Steven Wilson solo career thread - v. The Harmony Codex in 2023!

[Fritzinger]

John Wesley not working with SW anymore was the best thing about him disbanding PT a decade ago.  Watching his brutally bad renditions of SW's original guitar solos got too much to take.  If PT does get back together and tour, here's hoping they find a different 5th live member.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has this opinion. I was never a fan of John Wesley in Porcupine Tree. One of the biggest improvements from PT to Steven' solo live bands was the inclusion of a good lead guitarist. I also saw Wesley as support for Marillion in Utrecht and his performance didn't do anything for me.

[Zantera]

I think Wesley was solid for backing vocals and even did a good job with main vocals for some songs. When it comes to his guitar playing it didn't really stand out either way for me until Dark Matter where it just felt like such a botched version of the best PT song.

[SoundscapeMN]

Steven himself said in an interview recently that a new Porcupine Tree album will probably appear out of nowhere in future.

this interview?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnXVtDP0lKI

15:19 he mentions it
https://youtu.be/EnXVtDP0lKI?t=919

among other topics in that interview, he talks about a Book he's writing that is anticipated to come out this Summer.

[Stadler]

John Wesley not working with SW anymore was the best thing about him disbanding PT a decade ago.  Watching his brutally bad renditions of SW's original guitar solos got too much to take.  If PT does get back together and tour, here's hoping they find a different 5th live member.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has this opinion. I was never a fan of John Wesley in Porcupine Tree. One of the biggest improvements from PT to Steven' solo live bands was the inclusion of a good lead guitarist. I also saw Wesley as support for Marillion in Utrecht and his performance didn't do anything for me.

I've seen John Wesley I think three times with Fish and Marillion, and on paper I should love him, but his art does nothing for me.

[nobloodyname]

Steven himself said in an interview recently that a new Porcupine Tree album will probably appear out of nowhere in future.

this interview?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnXVtDP0lKI

15:19 he mentions it
https://youtu.be/EnXVtDP0lKI?t=919

among other topics in that interview, he talks about a Book he's writing that is anticipated to come out this Summer.

Yup, that's the one! Really good interview.

[goo-goo]

I've seen John Wesley I think three times with Fish and Marillion, and on paper I should love him, but his art does nothing for me.

Interesting take Stads. I love all of John Wesley's solo stuff. Love his lyrics/voice, his guitar phrasing, etc.

[dparrott]

Steven himself said in an interview recently that a new Porcupine Tree album will probably appear out of nowhere in future.

Sounds like the band Blur.  About a new album, the singer was very vague and said contrasting statements, then SURPRISE! They've been working on it the whole time.

[Kram]

Steven himself said in an interview recently that a new Porcupine Tree album will probably appear out of nowhere in future.

Sounds like the band Blur.  About a new album, the singer was very vague and said contrasting statements, then SURPRISE! They've been working on it the whole time.

Maybe PT has been working on it during the pandemic and keeping it hush hush.  That would be awesome if that's the case!

[nobloodyname]

I'm kind of ambivalent about Porcupine Tree (although they did write one of my favourite ever songs, Arriving Somewhere) but I can absolutely see that having happened.

[ErHaO]

The tour vinyl edition of The Future Bites finally arrived. There had been no communication here and I have only seen some German remarks about that it wasn't what was promised (black vinyl). I got a silver vinyl with a red 7". The whole package is great, but I assume it is largely the same as the base vinyl edition (with the book and all).

I am also happy to say that I still like the album. The only song I don't like is King Ghost, I just hate that falsetto chorus to an increasing degree.

[nobloodyname]

The whole tour has been cancelled, alas.

----------------------

Sadly for the second time I am forced to postpone my tour to promote THE FUTURE BITES - the rescheduled dates were due to begin in September. While recent developments made me at least optimistic that the UK shows might have been able to go ahead (though no guarantee), the same is not true of much of the rest of Europe. With it now clear that it would not have been possible to proceed with many of the shows I have reluctantly made the decision to cancel the whole tour. As a solo artist so many of my expenses are in advance, rehearsal and musician costs, developing the production, so to then only be able to perform a handful of shows at best would simply not have been financially feasible. Once again I must apologise for the disappointment and any inconvenience caused.

I plan to use the time creatively and to complete and release 2 new albums I have in progress in 2022 and 2023 respectively. With that in mind it makes more sense for me to now look forward to touring these albums instead, and to incorporate the TFB ideas and songs.

In the meantime there is more TFB related music on the way over the coming months in the form of some fantastic remixes and a release for the song ANYONE BUT ME, which was originally the closing track on the album but which I replaced with COUNT OF UNEASE. Right now I’m also working hard to finish my book which will be published later this year by Little, Brown and Company - news on all this soon.

The world is totally messed up at the moment, and the cancellation of my tour is not especially significant in the grand scheme of things, all the same I was very excited to be finally getting out there and interacting with real musicians in front of a real audience again, so this is a real blow.

Thanks again for your understanding and patience. S x

[ErHaO]

That was to be expected yeah.

