Facing Porcupine Tree’s “Fear of a Blank Planet”: Prog Review #39
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
Porcupine Tree may have just one album on Rolling Stone’s list of top 50 prog albums, but lead singer and songwriter Steve Wilson has actually been a consistent presence in my listening journey.
A Familiar Name
Porcupine Tree and Wilson have been among the most influential and celebrated forces in progressive music over the last 20 years or so (though the band originally formed in the late 80s, with their first album coming out in 1992). Not content to make his own ambitious music with a constantly evolving sound, Wilson also looks to the past, tinkering with the classics.
If you’ve been following along closely, you’ll notice that many of the albums I’ve reviewed have been remixed by Steven Wilson, an ongoing project he started with King Crimson’s Red in 2009. Wilson has become a curator of the best classic prog has to offer; I’m less enthusiastic about him as a creator.
Dark. Depressing. Beautiful.
The Porcupine Tree Sound
My feelings about Porcupine Tree are mixed. I appreciate the band’s songwriting ambitions and their willingness to not hew too closely to the dominant sounds in contemporary prog – IE: not too metal for me. At the same time, their sound is kind of a downer. I have a hard time getting excited about their albums, including last year’s Closure/Continuation, their first album since 2009.
Fear of a Blank Planet is a little different. This one came out in 2007, not long after I started calling myself a prog fan and began actively seeking out new bands to listen to. I was aware of Porcupine Tree, and when I saw that album in the new releases section of the store with a sticker saying “featuring Alex Lifeson,” it was an easy buy.
Lifeson, the Rush guitarist, contributed to the album’s centrepiece track, the 18-minute “Anesthetize.” I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly which guitar parts are Lifeson because there’s not mush Rush-like to this track, except for the noodling guitar solo that kicks off the heavier middle part of the song. Can it be that that’s the only thing he’s playing?
A Narrow Range
Not that the song isn’t great, in particular the closing section where everything slows down and the overlapping vocals convey a sense of overwhelming defeat. I don’t know what the song is about, but it does a great job of shifting the mood through its movements. This progression speaks to the band’s strengths in general. The song moves from bubbling sadness mixed with simmering resentment, to full blown rage in the long middle section, and then to a remorseful, stupefied conclusion.
As good as the band is at playing in these kinds of feelings, they feel limited by them to me. I’ve got to be in just the right mood for Porcupine Tree, and it’s not a mood I want to live in for very long.
But there are moments when the band strikes a finer balance between the dark guitar tones and elaborate melody. This formula comes together most effectively on “Sentimental.” The washed-out drums, soulful piano, and ghostly synths all play against a hint of “Anesthetize’s” angry, extra-trebly guitars, a hope for elevation above the darker feelings of the song that precedes it on the album.
Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day
Stoned in the mall the kids play
And in this way wish away each day.
-”Sentimental”
On the other side of “Anesthetize” is “My Ashes,” similar in tone to “Sentimental,” but more confident and elegant thanks to swelling strings and some tremolo effect on both the synths and guitar. It’s simpler and not as good, but it helps create a mood for the album that “Sentimental” alone can’t maintain.
Two of the other three tracks rely on clashing guitars with vocals that lean a little too resentful – “Fear of a Blank Planet” and “Way out of Here” are fine, but at 7 minutes each, they outstay their welcome despite outros and intros that presage or echo the more dynamic sounds of the middle tracks.
The album closer, “Sleep Together” is a little out of place with its sci-fi haunted house synths and vaguely industrial sound. But it’s also the most singable song (maybe tied with “Fear of a Blank Planet”) and it has a little more vitality than “Way out of Here” and “Fear of a Blank Planet.”
Despite being one of the albums on the list that I was already quite familiar with, Porcupine Tree’s Fear of Blank Planet left me in fear of a blank page with how little I have to say about it. All in all, it’s all right when you want something dark but not too heavy.
Rolling Stone Rankings
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Rush - Moving Pictures
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Yes – Close to the Edge
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Can - Future Days
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Yes - Fragile
Rush - Hemispheres
ELP - Brain Salad Surgery
Pink Floyd - Animals
Genesis - Foxtrot
King Crimson - Red
Gentle Giant - Octopus
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico
King Crimson - Larks’ Tongue in Aspic
Camel - Mirage
Rush - 2112
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Magma - Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
Supertramp - Crime of the Century
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
U.K. - U.K.
Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning
Kansas - Leftoverture
TOOL - Lateralus
Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink
Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero
Harmonium - Si on Avait Besoin d'une Cinquième Saison
Marillion - Clutching at Straws
Gong - You
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
ASK Rankings
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Supertramp - Crime of the Century
Genesis - Foxtrot
Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink
Marillion - Clutching at Straws
Camel - Mirage
Yes – Close to the Edge
Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning
King Crimson - Red
Gentle Giant - Octopus
Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Harmonium - Si on Avait Besoin d'une Cinquième Saison
Rush - 2112
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
ELP - Brain Salad Surgery
U.K. - U.K
Rush - Moving Pictures
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Kansas - Leftoverture
Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico
Gong - You
King Crimson - Larks’ Tongue in Aspic
Pink Floyd - Animals
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
TOOL - Lateralus
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Yes - Fragile
Rush - Hemispheres
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Magma - Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Can - Future Days
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here