Yes it is. Aside from the excellent Santana musical performance, the physical cover of Borboletta is a also a piece of art by itself.
I was finally able to find the black vinyl edition of this new at my local store. The prices were right in line with Discogs when shipping is included, so I'm glad I didn't have to mess with ordering it. A bit difficult to obtain this one in a similar way to the last Doves album on vinyl.
It's interesting how we all perceive things differently. I like it and wish there were more guitar solos on the album. From my limited exposure to Wilson's work, I actually prefer his lead guitar work to his singing. I find it more expressive, and the way he constructs his solos reminds me of Roland Orzabal (I noticed this already on "Permanating", and again when watching the Home Invasion blu-ray). Although this one maybe sounds a bit more Alex Lifeson-like.
I usually like his guitar playing as well. This short 20 second solo (starting at 6:19 in Chimera's Wreck) is an exception and doesn't fit the song at all (IMHO of course), then he goes into that falsetto bit for a minute or so in the song. Excise that part and I'm a fan.
I spun the vinyl tonight. I think this is a solid album with enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. But I don’t much like “Chimera’s Wreck” as an ending track. There’s also a bit of non-fill on my copy at the beginning of side D at that song. So far “Harridan” is the one that sticks out the most for me, but I need some more time with the record.
Some PT fan posted a link to a three-part directory of PT music available on-line. I think you needed to present evidence that you had given to charity to obtain the spreadsheets. Does this sound familiar? I can't find the link. If anyone has this, please repost! Thanks in advance. NEVER MIND!!! - Found it: - Steven Wilson - Footprints
I have both currently available volumes and they are well worth the money, highly detailed and very well illustrated. In order to to obtain them you just need to donate £10 or your local currency equivalent to a non-political charity of your choosing. Keep the email proving this and forward to the link on the site. They will then send you the file(s) in the form of a PDF. It's password protected and specific to each buyer as they ask buyers not to share it so they can make as much cash for charity as possible. Highly commendable
Still need to get those Footprints books. But afraid of what even more knowledge of SW projects might do to my wallet. But tonight.... PT @ Amsterdam. Bring it on.
You guys are in for a treat. I saw them in Copenhagen and they are so good. Absolutely nothing is phoned in, they are obviously enjoying doing their thing and the playing is out of this world (as expected).
It bothered me then, still does. I absolutely love Colin & Gavin. What an awesome rhythm section they are. I can't help wondering what a difference it may have made if they were involved. I'm probably imagining it (I'm sure of it) but something feels different in the flow. Missing? Yeah, just my prejudice. Right ?
Agreed 100%. Harridan caught my attention. I'm having trouble getting into it. No doubt bc I'm POd that Collin & Wes aren't a part of this? I keep expecting.... something? that I can't quite quantify, that feels missing. I can't believe musicians of this caliber just needed time to "get back into each other" as one friend said to me. Yeah it's all bc Collin's not there.
If I brought one more book into my home my wife would leave me lol heyyyy wait a second I may be onto something. JK honest. Seriously she's after me to get rid of books. I've tried, I've even boxed some a few years ago...
I feel like an A$$ admitting this, but some how I missed this album. I thought I knew every album Santana. I'm listening to it on YouTube and I'm digging it a lot. It reminds me of Caravanserai in some parts, my favorite Santana LP. This will have to be purchased ASAP. TY both for bringing this LP to my attention. Appreciate it muchly.
For anyone who misses Colin, if you haven’t checked out his band O.R.k’s new album Screamnasium, then you are really, really missing out. It’s a superb record, one of the best of the year IMO.
Me three. What a stellar gig next to the fact that it got filmed too. Going back to London tomorrow so I can catch them on Friday at Wembley. Let's see if they can top Amsterdam!
Saw them in Zürich tonight and it really brought home to me how much this album is carried by “Chimera Wrecks” “Harridan” and “Love In The Past Tense”. Why? Because they played the entire album and I couldn’t pick any of the other songs out of a lineout! Fortunately it was a long concert and we managed to get a lot of highlights along with what can best be described as filler. The hall at Oerlikon has a capacity of about 4500, mostly standing, and while the acoustics weren’t perfect the sound was good enough. Fear of a Blank Planet was somewhat featured and the accompanying videos now look terrribly dated, with the wild children seemingly setting fire to a car from the 1970s, and the first-gen XBox (with the fat controller) looking prehistoric. On the other hand the lighting was impressive. SW still needs to shut up on stage. He prompted my wife to lean over and whisper in my ear (but in autocensor-troubling English) that er ist noch ein Arschloch and indeed he is. He was applauding himself for having prophesied in “The Sound Of Muzak” that music was being reduced to content, as if he were the only musician still trying in an ocean of dross … when the truth is surely that he’s well on his wsy to becoming one of the most chiselling weasels out there! But I digress. The concert was very good.
