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

[Kwyjibo]

Middle of the road for me, some elements of early Porcupine Tree, some good songs/passages but overall far from his best imo.

[The Letter M]

Middle of the road for me, some elements of early Porcupine Tree, some good songs/passages but overall far from his best imo.

Probably the same for me. I've already not listened to it for a few weeks since other new albums have come out, but I really enjoyed it when I did listen to it. It's definitely the best of his past three solo albums, but nothing will top TRTRTS and HCE for me - those are my eternal top two SW solo albums for me. I'd say maybe GFD might be third, but I haven't really listened to it a lot since it came out, as much as I love double albums. I'd say THC is around the same kind of ranking that Insurgentes gets from me, middle of the pack, not awful, but not his complete best, but THC definitely has room to grow for me. I'll definitely revisit it when I'm back in the mood for SW solo music, which is more than I can say for TFB and TTB (though I enjoy TTB a lot more than TFB).

-Marc.

[Metro]

Yeah it’s a good album, but I’ve had to desire to listen to it for the past month.

[Zantera]

I haven't revisited it in a little while now but I would definitely put it above HCE, TTB and TFB. Not a perfect album and not up there in my top10-15 albums of the year, but still very enjoyable with some very high highs for me.

[KevShmev]

It is way too soon for me to consider how it compares to his other solo albums, but I just know I am loving it so far.

Impossible Tightrope is a BEAST of a song, for one.

Economies of Scale seemed just pretty good when it was dropped (that was the only pre-release song I listened to, and did so just once), but sounds really within the flow of the record.

The 3-song run that closes the record is terrific.

Beautiful Scarecrow is the one I am still unsure of how much I like it.

[Kram]

It is way too soon for me to consider how it compares to his other solo albums, but I just know I am loving it so far.

Impossible Tightrope is a BEAST of a song, for one.

Economies of Scale seemed just pretty good when it was dropped (that was the only pre-release song I listened to, and did so just once), but sounds really within the flow of the record.

The 3-song run that closes the record is terrific.

Beautiful Scarecrow is the one I am still unsure of how much I like it.

Hang in there Kev with Beautiful Scarecrow.  Wasn't sure about it at first myself, but it's "clicked" with me now and I love it. 

I agree with all your other points.  I'm going to let it marinate a little longer before I release my updated SW solo album rankings - but I can say it's been slowly moving up for me.  A great return to form as far as I'm concerned!

[KevShmev]

Hang in there Kev with Beautiful Scarecrow.  Wasn't sure about it at first myself, but it's "clicked" with me now and I love it. 

I agree with all your other points.  I'm going to let it marinate a little longer before I release my updated SW solo album rankings - but I can say it's been slowly moving up for me.  A great return to form as far as I'm concerned!

 

[HOF]

So is there a concept to this album? I can’t really devise any from the lyrics, but I thought I read that it was based on a short story SW wrote for his biography about two people trying to escape from a building where there had been a terrorist attack, and they end up climbing upwards to escape (which explains the cover art). Other than the title track and maybe the last song though, I don’t really get a sense of that story being told.

[Revenge319]

Finally got around to listening to The Harmony Codex. First impressions are very positive. I really like the fusion of electronic and rock, and the piano parts sound beautiful despite rarely showing up throughout the album. The best parts are what Steven always does best, the vocal harmonies. The standout tracks from my first listen are Impossible Tightrope, The Harmony Codex, and Staircase. I love instrumental sections in music, so I suppose it's only natural these three impressed me the most. I think with more listens, this will probably end up as my third-favorite Steven Wilson solo album, behind The Raven That Refused To Sing and Hand. Cannot. Erase.

[Kwyjibo]

So is there a concept to this album? I can’t really devise any from the lyrics, but I thought I read that it was based on a short story SW wrote for his biography about two people trying to escape from a building where there had been a terrorist attack, and they end up climbing upwards to escape (which explains the cover art). Other than the title track and maybe the last song though, I don’t really get a sense of that story being told.

