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Steven Wilson - To The Bone


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Nothing wrong with a snapshot in time though. Political artists of the 60s constantly referenced the "times."

 

There's a difference though. The word "times" is pretty universal. Political artists from the 60s referencing the "times" obviously reflects that period of time, but they can easily be adapted to the modern era. The difference between something like that and some of SW's lyrics (e.g, referencing iPods, Xbox, Facebook, etc.) is that the latter's lyrics become dated. When people hear the word "iPod", they're probably thinking of the mid-2000s when that product took hold. iPods today are nowhere near as encompassing as iPhones (and, consequently, other smart technology). Referencing Facebook is only going to date the lyrics 10 years down the line, assuming Facebook isn't gone by that point.

 

I don't at all mind the Facebook line. Not sure how this is a fuss to some.

 

We've been listening to Steven make a fuss about Facebook, iPods, etc. for the last 10 years. A 50 year old dude complaining about Facebook is the most eye rolling lyric I've ever heard. It ruins an otherwise spectacular song, but I can easily overlook it because of the inclusion of Ninet.

 

Otherwise ruins? Wow. :D

 

What's to say the song is about him though? Just because he wrote it doesn't mean it's meant to be him complaining. Not every topic and line uttered is about the author.

 

Knowing Steven's track record, it comes across as complaining. The interviews he did around the release of FoaBP and parts of the documentary for Insurgentes are mostly him stroking his dick about how much he hates modern technology and the culture that revolves around it. Nothing wrong with that opinion, and I mostly agree with it to some extent, but this material certainly dates itself. FoaBP referencing iPods and Xbox certainly did not age the album very well. As a concept, it's still a great piece of work, but it shows its own age because of those lyrics.

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Nothing wrong with a snapshot in time though. Political artists of the 60s constantly referenced the "times."

 

There's a difference though. The word "times" is pretty universal. Political artists from the 60s referencing the "times" obviously reflects that period of time, but they can easily be adapted to the modern era. The difference between something like that and some of SW's lyrics (e.g, referencing iPods, Xbox, Facebook, etc.) is that the latter's lyrics become dated. When people hear the word "iPod", they're probably thinking of the mid-2000s when that product took hold. iPods today are nowhere near as encompassing as iPhones (and, consequently, other smart technology). Referencing Facebook is only going to date the lyrics 10 years down the line, assuming Facebook isn't gone by that point.

 

I don't at all mind the Facebook line. Not sure how this is a fuss to some.

 

We've been listening to Steven make a fuss about Facebook, iPods, etc. for the last 10 years. A 50 year old dude complaining about Facebook is the most eye rolling lyric I've ever heard. It ruins an otherwise spectacular song, but I can easily overlook it because of the inclusion of Ninet.

 

Otherwise ruins? Wow. :D

 

What's to say the song is about him though? Just because he wrote it doesn't mean it's meant to be him complaining. Not every topic and line uttered is about the author.

 

Knowing Steven's track record, it comes across as complaining. The interviews he did around the release of FoaBP and parts of the documentary for Insurgentes are mostly him stroking his dick about how much he hates modern technology and the culture that revolves around it. Nothing wrong with that opinion, and I mostly agree with it to some extent, but this material certainly dates itself. FoaBP referencing iPods and Xbox certainly did not age the album very well. As a concept, it's still a great piece of work, but it shows its own age because of those lyrics.

While I understand that it likely won't last forever, Xbox is nowhere near a dated word yet. And SW said Pariah is about a breakup, about picking up the pieces. "Tired of Facebook" is a hokey line but in the context of the song it's probably some line about seeing an ex on social media and having that open old wounds. Or he's just sick of seeing Brexit/Trump/Terrorism news show up on his wall since those are some of the current events referenced throughout the album.

 

I forgive the Xbox/MTV lyrics on FOABP because he was speaking about a specific overly medicated generation.

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I am not getting the comparisons to Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun (two of my favorite PT albums), but To the Bone is still great! Yet another winner from SW. The man can do no wrong.

 

It's not that it "sounds" like Stupid or Lightbulb... I think the comparisons come from the shorter tighter song format. Some of the tunes on To The Bone remind me structurally of songs like "Stranger By The Minute", "Piano Lessons", "Shesmovedon"... it's not really about the sounds or timbres. Hope that makes sense.

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Why is the word "dated" used pejoratively? Just curious. People can still enjoy something even if it references a sound or concept of a particular context, can't they? If in ten or fifteen years time people don't know what xBox refers to, or iPod, they will have the same recourse as people who listen to the Beatles and don't know who Mr. Wilson and Mr. Heath were, or cultural references in all kinds of other songs. Roger Waters sings "hey you, Whitehouse," and he probably wasn't concerned that people in the future would not know he was referring to Mary Whitehouse, not the White House. Etc. etc...
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I am not getting the comparisons to Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun (two of my favorite PT albums), but To the Bone is still great! Yet another winner from SW. The man can do no wrong.

