ON THE SUNDAY OF LIFE...

Let me begin this review by saying Porcupine Tree is one of my favourite bands of all time, and I am firm in my opinion that Steven Wilson is one of the most musically innovative and talented guys out there in music. His warm, emotive sensibilities in music have touched me beyond much I've ever heard in my musical journey. Keeping this in mind (and having delved deep into masterpieces such as 'Deadwing,' 'Fear Of A Blank Planet' and 'Lightbulb Sun') my expectations for the band's (or should I say; Steven Wilson's) debut work was pretty high.

Although I obviously wasn't expecting something as well-directed as one of their modern works, I still find myself rather dissapointed by the overall package that is 'On The Sunday Of Life.' There are parts here that are interesting and fun to listen to, but overall, it has very few of the qualities that made me fall in love with Porcupine Tree in the first place.

For the first thing, it has very little cohesion as a whole. This may be a result of -however- that 'On The Sunday Of Life' isn't a regular debut album per se, but rather a compilation of their earliest demos; a best-of collection of their early material to make a super-album of sorts. There is certainly quite a bit of material on here, and it's quite uncommon for an artist to have their debut album function as a double album. But while the prospect of having two CDs worth of PT material to dig into is appetizing, nontheless the material simply doesn't work together too well.

This is the sort of album where there's alot of track skipping involved. However, keeping this in mind, there are songs on here I do quite like. The best two songs on here are also the two longest tracks; the classic 'Radioactive Toy' and the ambient closer 'It Will Rain For A Million Years.' Other songs that stood out were 'Nine Cats' (a pleasing acoustic song) and the maddeningly catchy 'Jupiter Island,' which although not being the greatest musically, is contagious in it's fun and whimsical nature. It sorta sounds like a marriage of hippy flower-power and a soundtrack to a cheap 80's science fiction program.

'On The Sunday Of Life' was dissapointing, but I think that in it's context, it's an important step for the band. Many fans of the band will find this distasteful, but it does have it's good side. As a whole however, I was rather dissapointed.

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