In The Netherlands the government announced a plan that event organisers can get up to about 80% of the costs back if a event has to be cancelled (they reseverved 385 million euros for it), in order to stimulate the industry with a safety net. I hope this plan pays off and hopefully we will see some succesful events here this summer. But the rules and plans between all nations are very different, so for international artists to plan a tour is just not feasible

[Mladen]

This is actually a good call. If the tour has been postponed for the second time, you might as well make a new album and promote that one on the following tour rather than promoting an album from two years ago.

If the tour does happen next year, that is.

[Buddyhunter1]

I plan to use the time creatively and to complete and release 2 new albums I have in progress in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

That's pretty exciting. Between TFB and these two at least one of those albums has to be good, right?
I'm being an asshole. TFB just didn't do much of anything for me so if these albums are a step up they should make up for it.

[ReaperKK]

I am also happy to say that I still like the album. The only song I don't like is King Ghost, I just hate that falsetto chorus to an increasing degree.

Funny how tastes are different, I think King Ghost is the best track of TFB and one of the best songs of SW's solo career.

[Mladen]

That song is really good. The part that brings it down a notch is the high pitched falseto near the end of the chorus. It just sounds ridiculous to me.

[ErHaO]

I think the majority of that song is actually pretty great, but the chorus just sounds really bad to me, dragging the entire thing down. As I have said before I think his falsetto is pretty bad, but it usually does not detract much.  But King Ghost is the only song where it actually has a nail on chalkboard effect for me.

I know many people rank that as one of the best songs of the album though. I wish the vocals did not bother me that much.

[Evermind]

I like his falsetto! King Ghost and the ending of Man of the People are absolutely the highlights of the record for me. That and extended Unself version.

[Buddyhunter1]

As I have said before I think his falsetto is pretty bad, but it usually does not detract much.  But King Ghost is the only song where it actually has a nail on chalkboard effect for me.

Weird; I'm the total opposite. I think it fits really well on King Ghost, whereas on songs like The Same Asylum As Before it's incredibly obnoxious.

[pfillion]

New video from "The Future Bites Sessions"

https://youtu.be/Lq1r57ewdAY

[kirksnosehair]

If by using the time creatively he means creating more of what's on TFB that's going to be a hard pass.


If he ever makes another album like In Absentia, Deadwing, Hand.Cannot.Erase or The Raven Who Refused to Sing I am totally down with that.  But the rest of his stuff and especially this electronic noise stuff and his incessant use of falsetto, I'd really rather listen to my fingernails growing.

[Zantera]

I think at this point, him making a prog rock album next would feel like him giving up and throwing in the towel to cater to the fans. I didn't necessarily think TFB was amazing or anything (but then again neither was the couple of albums before it) but I'll gladly take an artist doing something that makes them excited than doing what the fans want. That's always a creative graveyard in my opinion.

[Buddyhunter1]

I wouldn't want him to return to 70's prog rock either - that's never what made Steven Wilson appealing to me and I'm honestly a bit disheartened that such a large portion of his fanbase views TRTRTS as his crowning achievement as to me that's one of the least "Steven Wilson" albums he's ever done.

[kirksnosehair]

It's interesting how opinions can differ because I have absolutely no use for anything of his other than those 4 albums I mentioned.  The rest is like valium to me.

[Zantera]

I wouldn't want him to return to 70's prog rock either - that's never what made Steven Wilson appealing to me and I'm honestly a bit disheartened that such a large portion of his fanbase views TRTRTS as his crowning achievement as to me that's one of the least "Steven Wilson" albums he's ever done.

Not just that, it's arguably his least original album by far. Though it's not that surprising to me that prog fans hold it in high regard because prog rock in general has had a draught of new ideas for a while and it seems what pleases people the most is making the music of 50 years ago again. :/

[kirksnosehair]

I think at this point, him making a prog rock album next would feel like him giving up and throwing in the towel to cater to the fans. I didn't necessarily think TFB was amazing or anything (but then again neither was the couple of albums before it) but I'll gladly take an artist doing something that makes them excited than doing what the fans want. That's always a creative graveyard in my opinion.

So, by this logic if Steven Wilson makes his next album a recording of the sound of him scratching his nuts you'll "gladly take" that over a new album of actual music because he might have made the music to please the fans?


I find that mindset utterly baffling.


I'm the consumer.  I'm not his sugar daddy.  If he doesn't put out a product I like, then I don't give a flying fuck at a rolling donut how much he enjoys yodeling into a microphone over electronic noises I ain't gonna spend my hard-earned money on it just because HE enjoyed making it.   I'm not paying him for HIS enjoyment, I'm paying him for MY enjoyment. 

[Buddyhunter1]

I mean for what it's worth I think H.C.E. is easily his best solo album and In Absentia and Deadwing are easily in the top 3 Porcupine Tree albums, with FOABP being #1. The only one of those album's I'd consider 70s-sounding is H.C.E. but compared to TRTRTS those influences are balanced much better with more modern sounds and Steven Wilson's more recognizable characteristics.

I'm with Zantera in that I want Steven to make what he wants. That doesn't mean everything he makes will be good, just like always doing what the fans want doesn't mean everything he makes will be good. I didn't buy TFB because I just didn't like it very much. That doesn't mean I want him to stop experimenting and trying new things.

