New Steven Wilson album in the making: "Hand. Cannot. Erase." 3/2/15

Wilson always throws in intelligent and heartfelt homages to his heroes, he's been doing it his entire career. Rush is just the latest band to get the "tip of the hat". I'm not complaining.

 

I heard some nods to RUSH in SW's new album as well.

 

Holy cow that's borderline stealing from RUSH, lol. Xanadu II

 

I listened to the album nearly twice. I really like it, some mixture of late 90s/early 00 Porcupine Tree, some moments reminding me of Blackfield, We Lost The Skyline, etc. I have not listened to the lyrics close enough, but overall the album has a positive, lighter feel to it. Ninet Tayeb's vocals are very lovely... I was sort of dreading Kate Bush-esque vocals when I heard SW was a fan, but her singing is quite pleasant.

 

What's wrong with Kate Bush vocals?

 

I've successfully avoided all clips and streams of this. When the Blu ray arrives next week, it'll be a completely 100% blind listen. I'm excited.

 

Just a personal aversion, I really can't stand her singing; a bit too "out there" for me.

 

my "book" is shipped today. according the mail i just received

 

I just received my deluxe edition "book" of Hand. Cannot. Erase. It looks gorgeous, but sadly I won't have time to really sit down with it until this weekend.

 

copied from SW website in the rare and oop section :

EM – IEM Have Come For Your Children (CD)
Original CD edition released on Headphone Dust in 2001. £50



I.E.M. – Complete (4 CD box set)
Second edition repress of ToneFloat’s deluxe 4 disc set collecting all of the recordings that Steven made under the name of I.E.M. (Incredible Expanding Mind****) between 1996-2001. Comes in a beautiful Carl Glover designed deluxe hardback slipcase, containing a 60 page booklet and 4 CDs, each housed in its own mini album sleeve. £50



No-Man – The Girl From Missouri EP
No-Man’s first vinyl EP released under the name No-man is an Island in 1989 on Plastic Head Records. 4 tracks, The Girl From Missouri, Forest Almost Burning, Night Sky Sweet Earth, The Ballet Beast (the last 2 are different versions to the ones later released on Speak). Unplayed copy but with very slight sleeve wear. This edition comes in the more common glossy sleeve (around 150 copies were also pressed in a matt sleeve). £60



No-Man – Taking It Like a Man (12 inch single)
In 1993 No-Man recorded this attempt at a radio-friendly high-energy dance song, and then promptly decided they didn’t like it much! It never appeared officially in the UK, but it was included on the US pressing of the band’s first full length album “Loveblows and Lovecries”, and was also issued on this 12 inch vinyl single in the US by Sony 550 with some generic remixes by US producers aimed at the gay club scene with no input or approval by the band. This is a copy of that 6 track 12 inch single (it also includes, somewhat out of place, the classic No-Man ballad Housekeeping). Still sealed but with a punch hole in top left hand corner. £20

 

I've never heard a Steven Wilson album. I love prog music like Rush-Signals and Alan Parsons Project-Pyramid.

 

So far, without hearing this new album, I'm more impressed with his work with other bands than his own music. But we'll see - it's still growing on me. Raven's his best yet IMO, but very short. I have much respect for his push for quality / precision sound, mastering / mixing taste and attention to detail. He helped fuel Opeth in a new direction IMO - a direction I really really like.
Some of his personal stuff is just too slow and dare I say dull. Some songs his vocals and emotion work together, others not so much. Other songs have moments of being utter masterpieces. I wish the whole albums of his could settle somewhere in the middle so I could spend more time listening instead of skipping tracks.
Some of his past albums, as much as I could snippet from iTunes can be downright boring as hell. A few moments of excitement here and there are not enough to pull me back for extended listening.
Sucks because the guy is a genius, obviously. Hopefully we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg.

 

There's your first problem (in bold above). SW makes albums, not individual tracks or parts of songs. He'll be the first one to tell you that unless you're sitting down to listen to the whole thing as a whole entity that you're not hearing it the way intended by the artist. This new album is like that. If you don't want to sit and listen to the whole thing then you might as well just skip it, at least that's what I think about this new album of his in particular.

