NO-MAN

However, there was a time when that wasn't the case - when even the mighty Porcupine Tree was a mere side project and No-Man was the most active of his musical ventures. After putting out various early demos and EPs over the 1980s, No-Man would sign with the OLI label (called One Little Indian then, but sensibly rebranded as One Little Independent now), issuing a clutch of singles and albums which represent No-Man's most sustained and intense burst of activity, with Ben Coleman along for the ride on violin. (He would exit by the end of the era, partially for financial reasons, partially because No-Man were moving in a direction where putting a violin solo on every song no longer made sense.)

Housekeeping is an encapsulation of that era, offering over five CDs the Lovesighs compilation of single tracks predating their debut album, the debut album itself (Loveblows and Lovecries), and the magnificent Flowermouth - perhaps the apex of their musical accomplishment in this phase, as they emerged from the shadow of the commercially fashionable trip-hop style they'd been pigeonholed into by the label and created something more artistically compelling through the simple measure of ignoring all of the label's instructions and just doing their own thing.

The bonus tracks on the discs for Lovesighs and debut album Loveblows and Lovecries, plus the dedicated "Singles" disc of non-album singles, offer a somewhat more varied sound, with the 22 minute Heaven Taste touching at points on similar territory to that which Wilson was exploring in Porcupine Tree at the same time. (In the process, this material displaces the now-redundant compilation Heaven Taste.) Likewise, the disc's worth of radio sessions puts another spin on a lot of the material, with the acoustic sessions in particular taking their sound into evocative new realms and making their devotion to Donovan and Nick Drake make somewhat more sense.

Though taken individually I would say that Flowermouth stands head and shoulders over the other discs here (with the radio sessions at a close second place, thanks to the more diverse sound it has compared to the earlier OLI releases), at the same time my appreciation of the first three discs is heightened by having the musical evolution of the group during this era laid out here in such encyclopedic fashion.

Of course, we all know the story - after putting out a few tapes and On the Sunday of Life as a joke, Steven Wilson found his Porcupine Tree side hustle gaining further traction. By the end of the period covered here, Porcupine Tree would have released Up the Downstair - the first sign that the project was more than a one-off joke - Wilson would be simultaneously drawing together the material which would become The Sky Moves Sideways, Porcupine Tree would crystallise as a full-on band project, and the group's momentum just kept building.

At the same time, it appears that Bowness and Wilson were realising that whatever No-Man might become, it wasn't going to be as big as they'd hoped for; from 1994 to 2006 they went into a hiatus as far as live shows go, keeping No-Man alive as an occasional studio project and further developing and mutating its sound. But for a brief flash of time in the early 1990s, you could believe that No-Man were about to be the next big thing. Housekeeping will take anyone who remembers that era back there in fine fashion; for those of us, like me, who simply missed this material first time around, it's a wonderful one-stop summation of what all the fuss is about.

A seismic shift occurred here in the band lineup, with Ben Coleman departing the group, credited here in only a guest capacity. As well as simply wanting to find better-paying work, Coleman was finding that he was becoming more peripheral to the group, and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson has admitted since that things had reached a point where No-Man's music needed a broader range of instrumental textures and crowbarring a violin solo into every song had becomes burdensome.

The benefits of a wider range of guests become apparent here, including Ian Carr of Nucleus fame, several future full- time members of Porcupine Tree (Richard Barbieri and Colin Maitland), Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard, and King Crimson luminaries Mel Collins and Robert Fripp. With its centre of gravity in the artier, more laid-back end of downtempo, the album manages to show a progressive ethos without working in the more classically psych-prog/space rock notes that Wilson was reserving for Porcupine Tree.

The wake of this album would see further changes for No-Man; they would depart the OLI label, continue to evolve their sound, and put their live appearances on hiatus, not performing onstage again until 2006. With Porcupine Tree beginning to seriously gather steam at this point, it's perhaps understandable that No-Man activities were scaled back at this point. In the intervening years a new No-Man album has been a comparatively rare treat whilst Porcupine Tree has given us an embarrassment of riches (five new studio albums from No-Man, nine from Porcupine Tree, and way more live releases from the latter at that) and Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness have both put out a plethora of solo albums and collaborations along the way.

