Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning (2011)

There's another topic, with the wrong album title (now, at the time it was the announced/correct title(s) of the album). But given the title is different, it probably makes sense to start a new topic about this upcoming, Double album he has coming which the  Release Date is September 27th, 2011
 

 
Disc 1:
1. Grace for Drowning 2:00
2. Sectarian 8:00
3. Deform to Form a Star 8:00
4. No Part of Me 5:45
5. Postcard 4:30
6. Raider Prelude 2:30
7. Remainder the Black Dog 9:15
39:20

Disc 2:
1. Belle de Jour (3.00)
2. Index 4:45
3. Track One 4:15
4. Raider II 23:15
5. Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye 8:00
43:15

Says Wilson, "“'Insurgentes' was an important step for me into something new. This record takes that as a starting point, but it’s more experimental and more eclectic. For me the golden period for music was the late sixties and early seventies, when the album became the primary means of artistic expression, when musicians liberated themselves from the 3 minute pop song format, and started to draw on jazz and classical music especially, combining it with the spirit of psychedelia to create “journeys in sound” I guess you could call them. So without being retro, my album is a kind of homage to that spirit. There’s everything from [Ennio] Morricone-esque film themes to choral music to piano ballads to a 23 minute progressive jazz –inspired piece. I’'ve actually used a few jazz musicians this time, which is something I picked up from my work remixing the King Crimson records.”"
 
Here's some of the North American tour dates already announced.

Tuesday, November 8th – Orlando, FL – House of Blues
Thursday, November 10th – Baltimore, MD – Ram's Head Live
Friday, November 11th – NY, NY – Best Buy Theater
Saturday, November 12th – Philadelphia, PA – Temple Performing Arts Center
Sunday, November 13th – Boston, MA – Berklee Performance Center
Friday, November 18th – Chicago, IL – Park West
 
"Deform to form a Star" and "Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye"
http://www.mikeportnoy.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2668514
 
Tour:
http://www.mikeportnoy.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2686676

You miscalculated there. CD1 is actually exactly 40 minutes long if the individual song lengths are correct. But those don't really look natural to me, more like approximations.

*orgasm*
 
Can not WAIT for this bad boy. I enjoyed Insurgentes ALOT more than PT's recent output. This one should be great. 

ahh 40 minutes for the 1st disc in fact; I'm just passing info along (so I didn't calculate the times, just copying what someone else did), but I saw this by the way on
http://www.kscopemusic.com/stevenwilson/promo/

I'm really looking forward to this, even though I feel Insurgentes was spotty. Some of it was really good, some really boring. I'd like to see a little more "musicianship" on this album.

Anybody else think that Wilson/Porcupine Tree's album covers have become cliche?

Bails


Anybody else think that Wilson/Porcupine Tree's album covers have become cliche?

Yeah. In fact, Deadwing has the only Lasse Hoile artwork I like, or rather adore. Everything else he's done for PT, SW and Blackfield ranges from boring to downright ugly.

Oh, I thought Lasse Hoile was the name of a Photoshop plugin!
 
It's not as annoying or ugly as most of the "wacky" prog covers of the last 10 years or so (that ugly photoshop abusing "style" where they try to ape Hugh Syme's classic covers and fail miserably), but still rather boring. Hopefully the music will be more engaging.

A double disc that is more experimental than Insurgentes? I'll pass... Hopefully this'll get this path out of his system and the next PT won't be a repeat of the Incident however. Who knows.

portnoy311


A double disc that is more experimental than Insurgentes? I'll pass... Hopefully this'll get this path out of his system and the next PT won't be a repeat of the Incident however. Who knows.

I feel similarly about Insurgentes, as that bored me in a lot of spots, but The Incident has really grown on me, especially the title track.

This is going to rock hard. Wilson is good with Pork Tree and has really expressed himself in Blackfield, but his solo stuff is where he is really able to shine and spotlight his talents.

Love Insurgents.. Saw The Incident live in Chicago, still don't like it. 

I liked Insurgentes and LOVE the Incident. More experimental than Insurgentes... I think that's awesome. SW is not afraid to step into the truly 'progressive' approach to music and keep it fresh and interesting... unlike SOME bands, who shall remain nameless.

