Voyage 34, originally a two-volume EP series from 1992-1993, was expanded into "The Complete Trip" after Steven Wilson remixed and added production for its eventual re-release seven years later. Album story is based on a LSD-trip experienced by a guy named Bryan. There are several parts on the album which are familiar with some classic prog material out of the 70's. Once you have a effect of the epic piece A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers by Van Der Graaf Generator and for most part from Pink Floyd a famous guitar rhythm from The Wall, which continues throughout "Voyage 34 - The Complete Trip". These ideas may be stolen from these legendary bands, but they fit incredibly well to the trippy atmosphere of this psychedelic rock concept…
In Absentia was Porcupine Tree’s seventh studio album, first released in 2002, the first in a run of three albums that for many represent the pinnacle of the band’s artistic achievements. Not many albums can claim to have created a new genre, but with its fusion of metal, progressive rock, ambient textures, and acoustic singer-songwriter styled material, it became a blueprint for a generation of bands to come. It also represented a commercial breakthrough for the band, eventually going on to sell three times more than the band’s previous releases. In Absentia features many of Porcupine Tree’s most beloved songs, including Trains, The Sound of Muzak and Blackest Eyes. While not a formal concept album, many of the songs have common themes related to serial killers, youthful innocence gone wrong, and observations of the modern world, setting a template for many of songwriter Steven Wilson’s future songs.
Excellent introduction to the early days of Steven Wilson and his seminal band Porcupine Tree, with a thoughtful collection of album tracks, b-sides and rarities curated by Wilson himself, with the same attention to detail that we’ve come to expect from his flourishing solo career.
Porcupine Tree's first album for K-Scope/Snapper starts out with a definite bang – "Even Less," with some of the quartet's biggest, blasting rock epic music yet, yet also shot through with the gentler, acoustic side that makes Porcupine Tree so intimate and lovely. The net result easily calls Yes to mind, but Steven Wilson's not so high-pitched as Jon Anderson and Richard Barbieri completely avoids Rick Wakeman's extreme idiocies – prog that knows when less is more…
Octane Twisted, the first album by Porcupine Tree in three years, is a double-live disc recorded at Chicago's Riviera in 2010 during The Incident tour. It also includes highlights from the band's concluding concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Recording a concept album is fraught with danger as well as possibility; a touring one is an exponentially greater challenge – especially when the studio recording is a chart success. The Incident went Top 30 in both the United Kingdom and the United States.