Fear of a Blank Planet & Nil Recurring, by Porcupine Tree (2007): This is a bit confusing. Last year, Porcupine Tree released two separate CDs made up of music recorded at the same time, from the same writing sessions, and with some of the same guests (Robert Fripp appears on both). And if you add the total times together, they just about equal one fully loaded CD. So, WTF?
From what I've seen (via an interview on YouTube that I can't seem to find), PT guru Steven Wilson came to the conclusion that CDs in general are too long these days and that the 45-50 minute album length from the LP days is ideal. So he trimmed the material from these sessions into two bits, the full album (Fear of a Blank Planet) and a 28-minute EP* (Nil Recurring). He also argues that the EP material doesn't really fit with the album concept, but it's hard to see what sort of impact that would have had. I will say, however, that nearly an hour and 20 minutes of the current bleaker version of PT would be a bit much to take at one sitting. And, frankly, I prefer Fear of a Blank Planet, anyway.
* For comparison's sake, the next album after Nil Recurring in the running order today was PFM's Storia di Un Minuto from 1972, which is only six minutes longer.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Album of the Day
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2 comments:
Yes!!! Someone who's actually heard of Porcupine Tree besides me.
I think I prefer the stuff from Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun. It took me awhile to get into Fear of a Blank Planet and Deadwing, but they finally grew on me. I liked Stupid Dream immediately.
Also worth a listen: Blackfield.
Agreed on Blackfield. I have the first album and like it quite a bit, when I think to listen to it.
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