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PIANO LESSONS

Porcupine Tree

Heavy Prog


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Porcupine Tree Piano Lessons album cover
2.91 | 55 ratings | 4 reviews | 22% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

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Singles/EPs/Fan Club/Promo, released in 1999

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Piano Lessons (4:23)
2. Ambulance Chasing (6:34)
3. Wake As Gun (3:30)

Total Time: 14:27
On the vinyl single (SMAS7 103) the first song's b'side is "Oceans Have No Memory" (3:05).

Line-up / Musicians

- Steven Wilson / guitar, vocals
- Richard Barbieri / keyboards, electronics
- Colin Edwin / bass
- Chris Maitland / drums, backing vocals

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to Snow Dog for the last updates
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PORCUPINE TREE Piano Lessons ratings distribution


2.91
(55 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(22%)
22%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(25%)
25%
Good, but non-essential (35%)
35%
Collectors/fans only (15%)
15%
Poor. Only for completionists (4%)
4%

PORCUPINE TREE Piano Lessons reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by progaardvark
COLLABORATOR Crossover/Symphonic/RPI Teams
2 stars Piano Lessons was released by Porcupine Tree as a single in 1999. It was originally from the Stupid Dream album, also released the same year. There are no differences between this version or the studio version worth noting, other than a difference of two seconds.

The other tracks were of interest to fans and collectors of Porcupine Tree music because at the time, these were unavailable. Ambulance Chasing would later appear on Recordings in 2001 and Wake As Gun would later appear as Wake As Gun I on the 2003 remastered version of Signify on disc 2.

Piano Lessons was about as close to pop rock as Porcupine Tree could be. The piano line and the chorus are quite memorable and catchy. I'm not sure how well it did in any chart placement, but I do recall this receiving regular air time on a local college radio station. I still quite enjoy this song. Ambulance Chasing is a fairly nice song, probably not deserving of it's B side status.

Again, since the tracks on this single are available elsewhere, it's hardly worth the effort to seek out unless you are a collector or fan of Porcupine Tree. Two stars.

Review by progkidjoel
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars Piano Lessons - Porcupine Tree

Review by ProgKidJoel

Porcupine Tree's PIANO LESSONS is admittedly the band's most pop tune, although I still quite like it. Porcupine Tree have always been able to cross into other genres, and this track stands as a testament.

The other two tracks on this single are where this CD draws interest, featuring 2 great B-Sides which were previously unreleased, other than Wake As Gun on the INSIGNIFICANCE K7, which was near impossible to find.

Wake As Gun is an interesting track, featuring some of the lyrics from PURE NARCOTIC from the STUPID DREAM album, although to a much less upbeat tempo and general feeling. Its an interesting track, although PT admittedly have much better B- Sides.

AMBULANCE CHASING is a very interesting track, and I can't for the life of me imagine why it was excluded from STUPID DREAM altogether.

This disc is really only for completitionists - Both of the B-Sides are available on the re-release of INSIGNIFICANCE and the 2001 compilation, RECORDINGS, respectively.

There is no real reason to buy this CD, unless you're attempting to purchase everything the band has released to date.

Enjoy!

-Joel

Review by EatThatPhonebook
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Porcupine Tree releases another interesting single of a great great song, "Piano Lessons" one of my personal favorites of the band. I was happy to see that this song was released as a single, not very happy when I saw that nobody really likes it, because of it's poppy melody. The two B sides are the weird "Ambulance Chasing", which is basically a song driven by the sound of an ambulance, and "Wake As A Gun", a pretty forgettable song, not so good. It's very Pink Floydish, a psych related ballad, with a melody that never appealed to me.

If you are a fan of PT or of the album "Stupid Dream", which contains "Piano Lessons", you should give this a try. I don't recommend it to anyone else, having some poor moments many times.

Review by Conor Fynes
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars 'Piano Lessons' - Porcupine Tree (Single)

Put simply, this is the closest Porcupine Tree has ever come to releasing a straight up piece of pop music. A pretty basic chord progression with little complex arrangement and upbeat melodies make this a song that could strike a proverbial chord with any casual music listener. What does differenciate this from most music that one might hear on the radio however, is the inventive production (particularly the lush vocal harmonies) and the psychedelic undertones of the music. While the song is solid and a perfect choice of single, the b-sides included here definately make for a more enveloping listen.

'Ambulance Chasing' is probably the highlight here, which can also be found on the band's acclaimed b-sides compilation 'Recordings.' This is very much an ambient-based piece at the beginning; leading the song with an eerie beat before breaking into a more melodious approach. Due to the fact it is an instrumental, this track certainly does not cater to the whims of the 'casual listener' like 'Piano Lessons' does, and in a way, it is all the better as a result.

The final track here is 'Wake As Gun,' a sombre acoustic track with some very subtle atmospheric ambience in the background to give the track more depth and a feeling of tension. While this track is not as great as alot of the band's better known material, it is a great song with some very intelligent arrangement to it, which helps turn an otherwise simple song into a much more beautiful work.

A good single, and while this certainly doesn't reflect on the potential of Porcupine Tree, it might be a pleasant introduction for those who haven't listened much into this fantastic progressive rock band.

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