ChoccyPhilly
06.21.20 | Yeah fair enough top 3 are top 3 but just in reverse order |
zakalwe
06.21.20 | 5
Signify
1
The Incident
4
|
KingdomOfTyrant
06.21.20 | 5 is 1 |
DaveT0738
06.21.20 | Pretty solid |
ChoccyPhilly
06.21.20 | Yes Zak, The Incident needs some love. Disc 1 is near perfection |
JDubb
06.21.20 | The Incident would knock out Stupid Dream for me. |
JohnnyoftheWell
06.21.20 | No Signify or Sky Moves Sideways lol |
ChoccyPhilly
06.21.20 | i'd say if The Incident didn't have disc 2, it would be a 4.5 and be top 3 |
zakalwe
06.21.20 | Good lad Aero.
Yep, people who say The Incident is PT by numbers I’m not having that at all. Blind House, I Drive the Hearse and Remember Me Lover are some of the bands greatest. |
MementoMori
06.21.20 | @KingdomOfTyrant: Nice meme.
@The Incident isn't nearly consistent enough to warrant a place on this list. You would rather insert Signify or TSMS.
@Johnny: Signifiy is a bloated record which isn't nearly as intense or compositionally impressive as any record on this list. Sky Moves Sideways is clearly overrated: the compositions are sterile and the production is, well, not great. |
JohnnyoftheWell
06.21.20 | My dude you can't stick In Absentia at 2 and criticise other PT for being bloated (or sterile for that matter lol, some of those metal riffs...) |
Icebloom
06.21.20 | Needs Signify, my favourite PT album. Best songwriting, unique atmospere and also it has Dark Matter |
LeddSledd
06.21.20 | I...agree. Good list |
Observer
06.21.20 | My 5 fav as well, thought admittedly the only ones ive checked out. Hmm, 5, 3, 1, 2, then 4 for me.
2 used to seem cheesy to me in parts but I grew to love all of it. |
FR33L0RD
06.21.20 | For me, too much quality LP to fit in.
Replacing 5 with Sky Moves Side Way, and it almost fit ;)
Top 4 is good. |
Source
06.21.20 | "Sky Moves Sideways is clearly overrated: the compositions are sterile and the production is, well, not great."
?? |
Sinternet
06.22.20 | 1 and 2 are bottom half of their discography easy |
Observer
06.22.20 | Porcupine tree albums get the same treatment as Opeth album for the 2000s-- no general consensus from best to worst. |
porcupinetheater
06.22.20 | Sky Moves Sideways needs a spot on here, Up the Downstair too. Early PT > |
Morningrise767
06.22.20 | Top 3 is accurate, although 1 and 2 can easily switch places depending on my mood. |
MementoMori
06.22.20 | @Johnny & Others: I really dislike the early more psychedelic and space rock influences that plagued PT's sound on records like Signify & Sky Moves Side Ways. I don't think it's particularly original or appealing at all, it's what makes those records so damn bloated. The metal influences work way better within PT's sound (at least they add some much needed intensity and catharsis) than whatever Steven Wilson was concoting on those other records. |
zakalwe
06.22.20 | I think you might need to give Signify another listen dude |
JohnnyoftheWell
06.22.20 | Nothing wrong with preferring mostly derivative distorted riffs to mostly derivative psych/prog, but that's a weird way to put it lol. Steven Wilson is good at a lot of things, but being cathartic is rarely one of them
(and yeah, zak [2] - Waiting, Sleep of No Dreaming and Idiot Prayer have intensity pinned down and the atmosphere is more distinct than any later day PT aside from maybe Deadwing) |
BaselineOOO
06.22.20 | It hurts me but I'll never be British enough to understand this band. |
Pikazilla
06.22.20 | Replace deadwing with signify or sky and you should be good |
MementoMori
06.22.20 | @Johnnyofthewell: at least the combination of distorted riffs and classic prog is far more original than say, psych prog. I enjoy a little musical contrast and the later PT work has that in spades. And Steven Wilson does catharsis really well, especially on FoaBP. Also, the drumming and song writing is just way better on later PT records.
Waiting has absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever and is, with the exception of some sexy guitar work, just a really tepid soft rock track. The same goes for SoND. That song is far too short to build any type of atmosphere or satisfying climax. Songs like Way Out of Here, Arriving Somwhere but not Here, Anesthetize and so on are far better equipped to achieve a climactic moment than any track mentioned.
Idiot Prater is probably the most boring track on Signifier: it builds up to such a sterile ending, it's moments of intensity are sorely lacking (synths plus that agonizingly dull precussion). Most of the time it feels like your listening to a poorly composed ambient post-rock track.
Fear of a Blank Planet especially, is so far ahead in terms of atmosphere and intensity than any early PT record, it's not even funny. On In Absentia, tracks like Blackest Eyes, Gravity Eyelids & Wedding Nails do intensity and atmosphere so much better than any track you mentioned.
Man you guys have really weird taste. Have you actually ever listened to Fear of a Blank Planet? I can't imagine you would make the claims that you make if you actually listened to that record.
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Pikazilla
06.22.20 | I agree. Fear is the best pt |
MementoMori
06.22.20 | @zakalwe: why would I waste my time going back to listening to those records, when I can pick any of PT's actual masterpieces: Deadwing, In Absentia or Fear of a Blank Planet.