Also, Raven too short? It's a double-LP. Are you someone who thinks that if you don't get over 70 minutes of music you're being ripped off?

 

Because I have an hour+ to blow whenever I want to listen to SW? Right. Give me a break. Nonsense - there are natural breaks and complete, drastic differences between tracks. It's not like an hour long song - I know the type and Ravens not one of them.
Honestly, when I finished the disc, in its entirety both times, I said out loud "that's it?" Good stuff, but short. Has nothing to do with feeling 'ripped off', down fanboy, down.

 

Admittedly I'm a bit of a fanboy for SW, but I'm not the one telling people to whole thing in entirety for the intended effect. That's SW saying that. My friend said the same thing when he heard it--"where are the songs!? This sounds like a movie." Bottom line is that you said yourself you're judging it based on clips on iTunes rather than entire songs.

Here's a problem with several modern music fans: music is a thing to have on in the background.. People rarely sit and listen to entire albums as the focal point anymore.

 

Raven is about 10 minutes longer than most 'classic' pre-CD albums, so it felt plenty long to me. I dunno, I admit the digital age has made it a lot harder for me to keep my attention on one album for much longer than that. Like The Fragile is my favorite Nine Inch Nails record, but I can't tell you the last time I went through the whole thing in one sitting. It's just too much.

 

I bought Raven off HDTracks blind and have listened to it through and through twice and a bunch of the single tracks since.

Craving more, I went and listened to as many iTunes / Amazon etc clips of his previous works looking for the smallest of tidbits to make me bite. I admit - probably not the best way to do things in this genre.

You tell me - what are some of your favorites of his previous albums? I have not heard a lot of Porcupine Tree, so maybe I should take a closer look.
I love Opeth (sans cookie monster) but Storm Corrosion (another blind buy off HDTracks) is just not hitting the spot despite multiple thorough listenings. Heritage and PC I've played to death and still do.

 

I'd check out In Absentia, Deadwing, and Fear of a Blank Planet, especially considering you're an Opeth fan. Storm Corrosion is tough. I really like it, but I rarely listen to it.

 

Storm Corrosion is a beautiful record, but it's more of a mood piece, sounds wonderful when the right frame of mind comes but it's not exactly everyday music. In a way, I consider albums like that to be even more special.

 

I came rather late to Steven Wilson/ Porcupine Tree, and I'm still exploring the canon. I would recommend PT's Deadwing , and Wilson's Raven to start off with. Both are excellent, and multi-layered and reveal new things with every listen. The music on both is accessible to anyone who already likes progressive rock, or is open to it, and even many people who run away at the mention of "progressive rock" might like it too.
And despite what some have said, you can enjoy individual tracks. You don't have to sit down in your leather chair, attired in a smoking jacket, and listen to an entire album at once while sipping sherry in order to "get it." Listen to Wilson's "Remainder the Black Dog", or PT's "Time Flies", "Trains", or "Anethesize " and see what you think. Then get the albums they came from. You will enjoy them.
I also came to Opeth late, and their latest, Pale Communion, is mind-blowing. I'm also a big fan of Damnation. I admit I don't care for their death metal early days , or the growling vocals that go along with that, but like his sometime collaborator Steven Wilson, Mikael Akerfeldt is someone to watch.

 

yeah I know you can listen to individual tracks (obviously), but I was just asserting what SW has said over and over again during interviews for every album cycle back to FOABP.

 

I don't disagree that Wilson's albums should be heard in their entirety; in fact I'd recommend that. But for someone just getting into the music, listening to individual tracks can be more helpful than jumping right in.

 

So going to eat a little crow here. Working from home today in the home office staring at the snow storm through the window... with Storm Corrosion playing about 3/4 the way through. It does actually make great background music. This is one of very few settings I could really get into this album. No one track really stands on it's own in a way that I would "have to hear some Storm Corrosion right now", unlike say, Pale Communion.

 

I agree, but I think the title track, "Storm Corrosion" stands on it's own--and with a little editing, can almost be radio-worthy. well, almost.

 

Just listening to this album for the first time. It's very good, very different from "The Raven...".
The sound is great, very dynamic for a new release