LOST SONGS VOL - 1

For all you Porcupine Tree fans unfamiliar with No-Man, this is a Steve Wilson project that predates PT and is still alive to this day. It is a collaboration with vocalist Tim Bowness that also has some interesting guests that prog fans might be familiar with ? Robert Fripp, Mel Collins, and Roger Eno (may be leaving some others out).

There is a huge catalog of albums. Some are out of print, some in the process of going back into print. Typically they do a lot of ambient oriented stuff, though not exclusively. Never seen anything at my local record stores, but stuff is currently readily available on the Internet and particularly at the PT website!

This is strictly a studio based "band". Steve does most of the instruments. I think I went kind of overboard in collecting their titles as I now find Bowness' vocal style to be better taken in smaller doses. Still, he's a good vocalist and interesting lyric writer. Sometimes reminds me of Pete Sinfield.

This disc is an interesting compilation of songs from various sessions that didn't make it on to each of several albums. I can certainly recommend it to PT fans interested in exploring a different side of Wilson. Most of the tracks here are harder edged pieces than their usual. The two tracks with Fripp and Collins alone make this release worth the price of admission. Fripp's contribution to Hard Shoulder (1994) is very early 80's King Crimson style. Collins sax is hard jazz style (I should know this particular style name, apologies). Coming Through Slaughter has their contributions being of more of a tossing in the occasional cool solo nature. Check out the album Flowermouth for many more tracks with Fripp and Collins. Also particularly of interest, Love Among The White Trash could almost be mistaken for a progressive Bowie piece.

As any b-sides collection, you realize where the hell the band went or came from. In this case, we only verify that STEVEN WILSON is a genius, along with TIM BOWNESS they created and almost personal and intimate way of seeing life, but with a twisted sentiment always trying to search that lost black-thread in the dark. So, every song shows a very different aspect of the duo, from happy and dissonant examples like SAMARITAN SNARE, to, desperated gray ambients like CATFORD GUN SUPPLY. I mean, beaing a producer himself, SW chose carefuly the way these songs had to be presented to the public, and trying to jump from the start (GOTHGIRL KILLER) into a realm of chaos and at the same time, of balance in between up and down, and right and left, perhpas the most impressive song (at least for me) is DAYS LIKE THESE, because is a very naive song reminding a THE SMITHS/THE CURE 80's brit style with a lot of edge. Perhaps the most important thing in here is how they developed a masterful rhythm section with loops and samples, beautifully crafted from tip to toe. This record is a side entrance to the world of SW, but is a very good example of someone trying and playing with music, through senses and layers, most recommended. peace

A mail-order collection on CD-R, this collects up NO-MAN tracks that haven't seen the light of day. If nothing else, this acts as further evidence that the creative juggernaut that is STEVEN WILSON must be the hardest working man in modern music. How many more of these tunes has he got under his bed?

Fascinating and fun, there are few of these tunes that would have found a comfortable home on any NO-MAN album release. Most of them sound more like the sort of thing they were making around the 'Wild Opera' period: alt.pop, jazzy, a little experimental. Songs, I suspect, they couldn't muscle into a more listener-friendly format.

Standout for me is the last track, 'Coming Through Slaughter'. The title is a lyric fragment from the 'Flowermouth' album (I think), and reminds me that BOWNESS uses recurring metaphorical motifs throughout his lyrics. The music is aided and abetted by FRIPP and COLLINS, but it's no KING CRIMSON track - though it's plenty abrasive enough.

Another NO-MAN collector's item. WILSON is a canny musician, and you're unlikely to find lost gems on CD-R's. But it's worthwhile for fans of the band and the man.