MASTERCLASS IN MUSICAL STORYTELLING // Steven Wilson - Drive Home // Composer Reaction & Analysis

[@MrDinofelis]

Fun fact, Guthrie Govan worked with Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack of Dune. Those bagpipes as House Atreides steps off the ship are actually his guitar with effects. Also fun fact, when I first heard this song almost a decade ago I therapeutically ugly cried.

[@JoaquinStick]

I didn't know that about the Dune soundtrack, that's so cool!

[@ben5499]

Another song by Steven Wilson with an amazing solo is 'Refuge'. It's special because it's a harmonica solo which fits the storytelling incredibly well

[@lparksession]

There’s a reason the vocals sound Pink Floyd-y. Alan Parsons engineered The Dark Side of The Moon AND The Raven That Refused to Sing (after a 35 year hiatus from engineering!)

[@VictorMedinaM]

When he closes his eyes during the solo you just want to hug him and like "yes bro I know sublime I know I know", here, have a beer!

[@glyngasson8450]

Steven Wilson told Rick Beato that a string broke on Guthrie's guitar a few seconds into the solo, so he completed it with 5 strings

[@progperljungman8218]

Simply gorgeous in a very touching way!❤ Thought you might enjoy it, just like many of us who voted for it as a perfect track for the theme.

[@ryukan250]

Awesome Bryan. That solo by Guthrie is incredible. Other tasteful solos to check out.... Gordian Knot - Rivers Dancing Evergrey - Mark of the Triangle In Flames - Zombie Inc Cynic - Textures Skyharbor - The Constant Porcupine Tree - Arriving Somewhere Mastodon - Had It All Lionel Richie - Running With The Night Genesis - Fifth of Firth Scale The Summit - Atlas Novus Pantera - The Sleep Death - Voice of the Soul Incubus - Sick Sad Little World Alice in Chains - Nutshell Smashing Pumpkins - Soma Pearl Jam - Alive Fleetwood Mac - I'm So Afraid Allman Brothers - Soulshine Dire Straits - Tunnel of Love Jimmy Barnes - Too Much Ain't Enough Love Iron Maiden - Blood Brothers Avenged Sevenfold - Sidewinder Alterbridge - Blackbird Orphaned Land - Ocean Land

[@ectoplasma5]

Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock i might add.

[@shryggur]

Dude, I see the very fist suggestion and know the list is legit! I'll save it and go through the songs soon, that's for sure

[@ryukan250]

@@shryggur Hell yeah! 🤝 River's Dancing is transcedent and Ron's solo is both tasteful and technical. Check out the other songs in that list and recommend any others for me

[@MaydayMaydayMayday147]

Also Wigwam - grass of blades, masterful solos both on keyboards and guitar

[@ryukan250]

@@MaydayMaydayMayday147 will check it out

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

Such a great song... one of my favorites from SW that really shows off his subtle mastery of mood via harmony and texture. Govan's guitar solo is just as tasty and tasteful as the rest of the song and puts the lie to the notion that Govan is just a technical monster. The music video elevates it to another level as well (The Raven that Refused to Sing is the same).

[@evergreen_monster]

One of the exceptionally few guitar solos that literally makes my hair stand on end. Off the top of my head I only remember Alter Bridge's Blackbird giving me the same reaction, but there's at least another one I'm forgetting. This one tops them all, though, taking into account the whole song, the emotional resonance of the story, the stellar music video... hell, even the way it was recorded is memorable (first try, improvised, strings imperfection and all). It's just SO GOOD. There's a videogame called Last Day of June, with OST by Steven Wilson (mostly excerpts and mixes of many of his songs, including this one) and the same visual style/art direction as this music video. Heart-breaking story too, as you can imagine lol Nifty little puzzle game, I highly recommend it.

[@CriticalReactions]

WAit wait wait.....what? A 2017 indie narrative game that's gonna make me cry and somehow I missed it? I started streaming video games over on Twitch so I'll be adding this to the list. Right now I only have the two Nier games (for Keiichi Okabe's soundtracks) and the Tesseract game in the list.

[@evergreen_monster]

If it weren't for SW's involvement the game would have flown under my radar too. It's from a really tiny Italian dev team IIRC Oh and you're in for a treat with the NieR games (and music!!). It's one of my favorite sagas, I think I've played, listened and read everything set in that universe. Okabe is a true master, everything he's laid music for is worth playing (at least from that perspective, old Drakengard games are ROUGH to play by today's standards lol).

[@kcrimsoniano]

My favorite track on this album is The Watchmaker, you must listen this in studio and live version

[@wastagwaga]

This will always be one of the best guitar solos of the 21st century. If you're looking for a non-guitar solo, I can recommend Bob Reynolds' sax solo in Snarky Puppy's "Outlier"

[@PabloSaavedra84]

Uuuhh! DT The Best of Times. Best Petrucci solo ever

[@andreadee1567]

You are right about the losses. Routine was also about losing loved ones due to a school shooting and in The Raven the loss of his sister has been told.

[@Katie-w5d]

Would love to see another will wood reaction😁

[@notan23]

IMO, one of the best solos of all time.

[@UltimusTerminus]

There is a whole game that was made inspired by the music video, it also has some other SW songs iirc

[@johncassidy3071]

I understand that Guthrie broke a string during this recording, but SW thought the solo was so perfect, he didn't want to re-record, so that string noise that SW left in is one of the side effects.

[@ArttuKo]

If I have understood correctly, he didn’t break a string, but one bounched off the saddle for a moment.🤔

[@johncassidy3071]

@@ArttuKoYou are correct. I misremembered.

