ON THE SUNDAY OF LIFE...

These are rather hesitant debuts. Well not actually debut since most of the tracks were only featured on demo cassettes. But for easier access to these songs, it was a good idea to get them in the CD format, potentially remastered in 1997.

It is also a one-man work since Steven Wilson plays all the instruments. There will be some very good songs featured. Only for these ones, this album is of deep interest for die-hard PT fans.

When you listen to "Jupiter Island" I can only compare it to the early Floyd : psychedelia like I like it while "Third Eye Surfer" is truely spacey. "Nostalgia Factor" also deserves your attention : repetitive, smooth vocals, great beat,and good synths for one of the best songs from this album. Another fave of mine is "Radio active Toy" (covered by "Riverside" during some live acts). Truely space-rock. A pleasant "voyage", full of crying guitar.

The gentle "Nine Cats" is also close to some Floyd work ("Piper", "ASOS"). Very nice melody, and such a sweet song. Like "Begonia Seduction Scene".

"This Long Silence" almost sounds as "A Forest" (The Cure). More upbeat than the other songs of this release and quite successful. It is also a highlight on this album. It is very welcome after a succession of weaker songs. Definitely needed to raise the quality to a decent level.

There will also be some experimental music which is not my cup of tea ("Music For The Head", "On The Sunday Of Life", "Message...", "Hymn", "Queen Quotes...", "No Luck". Fortunately all of these are shortly formatted.

Several songs won't range into either one of these two categories : "Footprints", "Linton...", "And The Swollows...". Just average songs, fully dispensible.

"Space Transmission" and its apocaliptical recitation about an earth without sun is only interesting for some listenings, but you could barely listen to it on a regular basis and "It Will Rain For A Million Years" only displays, here and there, some pleasant spacey sturcture. But almost eleven minutes of this is a bit too much.

This album is lenghty and since most of the good tracks are located on the first half of the album except "Long Slence", it is a bit indigest while you reach the end of it. If it would have been cut by thirty minutes or so, I guess that few would have complained. As such, this album is only for die-hard fans (even if four songs or so are realy valuable).

Two stars.