"To The Bone" - 5th Steven Wilson Album, 8/18

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by opiumden, May 8, 2017.

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  1. Bill Mac

    Bill Mac Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I checked my local Bull Moose to see if the To the Bone Blu-ray was available and every store is out of stock. I checked at Amazon and was ready to order but it's not in stock there either. The listing states "Usually ships within 1 to 3 weeks". I'm hoping the Blu-ray won't go OOP that quickly.
     
  2. John D.

    John D. Senior Member

    Acoustic Sounds has the Blu-ray in stock.
     
    Bill Mac likes this.
  3. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner

    Location:
    United States
    Great to hear!
     
  4. Sadcafe

    Sadcafe In the kingdom of the deaf, one eared man is King

    Eh? It's a duet sung between two individuals with different perspectives.
     
    Marko K and rontoon like this.
  5. Sadcafe

    Sadcafe In the kingdom of the deaf, one eared man is King

    Only been able to listen on my iPhone without headphones. Enjoyed it all but not sure about people who eat darkness. I will wait for final verdict.
    First impressions are that this rocks. Very coherent sounding. The regular use of falsetto, mouth organ, female vocals, piano and bleeps and bloops hang this together well. Steven also is showing greater confidence as a singer, not just with the falsetto.
    Is this better than Raven or HCE? I don't rank albums (an obsession on this forum) I would say it offers a high quality alternative to fit a different mood (as does his variety of output with porcupine tree). I look forward to my full on listening when I get home from holiday. My delux version has been delivered and left in my garden shed!!!
     
    Tony-A, SJP, rontoon and 2 others like this.
  6. marblesmike

    marblesmike Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    I just ordered it from Target.
     
  7. barrie60

    barrie60 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton, England
    The voucher was in the with the 7inch single at the back of the book.
     
  8. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan
    Is the Super-Deluxe sold out?
     
  9. JamesLord

    JamesLord Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Interesting. I agree about Blackfield, but I was most struck by the fact that it doesn't sound like much of a departure at all to me. I am hearing all the usual Wilson compositional tropes (not a complaint btw!)

    Given all the pre-release controversy about 'pop' influences, I think this album has far fewer pop moments than HCE! It's a good album, but I think he has been far less radical than he thinks he has been. Also can't see this getting played on mainstream radio 'at all'....
     
  10. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Thank you, it might still be there then! :)
     
  11. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    No, they had rows of them in our local Sainsburys last night...
     
    granata and Scope J like this.
  12. Sordel

    Sordel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Very interesting because I think the on-line store was sold out. My feeling is that the deluxe edition is going to be at a pricepoint that means most purchasers will be hardcore fans who preordered; if Universal has shipped a lot of these to retail then I would expect to see them discounted in the fullness of time.
     
  13. AlanDistro

    AlanDistro Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sandy, OR
    I think Gary was being facetious. These sold out immediately and were only available from Wilson's website.
     
  14. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    He was, well spotted ;)
     
  15. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Don't worry, your investment will be fine. Portfolio managers recommend PT/SW special editions as a guaranteed form of future income, if required (you'll certsinly get a better return than if you'd put the money in the bank!)
     
  16. Sordel

    Sordel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Bah! Lowest form of wit or whatever ... ;)

    (Edit: BTW, I'm celebrating just buying the Blu-Ray and not the boxed set, so no "investment" for me to worry about.)
     
    gary191265 likes this.
  17. Bill Mac

    Bill Mac Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Thanks :)!
     
  18. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    This album is another major winner from Steven Wilson. I got the rest of the record on iTunes yesterday (had only heard the five early "singles" prior to yesterday) and cannot stop listening. The title track, Detonation and Song of Unborn are all amazing tunes.
     
  19. Phillip Walch

    Phillip Walch Forum Resident

    And I don't like her contribution to the track. I think sung by just Steven as an acoustic song would work better. For me :)
     
  20. Phillip Walch

    Phillip Walch Forum Resident

    Its such a thrill music. So many people find so many reasons to like/dislike a song. This album so far is not blowing me away, Some really great stand out tracks but like so many other things it will grow on me. It is not in any way a lost cause.
     
  21. Kalli

    Kalli Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    After first couple of listens including one run of the 5.1 mix I must state that I am very happy with this album although it's probably the only one that I would consider as a great one where I need to skip one track.

    My favourites are "To The Bone", "Refugee" and "Detonation". "Pariah" is unrivaled and might easily be my favourite SW song - simply perfect song writing. The demo version is very interesting and shows how conclusive it was to let Ninet sing the high vocal part.

    "Nowhere Now" is a little weak. It would have been a great Blackfield track, but I expect something more substantial on a SW album.

