Scooter Chronicles

Porcupine Tree - “Stupid Dream”

Tracks:

1. Even Less
2. Piano Lessons
3. Stupid Dream
4. Pure Narcotic
5. Slave Called Shiver
6. Don’t Hate Me
7. This is No Rehearsal
8. Baby Dream in Cellophane
9. Stranger by the Minute
10. A Smart Kid
11. Tinto Brass
12. Stop Swimming

Thanks to the good people in the early days of ProgressiveEars.Com (I haven’t frequented the site much the last couple of years) I found out about this band. The biggest draw (and possibly the biggest disservice to the band) was that people said they sounded like a modern day Pink Floyd.

(From left): Steven Wilson (guitar, vocals, keyboards, flute), Richard Barbieri (keyboards), Chris Maitland (drums), and Colin Edwin (bass).

The most important thing to say about Porcupine Tree is that it’s Steven Wilson’s project. He is in charge, he is the mastermind. PT actually started out as a joke, when him and a buddy were putting together a history for an fictitious 70’s band called, The Porcupine Tree, and Wilson came up with the songs. As it turned out, two guys that he sent his tapes to were setting up a new record label and liked what they heard. Ten years and four studio albums later, Wilson settled with Barbieri, Edwin, and Maitland as his band, recording a live album before “Stupid Dream”. (Maitland has since left, replaced by Gavin Harrison.)

I actually found “Stupid Dream” on the new release shelves of a major record chain in Detroit (Harmony House, for those that want to know). It was my first PT album, and to this day remains my favorite. The biggest reason is that it has the best mix of their sound, to my ears at least. As much as I don’t want to say it, they do have a sound that is reminiscent of Pink Floyd. Spacey passages, voices in the background, songs meshing/overlapping one another, short half minute songs between longer tracks (which the title track of all things in on this album). In some ways, they are like Pink Floyd in spirit, not in sound. The biggest reason is that PT can rock. Wilson can crank up the amp to “11″ from time to time and pull out a monster riff or two. Though with all that said, “Don’t Hate Me” totally sounds like something Pink Floyd would do, including a sax solo in the middle. It’s a good tune as well.

“Stupid Dream” mixes the spacey/effects/voice over sounds from the previous PT albums, along with the pop sensibilities and rock song attitude that were aplenty on the two following albums. It also has some great synthesized sounds that are along the lines of good electronica. One of the highlight songs on the album for me is “Stranger by the Minute”, which falls into the pop sensibility category, but featuring some nice slide guitar to give it a spacey appeal. Other highlights are “Slave Called Shiver”, “A Smart Kid”, and the very cool instrumental “Tinto Brass” which features Wilson playing flute.

Another reason that puts this one over the others for me is how well arranged the album is. It is album orientated, not just a bunch of songs that make up the album. Yet, the songs stand up so much better on their own then the previous albums. Again, it’s a nice mix of what the band has done in the past and what they have done since.