Prog Review 718 - In Absentia Deluxe Edition - Porcupine Tree

[@duke_77]

agree 100% on the price and documentary. loved the bit with gavin h going on about the first time he saw the band and sw telling Hoile that he only ever made one good pic

[@Z-eb]

£54.99 at burningshed now

[@Z-eb]

Yeah.....expansive........

[@binderdave]

Just FYI, before my copy arrived in Canada from Burningshed, I received an email notifying me of the problem, and that they’ll replace the corrected Blu ray as soon as they get it (they estimated a few weeks). It’s why I buy from BS rather than Amazon, if possible: first, the artists make more from each sale; and second, their customer service is excellent. No need to return the In Absentia set...they’ll just send the new BR disc when ready. Just an FYI.

[@tinostabile3256]

Darren I forgot to mention that another reason I love this boxset is I was able to score a deal on Amazon and got it for 21 British pounds.... so I think if you would have gotten it at that price you too would have given it 5 out of 5.

[@GMHG777]

Agree think it’s really overpriced, but that’s the way the record companies are trying to gather any sales they can, plus the other guys probably had a say in price point so they could all get a small cut since the band is no more and they likely aren’t selling much back catalog these days. Also agree with you that the Jethro Tull reissues are the gold standard for this kind of thing these days ! They are just done so well and are affordable when hitting retail. I’ve got all but Thick (was late to the dance and no way I’m dropping 200$ for a used copy) and some of these are going for stupid prices now on the secondary markets like Minstrel and Songs, almost tempted to cash in but nah, like em’ too much !

[@tinostabile3256]

The new orders come with the corrected bluray with the songs from the CD 2... and issues from the first batch have all been corrected. I detect a lot of positives in your review. You are a good guy, Darren. Three Gravity Eyelids out of five is a good review and if the price would come down... I sense you would give it a 4 and a half or a five. You are very fair. God bless you and your reviews and unboxings. Hopefully I am back on the Christmas card list, haha. In life we should appreciate and not critcize and purposely harm someone's character especially in this beautiful medium called the VC Tino

[@Runicen]

I'm really torn about SW and his various projects. In Absentia was my first Porcupine Tree album and I loved it (still do), but I saw the band live at the time and it... well, it sucked with teeth. No stage presence, note perfect reproductions of the record (i.e. why leave the house?), and just a cruise controlled, middle-of-the-road experience. Considering it was a split bill with Opeth playing the whole of their Damnation record and they blew PT off the stage with their "mellow" stuff, it was pretty jarring. I went in as a PT fan who liked Opeth and left a huge Opeth fan who liked PT. I've tried to like everything they did after In Absentia, but it mostly failed to land with only a few good moments. Same for SW's solo material. Good moments with albums largely failing to measure up to the press. The solo material can be even more disappointing because you can kind of tell what he's trying to emulate, but it's the obvious emulation (and failing to hit the target in a musically pleasing way) that sinks the experience. For as much as he talked up the Pink Floyd influence in early interviews, he really felt like an amalgam of influences early on and that was the strength of his material. As he went, it was like, "Oh, this is my 'Close to the Edge,' that's my 'The Wall,'" and so on... Granted, I loved No-Man and all of the PT material from In Absentia and earlier, so I'm not sure what to make of it. I think SW is at his best when he's just doing what he feels like and not worrying about thematic cohesion or big concepts. Some of that early PT material has a lot of humor to it and even No-Man has a bit of that Morrissey "How seriously am I supposed to be taking this?" quality. Bottom line here: No matter how much I love this album, the price point was always going to shoot the release in the foot. Particularly with Wilson's involvement in the Tull reissues, I couldn't believe he was taking this route with his own back catalog. Kind of disappointing, but it was an easy pass there, so you nailed that observation as far as I'm concerned.

[@rikgay857]

Cheers darren...I’ll certainly not be picking this up for £70. Would love to see documentary,I’m sure it’ll end up on KZbin. 👍

[@bobby666666]

The extra tracks have been released previously, so not much on offer for me apart from the demos. A 2/3 CD set without the blue-ray and book would have done me.

[@Ppj29qT]

I Like this review! You clearly and seriously comment on Steven Wilson and the album. Again, I like that. Can I ask you what you think are really good albums that aren't (prog) mainstream?

[@carlosabeltramedebarros5240]

Yes, the new PENDRAGON's "Love Over Fear", released now in February.

[@runscoot4596]

great review darren,.......that price......what was he thinking?

[@jasonwheeler3669]

Think it's not bad but £70 is a pisstake listen to it now and again

[@inelegy]

I agree that Wilson's work is largely soulless. And I'll agree with your statement about him being a good producer/mixer. His ears are pretty great. My estimation of him has waned over time, particularly after his last solo album. If you're gonna go around namechecking Talk Talk, Tears For Fears, ABBA, Peter Gabriel, and Kate Bush, you better fucking deliver, mate. But, as far as being a purveyor of soulless sterility and phony-heavy 'prog' stupidity goes, he has always had the merit of not being Dream Theater . . .

[@johnfloydman7735]

Great review Darren 👍 I found this album a hard listen , its like its trying too hard to be something its not . When ever I listen to porcupine tree I get bored . They haven't got that spark like radio head for instance ✌️🙏

[@johnfloydman7735]

Cool.....