In other words, a case can certainly be made that Flowermouth represents the last point when No-Man was the central motivating force of Steven Wilson's musical endeavours - the main project which was given top priority out of all his activities at the time. On Flowermouth, we can hear why he considered this music worth committing to.

A glance at the guest spots finds a good chunk of Japan appearing on Sweetheart Raw, including Richard Barbieri, which naturally makes this significant as far as Porcupine Tree's history goes since this would be his earliest collaboration with Steven Wilson. Indeed, in recent live performances, Steven Wilson's cheekily changed the line in "Fear of a Blank Planet" from "My friend says he wants to die/He's in a band/They sound like Pearl Jam/Their clothes are all black/The music is crap" to say "He's in a band/They sound like Japan" - perhaps a self-deprecating nod to this early milestone in his career. Here, the music is, in fact, not crap - but nor is it really blazing a new trail in the trip hop sphere. If you like this sort of thing, it will be enjoyable, but if you don't have much time for the artier end of trip hop this isn't the No-Man album to win you over.

Their sound here essentially early trip-hop, Steven Wilson laying down the beats and instrumental textures, Tim Bowness providing lyrics reminiscent of a late-career Scott Walker, and Ben Coleman providing rich additional texture through his violin. It's a compellingly melancholic blend which is about as far from the psychedelic early Porcupine Tree that Wilson was cooking up on the side as it's possible to get.

I may as well kick off with a review of Swagger, then. Here we go: "Combining sophisti-pop cool with flashes of prog sensibilities and a touch of industrial added by the drum machine, this EP from No-Man establishes the trio of Tim Bowness on vocals, Ben Coleman on Violin, and Steven Wilson on multi-instrumentalist wizardry as capable of evoking a deep, rich sound, presenting pocket symphonies for the 1980s indie-pop era. It's not quite trip-hop, but it perhaps lives next door to that scene. Elsewhere, Bleed comes across as Prefab Sprout doing a collaboration with Nine Inch Nails with Outside-era Bowie."

As for the rest of this stuff? Well, it's very much in a similar vein, with Tim Bowness' vocals (not unlike latter-day Scott Walker) and Steven Wilson's instrumental backing crafting something intriguing. For those more used to Wilson's work in Porcupine Tree or the more prog-leaning of his solo albums, this may feel like something of a departure; the main touchpoints here in terms of influence seems to be the synth-pop of earlier phases of the 1980s and, perhaps especially, the synth-pop-bleeding-into-post-rock contours of none other than Talk Talk, albeit with the jazz influences less evident. As with Talk Talk, No-Man would eventually undergo a sweeping musical evolution of its own, and thanks to this collection a key part of that process is now readily available.

"Hit the Ceiling" has a fast, automatic beat and is a bit more experimental. The program notes say that it was recorded between 1 and 2 am in the morning on September 20, 1995. It has a lot of interesting loops and broken up vocals from Tim Bowness and a rousing bass line, but it never really goes anywhere. Following this track is Spanner's remix of the title track which is a few minutes longer than the original and in this case, it is titled "Housewives Hooked on Methadone". It begins mysteriously with slow moving synth chords, and seems quite interesting at first, but when the tinny sounding percussion loops come in, it instantly ruins the track. The percussion is much faster than the extended chords and slower moving vocal melody line would suggest making it a sort of rave style drum & bass track. This is the style of dance music Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness were exploring at the time.

Next up is "Urban Disco" which is also available on the album "Dry Cleaning Ray" released in 1977. This one is quite a bit more interesting with a very heavy drum and bass beat which feels much more natural here. The music gets even heavier as the track continues and vocal effects are added to help boost Tim's vocals for this solid song. Finally, the last track is "Where I'm Calling From" which opens with a steady, medium thumping beat and some soundscapes from Robert Fripp's atmospheric guitar with slow strums from Wilson. The slower melody is quite fitting for Tim's airy vocals. This is a nice song made even more psychedelic with pretty guitar effects and the sultry trumpet added by Ian Carr in the last half of the track. Nice ending.

