Alright, my sister has recently fallen in love with this band. Up until this point I had only heard of them and their reputation as really great musicians and songwriters. Hearing a few songs I am utterly confused. I find them completely repetitive and lacking passion in the vocals. He has plenty of emotion but he just seemingly whispers everything. I'm not looking for screaming/harsh vocals, just something to tell me he cares about what he's singing. I don't know if my sister is just a fan of what i consider their repetitive songs or what. She only plays the same 16-17 songs over and over and over again. So I am turning to you LPA to hopefully explain just what the big deal is with this band.
It'd help a lot if you told us what album you were listening to, band changed quite a bit over the years. Though I don't listen to much PT anymore, I quite like Steven Wilson's creepy whispery "ohey there i'm english" voice. His lyrics are definitely a problem though.
If there's a word that I wouldn't use when talking about this band is "repetitive". Try listening to "Fear of a Blank Planet", their 2007 album. To me (and according to lots of reviews) it was one of the best records of the decade.
The first song I heard had the same acoustic guitar riff going for 5 min straight, over and over. My sister laughs and tells me that it actually goes longer, but I stopped listening to the song at that point. I'll give their 2007 album a shot. I'm always willing to try new music.
In Absentia is their best album imo hahaha. And one of their most song orientated I suppose - maybe Deadwing moreso. I definitely DON'T recommend anything before In Absentia if you think that's repetitive. You'll possibly be more into Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet - and the newest one goes a little more back to pre-In Absentia sound but I definitely recommend it still.
His solo work is so, so much better. Although, I love the last half of In Absentia, Deadwing is okay for a few songs, Fear of a Blank Planet is a genius album and The Incident... well, I haven't even tried to listen to the whole thing yet, it's a daunting task. Just download his solo album, "Insurgentes", and call it a day. Don't get me wrong, though, I love Porcupine Tree. They're ridiculously good live. They released a new live album recently, but I still like the intimate "We Lost the Skyline". Oh, and if you want to look forward to something.. Steven Wilson + Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater drummer) + Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth vocalist) in the near future. EPIC. He also wants to work with Trent Reznor, and I don't know if my brain could handle that.
Lightbulb Sun and Fear Of A Blank Planet are a good introduction to PT (these albums are nothing like each other so get both). If you want to check out their older stuff, start with the compilation album Stars Die. and definitly get Steven Wilson's solo album Insurgentes.
Actually, he just finished composing the album with Mikael Åkerfeldt. Mike Portnoy didn't make it to the album because he's touring with Avenged Sevenfold, so it's just Steven and Mikael in the end. Steven said the name of the project is "Storm Corrosion" and that we should expect the album out some time on early 2011.
Portnoy chose to tour with Avenged fucking Sevenfold instead of doing this amazing collaboration idea with Mikael and Steven? Wow. That's...an interesting decision.
Its to hard for me not to like PT. Steven Wilson so fckin rocks, and i see no one has mentioned Blackfield here. Thats another side project by steven with an israeli singer, and every single song rocks . They have released 2 albums . Steven has also produced a couple of Opeth albums .
He didn't even choose not to do it. He found out when the album was already done, which only makes it sadder. Anyway, MP said he would like to participate with them in the future "in a metal vein", so I think his absence is for the better, since I'd rather hear a more progressive record.
What? Please tell me you're kidding about him being unable to do progressive.... NO. Not to mention the rev looked up to him. __________________________________ PT is teh awesome. Steve Wilson is also an excellent producer/writer.
Mike said that he would like to collaborate with Steven and Mikael "in a metal vein" in the future, so I guess if Mike was involved the record would be more metal oriented and not so progressive.