THE RAVEN THAT REFUSED TO SING (AND OTHER STORIES)

I can remember hearing the live version of Luminol on Get All You Deserve well before the release of the album The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories). Those were the days when Steven Wilson would always include tasters from his upcoming albums as his huge worldwide tours drew to a close. What an astonishing complex track and, for me, certainly the greatest track that he has released post Porcupine Tree. I eagerly awaited the release of the full album knowing from its theme inspired by ghost stories that this would be another melancholy album which Steven Wilson excels at. The album opens with Luminol, the longest, and has a further five tracks. Drive Home is a beautiful ballad with the first half being sung. The remainder of the track develops into an instrumental with a superb guitar solo. The Holy Drinker has a long edgy instrumental opening before the vocal commences. The song develops into a jazz sequence led by a wonderful solo by Theo Travis before a ghostly hush returns and concludes in a crescendo of sound. The Pin Drop is the shortest, lightest and most commercial song on the album. The track has a wonderful clarinet solo and fine guitar solo in the second half. It is a lovely melody but is the song that you grow tired of most quickly. The Watchmaker is a wonderful melancholy ballad of nearly 12 minutes and almost matches the brilliant complexity of the opening track in the phases it develops. The track builds from 4 minutes towards a brilliant up-tempo flute solo and this sequence is the highlight of the track as the guitar takes over. The melancholy vocal returns and the track builds towards a crescendo. The Raven That Refused To Sing is the final track and seems like the most ghostly of all the tracks on the album because the theme and style remain constant throughout the track. It is a lovely melody and beautiful conclusion to a remarkable collection of songs. After Genesis' Selling England By The Pound, this has become my second most listened to and second favourite prog album of all time.