Both the story and the album have the same name, so there should be a connection. But I didn't understand the ending of his story and I really don't know what the album is about.

[nobloodyname]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQHqxPvzOI8

He's finally done a Christmas song!

[Lonk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQHqxPvzOI8

He's finally done a Christmas song!

This is awesome 

[faizoff]

That surprisingly fit.

[ErHaO]

I like it. And apparently the lyrics are ChatGPT, with a very Wilson-explaination in the description of the vid.

[Lonk]

I like it. And apparently the lyrics are ChatGPT, with a very Wilson-explaination in the description of the vid.

Yeah, the beginning of the video gives lyrics credit to ChatGPT lol

[PMSummer]

Just checked it out and gotta say, I'm pleasantly surprised – the lyrics are way better than I expected when I read that! I didn't know ChatGPT could contribute to music like this already, it's both cool and scary.

[ErHaO]

Just checked it out and gotta say, I'm pleasantly surprised – the lyrics are way better than I expected when I read that! I didn't know ChatGPT could contribute to music like this already, it's both cool and scary.

I use chatGPT as a general info assistant and it can be scary, It runs circles around google (translating, making templates, spelling checks, information about all kids of stuff). And that is the non-pro free version based on pre-2022 training not connected to the internet.

In order to adapt, I actually recommend people keeping a tab open with GPT and using it in your general workflow. We are already at a point where that is a big advantage. But don't feed it anything personal or confidential (in my field I can't use it for much outside general questions).

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

i did not like the SW chat gpt song

[HOF]

I enjoyed the SW chat GPT song (which I believe only the lyrics were written by the chat GPT, and let's face it no one listens to SW for the lyrics).

[Schurftkut]

even the vocals are AI

[Zantera]

It is an interesting evolution for SW in the last 15 years to go from ipod-destroying, "streaming is the death of music", "i chose to live alone and i will die alone" rebel to fully embracing the digital medium, even using AI to make songs, married stepdad with 2 kids. Like you go back to the Insurgentes documentary days of him pouting at Disneyland and the doom and gloom vibe of him and his music, and now every video it's like he downed a jar of happy pills and he's farting out rainbows. Good for him though, I also think there's a connection between the journey/evolution he's had in the last 10 years with the evolution of his music. You go from old retro prog with Raven to a more contemporary HCE, to a bit of an 80s vibe in TTB, you go full electronic digital 21st century with TFB and then you land somewhere with a very interesting album in THC. In between that you also get the PT reunion.

Even though his albums haven't quite hit it out of the park for me in a while (I think HCE is his best since Raven though) I do think he is in an interesting place. It's always intriguing to hear a new SW album and see where he goes.

[HOF]

even the vocals are AI

SW’s Facebook post only says the lyrics were written by AI.

[devieira73]

https://www.loudersound.com/news/steven-wilson-releases-christmas-song-after-friend-challenges-him-that-he-cant?fbclid=IwAR3DCXuDSJewqQhaygvFdtSXfwePlwWdhipM0JZ2Emluhu2irclDMJJpe14

[SoundscapeMN]

Anyone check out the Q&A in The Album Years Podcast that Steven does with Tim Bowness?..they recently  did the 1st 2 parts of 1977, but decided to do some Q&A for X-Mas.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7yq7tecsChOxk0OgihsLOk

Steven chimed in on Jellyfish and the likes of Boston, Journey, Styx, Van Halen, Toto.

aboit 40 minutes in, it's interesting to hear Tim's take on Jellyfish. I think he said "Mark Eitzel" he'd rather listen to, although I have no idea who that is.
And Steven has never heard any song by Jellyfish which is weird considering how big an XTC fan he is.

[HOF]

I started on the Christmas episode but haven’t gotten far yet. I get the sense that SW doesn’t listen to much American music. He even mentioned on one of the recent 1977 episodes that he has more of a bias towards English music. Doesn’t surprise me if he never came across Jelly Fish.