ON THE SUNDAY OF LIFE...

The jagged, dissonant, at times obnoxious debut album of now legendary Steven Wilson (going by the name of Porcupine Tree) was extremely promising, despite being under-produced, a bit too long, and sorta silly. this album still contains very good melodies, Floydian guitar work and captivating lyrics (which, as I understand, were not all written by the great Wilson himself). The main focus of the album is experimentation. There is very little which can parallel pop music, or anything finely structured, or mapped perfectly. This extremely psychedelic album is borderline ambient, with hypnotic synthetic drums (still annoying!) and alluring keyboard effects. Steven didn't require more than this album to find his feet, and I actually think he found his feet somewhere in the middle.

Some tracks are clearly stronger than others, with more substantial melodies and a a more compelling atmosphere. These are typically the longer songs, naturally. Very little from this album is still played live any more, but surprisingly enough, more than from other releases. Some tracks are electric, with upbeat tempo. Others are more ambient-like in nature, extremely experimental, with much keyboards, subtle percussion and melodious guitar work. Wilson is really able to make it seem as if a band is jamming, when indeed it is mainly programmed music (which is hard! I've tried!). Though this is a rather in-accessible release, some Porcupine Tree fans will enjoy it (those who have the patience for such under-produced music).