Arriving Somewhere...A Steven Wilson Thread

CCVP wrote: Catcher10 wrote: I like Porcupine Tree....all of their albums. I like Steven Wilson solo efforts. It took me seeing him live last April to fully appreciate GFD, I always liked Insurgentes. I like Blackfield a lot....I cannot sit and listen to Storm Corrosion, its background music for me.   I like that Steven Wilson is an analog guy too, all the PT, SW vinyl I have is musically better than any CD or Digital I have. WTF? Even the very first studio album?

Well, some (in face, many) people value Wilson's "experi-mentality" over the quality of musicianship and songwriting; obviously, you - and I - prefer to see both.  

You can trace gradual progression in musicianship throughout the 90's, culminating in Lightbulb Sun. That's how far Wilson had been able to travel with his then-PT team. 

Replacement of Maitland with Harrison added a much-needed dimension to the sound and texture of PT to match the advances in their creativity. It signified a quantum leap in their musicianship and  opened new horizons for the band. Where Maitland used to simply hit his kit with sticks to maintain rhythm, Harrison came in and started sculpting uniquely lush, complex world-class music (IMHO). 

If you listen and compare to Shemovedon on Deadwing vs. on Lightbulb Sun, the difference is almost unbelievable. On Lightbulb Sun is sounds thinnish, bleak and lightweight. On Deadwing, only 4-5 years later, it's a mighty symphonic ballad... huge difference.   

The only thing I disagree with you here is considering Lightbulb Sun their peak in the 90's, I believe that was Sky Moves Sideways, followed by Signify (and in Up the Downstairs' case, the bonus disk on the rerelease is, IMHO, better than most of the original album); their britpop phase isn't really that much to my liking, even though it's some decent pop prog.