection explores the creativity, experimentation and progressive spirit of alternative British music from 1979-1989. Artists include Wire, XTC, The Stranglers, Ultravox, The Durutti Column, Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush, Tears For Fears, and many more.
tracklist:
CD 11. I Should Have Known Better – Wire2. A Better Home In The Phantom Zone – Bill Nelson’s Red Noise3. Back To Nature – Magazine4. Complicated Game (Steven Wilson 2014 Mix) - XTC5. Careering – Public Image Limited6. The Raven – The Stranglers7. Puppet Life – Punishment Of Luxury8. Astradyne (Steven Wilson Stereo Mix) – Ultravox9. Contract – Gang Of Four10. I Travel (Extended Version) – Simple Minds11. Sketch For Summer – The Durutti Column12. Health And Efficiency - This Heat13. Burning Car – John Foxx14. Cognitive Dissonance (Steven Wilson 2022 Mix) – Robert Fripp And The League of Gentlemen15. Fatal Day – In Camera
CD 21. I Can't Escape Myself - The Sound2. The Eternal - Joy Division3. Big Empty Field - Swell Maps4. Enemies - Art Nouveau5. The Joy Circuit - Gary Numan6. The Gospel Comes To New Guinea - 23 Skidoo7. All My Colours - Echo And The Bunnymen8. Ghost Town (Extended Version) - The Specials9. They All Run After The Carving Knife - New Musik10. The Him - New Order11. White Car In Germany (Single Edit) - The Associates12. Hit - Section 2513. Sealand - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark14. Talking Drum - Japan15. Faith - The Cure
CD 31. Three Dancers (Steven Wilson 2021 Mix) - Twelfth Night2. Airwaves - Thomas Dolby3. Are You Ready? - Crispy Ambulance4. The Outsider - Rupert Hine5. Knife Slits Water - A Certain Ratio6. Memories Fade - Tears For Fears7. Patient - Peter Hammill8. Donimo - Cocteau Twins9. In A Waiting Room - Mr And Mrs Smith And Mr Drake10. Close (To The Edit) - The Art Of Noise11. Dalis Car - Dalis Car12. Rawhide - Scott Walker13. Brilliant Trees - David Sylvian14. Dream Within A Dream – Propaganda
CD 41. Waking The Witch - Kate Bush2. Ivy And Neet - This Mortal Coil3. Beehead (7” Version) - Perennial Divide4. This Corrosion – The Sisters Of Mercy5. Ascension - O Yuki Conjugate6. No Motion - Dif Juz7. Gutter Busting – SLAB!8. Murderers, The Hope Of Women - Momus9. The Host Of Seraphim - Dead Can Dance10. R.E.S. - Cardiacs11. Good Morning Beautiful - The The12. Omega Amigo - The Shamen13. Night Sky, Sweet Earth - No-Man14. The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule - Kitchens Of Distinction
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 18:25 (one year ago) link
Yeah he's got crazy broad tastes and that's to the good; anyone -- especially some fans, frankly -- who just want him to be 'the prog guy' are severely misunderstanding him.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:10 (one year ago) link
he'd be a good ILM poster
― frogbs, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:11 (one year ago) link
not a bad price for the cd edition either.however, there is a concern that the broad range of styles and genres makes the target audience for a seemingly random selection of tracks somewhat selective.but i guess steve has a following a la bob stanley, and so a lot of people will just buy this cos of his involvement.
― mark e, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:15 (one year ago) link
I mean, as an American who missed out on quite a bit of that stuff, either from being a little too young or for it not really registering on this side of the Atlantic, I'm intrigued.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:37 (one year ago) link
Not sure why this compilation has to exist. Unlike Bob Stanley, who compiles with a narrow genre focus, or sometimes with a whimsical concept of a time and place where the tracks might be played and sound good together, these tracks seem jarringly random. It doesn't make much sense that Omega Amigo, This Corrosion and Murderers the Hopes of Women exist together on a disc - is it because they are "progressive"? Or is it a way for Wilson to try to escape the prog corner that many people have painted him into (with good reason, btw)?
