Porcupine Tree R.I.P. - v. Epilogue

[LudwigVan]

I guess PT follows suit with Beethoven. His odd-numbered Symphonies were considered his greatest, 3, 5, 7 and 9. 

Anyway, I remember some reviewers saying that Insurgentes is basically Shoegaze, and I have to agree with them. So morose. I also agree with those that say H.C.E. is closest to PT. It feels like a sister album to The Incident.

[KevShmev]

Poll added, for fun.

[Evermind]

I voted Lightbulb Sun, Deadwing and The Incident based on the strength of the first two albums. I don't care much for The Incident, but the other two are my favourites by PT.

[PixelDream]

I chose option 1, but Deadwing might be my favorite PT album. Not too crazy about Shallow but especially the second half of the album features many of my favorites (Arriving, Mellotron, Start of S and freaking Glass Arm Shattering. I could listen to that song all day on repeat, that ending!)

[Ben_Jamin]

I'm so glad I got to see TSOSB live. That's my all time favourite PT song.

[The Letter M]

Poll added, for fun.

I think I may have done a similar poll here before, with regards to the PT's discography and splitting the albums by Evens VS Odds (which I have done polls for for many bands).

But easily Option 1, or the Odds.

-Marc.

[Tomislav95]

1. FoaBP
2. Deadwing
3. Lightbulb Sun
4. Stupid Dream
5. In Absentia

I heard The Incident few times but I can't really remember anything but 2 songs from it. I should probably try harder but I'll relisten to some of the older albums before TI.

[Zantera]

Pretty easy IMO.

Stupid Dream > Lightbulb Sun
In Absentia = Deadwing
Fear of a Blank Planet > The Incident

[toro]

Lightbulb Sun > Stupid Dream
Deadwing > In Absentia
Fear of a Blank Planet > The Incident

[Super Dude]

I heard The Incident few times but I can't really remember anything but 2 songs from it. I should probably try harder but I'll relisten to some of the older albums before TI.

There's only one song on the album.

I do get what you mean though. I remember when it came out hearing a lot of negative opinions about TI. I never felt that strongly about it; I just thought it was fine but ultimately forgettable.

[KevShmev]

There's only one song on the album.

Oh, so the four songs from the second disc are a part of the song cycle?

[The King in Crimson]

Evens easily. Even when going back to the very beginning.

Up The Downstair >>>>> On The Sunday Of Life
Signify > The Sky Moves Sideways
Lightbulb Sun > Stupid Dream
Deadwing > In Absentia
Fear of a Blank Planet >>>> The Incident

[Super Dude]

There's only one song on the album.

Oh, so the four songs from the second disc are a part of the song cycle?

Eh, the differences between disc two of TI and Nil Recurring of FoaBP are few indeed.

[KevShmev]

That's fine, but disc 2 of The Incident is NOT a bonus disc, a separate entity or anything of the sort.  It's factually part of the record.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

That's fine, but disc 2 of The Incident is NOT a bonus disc, a separate entity or anything of the sort.  It's factually part of the record.

Yeah. 'The Incident' is the whole 50 minute piece, and the rest of the tracks are part of the album. Just like 6DOIT.

Speaking of The Incident, I love Bonnie the Cat.

[Sacul]

Just like 6DOIT.

DTF's favorite discussion theme.

[425]

I really like The Incident.

In fact, as time has gone on and my enjoyment of Steven Wilson has dwindled somewhat, I'd say The Incident is one of the four Steven Wilson albums I'd list as full-album keepers. The other three being The Raven That Refused to Sing, Fear of a Blank Planet and Deadwing. And if you pushed me I'd say In Absentia too, but I don't put it quite on the level of those others.

I guess my vote goes for the second trio, because it has two of my three favorites, plus I really like Russia On Ice and a few others from Lightbulb Sun, but I never really got into Stupid Dream.

Also, I may be the only person on DTF who says this (or maybe not), but I emphatically believe that The Incident is a song cycle that is made up of 14 songs, but Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is one song in eight movements. It will take a lot to move me on either point.

[Zantera]

Controversial opinion but I'd take The Incident over Hand Cannot Erase. I feel like both albums are similar, they are both albums that doesn't necessarily do something brand new on their own, but rather serve as a summary of what SW/PT had done on several albums before. The Incident was the natural final album in the sense that PT made an album that captured different traits and music styles they had explored on their other albums, HCE works similarly. While HCE has Routine which is really great, I think The Incident has a few more standouts, like the title track, Time Flies and I Drive the Hearse.

[Elite]

I Drive the Hearse is fantastic, but the only album is really underappreciated, I think. I'm a sucker for first half Pocrupine Tree (Signify is my favourite, followed by In Absentia, TSMS and Up the Downstair), but I'll take The Incident over Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun any day. While the Incident might not be the most inspiring album, it does what it does really well - even the often-hated-upon metal breakdowns in some of the latter tracks. Oh, did I say the title track is pretty gorgeous as well?

[SoundscapeMN]

Lightbulb Sun -> In Absentia -> Deadwing

[twosuitsluke]

Lightbulb Sun > Stupid Dream
Deadwing > In Absentia
Fear of a Blank Planet > The Incident

Toro, just want to say, best avatar I've seen on here yet 

Carry on.

[Sacul]

Blackfield V in November. Hope it doesn't suck.

[Nel]

Blackfield V in November. Hope it doesn't suck.

It's looking like they changed the album cover from the burning car to the bottle from the first album being held in front of a beach. Preferred the burning car personally.

[Sacul]

Preferred the burning car personally.

That one was rad.

[jammindude]

I just started showing PT to my long lost cousin (who has become *exactly* like a daughter to me).   

