Hidden Treasures - A Collaborative Hoax

[Scott]

This SHT list is all because of Niels!

Some time ago Niels posted some videos and then some tracks from an album titled "The Raven That Refused To Sing" by Steven Wilson. Ever since then its been a very consuming venture to find about this guy and his work. Really, it has been one of those great journeys of discovery and something that has opened my eyes, and ears, to some really great music.

While the journey started with his latest solo album, it lead to a band named "Porcupine Tree" - So heres a little about them;

------------

Porcupine Tree originated in 1987 as a collaborative hoax project by Steven Wilson and Malcolm Stocks. Partially inspired by the psychedelic/progressive bands of the 1970s, such as Pink Floyd, that had dominated the music scene during their youth, the two decided to form a fictional legendary rock band named The Porcupine Tree. The two fabricated a detailed back-story including information on alleged band members and album titles, as well as a "colourful" history which purportedly included events such as a meeting at a 1970s rock festival and several trips in and out of prison. As soon as he had put aside enough money to buy his own studio equipment, Wilson obliged this creation with several hours of music to provide "evidence" of its existence. Although Stocks provided a few passages of treated vocals and experimental guitar playing, his role in the project was mostly offering occasional ideas, with the bulk of the material being written, recorded, played and sung by Wilson.

Much of the inherent musical background of Porcupine Tree goes back to Wilson's childhood, when his parents gave Christmas presents to each other. His father received Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon whilst his mother got Donna Summer's Love to Love You Baby, which Wilson assures, both played "in a continuous way". These albums would heavily influence his further songwriting (especially the Pink Floyd one). Other known influences are Karlheinz Stockhausen and Abba.

For their recordings the band has included mellotron, banjo, hammered dulcimer and guimbri among other instruments unusual for rock bands.

Above all, Porcupine Tree music has maintained a strong textural and experimental quality, often fusing many genres in a single track. The band's work is noted for its atmospheric nature, largely due to Barbieri's keyboard style and sound-processing abilities, and Wilson's cinematic scope, as a declared fan of American filmmaker David Lynch, whose films are renowned for their sonic content. "Very layered, very produced, very arranged and [with] complex arrangements" is the way Wilson describes the sound of the band.

------------

OK - so the stage is set, are you ready for this? Did you know Porcupine Tree has won several Grammy's for best Surround and 5.1 mixes?  So listen carefully and preferably louder than normal...