Very excited, yet still can't preorder it.  Kinda bummed about that

Insurgentes was really bad, but I liked the "Trailer" for this one. Hope the rest of the album is equally good!

There are 1 minute demos of all the songs up on the website

this guy just makes music that i want to hear, love it

There's also a mailing list that if you join, you immediately get a free download of the 9 minute plus "Remainder The Black Dog". It's a killer track, combining prog, jazz, and more earthy acoustic elements (swear I heard a banjo in there in the middle).

"Remainder the Black Dog"... listening now. Oh. My. God. What a cool track. I'm desperately trying to find a way to go see SW in Orlando.

^ Sounded great. Can't wait for the rest of the album! I'm not gonna listen to the minute long samples though, I prefer to hear the tracks from beginning to end. 

Lasse Hoile on facebook:
«Another tour date has also been added in Montreal. »

AWW YEAHHHHH !  
 

HOLY CRAP!
 
What a great track. Loving it. LOOOOOOOOOVING IT!
 
Totally got jazzed me up about this.

The song just OWNS. I'm in awe.

What mailing list?
 

its too long but its the best track he's done since Nil recurring or something. Somewhat excited for the record now. :)

Probabaly for another thread, but I'm suprised by all the 'Insurgentes' hate (maybe that's not the right word).
 
It kind of reminded me of the last Peter Gabriel studio album, alot of different songs, styles, and tempo, and ending with a really simple piano tune.

The preview for Sectarian sounds amazing

Could easily be a King Crimson track.
 
Not sure about this one. I need to hear more before I buy it.

Sounds pretty phenomenal to me.  I stopped listening to the previews because I liked what I was hearing too much to listen to it outside the context of the album. 

New track is pretty cool, a bit odd.

New song available, Remainder the Black Dog, just signing up to Kscope mailing list:
 
http://www.burningshed.co...scope/freedownload/11/
 
I love how the music builds up... Can't wait for the whole album!!

Loved the track, but what really seems curious to me is that the drummer credited on this track is Nic France, the new guy that SW praised while doing his first posts about this record.
 
But isn't this Gavin without the splashes? Same drum sound, same style of grooving ('tho slightly less sutile, I'd say). Not really criticizing, just curious because I was expecting a different drum approach. But let's not get too carried on speculation and wait for another SW killer record.

Worldengine


Loved the track, but what really seems curious to me is that the drummer credited on this track is Nic France, the new guy that SW praised while doing his first posts about this record.

Where does it list the personnel? That's the one thing I've been VERY curious about all this time.

I could barely make it through Insurgentes....with multiple attempts...on a road trip across the country! Gonna have to generate a lot of buzz for this before I buy it,

Worldengine


Loved the track, but what really seems curious to me is that the drummer credited on this track is Nic France, the new guy that SW praised while doing his first posts about this record.

But isn't this Gavin without the splashes? Same drum sound, same style of grooving ('tho slightly less sutile, I'd say). Not really criticizing, just curious because I was expecting a different drum approach. But let's not get too carried on speculation and wait for another SW killer record.

I guess some of the grooves and feels are similar to Gavin but I don't think he sounds much like him. Nic is a lot looser to me, dare I say a bit "messier". Not everything is so deliberate like with Gavin which I guess could suit some of this stuff a little better as it seems to be a bit more free-form. I think having a different drummer will also help to give this album it's own identity seeing as how SW has done so much of his recent work with Gavin. Don't get me wrong, Gavin is one of my all-time favorite drummers but it's kinda nice to hear a different drummer/drum mix.
 

...can't stop listening to it... somebody help...........

I don't know, I've been listening to a lot of Gavin Harrison drumming lately and it struck me as way too similar in style and sound, just sligthly less filled with ghost notes.
 
SW posted on Facebook the line up of the track:
"Remainder the Black Dog" features the line up of: SW - vocals/keyboards, Theo Travis - sax/flute, Steve Hackett - guitars, Nick Beggs - bass, and Nic France - drums. STEVEfreakingHACKETT!

Wait... the guitarist on this track is STEVE HACKETT?!!!

Too bad I can't download......SERVER BUSY!?!?!?!?!?!?