― everything, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:53 (one year ago) link
Honestly, I think it's him tweaking the nose a little of his prog fans that have really hated his more recent turn to art-pop and 80s influenced material on his recent solo albums. There's been some real vocal moaning from his fans about the '80s sound, the press release I saw says he's trying to guide listeners to good material from the decade.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:55 (one year ago) link
Stanley's comps are what I thought about when I saw this; in either case, I don't purchase these things, but in Stanley's I did go and create some playlists that matched his selections (when I couldn't find his comp on apple music) and I'll likely do the same here. This frankly reads like some mixtapes I would have made people in the 90's. There isn't much here that isn't already familiar to me, but a few things I've not heard of before (SLAB! and Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake for instance).
― akm, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 20:35 (one year ago) link
'Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake' are three members of Cardiacs and a pretty surprising selection.
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 20:42 (one year ago) link
Bob Stanley would not compile huge obvious tracks like Ghost Town, I Travel, This Corrosion or Close To The Edit. And he wouldn't do a compilation that covered a whole decade unless it was some laser-focussed genre thing. This is more akin to one of those late-career moves where we get the tracks that supposedly inspired the compiler to become a musician (plus a couple of tracks they first heard on BBC6 last year).
― everything, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 21:02 (one year ago) link
Idk, I don't think he's trying to be a Bob Stanley here, just compiling a version of the '80s music that influenced him. Don't see that as a bad thing. Obviously this is not for people who were already knee-deep in this type of thing at the time anyway, but could be a cool way to introduce younger listeners who gobble up anything by Wilson to a hidden gem or two. I mean, aiui no one is being forced to purchase this.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 21:07 (one year ago) link
Interesting that he includes his own group at the end of the last disc, like: "this is where I came in".
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 21:09 (one year ago) link
Porcupine Tree played the Greek not long ago, I heard good things
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 21:10 (one year ago) link
Genuine question - are there younger listeners that are super into this guy?
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 21:16 (one year ago) link
I guess it depends on what you consider "younger", I suppose. But I've been surprised to see a lot of SW/PT fans on reddit or other forums that seem to be in their 20s or younger. His fixation on the physical packages he puts together seems to have given him another wind with the younger "just getting into vinyl" crowd for sure.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 21:26 (one year ago) link
I only have a cursory knowledge of Steven’s musicianship/Porcupine Tree, and I’m distrustful of 90% of the vinyl remaster cash grabs/snake oil, but I can say with certainty, Wilson’s half speed remasters of Tull’s TAAB & Benefit are ear candy aural delight.
― BlackIronPrison, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 22:58 (one year ago) link
That comp looks pretty great too.
My wife’s cousin was really big into PT, especially In Abesntia. I later realized she was born the same year it came out lol
― frogbs, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 23:00 (one year ago) link
Lightbulb Sun is all killer, no filler.
They've always had great cover art, also.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 23:03 (one year ago) link
Had absolutely no idea he was half of No-Man. Love their debut album
― groovypanda, Thursday, 3 November 2022 06:49 (one year ago) link
Honestly, I think it's him tweaking the nose a little of his prog fans that have really hated his more recent turn to art-pop and 80s influenced material on his recent solo albums. There's been some real vocal moaning from his fans about the '80s sound
You can count me among those moaners, the last two SW albums have been abysmal
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Thursday, 3 November 2022 07:20 (one year ago) link
Nice to see him sneaking a bit of 80s neo-prog in there in the form of Twelfth Night, since that was actually the scene he started out in. Clearly he ran out of room for LaHost, Tamarisk or Citizen Cain.