 

It's not that it "sounds" like Stupid or Lightbulb... I think the comparisons come from the shorter tighter song format. Some of the tunes on To The Bone remind me structurally of songs like "Stranger By The Minute", "Piano Lessons", "Shesmovedon"... it's not really about the sounds or timbres. Hope that makes sense.

I also find that Wilson sings a lot of the songs similarly to certain songs on those albums. Especially To The Bone and People Who Eat Darkness.

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My deluxe edition of the album finally arrived today. The Antisocial 7" is a pretty cool instrumental. Gonna listen to the album proper again and see if it grows on me. Edited by PolarizeMe
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I gave the album another deep listen yesterday. While it's grown on me a bit and while I do think it's a pretty good album, for me personally as a whole though, I think this is his weakest of the solo albums. Right now, I find it more enjoyable than 4 1/2 (that's not saying much cause of the reason behind the EP's release) but now in hindsight, I think Hand.Cannot.Erase. was a better album in consistency.

 

It starts off strong for me right up to Permanating and then I thought things dipped down a bit in consistency starting on Blank Tapes (I should say I really like this as an interlude track) and throughout the remainder of the album it's a bit hit and miss for me. Song Of Unborn is a pretty good closer but that was a song I wasn't too sure of on first listen as well.

 

The bonus disc is interesting on a novelty level, and I'm quite glad the demos metamorphosized into something better on the album proper (i.e. Pariah).

 

Since I have the deluxe edition, I have the bonus instrumental 7" Antisocial and I thought it was a pretty cool track...a sort of a driving Orchida vibe to it. The contents in the book of the deluxe edition are an insightful read. There's extracts of eMails sent by SW to others and vice versa (there's one where he laments about finding the right vocalist for Song Of I as his two choices declined) and other factoids about the album process as it happened.

 

I've asked myself why I'm not in love with this album yet as much as the majority and it's definitely not because of the emphasis on pop cause I thought Permanating is one of the best songs on the album and this does have strong mid era PT vibes (Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun) as far as catchiness and song structure goes and I love those two albums. I really want to love this album cause I hear greatness in all of the tracks I enjoyed (Pariah, Permanating, Same Asylum, Detonation, etc.) but I'm just not there yet. Ultimately, I concluded that this album might require a lot more listens than I usually give for a new SW album upon release, so I guess I'll just have to keep listening to it and see if I end up liking the album more.

Edited by PolarizeMe
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The album is a tremendous direction towards more concise songs. I will preface this by saying Hand Cannot Erase is easily my favorite album from his solo career and a top 3 now in all of his career including Porcupine Tree material. With To The Bone Steven is maturing even more as a song writer and looking to write great pop rock songs with his signature style and flair.

 

I love the direction of this album and it is a nice departure from his last two monster records.

 

Each listen I love it more and more and more. So many great sublime moments, and just when you think he is going to go off on a musical soundscape tangent....the song ends leaving you wanting more.

 

Maturity.

 

I am so looking forward to hopefully seeing him on tour again.

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The album is a tremendous direction towards more concise songs. I will preface this by saying Hand Cannot Erase is easily my favorite album from his solo career and a top 3 now in all of his career including Porcupine Tree material. With To The Bone Steven is maturing even more as a song writer and looking to write great pop rock songs with his signature style and flair.

 

I love the direction of this album and it is a nice departure from his last two monster records.

 

Each listen I love it more and more and more. So many great sublime moments, and just when you think he is going to go off on a musical soundscape tangent....the song ends leaving you wanting more.

 

Maturity.

 

I am so looking forward to hopefully seeing him on tour again.

 

As usual a thoughtful analysis. As well (also as usual)...I agree.

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The album is a tremendous direction towards more concise songs. I will preface this by saying Hand Cannot Erase is easily my favorite album from his solo career and a top 3 now in all of his career including Porcupine Tree material. With To The Bone Steven is maturing even more as a song writer and looking to write great pop rock songs with his signature style and flair.

 

I love the direction of this album and it is a nice departure from his last two monster records.

 

Each listen I love it more and more and more. So many great sublime moments, and just when you think he is going to go off on a musical soundscape tangent....the song ends leaving you wanting more.

 

Maturity.

 

I am so looking forward to hopefully seeing him on tour again.

