DEADWING

I see that this album is rising up your top 100 - remarkable for a modern band - and I can see why. This is truly a fabulous CD. I have come to know Porcupine Tree through your website, being a big Pink Floyd fan, I was (1) fed up with being called 'Living in the Past' (a good Jethro Tull album by the way), nd (2) I wanted to find a new band to fill the gap that PF left by producing so few records after the Wall. True, they don't actually sound like PF, although they do in places - I think Steve Wilson is fed up with being compared to them, and wants to sound like 'Porcupine Tree' - well congratulations Steve, you do! And it is great music. This album has had the odd bad review, and I cannot understand why, nor can I understand why this band aren't huge by now. Why do people say this isn't Prog? Personally I think the album as a whole certainly is - the way is chops and changes through many different styles - I mean no song sounds the same. Some individual tracks are not so progressive, but Deadwing, Arriving Somewhere, Start of Something, Glass arm Shattering most certainly are. Those are cracking pieces of music. Some moan about too much heavy guitar - but whoever moaned at the Nile Song by Pink Floyd (I wish they'd done more like that). After all this isn't heavy rock - if you want that listen to Slipknot then think again - a bit of heavy from time to time really really works (keep it up!). What is Progressive anyway? - isn't what some say as 'genre-defying'. I know PT sometimes try to deny the word Progressive - that's OK, the best Progressive bands always do. They may use 'genre-defying', but for me that's the best Progressive too. Listen to the lyric 'You can be right like me with God in the hole you're a righteous soul' in Halo. He moves through this with fabulous dexterity. Deadwing and Arriving Somewhere are really moving tracks, and bring you out in goosepimples. Shallow rocks - the Opeth connection seems to come through here. My wife likes Lazarus, and I'm sure many others would do too. Waht an incredible change there is in the music from Shallow to Lazarus to Halo to Arriving Somewhere, and the slightly more peculiar Mellotron Scratch.

I really hope PT are not discouraged by some of the less good reveiws. Be encouraged - what does it matter if this is Progressive (sorry - denre-defying!), what matters is if an album is truly great music. Please don't stop - please do more albums !!!!!

I know that an album really ought to become famous to truly be a classic, ie a Masterpiece. In essence, therefore I ought to give it 4 stars, but it really is better than that, so I'm going to give it 5!

PS For old time Prog lovers dipping into modern Prog music - I've also tried the MArs Volta and Sigur Ros. These two belong to the opposite extremes of genre-defying music, and are truly brilliant - try these too! Porcupine Tree are more approachable, but sit somewhere between the above two. With these 3 bands - and I am sure there are many others - Progressive (err... genre-defying, sorry) music LIVES - and much more so than the paltry years of the 80's and early 90's. I tell you it has returned and bigger than ever with the fabulous clear recording techniques these days.

However, I still say Pink Floyd are the greatest. But try Porcupine Tree, you won't regret it!