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Porcupine Tree - On the Sunday of Life... CD (album) cover

ON THE SUNDAY OF LIFE...

Porcupine Tree

 

Heavy Prog

3.03 | 970 ratings

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Zitro
Prog Reviewer
3 stars What Is it? The debut solo album of Steven Wilson (under the name of Porcupine Tree) is a compilation of tunes reaching back to his teenage years. A very diverse album with no common theme, other than frequent attempts at humor and a general 60s psychedelia sound. On The Sunday of Life is an immature and incoherent album, but with beautiful, eerie, arresting soundscapes and decent rock instrumentation that may surprise the reluctant listener.

Voice (2 stars) ' Steven Wilson's voice is generally subdued and does not dominate the disc. His singing ranges from talk- singing (Radioactive Toy is particularly boring on this front) to timid melodic singing, to high-pitched comical (sure ') singing, and the occasional dramatic bits that work quite well. Other than the attempts at comedy, the voice is neither distracting nor impressive ' just there.

Sound (3.5 stars) - I have to admit, this debut is rather impressive and shows incredible promise on the young artist. The pristine sound quality is unmatched until his first real band album (Signify), the guitar and keyboard instrumentation is often outstanding, the percussion is often trippy and competent when a drum machine is not used. It is hard to be bored musically with this album, other than Jupiter Island and a few comedy-oriented songs with inferior music. What is most memorable to me is the expert crafting of psychedelic soundscapes, instantly worth noticing from the very beginning of the album (music for the head). Some intriguing semi-acoustic instrumental work like in Footprints or Begonia Seduction are so memorable that it is head-scratching why he abandoned those styles. The more traditional psychedelia and space rock have a bigger presence and get explored deeper in later albums, but one of the best examples of this sound from Steven Wilson is here in the extended 'It Will Rain a Million Years' ' a standout in his entire discography.

Song (3 stars) ' The songwriting half the time is quite immature but leaves room for excellent instrumental work. The problems relate to poor melody-making (Radioactive Toy) or some songs being constructed upon ideas that don't quite impress (fortunately, a handful of tunes are superior on this front). It is thankfully relatively free of awkward transitions between songs, possibly because the songs are generally based on few expanded ideas. The technique of building upon a theme is therefore quite competent when he applies it. The best example is 'It Will Rain a Million Years' which pulls you in and develops so seamlessly over a 10 minute duration with a blend of subtle repetition yet progressive structure that never quite climaxes yet ends satisfyingly.

Best Songs: Music for the Head, Third Eye Surfer, Nine Cats, Footprints, Begonia Seduction Scene, and particularly It Will Rain a Million Years ? however, many other tunes have interesting moments.

Zitro | 3/5 |

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