[@oregonwoodelf]

One of my favorite songs of all time. Just perfect🌙🧝🧙‍♀👌

[@yunusemrekarabacak8539]

Favourite Govan solo with Ancestral.

[@paule1624]

I know these are backlogged but Roulette Dares (mars volta) prob has my favorite solo ever in terms of how it fits the song

[@SaturnineXTS]

The newest album by Steven Wilson is on my list of to-check albums, still got a backlog of like 13. Judging by what I heard in this vid, I might get to it soon after all! As should you with Scar Symmetry - The Kaleidoscopic God, it's totally a song you need to check out

[@revylokesh1783]

The Harmony Codex is ... eclectic. It's a great album but the last 2 SW albums have been much less guitar-oriented and much more "soundscapes". That doesn't mean they're bad albums, not at all! Just evolved past "Prog Rock".

[@rafvsdieu]

Hey, if you are still looking for a solo this week i have that may pick your interest. its called Petrichor by Von Citizen!!!

[@reneelyons6836]

Cool.

[@planetcaravan2925]

Some swedish folk inspiration in the start?

[@johncassidy3071]

I'm pretty sure the lead guitar is all Guthrie.

[@rolfjamne8922]

Guthry Govan ❤👌

[@d0sk3y]

Good take mate! I always wonder, however why reviewers never acquire somewhat more uptown gear for your listening... I mean, my 50Xs I find are not even half decent for guitar monitoring, let alone full range stuff. They're meant for listening to rap on the bus while going home from school, imo... They will cheat and lie through the lows and highs like there's no tomorrow...

[@CriticalReactions]

It's just one of the many joys of living low class. 😅 I'd love a good hi-fi setup but I absolutely can't justify the price, especially in this economy. I tried out a bunch of headphones within my budget and this was the best combination of quality and comfort. My interface is a cheaper behringer and my mic was $20. I use software and EQ to make up as much ground as I can for the cheaper hardware.

[@rodrigogodoy2646]

Guthrie is using a fretless guitar, that's why it sounds different

[@boxonothing4087]

I would rank Routine a notch (even if only a small one) above Drive Home. Drive Home does have the better solo though

[@Red-Brick-Dream]

This album is just absolutely heartbreaking. Powerful stuff.

[@ellipsoidi]

completely improvised, that's why it sounds "sloppy"

[@Kosgrim]

do you guys in the comments belive its the first time these ppl hear it?

[@CriticalReactions]

I can only speak for myself but my breakdowns are indeed first time listens. In fact, there have been many times when I've been asked to analyze something that I've heard before and I start those videos with that disclaimer. I have over 2000 reactions on my channel with many of the artists chosen being outside of the general public eye. If I were to have actually heard all of this stuff before then I'd be a walking encyclopedia for niche music and I would probably use that angle since it sounds like a better shtick to entice viewers 😅

[@gartgreenside3657]

I have a theory that many musicians / composers are highly trained and sophisticated musically. They know and understand a lot and they like having music that satisfies their need to see the artist as of a similar or higher level musically than they are. Meanwhile most normal people do not see music the same way, indeed they prefer things like overall sound, the rhythm (not least does it get you dancing), the hooks and riffs. Anyway, the point is that the many musicians / composers have no insight at all into trends or what is cool or what the masses might like, or what a punk fan or a psych fan might like. They just sit listening to utter bullshit like Steven Wilson, think they are superior, whilst COMPLETELY missing what is great about music (clue - it is not clever composition). I love your content Brian, I love that your skills and knowledge fill the gaps in mine... but honestly, I'd rather struggle to play Wild Thing on a guitar than be a talented musician who like utter drivel like this

[@orijut]

I sort of get what you are trying to express. But I don't find Steven Wilson to be a good example that, especially this song. It doesn't put clever composition before emotion, but combines both. I sometimes get the feeling with Dream Theater, for example, which I don't connect with at all. They are obviously very advanced musicians but to the detriment of the actual musical experience. I don't think Steven Wilson belongs to the same category. I'm not a musician or composer, just a listener. Not even a very analytical one. It's why I also enjoy Bryan's videos because of insights I usually don't get while listening on my own.

[@CriticalReactions]

I think the common perception of academically trained music people is that they're stuffy artsy people. And I totally get where that comes from because the most prolific critics across various mediums have showcased this, not to mention all of the gatekeeping that shows up in online communities about what is "true art." But from being in an academic environment for a few years I'll tell ya that most people I ran into were like me; they enjoy the artsier stuff for what you described (seeing artists at a similar level to them) but they also enjoy the simple art too. You might be surprised at the number of orchestral musicians who love playing and listening to the classical greats but are some of the biggest EDM fans I knew. All they needed was a four on the floor beat and some drops to be happy. Even for me, my favorite bands are My Chemical Romance and The Used -- pop punk bands with a lot of songs based on simple chords, strong grooves, and catchy hooks. While there are certainly people who try to justify their inability to connect with popular music, my experience says that that isn't the norm. Most people don't get into music to feel superior to others and they don't typically miss the point of music. They've simply expanded their horizons and are able to appreciate a wider variety of music. If anything, your post seems to imply that you're superior because of your musical ignorance which has led you to completely miss what's great about a vast group of music outside of your vocabulary. To me, that's like criticizing a great novel because it was written above a Dr. Seuss reading level. It's possible to enjoy both the children's books and the eloquent novel. Just like it's possible to enjoy Wild Thing as well as Steven Wilson's Drive Home.

[@daneng3641]

@@CriticalReactions When I listen to "The Seuss" I prefer the deep cuts like Solla Sollew and Butter Battle. Not that Cat in the Hat shit they play on top 40 stations!