[Zantera]

I think at this point, him making a prog rock album next would feel like him giving up and throwing in the towel to cater to the fans. I didn't necessarily think TFB was amazing or anything (but then again neither was the couple of albums before it) but I'll gladly take an artist doing something that makes them excited than doing what the fans want. That's always a creative graveyard in my opinion.

So, by this logic if Steven Wilson makes his next album a recording of the sound of him scratching his nuts you'll "gladly take" that over a new album of actual music because he might have made the music to please the fans?


I find that mindset utterly baffling.


I'm the consumer.  I'm not his sugar daddy.  If he doesn't put out a product I like, then I don't give a flying fuck at a rolling donut how much he enjoys yodeling into a microphone over electronic noises I ain't gonna spend my hard-earned money on it just because HE enjoyed making it.   I'm not paying him for HIS enjoyment, I'm paying him for MY enjoyment.

But you don't have to pay for the product if it's not something you want though. There's been albums where it felt like the heart and soul wasn't in it and perhaps it was made to please the fans or keep the ball rolling, and it always feels quite clear to me. The Incident has that feel, whether intentional or not - I wouldn't say it's a bad album, but it came out at a time when PT had pretty much reached their end creatively, SW had already started on solo stuff and no matter what album you prefer, Insurgentes just feels like much more of a passion project that he had his soul into than The Incident.

Like I said earlier about The Future Bites, I don't particularly feel that strong about it either way (same as To the Bone and HCE) but it's interesting to hear him try new things and not be treading waters as an artist. There's plenty of bands and artists who keep putting out the same album over and over for 20-30-40 years and it's refreshing with the ones who have higher ambitions or show the courage to try new things. SW could easily stick to putting out prog album after prog album and worship the 70s bands and a lot of people would eat that up but he has the potential for more.

I always thought it was weird around Raven's release when people started talking about SW as a master musician following his least original album that pretty much ripped off what others did better 40 years earlier. At least with albums like To the Bone and Future Bites he's trying to do new things for himself and it's not all perfect but it's a lot more admirable than Raven part 2 or HCE part 2.

[DTA]

My least favorite SW albums are Deadwing, The Raven, and GfD so I'm hoping he never returns to those styles again (which I'm sure he won't considering how non-interested in anything prog/metal he seems to be at the moment). The Future Bites feels very fresh and interesting to me and I'd love him to do something more along those lines with whatever new influences he can intermix. It actually reminds me of Up The Downstair and Voyage 34, both of which I hold in very high regard.

As far as I'm concerned, if the only things he ever released were In Absentia, Insurgentes, Signify, To The Bone, and The Future Bites then I'd still rank him very high on my list of favorites. He can do whatever the hell he wants at this point and his overall catalog will still remain very strong.

[King Postwhore]

I think that's an age thing.  The younger generation likes the electronica while the older generation are into the organic instrumentation.

I like a mix of both. I'm not head over heels for TFB but that's not stopping me from following him. It just gets played less.

[Kram]

I'm sure the new albums will be totally different.  He seems to pride himself most with not repeating himself - so I would NOT expect another TFB - which is fine by me as it's my least favorite of his solo works by a mile.  So I'm hoping it's something new and fresh that will hold my interest.

[Buddyhunter1]

I think that's an age thing.  The younger generation likes the electronica while the older generation are into the organic instrumentation.

I'm the younger generation (to most of you, anyways ) and I like electronica and I don't think TFB is a very good execution of it.

Maybe if he continues in that direction for these next couple albums the results will get better. There's been several songs that prove he can do electronic music well enough.

[King Postwhore]

I agree. I love when he mixes it together.   Still, I love that he doesn't sit still.

[KevShmev]

I will repeat a point I have made prior: Steven Wilson has enough equity built up with me that he is an auto-buy until further notice.  He would have to have multiple misfires for me to consider jumping ship. And I do not consider The Future Bites a misfire by any stretch of the imagination, merely a good album following a loooong string of great albums (when looking at his main project releases, PT for 20 years and now his solo albums).  And I suspect that most who are not wild about The Future Bites will still check out whatever his next solo album is.  Even if you only like a few albums, you are always chasing that high in the hopes that the artist will knock another out of the park for ya.  It's why some of us still check out new Metallica stuff even though their last great album (according to many) was 30 years ago.  And given the easy access we have to music nowadays, it is easy to give something new a quick listen and then move on if it's not to your immediate liking.

[ErHaO]

I think that's an age thing.  The younger generation likes the electronica while the older generation are into the organic instrumentation.

I like a mix of both. I'm not head over heels for TFB but that's not stopping me from following him. It just gets played less.

I am not sure. I am listening to artists like Kraftwerk and the classics from those artists were released way before I was born. I am sure those records were popular back then as well, at least to some degree.

For me personally Wilson's music is upper tier when talking prog/rock artists and not quite there when talking electronics, but I most certainly like it.

Just turned 31 so I am probably neither part of the envisioned younger generation or older generation though.