UP THE DOWNSTAIR

I remember entering this prog-rock forum a few years ago to see which new prog-rock band could satisfy my musical needs, so after reading some reviews I got hold of this disc plus another of Riverside. The latter I only heard twice, as by that time my interest in metal-centered bands would start dwindling. Instead, I was in search for a new sound, which I found in the form of the psychedelic and spacey Up the Downstair soundscapes.

I can't even count the hours I have spent listening to the perfect progression between Siren, Small Fish, and Burning Sky, which in my opinion is the best song progression I ever heard in my life, even surpassing that of Time/The Great Gig in the Sky, which is a hell of progression that now and then plays back in my head. Gosh, I even learnt to play Small Fish with the classical guitar, an instrument with which I seldom play rock tunes.

My love for the soundscape achieved in this album is incommensurable. That trial-speech style intro leading into the powerful chord pattern of Synesthesia is one of Porcupine Tree's finest moments, only to come back in what I regard one of the finest songs of Porcupine Tree's repertoire: Dark Matter. But, let's get back to Up the Downstair. There are two versions: the original with electronic drums, and the remastered one with Gavin and Staircase Infinities as Disc 2. Let's just say that The joke is on you is a perfect match for Up the Downstair.

If you want to listen to Porcupine Tree's rawest psychedelic and space-rock version this is your album. Other albums from the pre-Gavin era don't have that ambient. For instance, "On the Sunday of Life" is playful, "The Sky Moves Sideways" shifts between tight and spaceful, "Signify" is a revolving sound-wall, "Stupid Dream" is light and sorrowful, and "Lightbulb Sun" shifts between acid and mellow. Of course, in Gavin's era Porcupine Tree would add a metal sound-palette that in spite of not being dominant until The Incident, it would provide the band with a more stable soundscape.