    "Same Asylum As Before" is basically a nice tune, but I have a few seconds making me grind my teeth when this high vocal steps in at the beginning. (I don't like Earth Wind And Fire that much.) He probably should have passed that over to Ninet as well. - Then I had a strange listening experience when I heard the surround version of that song. There is this power part after first chorus an the sound is whizzing from one box to another. I had to listen to that part again after finishing the record and gave a little correction to my listening position and now it made perfectly sense... 5.1 can make you lonesome sometimes.;)

    "Song Of I" grew a lot on me having heard the surround version. It's quite recognizable that Dave Stewart did string arrangements.

    Now 2nd run on 5.1...
     
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  22. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    Song of I is the one pre-released song that hasn't really grabbed me at all yet, but I am hoping that it will now that I am hearing it in the flow of the record.

    The Same Asylum As Before and People Who Eat Darkness both seem like enjoyable rockers. Nothing that special about either, but are both fine.

    Blank Tapes sounds like it could have been on the second Storm Corrosion record. I like that.

    The rest is pretty great.
     
  23. Skip Wiley

    Skip Wiley Well-Known Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I think there's already an album in "prelease" of the same title.
    Gans, I think the autere' is.
    California dude, singer-songwriter, with strong ties to Grateful Dead camp
     
  24. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    So, a copy of the deluxe has already sold for £150 on eBay!
     
  25. Sordel

    Sordel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    I've come at this album from an odd direction, listening to it very casually this morning and then watching the 'making of' documentary before giving it a serious listen. I feel very out of sympathy with what SW is trying this time around, but here are some preliminary thoughts:
    1. 'To The Bone'. The big opening chord reminds me of 'Sirius' by The Alan Parsons Project. I don't care much for the pentatonic verse. The lead guitarwork seems aimless and the choral section overprocessed. Mark Feltham the only strong point in the track, mixed too low.
    2. 'Nowhere Now'. The song part is dull, with plodding drums and an ordinary chord structure. The first instrumental section is okay, though again the lead guitar isn't achieving anything. Wow, over already.
    3. 'Pariah'. I heard this somewhat before the album release. It sounds like a Hand. Cannot. Erase. offcut. Ninet isn't a weight on the song - she's fine - but I could do without her because I find that she emotes more than the song can take (it's interesting to hear Stacey egging her on in the documentary because I think he was 100% wrong ... she should have dialled it back). There's too much scarf-waving, too many lighters in the audience on this track.
    4. 'The Same Asylum As Before'. Slide guitar and falsetto: SW trying something a bit different for the start but the song is pure Porcupine Tree, like he found it in an old notebook. The instrumental hook screams 'Abacab': nothing wrong with that, and the first guitar solo is nice and dirty. Best track so far, shame it fades.
    5. 'Refuge'. Sounds like another H.C.E. leftover, with more than a touch of 'Four Years Older' about the verse. Again, Mark Feltham earning his corn with that harmonica, setting up the nice instrumental section, well produced. Ends up feeling like a nothing of a song with good studio work in it.
    6. 'Permanating'. I think SW has a cheek comparing this to Abba: on their worst day Benny & Bjorn never wrote anything this bland. (My wife says it sounds like Kylie, and I don't think that she's thinking of Kylie at her best.) Still, the guitar tone is nice and the song is pleasant.
    7. 'Blank Tapes'. SW is really going to cause trouble for himself live singing in his high register so much on this album. This is a nice little sketch; shame he didn't work it into a song.
    8. 'People Who Eat Darkness'. The first track on the album that could be reasonably described as Prog. Nice to hear Craig Blundell cutting loose a bit rather than the, um, producer's brother. Still, would have been a minor track, maybe even a bonus track, on The Incident.
    9. 'Song Of I'. Nice rhythm track ... the album could have used more of this if SW really wanted to attract comparisons to classic 80s pop. Great string arrangement, with almost a Bond theme feel. Can't help feeling he should have expanded this and turned it into To The Bone's 'Raider'.
    10. 'Detonation'. More Prog, and this time in the Wilson signature style. Nice bass guitar but why are the drums so lifeless and metronomic? Is this his attempt at a classic Prince track? Great guitar solo from Peter Kollar but I'm not sure that the song deserves it.
    11. 'Song Of Unborn'. It's the big finish guys! Sort of. But it fizzles.
    Overall. There were all the warning signs that this album was going to be a step in the wrong direction, and it definitely is. Not because it's a pop album; there's virtually no pop on it. Instead, it's a load of warmed-over ideas from earlier in SW's career that's been recorded kind of badly with very little live band sound. I had to laugh at the moment in the documentary when Mark Feltham nails his contributions at the first time of asking because it kind of underlines how much of the success of (especially) Raven was down to trusting the musicians to come in and do their stuff. By contrast, To The Bone feels overthought & underwritten: weak musical ideas put through an absolute ringer in the studio, throwing up occasional moments of inspiration in the arrangement but not delivering, to my mind, even one song that holds together for its full length.

    Even going in with lowered expectations there's the possibility for this to appear in my list of albums of the year ... in the disappointment category. :sigh:
     
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