 

REALLY??? :o

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While The Raven that Refused to Sing is still undoubtedly my favourite of SW's solo albums (and probably my favourite album full stop - of any genre or era), I think TTB has sneaked in ahead of HCE, GfD and Insurgentes (in that order).

It is definitely an album that speaks to my heart rather than my head. My head says 'I shouldn't like this so much, I prefer music that is more complex and that has time to develop and go off at tangents while showcasing technical expertise'.

However, like Todem, I find myself listening to it over and over and loving it more each time and wishing most of the songs were longer. I can't really analyse what I like about it but it channels a rollercoaster of feeling and emotion that is extraordinary.

If I were to have one criticism, it is lyrically weak in places, but for me, the music speaks louder than the words so I can overlook that.

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The album is a tremendous direction towards more concise songs. I will preface this by saying Hand Cannot Erase is easily my favorite album from his solo career and a top 3 now in all of his career including Porcupine Tree material. With To The Bone Steven is maturing even more as a song writer and looking to write great pop rock songs with his signature style and flair.

 

I love the direction of this album and it is a nice departure from his last two monster records.

 

Each listen I love it more and more and more. So many great sublime moments, and just when you think he is going to go off on a musical soundscape tangent....the song ends leaving you wanting more.

 

Maturity.

 

I am so looking forward to hopefully seeing him on tour again.

 

I'm with you on HCE being my favorite, but also really loving with tapestry of goodness that is To The Bone. HCE will be tough to unseat due to the deep concept, extended palette, and more muso moments. Ancestral live was just about the most intense moments in all his repertoire (including PT). The new album just has a great vibe - and taken as a whole, there is a cinematic quality to it. Hope to see him back in Florida too;

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Never in my life would I see SW on BBC...but lo and behold:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei1MUSk44j0

 

Love his reaction to the hostess' remarks. "What's prog rock?" and "So there are no words..." in particular :LOL:

 

Yep, this album's growing on me a lot and I'm enjoying much more now than I did a week ago. Still not my favorite album, but hey it's still a quality SW album! :ebert:

Edited by PolarizeMe
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For those who may have missed it, Steven did a live Q&A on Facebook recently:

 

Some interesting comments from SW in this video. On the controversy surrounding the album before release:

 

"Some of it was negative, some of it was positive, but it's the reason why we've been doing so good in the charts this week [No. 3 on UK charts, No. 1 in Finland, No. 2 in Germany]. It's because everybody is talking about this record, and people wanted to hear it because of all the controversy."

 

At least he's good at marketing!

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For those who may have missed it, Steven did a live Q&A on Facebook recently:

 

Some interesting comments from SW in this video. On the controversy surrounding the album before release:

 

"Some of it was negative, some of it was positive, but it's the reason why we've been doing so good in the charts this week [No. 3 on UK charts, No. 1 in Finland, No. 2 in Germany]. It's because everybody is talking about this record, and people wanted to hear it because of all the controversy."

 

At least he's good at marketing!

And he's good at hyping every new album he puts out!
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Has this been posted yet? And where is our resident expert Sully hiding these days? Would love to know her take :blah:

 

I don't really care for this album like many seem to here but this is a great track, saved by Ninet's extraordinary vocal. Hate the FB drop once again but what can you do:

 

http://youtu.be/EeaxGoK7Arg

Holy shit, this is from the ZDF Morgenmagazin. German TV show that airs every morning between 5-6. Crazy to see Wilson play there. This show is so fing boring and normally they're just talking breaking news, politics and the weather. Now this...

 

Thanks for sharing Steevo.

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Has this been posted yet? And where is our resident expert Sully hiding these days? Would love to know her take :blah:

 

I don't really care for this album like many seem to here but this is a great track, saved by Ninet's extraordinary vocal. Hate the FB drop once again but what can you do:

 

http://youtu.be/EeaxGoK7Arg

Holy shit, this is from the ZDF Morgenmagazin. German TV show that airs every morning between 5-6. Crazy to see Wilson play there. This show is so fing boring and normally they're just talking breaking news, politics and the weather. Now this...

 

Thanks for sharing Steevo.

 

I'm gonna give the album a few more listens to be fair...lol, the audience I know...

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Who has Ninet Tayeb's albums? What's a good one to start with?

The new album she just dropped this year is an excellent album (I actually like it more than To The Bone honestly). It's called Paper Parachute and IIRC, all of the songs she performed for the NPR Tiny Desk program are on the album.
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Has this been posted yet? And where is our resident expert Sully hiding these days? Would love to know her take :blah:

 

I don't really care for this album like many seem to here but this is a great track, saved by Ninet's extraordinary vocal. Hate the FB drop once again but what can you do:

 

http://youtu.be/EeaxGoK7Arg

What a tart!

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