― zeuhl's forgotten man (Matt #2), Thursday, 3 November 2022 10:03 (one year ago) link
He's missed a few things out (Astronauts, any Cope, Chameleons, Left To My Own Devices haha cmon it is the prog song of the 80s, Talk Talk idk, maybe a Peni bit, Camberwell Now maaaybe, cd there have been some Cocteaus or MBV, and surely a Fall song innit) but a pretty fab selection (read: pretty close to my own understanding of what was good about the UK progressive alternative in that era)
― imago, Thursday, 3 November 2022 10:28 (one year ago) link
It is quite a lot of paperwork putting something like this together, especially when the acts/publishers involved may be a little less well-known and harder to track down, I'd imagine his wish list went through a few iterations.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 3 November 2022 10:51 (one year ago) link
There is a Cocteaus song. xp
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Thursday, 3 November 2022 11:06 (one year ago) link
oops, need new glasses
― imago, Thursday, 3 November 2022 11:07 (one year ago) link
It's easy to pick holes in this - This Corrosion feels like a particularly jarring selection, but there is much to love here and it goes quite deep. Must have been a mammoth licensing job. Also the first time I have seen anyone pay attention to SLAB! or Perennial Divide in a long, long time, and full marks if it introduces a new audience to the wonders of The Gospel Comes To New Guinea.
― stirmonster, Thursday, 3 November 2022 11:31 (one year ago) link
get him into the caravan at watching trees! :)
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 3 November 2022 12:32 (one year ago) link
I really, really didn't like the latest, but thought To The Bone was decent. Neither of them get anywhere near the amount of replay that Raven or Insurgentes do.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 3 November 2022 13:59 (one year ago) link
I think he's got a great ear, his remasters are fantastic and every album he's done has been "good", albeit in kind of a lifeless way. everything he does feels so calculated to me. I think of King Crimson's original run from In The Court to Red and they're all marked with this sense of exploration, you don't know what they're gonna do next and in some sense it doesn't feel like the band does either. SW is really good at figuring out what worked well and why but his albums don't really feel like they're taking any real risks. Even the more exploratory 90s PT stuff feels like he's just vibing off The Orb. idk I guess some people like that and I see why his stuff is all highly rated but I tried hard to get into this guy and thus far it's eluded me.
― frogbs, Thursday, 3 November 2022 14:13 (one year ago) link
I like the pop album he did just fine for the most part, and I think TTB is pretty good; neither as strong as Hand Cannot Erase though. Anyway, I'm sure he would have put Talk Talk on here if he could have, must have been a licensing issue, he is a giant fan. This seems like an outgrowth of his podcast with Tim Bowness.
I love that he put Twelfth Night on there, that song absolutely fits. Geoff Mann was a great vocalist. That song in particular reminds me of Sitting Targets (the Peter Hammill album from about the same time)
― akm, Thursday, 3 November 2022 14:50 (one year ago) link
his remix of Songs from the Big Chair by Tears for Fears sounds amazing
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 3 November 2022 15:18 (one year ago) link
100% would but probably would want too many £s. more pertinently, can we get you in there?
― stirmonster, Thursday, 3 November 2022 16:27 (one year ago) link
Haha, would totally be down for that along with fellow brighton crew
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 3 November 2022 20:02 (one year ago) link
will report back then if we are doing it next year. we have a few issues we need to overcome before we'll know if it's happening again.
― stirmonster, Thursday, 3 November 2022 22:35 (one year ago) link
oh man, if you're serious, definitely count me in. might even play some slab!
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 3 November 2022 22:51 (one year ago) link
:-)
― stirmonster, Thursday, 3 November 2022 23:17 (one year ago) link
Interesting counterpoint - https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/young-limbs-rise-again-the-story-of-the-batcave-nightclub-1982-1985/
― MaresNest, Friday, 4 November 2022 11:59 (one year ago) link
I made a poll:
Best song on Intrigue: Steven Wilson presents Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-89
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Friday, 4 November 2022 16:29 (one year ago) link
Regarding young people being into Steven Wilson - I'm in a few prog Discord servers and there are a good number of teens/twentysomethings there who love his work. Not sure if it's his music in particular or just another generation getting into prog, but the young fanbase does exist
― vexingvexillologist, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 21:54 (one year ago) link