New Steven Wilson solo album due out in February

DisgruntledPorcupine wrote: Oh it's on his Youtube now.

I thought it was pretty weak. I like the bass in Luminol though

Oh it's on his Youtube now.

Listened to the sample track from it that was on the last Prog magazine CD this morning. Quite heavy and some funky bass. Damn you Wilson, I'm going to have to buy another one of your CDs.

Gallifrey wrote:  Have you heard Raven? If not, then you're about to be proven wrong. There's no filler on this one and IMO it's his best since the incident. But a lot of people didn't like the Incident so many will say it's his best since FOABP.

^The Incident was great (but Grace for Drowning is a killer). The Incident had just too much of useless fillers, like any other big concept, maybe because of them it was a bit misunderstood. Anyway it holds pretty high rating on the archives, so it's not that underrated at all.

Ever watch the Walking Dead? I love that show, but I think it was an article on cracked.com that said it best when they said (paraphrasing) "most people love the show because of how good it can be, not because of how good it is." This seems to be what's going on with most Wilson fans, I think. Don't get me wrong, when he's on top of his game he's one of my favorite artists. Barring the most recent Blackfield album which I barely consider him a part of, he hasn't in my eyes released a bad album since early PT, the pre In Absentia stuff. But most of the time he's not amazing. GFD seems to be a perfect example of that, half the songs are great, but then you get a pretentious bloated number like "Index," or a one that just seems unfinished, as in "No part of me."

But he's in the perfect position to be great. He's an excellent producer, at least appears artistically genuine, isn't in a position where he has to please a commercial audience (which he was in risk of being in PT), loves classic prog and pays tribute to it without being a "retro" artist just knocking off the golden age greats, and surrounds himself with great musicians. Not only that, he always seems like he's progressing and is constantly on the verge of being an even better musician. Looking at his solo career as an extension of PT, he's really just growing an adopting new genre's. You had the psychedelic influence of early PT, which was then integrated with a more poppy sound on things like Lightbulb sun, then the metal influence that was developed in In Absentia, and now a Jazz influence that's driving his solo career. To say that he's "dropping metal" because he's tired of it is ridiculous. Listen to GFD again and the metal influence is there, he's just learning how better to integrate it with everything else. He's obviously tired of doing straight metal coz', well, quite frankly he doesn't have the chops on the guitar to do much better, and with what he was limited to, it is pretty boring and limiting. 

If The Incident is the last PT album that's pretty okay with me. Although it's not my favorite album by them it seemed to be a pretty good cap of everything they were trying to do, make a concept album that was cohesive and isolated, and an entertaining journey. It seemed to be a pretty decent mix of the different genres the band had played. Plus, wouldn't "I drive the hearse" be kind of a poetic note to end on? That being said, I think it's possible that Wilson might crank out another album with them if he gets to low on money. He doesn't have the same draw as a solo artist, and he keeps hinting in interviews that he's pretty low on money, talking about how expensive it is to tour and whatnot. I mean, hell, last year he released "Catalogue/Preserve/Amass" to fund his tour and signed thousands of CD's. I wouldn't sign up for all those hand cramps for nothing.

Oh, and Fear of A Blank Planet was the worst album PT put out since 2002. Lyrics/concept were garbage, the music wasn't really too ambitious or different for them. It wasn't bad, but by no means there best. Nil Recurring, though, top notch.

I have the deluxe hardbook editions of Anesthetize and Grace For Drowning. The deluxe one of this is tempting, but I really can't justify the expense at the moment. Hope there's some left in the new year. If not, I can make do with the standard one. How often do you actually listen to the demo versions, or isolated instrumental tracks anyway?

darkshade wrote: I'm not getting this, since I think GFD is extremely overrated, and I'm not a big fan of it to begin with.

Argonaught wrote: If they were selling it for $9.99 incl. shipping, would you treasure and cherish it?

It depends on if it included the 128-page hardback book and bonus instrumental tracks, then yes!!

But I suppose $100 is reasonable for a blu-ray disk. That in itself is $40 right there!

zeqexes wrote: I pre-ordered the deluxe edition, quite expensive but I couldn't resist it.

Give me a few days, and I'm pre-ordering this with my (incoming) Christmas money. Something I'll cherish forever, I just know it. After listening to the live video of Luminol, I knew it's going to be...

Collaborator's Top Prog Album of 2013