I can see how it would be difficult. Australia is a very big country. I’m lucky that I live in a very populated area where large cities are only an hour or less drive from me.
I agree with everything you said about the song and also how swearing is usually done distastefully in rap.
@bob_32_116 More excellent comments in post #1616! The lyrics being from the adolescent’s view in the title track took me a few times to get used to. I tend gravitate to things I can directly relate to as one does. However, the lyrics are spot on and it is easy to see them playing out in the ills of youth society in the tech and prescription drug abuse age. It’s like In Absentia. I don’t have to be a serial killer to appreciate and enjoy the songs. It’s interesting, I hadn’t even thought about the swearing because it fit the narrative so well.
We'll have to get a room. Re the swearing: I blinked when I saw the sticker on the CD "Parental Advisory: moderate use of coarse language". I wondered what that was about until I scanned the lyric sheet and saw "Oh yes, he uses the S word once". It's so fleeting I had missed it. Parental advisory? This was at a time when "Jizz In My Pants" by Lonely Island and "Roses" by Outkast were getting frequent airplay on mainstream radio. Double standards, methinks. Steven is not exactly a potty-mouth, unlike Aviv Geffen on "Go To Hell". Now THAT is an instance where I think the swearing is simply gratuitous. It would not be a bad song if they had only put some proper words to it.
I skipped Deadwing but anyway, I'm here for this one since it has their second best epic Even with context the opener is hard to swallow - there's no punches pulled though you get the sense Wilson might be generalizing a bit too much, but of course as a concept piece it works well. For me, this is where Porcupine Tree was really the entire foot deep into the "metal" end of the progressive. Whereas before they kind of sort of went there, this is either full on heavy or introspective. It does a great job with sequencing and telling a cohesive narrative, and it's length makes it even more apparent the idea was concise. It's a great opener and it's full of fantastic guitars and drums - plus Barbieri who is the master of not being visible mostly. Back to the lyrics though, I do think it has a somewhat anti psychiatric message that is a bit dangerous. Usually I get that sentiment from people who prefer to get high on anything else and not really communicate with the people trying to help them, so that always put me off as someone who has benefited from psychiatry. If the pills you take are that heavy, you'd probably end up in a psych ward before you got to Sleep Together as a teenager... So, if we assume the mother is the parental figure that suggested treating a disorder, why is this also the mother that doesn't care enough to let that same person have adolescent sex (pun intedned)? It's a bit daft the more you try to piece it together
I think it stands for “Original Gangsta”- but people here started using it to mean “Original” some time ago and nobody seems to be able to stop
Remember that it's supposed to be the kid talking. So if it makes no sense to you, maybe that's the whole point. This is how he thinks, it makes no sense because he is totally screwed up. As for "sleep together" in the context of this album, I think the jury is still out on whether it refers to literal sleeping, to sex, or to suicide, the long sleep.
I get that much, it's more why are these thoughts falling on deaf ears And yeah, I meant Sleep Together as the climax, the part where there's suicide
There from the start or the kind of fan who thinks they are the true or original fan that owns a part of the band. I assume it means original gangsta. Like others, I am not a fan of the lyrics to this one. The lyrics lack irony or something, it's too serious and I felt SW took the content far too seriously. He was one step away from breaking an ipod with a hammer (something for another time). On one hand SW was writing music that was more likely to appeal to the younger metal crowd (and being distributed by roadrunner) but on the other hand he was making fun of them. The music itself is good and the song flows well, the lyrics bother me.
My Ashes Words and Music by Steven Wilson All the things that I needed And wasted my chances I have found myself wanting When a mother and father Gave me their problems I accepted them all Nothing ever expected I was rejected But I came back for more And my ashes drift beneath the silver sky Where a boy rides on a bike but never smiles And my ashes fall over all the things we said On a box of photographs under the bed I will stay in my own world Under the covers I will feel safe inside A kiss that will burn me And cure me of dreaming I was always returning And my ashes find a way beyond the fog And return to save the child that I forgot And my ashes fade among the things unseen And a dream plays in reverse on piano keys And my ashes drop upon a park in Wales Never-ending clouds of rain, and distant sails --------------------------------------------------------------- My favorite track on the album. It feels more like a closer than a second track, but it does give us a bit of a reprieve after the sonic assault of track 1. The strings work really well here as well as the spare piano as punctuation. Amazing imagery in the lyrics. There was a long debate about this in another forum, but I believe it has been established that John Wesley (who guests in on the track) sings the last "Sails....."
I really liked My Ashes after listening to it on my main stereo just now. It's got an epic sound, and while the strings add drama, they're not overdone. The lyrics seem sad - is it an older man thinking about his young self and wishing he could impart some of his hard-earned wisdom? Anyway, it's a really good song, and so far I'm enjoying this album far more than I remember.
Epic union of good music + lyrics. Heavy on the great lyrics side. It’s pretty easy to look back on one’s life listening to this song. The tortured soul quality is effective. Vivid landscape paintings in one, but now I’m just waxing on. This is the best of the “songs” for me on the album. I don’t consider Anesthetize a “song” as that would be too trite a descriptor for that one. Like it’s just some simple ditty. How was it established that Westley did the last “Sails” on the studio track? I don’t doubt it I’m just curious. I know Steven differed the vocal duty in the live shows. Pretty tough vocal night after night at the top of your range.
My Ashes... Lips of Ashes... The Use of Ashes... Steven sure has a thing for ashes, as well as trains, ghosts and serial killers. This song was my first hearing of PT and the one that immediately got me hooked on them, so what more can I say. I still think it should have been the closing track, but I have probably said that enough times now.