Interesting. I think his stage banter is pretty funny/comical and makes people laugh. Oh well, to each their own I guess.
I have no real issues with his monologues on stage. During one of his solo tours what I did not like is him kinda bashing progressive rock, I get he does not think his music is that but no need to bash the genre...........I did notice he is calming down some with his stage talks, maybe marriage and familyhood is settling him down.
Agreed. He's very sarcastic, so if you take him literally you might possibly be offended. Maybe it's a cultural difference?
You couldn't get a Rizla paper between me and SW culturally so no, not in my case. I think it's mainly that once someone starts irritating you, you tend to pick them up on every single thing. SW didn't have a particularly bad day for stage banter, but he does tend to interrupt his audience's enjoyment to hand out critiques. So, for example, he starts off "We're going way back to the early 1990s now. Does anyone remember an album called Lightbulb Sun?" (Audience cheer.) "Wow, you're old ... like us." (Okay, nice save.) "I only ask because no one seemed to know "The Sound of Muzak."" Now maybe you can get away with that with an English-speaking audience, if you've got them eating out of the palm of your hand. But telling a majority German-speaking audience that they didn't sing along enough with a song that is not exactly "We Are The Champions" come across as gauche. And it makes the audience self-conscious: aware that they aren't living up to the standards set by the performer for them. It will read like a super-picky example but SW does this a lot, and he also misses obvious gimmes: for example, he didn't call out Richard and Gavin by name in the course of the concert. When you've got an audience that's happy, just do what's expected. It's not rocket science. Probably his biggest cheer of the night was saying "Good Evening, Zürich"!
I always like a bit of audience banter personally, and I think it's something that Steven does really well. His humour is typically self depreciating and I can understand why sometimes it can be perceived as resentful . Aftercall, he's well aware that in the UK at least, the audience it typically of the older male variety, and he's spoken many times about his dislike of being labelled as a 'prog' artist and how sometimes his fans are their own worst enemy when it comes to wanting something new (you're damned if you do and damned if you don't etc). Reading his book Limited Edition Of One, and Rich Wilson's Biography of Porcupine Tree there are many examples where the band were given the short straw - I recall one where they were invited to perform on TV on the strength of their music but when the band showed up the station took one look at the band and decided against it; another when their record label at the time significantly delayed the release of the bands new single because they kept changing their minds (some were even printed and later recalled). I'm sure Steven has the right to feel deflated; his talent (in my eyes at least) is obvious, but I hear modern radio and what's being listened to by younger audiences now and I have to admit, it does seem to come from a completely different era. I think his music will outlive much of what is popular today but equally, I think his music is unlikely to ever gain the success that perhaps he craves (Bowie, Floyd, Queen, Prince, Abba etc etc). I don't think it should be viewed as a negative thing to want to be successful like these artists were/are; afterall they wanted success too. But it's worth noting that Steven has expressed many times that 'success' in his mind isn't money (although for obvious reasons he'd be happy with more), but rather to permanently stamp his name in music history like the artists above have. Unfortunately I think he's building himself up to be forever disappointed; not because I don't think his music is good enough (I actually think it's better), but because of a whole heap of cultural reasons that are unfortunately out of his control (his age for example, rock being viewed as 'retro', his association with the 'prog' tag to name a few). Back to the original point: It's easy to read his grievances and think that he's repeating these again on stage (and perhaps sometimes he does), but when I've seen him play his humour is dry and often points fun at himself (for example looking back at some of his earlier songs and commenting how depressing they are; even for him). I think where he does air his grievances/frustrations it can come sometimes across as pretentious (for example stating how his song Permanating is an excellent pop song after listing The Beatles and Abba as the best pop bands and how anyone who dislikes pop is a 'snob'). However, I think he's well enough versed in his subject matter to speak with some degree of authority, and after several decades of releasing quality music to a less than raucous fanfare I think he's earnt the right to state his opinion and expect others to take it or leave it; afterall we fans more often do the same.
