Porcupine Tree, where to go next?

OK, I have already gotten my fair amount of Porcupine Tree, but I'm wondering if there's something else I should get. First of all, I have got all the Gavin Harrison albums, plus the pre-Harrison live albums Coma Divine and Warzawa. Actually, I got into PT because of Coma Divine, which I did love (as well as Grace for Drowning, which I got at about the same time), and then gradually I got all the Harrison era albums (which were the ones available at the store I visit frequently). However, even though I did like many things from the Harrison albums, somehow there's something lacking from what I loved on Coma Divine (and which Warzawa somehow still has, to a point)... I don't know, the atmosphere, the sort of ambient and early Floyd like feeling. And perhaps I should pay more attention to the drumming in both eras, but I feel I actually enjoy better the first drummer. Now, I wonder if I should get some of the pre Harrison studio albums, for I'm not sure if they keep the same sort of sound from Coma Divine... there's the Wilson solo albums, which I feel might lack something because of not having a full band on them, and the albums with the already formed band, but I feel those may be already too mainstream; however, I feel that perhaps between the two live albums I may already have the best of both pre-Harrison eras songs with better performances. The albums I have been most interested in getting first, though, are "The Sky Moves Sideways" and "Recordings" I think is the name of the other (the one with singles b-sides). Are those ones actually the ones closer to the sound I'm looking for?

Up the Downstair and Stupid Dream are both pretty essential PT albums. 

Edited by Horizons - February 28 2015 at 22:49

Personally, I began to increasingly dislike PT since Harrison got on board. Love all their stuff up to 2000, from there one... I can take it or leave it.

Edited by Kotro - March 01 2015 at 04:27

Well, I hope to be getting some more albums from them eventually... though I must put an order on how to get several things I'm interested in getting. From PT, I guess I'll first go with Sky Moves Sideways. Now, what I'm mainly interested here is if this one is worth having in it's studio (and longer) version if I already have the Coma Divine version. The studio version would be the really complete one, but does it have worthy music that's missing on the live version, or did the later one get the best of the song and left the padding out? Is it equally powerful, or did they get the energy up for the live version, leaving the studio original rather tame?

And what about Signify? I really liked the Title track and the Waiting songs on Coma Divine.

I would just get everything from 91-97 if you like Coma Divine. It's all in that style, maybe the debut being a bit more eclectic.

`Recordings' is hugely impressive. It doesn't come across as a mere compilation, and although much of the material originates from the `Stupid Dream' and `Lightbulb Sun' era, it's clear that was was left off those two great albums like `Cure for Optimism', `Untitled' and `Ambulance Chasing' were much more adventurous.

You still get those similarly amazing `poppier' tracks like `Disappear' and `Access Denied' (Wilson was definitely overdosing on Mansun's `Six' album listening to that track) that appeared on `SD' and `LS', and the lead track `Buying New Soul' is a PT classic all it's own, a beautifully sad lyric - as always!

Well worth tracking down!

Edited by Aussie-Byrd-Brother - March 03 2015 at 02:04