It's fun when you've become so familiar with something, and then someone does their own exploring and you see the same band through new eyes.

Case in point, I was showing her all this stuff from IA, FOABP, DW, SD and LS....but then, in the course of her own exploring, she excitedly comes back and says she's fallen completely in love with The Joke's On You.    I honestly had to do a double take and try to remember which album it was from.   I hadn't heard Staircase Infinities in FOREVER, and I had almost forgotten it even existed.   That totally put me on an early PT kick.  I've been listening to nothing but UTD, SI, TSMS, and V34 for days.   Just amazing stuff.   I get so caught up in the "metal era" of the band, that it's easy to forget how amazing the early stuff is.  This is so much fun!!!

[TioJorge]

The Jokes On You is so fucking good.

[KevShmev]

I Drive the Hearse is fantastic, but the only album is really underappreciated, I think. I'm a sucker for first half Pocrupine Tree (Signify is my favourite, followed by In Absentia, TSMS and Up the Downstair), but I'll take The Incident over Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun any day. While the Incident might not be the most inspiring album, it does what it does really well - even the often-hated-upon metal breakdowns in some of the latter tracks. Oh, did I say the title track is pretty gorgeous as well?

I think the three song run of Octane Twisted, The Seance and Circle of Manias is highly under appreciated and pretty freaking awesome.  And it goes without saying that songs like Bonnie the Cat, Time Flies, I Drive the Hearse and the title track are great.  I also dig Flicker a lot.  Such a good album. 

I just started showing PT to my long lost cousin (who has become *exactly* like a daughter to me).   

It's fun when you've become so familiar with something, and then someone does their own exploring and you see the same band through new eyes.

Case in point, I was showing her all this stuff from IA, FOABP, DW, SD and LS....but then, in the course of her own exploring, she excitedly comes back and says she's fallen completely in love with The Joke's On You.    I honestly had to do a double take and try to remember which album it was from.   I hadn't heard Staircase Infinities in FOREVER, and I had almost forgotten it even existed.   That totally put me on an early PT kick.  I've been listening to nothing but UTD, SI, TSMS, and V34 for days.   Just amazing stuff.   I get so caught up in the "metal era" of the band, that it's easy to forget how amazing the early stuff is.  This is so much fun!!!

Very nice!

And yeah, PT is one of those bands you can go through a major phase with, focusing on one era, resulting in not listening to most of their material.  Like you, I went through an early to mid 90s PT phase a while back, for like a week. Hard to believe that you could listen to PT for a week straight without listening to anything from Stupid Dream through The Incident, but I did, and it was most awesome.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

What do you folks think of Signify? I think it's a magnificent record. It doesn't only have my favorite PT song of all time (Dark Matter), but there seems to be some kind of vintage charm or something, I dunno how to put it in words. I was so glad Steven decided to play Sever and Sleep of No Dreaming for the Anesthetize show and I would've killed to hear songs like Waiting played by the late PT formation.

[LudwigVan]

What do you folks think of Signify? I think it's a magnificent record. It doesn't only have my favorite PT song of all time (Dark Matter), but there seems to be some kind of vintage charm or something, I dunno how to put it in words. I was so glad Steven decided to play Sever and Sleep of No Dreaming for the Anesthetize show and I would've killed to hear songs like Waiting played by the late PT formation.

I do love Signify. It has a perfect blend of psychedelia and electronica, probably the last PT album that really explored that particular soundscape and unique combination of elements.

[bout to crash]

Signify is brilliant! I don't even share the common opinion that Dark Matter is one of their best, but I love the whole thing. I would take Sleep of No Dreaming and Waiting over DM. But as a whole, great album.

The Incident is good, but definitely not one of my favorites... but I mean, that to me is one of the indicators that things were getting stale. I don't think they need a better send-off; in fact I don't even think that idea makes much sense in context.

IMO Steven has really blossomed in his solo work and he is clearly much happier. Haven't y'all noticed a drastic difference in his stage presence with the solo stuff? I think it's great. Why force PT back when the passion clearly isn't there?

Also, as for Insurgentes, I fucking love it as a whole and rarely listen in pieces. Some of the tracks took years to grow on me, but I love it all now.

[Elite]

What do you folks think of Signify? I think it's a magnificent record. It doesn't only have my favorite PT song of all time (Dark Matter), but there seems to be some kind of vintage charm or something, I dunno how to put it in words. I was so glad Steven decided to play Sever and Sleep of No Dreaming for the Anesthetize show and I would've killed to hear songs like Waiting played by the late PT formation.

Signify is my favourite Porcupine Tree album.

here's what I wrote about it when I did my latest album top 50

[Zantera]

Signify is easily one of my favorites. That one and FOABP & Stupid Dream would be my top 3. Dark Matter is the best PT song.

[KevShmev]

Signify is a great, and a good example of how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I mean, Dark Matter and Waiting are two of my favorite PT songs, but nothing else from it would probably even make my PT top 50 (Idiot Prayer might, depending what day it is), yet the album is brilliant from start to finish. Even a track like Pagan, which some would consider a throwaway, is just great as a bridge between Sleep of No Dreaming and Waiting.

[The King in Crimson]

Signify is in my top 3, along with Deadwing and Up The Downstair. Someday's it's my favorite, someday's it's not, but it's always a great album full of great songs. Sever, Signify, Waiting, Sleep of No Dreaming, Every Home Is Wired, Idiot Prayer, and Dark Matter. Fantastic album all around.

[Mladen]

For me, Signify gets unlistenable in the second half. I can't find anything enjoyable about the long, instrumental ambient pieces. The album does feature some amazing songs like Dark matter, Sever, Waiting part 1 an the title track, so overall it's slightly above average.