So, three out of five of the tracks are decent while the two middle tracks consists of mostly annoying dance music. Three out of five of the tracks are unique to this album, or otherwise on rare collections. The problem with the best tracks is that they are too short, especially the last one which could have developed really well if it were longer. But it's a pretty good EP/single from that era which would be good for anyone collecting Steven Wilson/Tim Bowness albums.

I feel like this album is much more indicative of where Wilson is musically, rather that Bowness who provides all leading vocals on 'Love You to Bits'.

As for the music, I must admit I enjoy listening to this album; it is quite lighthearted when compared with Wilson's past work. You get tons of synths, layered above each other; a drum machine (I guess most of the time) provides the catchy beat that goes on throughout the whole thing; funky bass and a frantic guitar solo which is such a Steven Wilson moment.

The two tracks are essentially conceptual, described perfectly as "Chronicling the aftermath of a relationship from different perspectives". Bowness does a good job vocalizing the supposed characters, as his emotive delivery is quite what this music needs. The songs are memorable but there are moments where it feels a bit forced, almost as if they tried really hard to get to the desired length. This results in passages of ambient intertwining with the main beat-driven dance rhythm of the record. However, this is a good album overall. But nothing more, at least for me.

Is it any good? It's OK, but not essential by any means. Is it prog? Not really. It's a curio, rather out of place in the NO- MAN catalogue, but not surprising given WILSON'S chameleon-like tastes. If anything it harks back in form, if not quite in substance, to NO-MAN's earliest efforts. An interesting record by two professionals not trying very hard.

It took 5 years for Bowness and Wilson to bring this masterpiece of minimalist beauty together. Their two previous albums, 'Returning Jesus' (2001) and 'Together We're Stranger' (2003), both of which are quite excellent, pretty much paved the way as they hinted towards the sound that would culminate in 'Schoolyard Ghosts'. As soon as you put on this album, you are instantly touched by the extreme beauty of 'All Sweet Things'. It's as if Bowness' airy and unique vocals were made for this style of music, and the instrumentation headed over by Wilson (and several guests in the case of this album) reach straight for the heart of the listener and they don't let go. Lush and heartbreaking, it is an emotional ride that pierces the soul and one of the highlights of the album. This is followed by 'Beautiful Songs You Should Know' which sums up the purpose of the album.

The odd duck in this album is actually a pigeon, 'Pigeon Drummer', that is. This one goes to extremes, literally, and almost makes it sound out of place when it gets loud and distorted. But, Wilson is always one to throw in surprises that will catch you off guard as followers of his other, more unknown projects like 'Bass Communion' and 'I.E.M' will testify. This one will probably not sit well with many listeners as it can go from ambient to extreme without any notice, so be prepared.

The center of this album is made up of two extremely amazing tracks of beauty and emotion; the 12-minute masterpiece 'Truenorth' and what I consider the most beautiful song ever written, 'Wherever There is Light'. Both of these are masterpieces also with the more exploratory track and the heart-rending following track which makes me well up with emotion every time I hear that pedal steel guitar played by guest Bruce Kaphan. That song to me is just beauty beyond words.

The album will continue to stay with the sweet and ambient style as it goes on with 3 more excellent tracks including the more experimental and exploratory 'Mixtaped', and altogether, this makes up one of my most favorite albums ever. The power behind this album is simply beyond description for me, so it is probably best for you to judge for yourself. It might be too laid back for some people or the one strange track might be too abrasive of others, but overall, you can't deny the beauty of the 3 mentioned highlights of the album. To me, this is an absolute masterpiece, and I can't do anything but rate it as such. 5 stars.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard the bonus disc of material on the 2014 deluxe edition, so I don't know how it weighs in with the rest of the album, but for me, the 8 tracks of the original edition give a strong enough statement to merit the perfect rating.