"Drive Home" is one of the notable cuts on Steven Wilson's (Porcupine Tree) brilliant The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories, an album that redefined prog for the 21st century. The song's gorgeous meld of Pink Floyd's nocturnal atmospherics, the Moody Blues' melodic majesty, sprawling guitar solos, and Alan Parsons' crystalline production made it a standout track. This audio collection uses the single edit as its title track and leadoff. The set also includes an orchestral version of "The Raven That Refused to Sing" and the song "The Birthday Party" (which was previously only featured on the deluxe book edition of the Raven album). "The Holy Drinker," "Insurgentes," "The Watchmaker," and a live "The Raven That Refused To Sing" are all killer readings taken from a concert in Frankfurt.
As modern progressive rock’s undisputed figurehead and chief workaholic, Steven Wilson has little to prove, and yet his fourth solo album is anything but a cosy reassertion of values. In contrast to his much-lauded Victorian ghost-stories set The Raven that Refused to Sing from 2013, Hand. Cannot. Erase. is an album rooted in sonic and spiritual modernity, largely eschewing early prog tropes in favour of an inventive blend of bleak and brooding industrial soundscapes and rugged, muscular ensemble performances from Wilson’s virtuoso henchmen.
Steven Wilson will release Last Day Of June on December 1. The digital only release is the official soundtrack to the acclaimed PS4/Windows game of the same name.
Steven Wilson fans have been primed for The Future Bites since he released To the Bone in 2017. That record, and the preceding 4½ EP, were deliberately "pop" responses to his three-album dalliance with prog – Raven That Refused to Sing, Hand. Cannot. Erase, and Grace for Drowning. In contrast to the above, The Future Bites is a slick exercise in Wilson's oft-articulated love of synth pop and electronic music. It's a loose concept set about the treachery that rampant consumerism foists upon the world, and the danger a technological society imposes on personal identity…
Steven Wilson's 4½ is a six-track (+ bonus track for Japan) stopgap mini album between 2015's Hand. Cannot. Erase. and whatever full-length comes next. Four tunes have origins in the previous album's sessions; another dates back to those from 2013's The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories. There is also a re-recording of "Don't Hate Me" that first appeared on Porcupine Tree's 1998 offering, Stupid Dream. The players are by now familiar: Wilson's current working band comprises Guthrie Govan, Adam Holzman, Nick Beggs, Dave Kilminster, Craig Blundell, Marco Minnemann, Chad Wackerman, and Theo Travis. Opener "My Book of Regrets" is a nine-plus-minute exercise that commences with a seductive pop melody, and offers a hooky chorus and syncopated dynamics. It evolves into spiraling prog rock courtesy of Beggs' front-line Chris Squire-esque bassline, fueling Govan and Wilson's spiky…