FoabP is a rock solid (concept) album. Then, I would have loved for PT to move back to the sound of Stupid Dream or Lightbulb Sun, so "Fear" was a bit too hard for my tastes. Objectively, it's probably their best effort! And to leave such gems like "What happens now?" off the main record... The title track is a good opener, but I much more prefer "My ashes", which indeed sounds like it could be the album closing track (maybe after "What happens now"). There is an alternate album buried in FoabP somewhere, where also the track "Always recurring" would come into place (search for it on youtube, I thought it was a fascinating find. Especially since it didn't appear anywhere nor have I ever heard SW talking about it). This ends exactly the same way as "What happens now" begins, so no questions as to where this could be placed. The two different versions of "Normal / Sentimental" could also be on there somewhere...
"Moving back" is not Steven's style. I believe the word for musicians like him is "progressive". If I was the sort of person who makes alternative playlists, my track listing of FOABP/Nil Recurring would look something like this: Fear of a Blank Planet Normal Anesthetize Sentimental Way Out of Here Sleep Together What Happens Now? My Ashes The other two songs I can do without.
My Ashes is not my favourite song on the album, but it's still in my top 5 Porcupine Tree songs, which I think speaks volumes.
"Always Recurring" is a great tune and I am planning to tack it on to the end of the FoaBP discussion. It's a shame it was never released in full audio format, but only via YouTube.
My Ashes Very cool tune. I agree with others here and think it would have been put best at the end of the album. This song has a cool creepy sound to it. Love the strings on it and the keyboard sound that I can't really place as to what it actually is. No clue how anyone can tell if it is SW or JW singing sails at the end. Could really be either of them I guess.
It's been pointed out elsewhere that "My Ashes" ha a certain similarity to "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin. Not the melody, but the instrumentation and the general feel of the song.
I don't know if some writer confirmed it in interviews or not, but Wes sings it live on Anesthetize and it sounds EXACTLY like the studio recording.
Anesthetize Words and Music by Steven Wilson i. Anesthetize: A good impression of myself Not much to conceal I’m saying nothing But I’m saying nothing with feel I simply am not here No way I… Shut up, be happy Stop whining please Because of who we are We react in mock surprise The curse of “there must be more” So don’t breathe here, Don’t leave your bags ii. The Pills I’m Taking: The dust in my soul Makes me feel the weight in my legs My head in the clouds And I’m zoning out I’m watching TV But I find it hard to stay conscious I’m totally bored But I can’t switch off Only apathy from the pills in me It’s all in me, all in you Electricity from the pills in me It’s all in me, all in you Only MTV, cod philosophy We’re lost in the mall Shuffling through the stores like zombies What is the point? What can money buy? My hand’s on a gun And I find the range, God tempt me What did you say? Think I’m passing out iii. Surfer: Water so warm that day I counted out the waves As they broke into shore I smiled into the sun The water so warm that day I was counting out the waves And I followed their short life As they broke on the shoreline I could see you But I couldn’t hear you You were holding your hat in the breeze Turning away from me in this moment You were stolen as black across the sun ------------------------------------------------------- Wow - a 17 minute tour-de-force! This is the centerpiece of the album (but not my favorite track). It's long, but it doesn't really feel that long to me. This hearkens back to the album-side-long epics of Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, and Rush. The Alex Lifeson solo is blistering (of course, I'm a huge Rush fan, so I would say that!). Lyrically, there are some brilliant moments and some questionable ones - they come across mostly as disjointed observations. The harmonies in "iii. Surfer" don't work as well as for me as his harmonies usually do, but they still work. The "edit" version on Blank Planet Recurring is, I believe, just section ii.
"Anesthetize" is the business. 17 minutes long, but not a note wasted. (Well, perhaps I could have done with one fewer loud drum riff at the end of the middle part...) I like this much better than "Arriving Somewhere...", which is shorter but seems more drawn out. No doubt this is down to the fact that "Anesthetize" falls into three easily identifiable and very different sections. Those three sections fit together so seamlessly that I am a bit annoyed by the fact that each section was given its own name. It seems to encourage the consideration of them as three separate songs, but I think that makes them lose something. For some reason part 2 seems to be the part they chose to keep as part of their concert set. That's my l;east favourite part of the three, but it's essential to the song. Part 1: soliloquising about how he does not fit in and is mistreated and misunderstood by those around him; Part 2: he rebels by taking drugs and hanging out with his like-minded peers with no real aim except to kill the boredom; Part 3: After passing out, presumably from the drugs, he slips into a dream, possibly a memory from early childhood, when life was pleasant and peaceful. Something happened; it is unclear exactly what, but there was some kind of separation that shattered this pleasant existence. Those last three lines of the lyrics: it does not get much better than this. The brief silence between parts 2 and 3 is one of rock music's great pauses. (Another is by Genesis, between the end of "Entangled" and the start of "Squonk".) Such moments serve the heighten the drama and accentuate the contrast between one part of the music and another, and are as essential a part of the music as the notes themselves.
This one. He did it, the real deal epic of the metal Porcupine Tree. He got close in length before and all those songs are some of the best, but this has no right to be as good as it is. It's paced extremely well and the entire band is going off. Wilson stretches his vocals from near falsettos to near spoken word at times, the tension in the first part ends with a solo that leads into the biggest excuse ever for Porcupine Tree being metal - what a breakdown, the drums are incredible over the detuned guitar riffing after every chorus. The slowness of the self reflection at the end elevates it from being a long track for no reason, but as a properly, calculated composition that doesn't feel detached at any point - and so many of these get this wrong. Were it not for The Sky Moves Sideways, this would be a top 10 prog epic, even if the lyrics are... not very good.
