Jump to content

The Porcupine Tree Corner


Uncle Skid

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 314
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Alot of new info, tracklists, etc, at http://www.gracefordrowning.com/ now.

I love the final paragraph on that link. How many musicians would pick the late 60s/early 70s as 'the golden period of music'? When it comes to pop/rock the late 50s, mid-60s and late 70s are the fashionable choices.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alot of new info, tracklists, etc, at http://www.gracefordrowning.com/ now.

I love the final paragraph on that link. How many musicians would pick the late 60s/early 70s as 'the golden period of music'? When it comes to pop/rock the late 50s, mid-60s and late 70s are the fashionable choices.

I'm in complete agreement with that time period. 1967-1976 or thereabouts for me. Never equalled, never surpassed...of course Wilson seems to be singlehandedly trying to change that and it makes me very happy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alot of new info, tracklists, etc, at http://www.gracefordrowning.com/ now.

I love the final paragraph on that link. How many musicians would pick the late 60s/early 70s as 'the golden period of music'? When it comes to pop/rock the late 50s, mid-60s and late 70s are the fashionable choices.

I'm in complete agreement with that time period. 1967-1976 or thereabouts for me. Never equalled, never surpassed...of course Wilson seems to be singlehandedly trying to change that and it makes me very happy.

My golden time too. But I've always assumed its because I was between 13-21 in those years!

Think I'd push it back to '65, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pop music was just a background thing for me in '65 (I was only 10!) but I remember being struck by the Beatles tunes and The Byrd's Mr Tambourine Man'. In retrospect its the date where the Beatles start to get really interesting for me; and the whole pop thing starts to get harmonically more adventurous and more ambiguous lyrically (the Dylan factor kicking in).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The interesting thing is that I've never really cared about lyrics, the music is the majority of what I pay attention to. If the lyrics are intelligent and though-provoking it's an added bonus, but if the music is good then it doesn't really matter to me whatsoever.

I came into all this stuff WAY later of course. I like The Beatles from around the time of Rubber Soul, but it is really post-Sgt. Pepper that gets me the most.

I'm a total LP guy, singles were never my thing.

Sorry to derail the thread, but it's interesting to think about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lyrics have never been central for me either...it's more that I've always found corny or over-soppy lyrics a distraction.

'Semolina pilchards, climbing up the Eiffel Tower' might not be the height of profundity; but 'She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah' is far more likely to interfere with my enjoyment (or 'You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..'.

I can happily sail through a double LP of Jon Anderson's lyrical burbling without having my enjoyment of the the music impaired; If he was singing 'I love you and you love me and we all live in a coconut tree' I'd be less enthralled.

Classic example of this is Sandy Denny - her first solo album had typically Dylan-influenced allusiveness. No idea what the songs are about but I like that uncertainty. With each successive album she became more direct, romantic, confessional. I find those albums increasingly difficult to enjoy as a whole.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...it's more that I've always found corny or over-soppy lyrics a distraction.

...With each successive album she became more direct, romantic, confessional. I find those albums increasingly difficult to enjoy as a whole.

I agree completely. It's why I can listen to early Floyd, but once Waters takes over complete control on The Wall and starts his "my Dad died in the war" therapy sessions I just want him to shut up. impossible to enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Late sixties, early seventies. . .yeah great stuff going on. Hendrix made the move to reunite with Billy and play with Buddy and fuse more non-rock elements and became a real catalyst for both jazz fusion and funk. The idea of an album as an art piece on its own came to fruition to both great and not so great effect. Big big money was being made, and this both inspired some artists to great work and enabled some artists to be given enough reins to steer great work.

Those were the days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still think the major reason for the vaulting ambition of that era was the wider post-war sense of 'anything is possible' and that naive belief that you could remake the world. It probably also reflected the relative affluence (in the West) of that era and the sense that the good times were only going to get better.

As those dreams soured - with Vietnam, Watergate, the big economic let downs (oil crisis etc), the realisation that most of the great promises (socialism, communism, hippyism, various religious cults) not only failed to deliver but produced new levels of corruption - so the optimism soured. You see it in the nihilism that set in at the end of the 70s and the me-ism of the 80s.

In the world of popular musics aspiration became suspect; keep it simple, keep it direct, don't get ideas above your station.

One of the reasons I've so enjoyed Porcupine Tree is because they don't accept that pop/rock music must be something close to the street that any band can play after learning a few chords. That vaulting ambition is there again!

Edited by A Lark Ascending
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good discussion, guys.

I agree with pretty much everything you said, down to the 'lyrics don't matter' issue. I would focus more on the evolution of music from 1960-70, though - earth-shattering. That was a phenomenal period for music. There's been nothing like it, really, since then.

The early-mid 70s was more an extension and refinement of that. Don't forget to include FZ and Van Vliet in that mix, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Storm Corrosion news...

The sound of STORM CORROSION can best be described as enchanting, orchestral, ambient, epic (half the album’s tracks clock in around the 10 minute mark) and nothing short of surprising to the new ear. However, the musicians’ respective fanbases will be primed to appreciate the new output, with Wilson’s recent solo album, ‘Grace For Drowning’ and Opeth’s ‘Heritage’ having brought them to a logical place to understand STORM CORROSION. This eponymous collection is almost viewed as one side of a musical triangle.

Says Wilson; “If you'd asked me three months ago about the music, I would have said, 'Expect the last thing you would expect.' But actually, now that 'Heritage' and 'Grace Of Drowning' have come out, I don't think it's going to be that much of a shock to people, because it's almost like a third part of the trilogy, in a way. If anything, it's even more orchestral, even more stripped down, even more dark, twisted and melancholic… but it certainly feels like it comes from the same place as 'Heritage' and 'Grace For Drowning', which indeed it does because it was written during the same period.”

“Some of the music on this record I think is the most beautiful music I have participated on ever,” adds Åkerfeldt. “There's some magical sections on there. Musically I think we've created something earthy, a bit frightening, exhausting, profound and rather intense. All at the same time. I can safely say I don't know any other band or artist that sounds anything like STORM CORROSION. I guess that was also one of our goals, so to speak.”

Full story here....

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/page/News?news_id=117513

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're interested in a copy of the SW live album, catalog/preserve/amass, better jump quick. It went on sale yesterday at headphone dust (here), and it's limited to 3,000 copies. They got so many orders yesterday they had to take down the link for a while, and I'd suspect whatever's left will sell out soon, once it becomes available again. Available signed or unsigned.

SW%20cat%20pres%20amass%20LIVE%20CD3.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Got my signed copy of Catalog/Preserve/Amass (and Bass Communion's "Cenotaph" as well) last night. I believe the remainder of the available copies went back on sale today, so if you want one better grab it quick. Don't think it will last long.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...