P.S.: The Creator Has A Mastertape from In Absentia also beats every single track from Signifier mentioned above. That bass line alone makes me want to put that song on repeat.
|
ElioG
06.22.20 | "Fear of a blanket planet"
Lmao |
ElioG
06.22.20 | I'd put Signify on 3, other than that the list seems damn right. |
MementoMori
06.22.20 | @ElioG: It's pratically the same as blank... What is up with people like Signify so much? It's truly comparatively subpar to later PT material. |
Pikazilla
06.22.20 | Nah, dadwing is the subpar one. Arriving is awesome, rest is p much filler |
Sinternet
06.22.20 | nope thats fear of a bland planet
but steven wilson has always sucked anyway |
MementoMori
06.22.20 | @Pikazilla: Open Car, Shallow, Glass Arm Shattering, Lazurs are all bangers. If you hate filler, Signify should be the object of your scorn.
@Sinternet: Nice meme 2x. Steven Wilson is a damn good song writer, also his production jobs, especially on records like Blackwater Park are magnificent. |
LePsych
06.22.20 | 5. Up The Downstair
4. Signify
3. Stupid Dream
2. In Absentia
1. Fear of a Blank Planet
As a fan of Signify I'll tell why I do like it a lot. It's really damn moody and manages throughout all of its running time to establish a sinister mood without ever being super heavy. Sleep of No Dreaming, Waiting, Every Home Is Wired and most importantly, Dark Matter, are key pieces of Porcupine Tree's real first album as a band. It's fine psychedelic rock without sounding as derivative as it did on the Sky Moves Sideways. Maybe you're just not enough of a fan of that type of music to really enjoy it.
Personally I'm on the other side of the fence and found most of Deadwing to not be very memorable or unique. Shallow felt like an open bid to reach a nu-metal audience and sacrificed about every element that made In Absentia's heavy songs good (the band played Shallow live once and never again, ironically replacing it with The Sound of Muzak) Open Car's studio version was very limp and would later be outclassed by its far more powerful live rendition and Glass Arm Shattering wouldn't even be in my Top 10 mellowest songs from the group. Lazarus however is good stuff. |
ChoccyPhilly
06.22.20 | SW has lost it imo. Too trapped in his own mind and throwback shit. Do something different ffs, people literally look at you as prog's saviour and all you can do is whatever's already been done but not as good |
JohnnyoftheWell
06.22.20 | "manages throughout all of its running time to establish a sinister mood without ever being super heavy"
exactly why it's comfortably above IA and FOAPB; mood > riffs, and while Signify's lyricism isn't all that, it defs avoids those two's clunkers (huge tone-killers ngl)
Anesthetize and Dark Matter can be comfortably tied for the best PT song though |
LePsych
06.22.20 | I love the hell out of Fear of a Blank Planet music-wise but it's a damn good thing lyrics ain't what I'm looking for in music because boy I'd dock it several points.
I know it's said that the lyrics are supposed to be coming from the perspective of a teenager but I'm not sold at all? |
GhandhiLion
06.22.20 | 1990's > 2000's (yes, even On the Sunday of Life) |
MementoMori
06.22.20 | @LePsych: I would say Signify's mood is never sinister, but merely whimsical. It doesn't have the type of overt melancholy of later PT releases, a melancholia amplified by the heavy guitar riffs, which simultaneously add a lovely contrast to PT sound. Signifiy is bloated as hell and quite a lot of tracks lack any interesting or intense moments: it perhaps reaches some type of mood, but it never reaches beyond that mood, and as far as mood goes, I'd rather just listen to run-of-the-mill post-rock than prog rock pretending to be atmospheric and failing miserably at that.
Deadwing has PT's second best track, Arriving Somwhere But Not Here. Shallow and Open Car are (at least) incredibly immediate and by no means as bloody sterile as a lot of Signifiy's material. I don't think 'limp' is therefore an adequate characterisation, unless we're speaking of Idiot Prayer for example. That song is hot garbage. Halo (that bass line), Deadwing and the other songs not mentioned from Deadwing, I'd prefer them all over any song from Signifier except for perhaps Dark Matter.
2000's: Riffs, immediacy, better drumming, better bass lines, better song writing, better lyrics, better production, better atmosphere.
1990's: Great psychedelic prog rock, but nothing stellar.
P.S. Fear of a Blank Planet's social commentary is actually quite excellent. I think that record probably has the best lyrics of every Porcupine Tree record.
@GhandhiLion: your opinions concerning anything even remotely influenced by 'mEtal MuSic', should be roundly ignored my dude. Maybe I'll do a Charles Mingus top 5, then maybe you can come and show me what's what.
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GhandhiLion
06.22.20 | That's true. lol. |
MementoMori
06.22.20 | If I was really daring, I'd put up a top 5 Alber Ayler records and not put Spiritual Unity on it (heheh). I mean, I would have to re-rate from a 5.0 to something else, but I could make it work. |
Icebloom
06.22.20 | Idiot Prayer hot garbage? What the hell man :( |
MementoMori
06.22.20 | @Icebloom: it's literally a poorly composed ambient post-rock interspersed with flurries of dull percussion, synth/keyboard layers and fuzzy guitar, that ultimately builds to nothing. The only things semi-enjoyable about it is the bass line. The track is like 5 minutes of tepid moodyness and 2 minutes of white noise. Hot garbage. |