PLAYLIST --> http://snack.to/adn5yukt

	Up The Downstair 1993 1 - What You Are Listening To 2 - Synesthesia Up the Downstair is the second studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in May 1993. It was originally intended to be a double album set including the song "Voyage 34", which was instead released as a single in 1992, and other material that ended up on the Staircase Infinities EP (1994). In 2005, it was partially re-recorded, fully re-mixed, remastered and re-released along with the Staircase Infinities EP as a double album. The re-release contains a new mix by Steven Wilson, along with recorded drums by Gavin Harrison that replace the electronic drums of the original version. Steven Wilson has stated that the title of the album came from a line in the song "Voyage 34." There is still a title track, however. Another re-release on double vinyl was pressed on 14 August 2008 on Kscope records. This is identical to the 2005 release, except it is printed on coloured vinyl and the Staircase Infinities disc contains the song "Phantoms".
	Lightbulb Sun 2000 3 - Lightbulb Sun Lightbulb Sun is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in May 2000, and later reissued in 2008 on CD, DVD-A surround sound, and vinyl. This album, along with their prior album Stupid Dream, are considered to have a more commercial, poppier sound, opposed to the abstract instrumental sound of their prior albums, or the heavier metal sound in their subsequent albums of the 2000s.[3] The album is divided into two parts between "Rest Will Flow" and "Hatesong". The first part concentrates more on melodic, pop elements of Porcupine Tree's style, while the second has a more experimental character. Wilson states that, while there is no unifying theme or concept behind the album, "There are at least four or five songs on that record which I call the divorce songs, the relationship songs, which are all about various stages of the splitting up a relationship, of dissolving a relationship. Russia On Ice, How Is Your Life Today, Shesmovedon, Feel So Low, I mean, the last track of the album. The period in a relationship, where the relationship is kind of... still exists, but it's in that period where, really, there is nothing left but hatred and despise - Hatesong is the other one. But then on the other hand, there are groups of songs on the album which are all about various childhood... nostalgic childhood reminisces, Lightbulb Sun and the first part of Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth, Where We Would Be. So there are kind of groups of songs. And then there's a couple of songs that don't have any relation to anything else. Four Chords That Made A Million doesn't have any relation to anything else on the album, or anything else I've ever written. It's just that."
	In Absentia 2002 4 - Blackest Eyes While not a formal concept album, many of the songs still have common themes related to serial killers, youthful innocence gone wrong, and criticisms of the modern world. The album's title is also ties into this, with the phrase being Latin for "in absence" or "in one's absence", often in reference to a person's rights when mentally unable to be represented in court in legal situations. Wilson said of the title: "It comes from…it's related to some of lyrics. It's about people on the fringes, on the edges of humanity and society. I have an interest in serial killers, child molesters and wife beaters…not in what they did but in the psychology of why, what caused them to become unhinged and twisted? Why are they unable to empathize? It's [In Absentia] sort of a metaphor - there's something missing, a black hole, a cancer in their soul. It's an absence in the soul." Reception for the album has been positive. It was Metal Storm's number 2 of the Top 20 albums of 2002 and number 46 on the Top 200 albums of all time. Allmusic strongly praised the album, stating that overall, the album "...has the most immediate appeal of anything Wilson has released under this moniker up to this point.
	Signify 1996 5 - Bornlivedie 6 - Signify 7 - Waiting Phase One Wilson said of the recording process: "Signify was slightly odd in the way it was recorded in the sense that although it is a band album, because we were never able to actually all be in the same room at the same time, because of physical limitations, with the exception of one track, "Intermediate Jesus", which was done outside, I tended to demo the tracks to a fairly high level and they would just replace the parts that I'd played on synthesizers with the real thing. So there wasn't a great deal of input from the other guys." In addition to the change in sound coming from it being the first collaborative, full band album as a whole, the album marked a transition in genre as well. The band's first three albums were characterized as being psychedelic rock and experimental space rock. This album still retains these qualities, but at the same time, moves closer to a more structured, radio-friendly and commercial sound, a style of progressive rock that the band explored in a much stronger way in the bands subsequent albums Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun. The album has been described as "...the end an era, while simultaneously ushering in the dawn of a new age...It contains sprawling, vague instrumental tunes as well as more straightforward, cleverly written songs with a clear-cut song structure. A precursor to Stupid Dream and an epilogue to Porcupine Tree's psychedelic past." PopMatters later reflected that the album would become to be known as the band's krautrock album.

Assuming you've taken the time to read down this far your in luck. I have a brand-spanking-new version of Signify still shrink wrapped and dying for an owner. It goes to the first person who can answer this question correctly...

This city is home to the oldest enclosed stadium on a college campus in the United States and the second-oldest overall. Only the Houston Astrodome, completed in 1965, predates it. Since 2008, it has been the oldest enclosed stadium in use.

Name the city and the arena...

[RJhog (Admin)]

I know the answer, but I'll let somebody else have the glory. 

[Jon]

HAPI

[Scott]

 Got to spell it out to win

[Jon]

Umm, "Signify" came out in the 90's.

Along with "In Absentia", you must have "Fear Of A Blank Planet" and "Deadwing" in your collection. 

[Scott]

I'm a new fan, my releases are remixed/remastered.  So that's probably why i got it wrong

[Jon]

I see. This is Tommy Bolin all over again!

[Scott]

yes... im postibg Deadwing in my next NMC

[Scott]

Nope thats not why I got it wrong...  I screwed up and read it wrong...  Its now fixed!

[RJhog (Admin)]

Man, this is much, much better than The Raven That Refused To Do Anything But Bore The Shit Out Of RJ.  I like every song you have posted here.  The guitars are fantastic.  It's heavy in places and not heavy in others.  There is nothing boring about this.  Love that last track in particular.

I have one Porcupine Tree album.  It's called The Incident.  My iTunes says it's from 2009.  Have you picked that up Scott?  And if so, what do you think of it?  I have yet to give it a full listen.  This makes me want to.  

[Jon]

Poor RJ and his complete lack of musical taste. That's what happens when you listen to too much Kiss (unless it's "The Elder", of course).

[Scott]

I was hoping this would get your attention...  Its been a very cool listening experience for me, and I love that Raven disc - easy Top 10!  

[RJhog (Admin)]

I agree...Top 10 Most Boring CD's of 2013.